This document discusses different groups in the UK categorized by their technology habits ("Tech Nation groups"). It provides demographic information about each group, such as their age, income level, and spending habits related to different technology items. It also examines the role of different media sources in these groups' decision making processes for purchasing technology products. Television, radio, friends and family, retailers, brand websites, specialist websites, and newsbrands are all discussed in terms of how much they inspire, provide opinions, and deliver information to consumers in each Tech Nation group.
38. TV
TV adverts inspiring as offer a mixture of visuals
and sound. Can showcase product and key
functions (e.g. Kindle being used on beach)
Likely to follow up on ads, even if not to make
immediate purchase
Consumer advice items on TV programmes
valued (e.g. Martin Lewis, Anne Robinson on This
Morning)
However, TV technology programmes often too
aspirational, showcasing unaffordable products
Suspicion that manufacturers are influencing the
items featured / provided for tests
More associated with entertainment than
information, thus issues with trust and even
concentration given at time of viewing
39. For radio listeners, programmes on tech would
be trusted especially if on Radio 4 or similar.
However, lack of awareness or consumption of
such content
Adverts not effective as can‟t see the product.
Also difficult to take in much information about
tech spec or deals
Whilst authoritative, the medium has traditional
connotations, perhaps not best suited to the
category
Radio
40. Generally the most highly rated info source and the
one all others are compared to…
The most trusted source of information, with
advice frequently sought
Also a key source of inspiration when seeing
friends and family members with tech items
„Pester power‟ of children often having an impact
on purchase decisions
Friends & Family
41. Retailers
Varies by retailer, e.g. John Lewis especially
trusted as advisors with opportunity to see in store
before purchasing online
Offer chance to see and touch the product before
purchasing and ask for advice (often a stage when
other sources used)
However, may be motivated by sales targets, and
unlikely to emphasise flaws. Limited to products
they have on offer, rather than giving full spectrum
of advice
Can also vary by knowledge of sales assistant.
This seen as often being general, rather than
expert / sub-category specific
42. A valued source for detailed information on
technical spec and comparing models within range
Important role in after-sale service, community
and information than purchase decision making.
Often a content hub (e.g. Apple, Amazon)
Not a neutral source for opinion or finding out
about potential flaws
Brands websites
43. The discussion on websites was reflected in
conversation around magazines
Like electrical retailers, the provider/brand is
important. A service like Which? is seen as a
source of unbiased information and opinion
User comments on forums can be trawled to
look for common pluses or negatives for
products
Can allow efficient comparison of a range of
brands and products
User comments seen as „faceless‟, may not
have high knowledge or may have hidden
agenda
May be influenced by manufacturers, and
adverts alongside reviews can raise suspicion
Specialist websites
44. Newsbrands seen to have strengths in inspiration,
opinion, and information…
Adverts seen to spark interest in products (e.g.
Virgin Media offer for 6 months half
price)…important role at outset of purchase
process. Deals and offers appealing
Reviews respected, seen as a trusted source of
consumer information. More accountable than
tech forum reviews, not just faceless comment
Allows detailed reading and consideration,
association with in-depth coverage
Online user comments benefit from association
with the newsbrand. Give sense of the type of
person commenting
Newspaper adverts not seen as compelling as the
audio-visual mix of TV
Newsbrands
46. 68% of 15-34s who are not social addicts
Early adopters are likely to be older
75% of Tech Nation read a newsbrand regularly
Newsbrands are a trusted source of information
and opinion for all
Multi platform newsbrands extends the reader
relationship
47. What do they think of Newsbrands?
“I read the news on my phone
as well, but I find the
newspaper a more intellectual
read... online has always been
more celeb type, showbiz type
news... and a very quick
snapshot of what‟s going on in
the world ”
“I just like holding it, I
mean, faffing around
on a computer, you
know with going on it,
and you‟re scrolling
down to read the
story, at least you got
the paper there and
you can just read it
and come back to it
when you want.”
“On the weekend,
where they have the
money pages, it‟s like
advising you to save
money...they might
feature TVs one week
and so that might
persuade me to go out
and have a look...If you
were interested you‟re
going to sit and read it
aren‟t you, and maybe
even keep it”
“Now that I have the
ease of downloading
an app, whether it‟s for
free or a small charge,
it kind of encourages
me to get different
perspectives just
because of the
convenience. Not
many people could go
into a shop and buy
three newspapers to
have a look how
different stories are
presented. I follow
loads of news on
Twitter”
“I get the news...but for
me specifically I‟m
buying the newspaper
to see the ads really.
