Beyond 2020: How Young People Around the World Are Thinking About the Future

all right um so everybody if you're just joining uh welcome uh thanks for sticking around to those who who have been here for for the duration today um our next presenter christian kurtz is gonna give you know i think we're moving from the uh sort of in-depth you know dirty hands version of research to to some sharing of a very interesting finding and trends which i think are gonna it's really gonna complement quite nicely so i'm gonna get out of the way christian i'm gonna let you do your thing um i'll circle back for q a afterwards uh but better rip all right wonderful thanks so much bill and hello everybody thanks for tuning in um i would normally say great to see you but i can't see any of you so um it's good to be here i hope you can see me um my name is christian curse and i head up global streaming and corporate insights for viacom cbs um and what i will be sharing with you today is our latest findings on a project called um beyond 2020. if all works you should now be seeing my screen is that right yeah perfect okay so the idea behind this project is all around um understanding young people around the world um what they have done during the year 2020 how that has impacted their life in the short slash medium term but also looking at how their perception of the future has changed or is evolving and continues to do so so we'll get into all of that but before that very quickly for the three of you who may not know who viacom cbs are um we are an entertainment company content first we pride ourselves on being storytellers and we do that across all of the audiences and across all of a number of brands going all the way from young kids preschool kids with the nick jr nickelodeon brands growing up through mtv comedy central up to cbs showtime and of course um our paramount movies studio on the local side in multiple countries not just in the us we have a broadcast network at cbs we do in the uk with channel five australian network 10 telephone argentina um and on top of that of course our streaming services uh pluto tv which um is present in a lot of countries already and paramount plus having recently launched flash relaunched um around large parts of the world so we're a global company present around the world um really trying to drive content and content production and then distribute that across a number of platforms some of which are our own our president bob backish a while back said this and this is one of my favorite quotes not only because it justifies my existence and our team's existence but i think it's really really true and as an organization we are absolutely striving to live up to this research is an inspiration it's where we begin as a company it informs our strategies both business and creative it shapes our brands which we have plenty uh inspires our content and our marketing so we truly try to live up to this and in order to be able to do this of course we need to understand audiences around the world of all ages holding in now onto the youth market we've been doing this for a very very long time these are just examples of the youth general audience thought leadership stuff that we've been doing over the last 10 years um globally which really ranges across the board and some of those may sound familiar to some of you all of that is now culminating in this year that is 2020 which has changed so much for so many people and we really wanted to take a look a fresh look at all of this stuff again and see right where are we where are people what do we want to do what do we need to do now youth of course have had very very eventful lives i'm not gonna go through this because all of this is self-explanatory and i'm sure most of you know most of these things but really there's been a lot going on in the lives of young people today overall and even more so in the year 2020 right so the year has been bookmarked by um wildfires in january in australia in december in california um and then a whole lot of stuff in between from of course that pandemic um that we've been talking about the the health pandemic but also the the racism awakening i guess for lack of a better word as well as politics left right and center um and an enormous amount of natural disaster as the impact of climate change is coming through but also the climate change protests that we started 2020 with like the school strike for climate all those types of things there's a lot that's happened in 2020 alone so in order to reset and rebase what did we do um we talked to over 8 000 16 to 24 year olds so that's our definition of youth in this context across 15 countries which you will see lovely highlighted on this map here um we did a global online survey not surprisingly there but what we also did is we did remote video interviews with consumers in a number of those markets or young people in a number of those markets um and then cut that together into a lovely video which i'll be sharing with you because it is oftentimes helpful to hear consumers themselves talk about the stuff rather than listening to me portraying what they're saying we also did some more immersive digital exercises to really try to get to the root because of course we couldn't get into anyone's home um at the end of 2020. in some places we also have a comparison to 2017 and actually going further back to 2012 um where we fielded similar questions in the same countries with a similar age group so we've got some of those comparisons here where they make sense right starting with 2020 of course has been defined by disruption not a surprise to anyone um 82 percent of our young people say that they have had a lot of plans disrupted in 2020 now of course that's not unique to young people everybody has um but if you remember the younger you are the fewer years your life has been and therefore the bigger percentage any single year is of your life and the bigger um that that weighs on you um 80 also say that 2020 has made me rethink their plans for the future which is that's the pivot that we're taking of saying right so we're talking about 2020 but really also what does that mean for the mid and long term future and we're talking about five to ten years into the future the stuff that 2020 has changed is not just covet of course that though is the thing that has changed or impacted people the most but very very close to that in the number of markets is this complex of topics around black lives matter anti-racist movements the death of george floyd and protests against police brutality so we put that complex of topics together as one thing and that is the second most impactful or has been for 2020 followed by natural disasters and climate change and the protests around that then political events which by definition are largely local and then we have wars and terrorism now that's the global picture not everything impacts equally in every market and you see though very clearly that the cobit pandemic is by far the biggest impact in every one of those markets but you then see some interesting things emerge beyond that so the the the complex around anti-racist movements obviously the us is high but the uk and south africa are really really high up there as well as well as a number of other european markets where that is really seen as something that has had a significant impact conversely you look at china and mexico natural disasters and climate change things are by far the second one and in the case of china i'm very close to the code pandemic in terms of what has impacted people now what has all of that done to consumers or to young