Girl%20Guides%20Canada

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Girl Guides Canada

• Presented by Youthography

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Who we are

• Youthography is not a traditional agency
• Traditional agencies pick the thing that they do
  and then do it for everyone
• We do lots of things but only for the under-35
  age range
• This means we respond to a market, rather than a
  product and are in constant touch with niches
  within that market
• Understanding youth is our bread and butter and
  the soul of our business
• At any given time we have numerous marketing
  initiatives and creative executions in field, we
  survey over 100,000 young people in a year and
  well talk face-to-face with thousands more
• Weve also been allies with the Girl Guides for
  years, working on numerous projects

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About Youthography

• Our capabilities are split across two distinct
  groups within the agency
• Youthography Research Strategy
• Full-service qualitative and quantitative
  research and strategic planning
• Youthography Marketing Creative
• Advertising and creative for TV, web, print, out
  of home and any other place you can think of
  (yes, including mail)
• Event planning, property creation and promotion
  development

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A GENERATION
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A Generation

• I had a discussion about this event recently with
  two colleagues and we discussed how hard it is
  to keep up with change
• A big, historic, diffused, volunteer-based
  organization (thats you) is trying to be
  relevant to the most fickle, unpredictable,
  temperamental, evolving group of people in the
  country and their daughters its not easy!
• If you are a Ranger right now and have been in
  Guiding since age 5, heres a recap of things
  that didnt exist (or werent known) 12 years ago
  when you joined

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From kid to teen
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living in transition

• Four levels of separating from being a kid
• 1. Keep childhood possessions / values
• 2. Reject parental-imposed possessions
• 3. Put away possessions in public, but play in
  private
• Look at tweens and Barbie
• 4. Put away possessions for good
• Ultimately find older, socially-acceptable
  substitutes to play, like video games,
  socialization and gossip

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For Tweens, transition means

• Tweens (typically classified as young as 8 and as
  old as 13) are part of a longer pre-adult
  lifestage
• Tweens are more actively engaged in consumer
  choices than previous generations
• Tweens are having a greater impact on parents
  than ever before

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For Tweens, transition means

• Transitioning is a part of creating an identity
• Tweens try on multiple personalities to create an
  identity they feel reflects their personality
• Experimentation is important and they tend to
  do it with absolutism, even for the moment

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transition girls
Shopping at the mall with girlfriends
Going to the movies with friends
Playing with dolls/toys
Playing fantasy games (house)
Chatting with IM
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6
8
10
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Reading teen magazines
Watching music videos
Collecting
Putting MP3s on your iPod
Playing with friends outside
Watching teen programming like Gossip Girl
Reading books
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What is important?
Communication
Friends Family
Diversity
Information
Empowerment
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Fun

• Tweens distance themselves from kid-related
  funwhen it infantilizes them
• Even if they really love or are comforted by
  these things
• Image and peer pressure to grow up outweighs all
  other feelings of attachment
• They dont want to hang out with their little
  sister and their Hilary Duff backpack is so
  yesterday
• They want to hang with their friends and carry a
  purse

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Fun

• Kids perception being older more fun
• This fun is truly linked to the release of
  restrictions that are currently in place and
  guarded by parents
• Staying up late
• Going out on your own
• Dating
• Wearing what you want
• Eating what you want
• Driving
• What used to be fun at 9, is no longer suitable
  for someone whos now 11 / 12

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And as they get older
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me to we

• My friends are my family.
• I cant live without my cell phone.
• Why do they spend so much time texting?
• My daughter is on facebook all the time.
• Dont they care whats out there about them?
• Whats the deal with the group experience? And
  how is this regular connection to a youthful
  network blurring the line between public and
  private?

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me to we

• To paraphrase the New York Magazine, this trend
  is the biggest generation gap since Rock n
  Roll
• The culmination of all of these trends--
  relationships, communication, information and
  technology-- represents a natural evolution of
  group dynamics with young people.
• Its not just about being part of the hive
• now, the hive is on steroids.

More youth-focused society
Less parental interaction
Tech that enables connections
More importance on friends
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me to we

• THE WAY IT ONCE WAS
• One person walking through life with peaks and
  valleys

Graduating High School
Graduating College
First Job
Getting Married
18-years-old
25-years-old
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me to we

• THE WAY IT IS
• No clearly defined life path a distant,
  uncertain future
• High moments are not the traditional milestone
  events
• Instant ability to connect to your network, your
  own age
• What do you want to be when you grow up has been
  replaced by What are you doing right now?

18-years-old
25-years-old
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me to we

• There is always a solo moment in fact, some of
  the really important moments need removal from
  the group...
• ...and connecting to the group all the time is
  impossible, anyway

Me
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me to we

• Moments and achievements are celebrated with the
  hive, not outside of it
• The We
• Creates social support
• Provides a sense of validation
• Provides opportunity
• Can be anyone who has come into their life at any
  point in time

We
Me
We
We
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me to we

• WHY?
• Because theyve grown up with constant
  surveillance... and constantly surveilling (?)
• ...and it is a two-way relationship
• The network is the message and you are the
  network
• its not really real until its in my facebook
  status.

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Observations
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Key Observations

• Spending time with friends tops tween girls list
  of priorities
• Tweens are looking for opportunities to be in
  control of themselves and their lives they are
  taking more control of choices in and out of
  the home
• Can Girl Guides lead and give girls more control?
• Tween behaviour is often the result of influence
  of others we learn from those around us, more
  specifically, those we admire.
• The response to role models is manifest in
  clothing, makeup, music, language, etc.

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Key Observations

• We need to look at Tween girls as active
  participants involved in building their own
  understanding of themselves
• That is where the fantasy meets the reality
  trying on different personalities allows them to
  see what fits
• Self-Empowerment of tweens and teens needs to be
  expressed in as modern a manner as possible, even
  if rooted in tradition
• i.e. Leaders have to be comfortable with
  Facebook and IM
• How are you different from your parents? everyone
  discovers the Beatles, but derivative music still
  sells

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Challenges

• There are many identities at once on the brink of
  both childhood and adolescence constantly
  renegotiating themselves through borrowing and
  creating
• Transition is why fun changes so quickly but
  hangs around for a while They reject being kids
  but they are still young
• Trying to grow up faster, but on their terms, and
  with several stops and starts

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Implications for Girl Guides

• Reaching them means they need to try on the
  organization
• Parents need to do that too as they tend to be
  just ask fickle as their childrenthis year its
  yoga class, next year gymnastics
• Making Girl Guides relevant to a high school age
  girl is difficult when the girl has no previous
  experience
• Girls need guides early - so that they will
  want to be Guides later
• The motivations that will draw a female age 14
  and up to Guiding is a different motivation than
  13 and under (that might be a parent thing)

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THANK YOU!dabramo_at_youthography.com