Like latest phones, the
latest foods which are
out. The buys, the
tokens, the latest
gossip... but when
there‟s something big,
if there‟s a big spread
on it, I can read it in
detail in the paper.”
Michelle, 35
On why she buys a paper
Andy, 44
On digital newsbrand apps
Lucy, 40
On multiplatform newsbrand
choices
Jan, 56
On reviews and advice
in the paper
Danny, 24
On why he loves his paper
Intro Vanessa:Why we commissioned the research & analysisThe tech market itself is likely to be worth $1 trillion this year, with the UK accounting for £8 billion. Tablet sales are booming, UK smartphone ownership has hit 32 million and the world is becoming increasingly connected.But even more importantly, the tech people buy affects their media consumption, and therefore impacts on every sector and every brand’s communication plan. We need to understand their relationship with technology in order to understand their relationship with media.
IntroVanessa:Tech is omnipresent, newsbrands are omni-platform. More people than ever have access to what would previously have been considered the preserve of the keen, techie, early adopter. We are all geeks now. So it’s crucial to understand the audience for technology and why they might not be who they were traditionally thought to be. Instinctively we knew that some of the pre-conceptions about the tech purchaser and user couldn’t be right. The key audience can’t all be under 35. Early adopters can’t all be young male tech experts. We set out to explore the reality of the new Tech Nation and establish who’s doing what. Our aims were to find new insights into the audiences and challenge myths.We found 5 new groups through TGI Clickstream analysis and followed that up with ethnographic and quantitative research. (You’ll be relieved that we’re not going into detail about how we did it, but we can pick up any questions later).
Kully/Natasha(whoever’s agency this isn’t):So these are out tech types and each group represents around a fifth of the UK population, with TV worshippers tipping the scale only ever so slightly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiWiVol2qFUKully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this isn’t):Price pragmatists don’t own many devices and are not particularly interested in technology. We might expect them to be older – and it’s true that over half are over 55. But the real surprise is that a quarter of them are under 35 It’s partly price – their incomes are quite low – but it’s more about attitude. For Price Pragmatists tech is all about functional needs, not technical spec. Their phones are for contacting people to arrange things. They’re a bit bewildered by technology and feel that they don’t really know how to make sure they get the right brands. We usually think of young people as tech savvy digital natives, but 17% of 16-24’s, and the same proportion of 25-34’s are price pragmatists –that’s nearly 2 out of 10 young people. They are definitely not early adopters, but are most likely to wait for later or cheaper versions to come out before buying, or only buy the product once lots of their friends and family have one too. They need both reassurance and deals from technology companies in order to feel confident enough to buy. It’s also important for other clients to remember that this substantial group of young people are quite traditional in their media habits – for example they favour print popular and mid-market newspapers over digital and they are least likely to purchase online.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this isn’t):Quality Seekers and TV Worshippers, although very different from each other, are less surprising.Quality Seekers tend to be older and affluent, though they span the social spectrum. They are definitely not early adopters of technology, but will wait till innovations are mainstream and thoroughly tried and tested. They are traditionalists & don’t buy tech very often, replacing items when they break rather than chasing the latest upgrade. They are unlikely to have Sky, as they’re BBC stalwarts and tend to think that multi-channel TV has diluted programme quality. But they will buy a good quality TV, hi-fi and pricier desktop computers. Becausethey’re keen to buy the best but not up to speed with tech developments, they’re most likely to seek well-established brands, trusted information sources and in-store advice.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this isn’t):For TV Worshippers, TV – and all its related technology - is the centre of their entertainment world. It’s the focal point of their living room and often on in the background while a range of tech and media is being used. New tech purchases are often TV related, driven by desire for more catch-up, more on demand. They spend more on pay TV than any other group, accounting for 34% of annual UK expenditure. And they are evenly spread across the age ranges.They’re not just slobs – the TV is the social focus, bringing family and friends together. They think family first. And whilst they are the highest spenders on pay TV, value for money is really important. Alongside TV advertising, deals and offers in newspaper ads are particularly compelling (e.g. Virgin TV free for first 6 months). They are open to online, yet print and popular newsbrands dominate, as they have always been a part of family life and imbue trust.