people well unfortunately it has made them significantly less happy and quite a bit more stressed this is one of the most depressing slides that i have ever presented and every time i look at it i get shivers down my spine again because if you look at this in just eight years from 2012 to 2020 um the levels of happiness among 16 to 24 year olds have dropped by almost a third which is crazy we're now getting to a point of just over half of young people consider themselves to be happy that is nothing compared to the 70 that we had eight years ago or nine years ago now at least the levels of stress are not rising in a similar fashion they're rising a little bit less than that but still we're going from 36 to 46 that is a third up so there's a significant change here now what this year has done is clearly not something that is to be sniffed at there's a lot of stuff that's changed in young people in young people's lives and really what we wanted to do is unpack that and say right so what's happening next how do you how do you respond to that and how do you feel about it and that brings us to this whole idea of beyond 2020 which guess what is the title of our project so there is good news young people remain positive and remain looking to the future 90 over 90 say that they want to make the most of what comes next beyond the year 2020. so that forward-looking spirit absolutely remains and remains unbroken they do however know that it ain't going to be easy 93 say that they know that they will have to work really hard to achieve their goals and half of our young people are feeling this even more strongly than they did a year ago so there is a lot of work and there is an acknowledgement that there is going to be a lot of work in here but that's the good thing young people are absolutely up for that challenge taking all of that into consideration when we ask people saying right what is the things what are the topics that you think society needs to work on the most what's the number one priority for society to work on or society needs over the next 10 years the number one thing that comes out is the environment followed by the economy gender equality crime and violence and then systemic racism and remember this is in a year where towards the end or at least in the middle of it the only topic that you would hear about anywhere is covet right even in a year where such a massive fundamental thing happened in the world what young people think is going to be the most important thing over the next 10 years is the environment and climate change in that whole complex of topics that is telling us there is a fundamental disconnect between how young people and consumers are thinking and what is happening in the world and actions that are not i guess being taken in various ways now again this breaks down slightly differently for individual countries so we wanted to visualize that a little bit as well and you have systemic racism here at the top for the us and the uk you have the environment at the top for large parts of europe as well as australia um and then also you have the economy coming in particularly um in countries where the economy has suffered more right so we're looking at china latin america um and also parts of asia where the economy is really high on that crime and violence argentina and brazil very top up here but also high in some other markets the us actually is an interesting element here where we see stomach racism at the top crime and violence number two the economy number three the environment is number four that is the lowest the environment is in any of those markets where the environment makes the top five at all and the only places where the environment does not make the top five are south africa and brazil so it's interesting to see how the u.s thinks about some of these topics and of course some of that is because some of those topics are simply more important here um but also i think it speaks to a slightly different approach or attitude towards some of the things that are important or perceived to be important in other markets so that's for society for the country as a whole now then we pivoted and said right well what about yourself what is important to you and what really comes out here is that for young people in this uncertain world what they really crave is security and stability so for themselves what they're looking for and the priorities in the next 10 years are to have a stable job to keep myself and my loved ones from harm to be comfortable with who they are have a strong family unit and take care of my mental health and you see some some really interesting topics come through you see health both physical and mental cropping up but really what we're seeing is that this whole idea of the world is uncertain there's nothing i can control um but what i need for this is right so it's almost going back to maslow's hierarchy of needs right i can't strive for self-realization if i don't have a roof over my head um or self-actualization so really what this is is right times are tough the world is messy let's focus in on the things the stability and the security that i need and then once i have that beyond that i can work on other things so let's look to the future in that five to ten year horizon of time um what we're hearing from people is that of course keeping in touch will absolutely be essential and doing that in an online world is something that has existed before the year 2020 and it's going to continue to be incredibly important um 60 agree that relationships will be mostly kept alive by online connections and two-thirds say that their friends will live in many countries around the world so we really are starting to see that world openness come through here in a digital sense right so there's stuff that comes that's coming through that is really exploring this however that will not be a substitute for connections in real life 84 say that spending time with people in person will be as important as it is today slash was before kobe so there is absolutely a yearning for physical connections to come back um and to do that and with that there is also an expectation that travel is going to bounce back we're seeing this or we saw this starting in the u.s and in some other markets um that may well be dampening again now as more restrictions are coming in place again but overall young people are absolutely expecting travel to come back to the same levels as before the pandemic and part of the reason why is if you understand it is really logical if you understand why young people travel right and this quote from rossella in italy is is really making that very clear the more you travel the more you understand different worlds i hope to travel as much as possible because i'm hoping to grow more and more and to try and understand the world more and more so if you combine that idea earlier with of i want to um have or my connection i'm expecting to have connections with people around the world this helps me understand those people so again it is real life supplementing the digital world and the online corrections so that's travel then we're going to work um 16 to 24 year olds work as well as do we all um and there is an absolute acknowledgement or acceptance that work is going to continue to undergo dramatic transformation over the next few years remote and flexible working will be the norm eighty percent of young people around all of those countries agree with that statement ai and automation will have replaced many jobs in ten years time there is also an acknowledgment of that so again that harks back to this desire to have um a a more