Engaging Canadian Families

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Engaging Canadian Families Presentation to
Environment Canada November 23rd, 2005
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Where we left off
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The North American Generational Landscape
Net
Nexus
Boomer
Pre-Boomer
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Todays Outline

• A Picture of Todays Family
• The Generational Family
• The Environmental Family
• Taking Action - Engaging the Canadian Family

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Sitcom Families Through the Ages
80s
70s
Today
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Forces affecting Families
More Divorce
Less Childbearing
More Cohabiting
Later Marriage
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Forces affecting families
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Todays Family

• 1.5 Children per woman
• 35 of all marriages are remarriages. 2/3rds of
  divorcees will marry or cohabit again.
• 70 are dual-earner families

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Todays Kids

• KAGOY
• Kids Are Growing Older Younger pressured by
  parents, media to excel at sports, school, extra
  curricular, summer camp
• Hitting puberty earlier
• Highly structured lives even out of school
• Kidfluence 12-14-year-olds want to be 18.
  15-19 year-olds want to be 20.
• Absence of 2nd adult in 22 of households means
  decision making shifts towards the kids. is
  this growing or declining?
• KASYO
• kids are staying younger older?

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The Family by Generation
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Boomers vs Nexus Parents

• Boomers and their progeny reject the dont
  waste mentality of their parents. They spend,
  not save indulge, not sacrifice. They are the
  more generation (Kidfluence)
• Poverty in families with parents aged 25-34 has
  risen from 12 per cent in 1981 (boomers) to 18.9
  per cent in 1997 (nexus)
• 1970 - 47 of Boomers aged 18-24 lived with their
  parents
• 1992, 54 of Gen Xers did
• 2005, what of the Net Generation do?

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Nexus Parents - Some Theories

• Kids stay at home longer, boundaries between
  generations are blurred
• Nexus familys parents are repositioned as
  friends rather than just a mother-daughter
  relationship.
• Are they skipping the Independence lifestage?
• Are families becoming more democratic?
• Are families becoming more environmentally
  sensitive and following up with changing
  behavior.

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The D-Code Family Study
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The D-Code Family Study - Background

• A study of 1500 Canadian parents with children
  under 18 living at home
• Evenly split on generational lines
• Sub- segment of environmentally/socially
  conscious consumers and rejectors

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Canadian Family - General Insights
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Family composition Marital Status
n1519
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Family composition Education Level
n1519
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Family Income by Generation
n1519
What is your annual household income?
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Family Income type by generation
n1519
How many parents work in your family?
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Family Structure do you have children who are
n1519
Do you have children who are
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Age when first child was born
How old were you when your first child was born?
n1519
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While the media might like us to believe
differently, families do strive towards work/life
balance. Although they feel that they may not
always get there..
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Family time is highly valued during the week
and plays a very large role in a typical day.
Average Number of Hours Spent - Weekday
Net Family Time includes Family Time, Leisure
Time / Entertainment with the Family

• Nexus and Boomer parents are similar in their
  daily family time allotment.
• Families with younger children (under 6) spend
  the most hours per day involved in family time.
  As age increases, so too does entertainment and
  leisure time with the family.
• Clearly, parents are squeezed for time on a day
  to day basis.

n1519
How many hours do you, yourself, spend on a
typical weekday
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Family time takes precedence on the weekend
Average Number of Hours Spent Weekend Day
Net Family Time includes Family Time, Leisure
Time / Entertainment with the Family
Nexus families are able to maintain a good
work/life balance with regards to family time on
the weekends. Driven heavily by Nexus families
and those with children under 6.
n1519
How many hours do you, yourself, spend on a
typical weekend day?
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The family time crunch
Top 2 Box Score - Agree
Highest amongst parents of 6-12 year olds
I spend more quality time with my kids than my
parents did with me
I feel guilty that I dont spend enough time with
my children
We dont have enough downtime as a family
I believe that we have created a closer and more
open family than I had growing up
To what extent do you agree with the following
statements on a scale from 1 to 5
n1519
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Family time has to be scheduled and planned in
advance personal time is compromised.
Top 2 Box Score - Agree
I have enough leisure time
I sacrifice personal time to get leisure time
with my family
We have enough leisure time as a family
I am able to successfully spend time with my
partner/spouse away from our kids
I find that life is so busy that leisure time has
to be scheduled and planned in advance
Please rate the following statements in terms of
your agreement with them on a scale of 1 to 5
n1519
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In comparison to Boomer families, Nexus families
have less disposable income and cannot shop as
freely.
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The Main Decision Makers
Males
Females
Food - Grocery
Higher in Nexus families
Food Restaurant Selection
Entertainment - Family
Higher in Nexus families
Main
Vacation Planning
Equal
Influencer
For each of the following categories, please
indicate whether you are the main decision maker,
you have an equal part in the decision, you
influence the decision or you are not involved.
n1519
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Men have the highest decision making power for.
Males
Females
Purchasing Financial Services
Purchasing a Family Vehicle
Main
Equal
Influencer
For each of the following categories, please
indicate whether you are the main decision maker,
you have an equal part in the decision, you
influence the decision or you are not involved.
n1519
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Eating out has not replaced family dinners in
Nexus families.
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The kids extra-curricular mix

• Sports activities, either team or individual,
  are the most common extra curricular activities
  for kids.