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this isn’t):For Social addicts it’s all about mobile and being connected. They have the highest ownership of MP3s (95%), laptops (91%) games consoles (77%) and smartphones (79%) and the highest spend on mobiles. They buy in order to stay in touch with friends and family.Contemporary and urban, for Social Addicts brand is key and technology is like a fashion accessory. But the biggest revelation is that they are not all young – 44% are over 35. They are also upmarket – nearly a third are AB social class.Andy, aged 44, who is addicted to Apple and does not consider himself to be an early adopter – though he is clearly quite impatient! Our other Social Addicts are both women – but Social Addicts are actually split pretty much 50/50 male and female. Sophie and Tiffany.Sophie expresses the emotional dependency typical of social addicts.Sophie fits the archetype of the young urban professional who is always socially connected. But it’s vital to remember that only a third of under 35’s are social addicts, they are not the majority of young people. Social addicts are great influencers – their life is all about sharing opinions and news. Twitter is often used as a hub and launchpad for news and information, a shortcut to finding and sharing the important stories – they follow newspapers and journalists, and will tweet stories and opinions. Facebook is a more personal, guarded space. Digital media is often the first port of call – for example they are likely to check newspaper apps as a matter of habit, and Andy and Sophie do not even own a traditional TV, but watch via laptop. But they often turn to traditional media at the weekend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6Sg3LOJBFEKully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this isn’t):The Tech Rich group are real tech junkies. They are at ease with technology and could not imagine life without it. But they are not all your typical young male geeks. 70% are over 35. 4 in 10 are women.19% of 55-64 year olds are Tech Rich – co-incidentally the same proportion as we find in the 25-34 age group. Sameer is very typical, keeping a constant eye out for what’s new, scanning the ads, remembering the details that can justify his purchase. He easily persuades himself that he needs a Kindle as well as his Ipad, for those occasions when there’s strong sunlight. Just like Lucy, for Sameer owning technology is a fundamental needCallum, who at 29 is closest to the archetypal image of the male tech geek, also finds it very easy to justify upgrading. In one of the videos we love that he actually caresses his Mac as he speaks...Tech Rich are easily the most valuable audience for technology products. Although just19% of the population, the Tech Rich are affluent and love to accumulate new gadgets – so they accounted for well over a third of tech spending last year. The typical Tech Rich person does lots of research, pays attention to advertising and is highly influenced by expert and user reviews pre-purchase. And they are very comfortable with buying their tech onlineAnd, as we saw with Lucy, there’s a fair bit of post-preening – Tech Rich are the most likely group to Tweet about their purchases and recommend on Facebook. They are also used as a source of advice by friends and family, a role which they relish. They are reasonably early adopters – but 45% still like to wait for others to buy first, so glitches are ruled out. Newsbrands are consumed both online and in print. Device ownership opens up a wide audience for online consumption, yet the role of print still valued for in depth reading.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this isn’t):Fewer than 2 in 10 of the population are Tech Rich – yet they account for over a third of tech purchases – based on what they bought in the previous 12 months. Price Pragmatists are the lowest spenders – as a result of their lack of interest in technology, as well as their eye for a price cut.Quality Seekers and TV Worshippers account for a lower percentage of spend than might be expected: while Quality Seekers are affluent and buy towards the top of the range, they don’t buy as many different types of technology, are making things last and are in no rush to upgrade. And TV Worshippers are focusing their tech purchases on accessing TV....
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this isn’t):Fewer than 2 in 10 of the population are Tech Rich – yet they account for over a third of tech purchases – based on what they bought in the previous 12 months. Price Pragmatists are the lowest spenders – as a result of their lack of interest in technology, as well as their eye for a price cut.Quality Seekers and TV Worshippers account for a lower percentage of spend than might be expected: while Quality Seekers are affluent and buy towards the top of the range, they don’t buy as many different types of technology, are making things last and are in no rush to upgrade. And TV Worshippers are focusing their tech purchases on accessing TV....
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this isn’t):We hear a lot of talk about digital natives, but not all young people are the same – only 26% of young Price Pragmatists (under 35) have a smartphone compared with 88% of all Social Addicts – and those who have a mobile are spending a great deal less. Social Addicts spend more on mobile than any other group.I will now pass on to Natasha/Kully, who will take you through the media implications for our new Tech Nation groups.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):We’ve heard about the 5 groups in the Tech Nation, and we’ve heard some surprises, particularly about the ages of groups like Price Pragmatists, Social Addicts and the Tech Rich . Before looking at some key media habits, we will show exactly how the different age groups vary split into tech types.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):Our least tecchie group, the Price Pragmatists skew older and downmarket – but still account for 17% of the two youngest groups.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):Quality Seekers are more prevalent in the 45+ age group – but don’t forget that they are also affluent and upmarket, and buying for their older kids.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):TV Worshippers are the most evenly spread...
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):here a quarter of 35-44 year olds are Social Addicts, but interesting to see how engaged 15-24 years are, with over 1/3rd being social addicts meaning that 2/3rd are not
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):The heaviest buyers and users of technology, who most enthusiastically embrace the new multi-platform world, are the Tech Rich – and as we can see, they are firmly entrenched in middle age – as well as being the most affluent and upmarket of all our groups.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):Lets have a look at media consumption, everyone expects us to focus on Newsbrands which we will but in context with other media.- We know that 75% of our Tech Nation read Newsbrands regularly.- They have either read a newspaper regularly or visited a Newsbrand site in the last week.- As they are strong multiplatforms they reach all of our Tech types through print or online.- Our Newsbrands audience divides in almost exactly the same way as the total country- we have a few more quality seekers and less social addicts but we expect this to grow as newsbrands expand digitally, especially with younger audiences.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):We can see that price pragmatists index quite high on mids and pops in print this is to be expected by the reaction that Danny gave us on wanting to physically hold a paper.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):So let’s look at the relationship that Price Pragmatists have with different media. Because we discovered the types on TGI, we could look at their media habits on TGI. Because everybody watches TV to some extent, we’ve just looked at medium-heavy viewers, watching 20+ hours a week of any channel. However we have been very tough on ourselves, probably the highest criteria required. So for NewsbrandsNewsbrand TOTAL: those that read a newspaper almost always or quite often or have visited a news brand website in the past weekOutdoor advertising: Those that have seen any outdoor advertising n the past weekTV: Those who watch more than 20 hours of television a weekInternet: Those who use the net for more than 2 hours per dayRadio: Those who listen to radio for more than an hour a day during the week or on Saturday or SundayCinema: Those who go to the cinema at least 2 or 3 times a yearPrice Pragmatists tend to have traditional habits and preferences – they index highly for watching live TV and not wanting to change their regular newspaper. But they’re also positive about advertising. They both enjoy it and find it useful, particularly checking print ads before they set out to buy something.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):Again similar results her although our quality seekers index higher on qualities
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):Not too surprised with the results as radio and newsbrands are the most popular, this group are your typical BBC loyalists, listening to Radio3 / 4 and typically shop in John Lewis.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):- TV worshippers like to use both online and print for their Newsbrand intake and we can see that they indexed high on mids and pops. They are our first group to search online for the news.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):TV Worshippers are – surprise, surprise – pretty heavy TV viewers. Their love of the screen also extends to cinema (although not as much as Social Addicts and Tech Rich); and they are also using the internet more than Price Pragmatists and Quality Seekers.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):With Social Addicts you can see they index high for Quality, what is very interesting is for online they index highly across all 3 Pops / Mids / Quality.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):They spend the most out of all of the groups online with 55%, and Cinema is also high for this group.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):index highly against Quality print but it is interesting to see that online they index highly against Quality, pops, Mids.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):Consum** We have more information on the times of the day media is being consumed and we have also conducted some interesting eye tracking research, which gives a great insight into what people are actually viewing. We can look to come back and present this information to smaller groups and make it more relevant.inglots of media – often at the same time.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):We have seen both what media and how our tech nation is consuming, we can also look at the role each of these media play in their purchasing process, how they inspire, inform and offer opinion. There are some very interesting patterns and roles for any purchase decision.
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):We asked our panel Question: If you were considering buying a piece of new technology such as a television, a computer or a mobile phone which of the following would you trust?And alsoon which of the following sources of information would give you enough information to aid your purchasing decision?And this is advertising not contentSpecialist websites unsurprisingly come out strongest for both trust and information Websites generally along with cinema, outdoor and radio fair reasonably well on the trust scores but aren’t delivering on the information scores Whilst social media advertising is the worst performing it’s not trusted and equally is not seen as providing enough information.Newspapers and TV are scoring highly for both trust and information
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):So who do our Tech Types trust the most
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):The reason we believe that specialist sites are among their trusted is due to the fact that they need advice as there knowledge on products is limited
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):Surprisinglytv isn’t here – and this reiterates that it TV is just a source of entertainment for them
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):They are incredibly traditional considering the tech type they are
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):Tech Rich favour online newspapers, radio & OOH (we still can’t figure the outdoor one – it remains a mystery)
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):For information we see a very different picture with all five types ranking newspapers, TV & specialist sites as their top 3
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Conclusion Vanessa:
Conclusion Vanessa:Each group represents around a fifth of the UK populationHopefully you all had a chance to vote in our quiz. Here’s what you thought.....Results of Audience voting
Kully/Natasha (whoever’s agency this is):
Conclusion Vanessa and Kully/Natasha(whoever has the results):Each group represents around a fifth of the UK populationHopefully you all had a chance to vote in our quiz. Here’s what you thought.....Results of Audience voting