• 71 of parents encourage their kids to
  participate in sports (highest amongst parents
  with kids 6-12 years).

n1519
In which of the following extra curricular
activities do your kids participate, if any?
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The technology profile of Canadian families
Technologies Personally Owned/In Home
n1519
Which of the following technologies do you
personally own/have in your home?
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Children(males) are heavy independent users of
technology. Parents are more concerned with
internet content than whats on television.
Technologies Children Own/Use Separately from the
Family

• 37 of parents say that they set limits on the
  amount of time their children stay indoors
  (driven by Nexus and parents with 6-12 year
  olds).
• 32 set strict guidelines on their childrens TV
  usage (driven by Nexus and parents of younger
  children), while 54 set strict guidelines on
  Internet usage (again driven by Nexus and parents
  of younger children).

Which of the following technologies do your
children own or use separately from the family?
n1519
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The Environmental Family
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The Environmental Family

• We asked four questions concerning purchase and
  awareness of environmentally/socially responsible
  products
• The most telling question was about whether the
  responded agrees or disagrees with the
  statementI purchase environmentally and
  socially responsible products.
• This question allowed us to segment the
  population of families into two divergent groups
• Eco-friendly
• Unconcerned

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Social Responsibility by Age of Respondent
Percentage of respondents who agree with the
statement I will spend more for environmentally
and socially responsible products
n1519
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Families with more children are less likely to
spend more for environmentally friendly products
Number of children
n1519
How many children do you have
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Environmentally responsible respondents work
fewer hours than those who are not
environmentally responsible
Number of hours worked
How many hours do you work on a typical weekday?
n1519
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Environmentally responsible people spend more
time eating at home, commuting, volunteering
Number of hours
n1519
How many hours do you spend on a typical
weekday
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Environmentally responsible respondents spend
less time with their families on weekends, but
more time on physical activities and commuting
Number of hours
n1519
How many hours do you spend on a typical weekend
day
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Environmentally responsible people are more
active in the community
n1519
Which of the following activities do you
participate in?
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Environmentally responsible parents have more
active kids
n1519
Which of the following activities do your
children participate in?
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Environmentally responsible people are more
strict with their children
n1519
Do you agree with the following statements
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Me time
n1519
Do you agree with the following statements
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Perceptions of family success
n1519
Do you agree with the following statements
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Environmentally responsible families are more
likely to introduce financial responsibility to
their children early on
n1519
Do you agree with the following statements
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Environmentally responsible parents are more
likely to be influenced by their children on
purchasing decisions
n1519
On a scale of 1 to 5, how much influence do your
kids have when purchasing
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Environmentally responsible parents are more
likely to be influenced by their children when
planning leisure time
n1519
On a scale of 1 to 5, how much influence do your
kids have when deciding to go to
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Environmentally responsible parents are more
likely to trust nutritional advice from other
people
n1519
How much do you trust the following sources of
nutritional information
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Environmentally responsible parents are more
likely to trust nutritional advice from other
people
n1519
How much do you trust the following sources of
nutritional information
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Environmentally responsible people are more
likely to trust information from the media
n1519
How much do you trust the following sources of
information
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Environmentally responsible respondents view food
giants more negatively but banks and car
manufacturers more positively
n1519
Please rate the following brands in terms of how
positively or negatively you feel about them
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Environmentally responsible families have a
different definition of success
n1519
What are the statements that most symbolize
success to you?
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Perceptions of family security
n1519
Do you agree with the following statements
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Perceptions of family security
n1519
Do you agree with the following statements
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Perceptions of family trust and understanding
n1519
Do you agree with the following statements
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Hopes for the future
n1519
Do you agree with the following statements
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Predictions for the future
n1519
Do you agree with the following statements In
the future
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Environmentally friendly respondents are more
likely to support environmental causes over
recreational causes
Which of the following causes are you most
likely to support through volunteering?
n1519
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Environmentally friendly respondents are more
likely to be English-speaking than Francophone
n1519
Language of survey responses
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Ontario residents are more likely to purchase
environmentally responsible products
Home province of survey respondents
n1519
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University grads and the unemployed are more
likely to purchase environmentally responsible
products
n1519
Highest level of education attained
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Taking Action - Engaging Canadian Families
around environmental issues
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Taking Action

• Who within the the family do you want to target?
• Kidfluence vs Momfluence
• Moms elected Clinton and Bush
• Kids made the Blue Box program a success
• Do you want to target Eco-friendly or unconcerned
  Families?
• Where do you want to target?
• Ontario with initial support and large population
• Quebec with low support by large population
• What is the best way to reach Net Gen Kids, Nexus
  Parents and Boomer Parents?
• Media usage
• Channels of influence

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Taking Action

• What behavioral change will have the most impact
  and be easiest to implement?
• What messages will be most understandable based
  on what we know of family attitudes?

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Further questions and discussion