secure and more um stable environment that i can live in that i can work around and then on top of that more people will want to work in a role that helps people now this is very clearly an impact of um the pandemic how long that is going to last remains a question because we are seeing now that health care professionals educators all of those professions that have really really been at the front lines of what it is and that do help people are not really being valued as much as we would have all expected them to right the pay rises are not coming through essentially if you want to do that if you want to look at it that way and on top of all of that what 2020 has also done is it has put health on the radar of young people and there's one quote in the video that you'll see that a guy from italy who's talking about in 2020 we realized that from one day to the next our health may be in jeopardy in a way that nobody has thought of before um and that is something that's incredibly important to young people now both in the physical sense but also the mental health that is at the forefront and we're seeing this um playing out at the olympics to just name a couple of examples um where we're seeing that that focus on mental health is something that is going to absolutely remain and be important and be more important than it was ever before looking into that mental health um [Music] topic a little bit more what we're seeing is that three-quarters of our young people say that in 10 years time mental health will be a major problem for society so it's absolutely not going to be solved in 10 years time it's something that will be a problem however they also think that there will be more openness and acceptance of mental health issues across society and what that's led to is that even today um 41 have taken part in a conversation about mental health as a result of the events of 2020. so what 2020 has really done is it has brought mental health to the forefront of people's minds pivoting slightly to politics young people expect accountability and diversity in their leaders so three-quarters agree that governments and politicians will be held more accountable for their actions and just under that agree with the statement that politicians governing their country will be from a more diverse range of backgrounds than they are today however unfortunately they are realistic and they're not expecting very much to change three-quarters think that corruption is still going to be a problem in their country in 10 years time and just under two-thirds say that nothing much will have changed in politics so while they have these hopes and aspirations and they're absolutely expect things to change in the on the surface the underlying um outcome they're still somewhat skeptical about and they very much understand overall that the responsibility for the future lies in their hands eighty-two percent say that everyone will be accepted to expected to educate themselves about social issues um and 80 will be actively involved in creating a society of equality in the future so they are aware of and looking to actually play their part and do what they think society needs with that they absolutely expect brands and companies to join them in that mission today 83 think that already i expect brands to stand up against social injustice and we have seen that in the past year that a lot of brands have some of them unfortunately only in the short term um but what we're also seeing is that in the future just under 80 of them agree that brands will take even more of a stand against social injustice so it's high today the expectation is for that to become even more and even higher um and really that is something that all of us us certainly has buyer from cbs but all of your companies as well really need to think about and say right how do we play within that and i'll give a few examples at the end of the presentation of how people are actively trying to do that so all in all youth believe that they have the power to change the world 84 agree that their generation has the potential to change the world for the better that is in itself not really a very meaningful number those numbers exist around the world what i find uh sorry have existed for oodles of time what i find really really interesting is that even in a year of 2020 that that has not changed right they believe that they have the power to change the world and are absolutely positively strong-willed and minded to make that happen and with that i'm going to play that video but i have to make sure that i share the sound first there we go um so you'll now hear from young people around the world in their own words um and then i'll come back and give a few more examples of how some companies are already acting on some of these recommendations um and we'll look at all of that together so with that enjoy this video 2020 it's been a challenging year from the ongoing global pandemic to police brutality and systemic racism sparking protests in cities around the world to disasters caused by climate change and activism around the environment this year has brought a huge amount of change disruption and uncertainty on a truly global scale at this pivotal moment in history we wanted to check in with young people aged between 16 and 24 we did this through a global survey across 15 countries together with remote video interviews with young people around the world how has this period of change and uncertainty affected youth what are their hopes and dreams for the future and how are the events of today shaping young people's plans beliefs and attitudes for tomorrow beyond 2020 clearly the covert 19 pandemic has played a huge role in the disruption of 2020 i think it's kind of been the most challenging year ever you could have found history piranha virus has been the biggest event by far just because it stopped everything in its tracks and then i think that event led us to re-examine a lot of other issues that we're dealing with as a society in the world right now the pandemic has changed lives but for some it also offered a rare chance to reflect look at myself and just really like do the work on myself tonight when i come out here and just be a better person like for me not for anybody else but just for me and focus on me and like actually slow down [Music] following the murders of george floyd brianna taylor ahmad abre and many others the black lives matter and anti-racism movements have had a huge impact and not just in the united states but around the world i feel like the black lives matter movement is really really important i i really do hope that it creates change even in australia you know for like indigenous indigenous rights as well you know there's so many deaths in custody i mean i've always been i feel like part of it but i feel like i never knew how to like actively contribute as much as i wanted to when i do a little social media activism trying to spread the word petitions that for me has been the biggest part of my year and it's been really inspiring to see everyone kind of coming together over it and globally other events including climate change protests natural disasters and political turmoil have taken their toll too so i definitely feel passionate about the climate change issue i feel a lot of anger towards our government in terms of how little they've been doing in the past and how little they're doing at the moment the biggest things like just politics everywhere like i've heard it now more than i ever have in my life 2020 has clearly been a challenging year prompting change reflection and reassessment but how does this impact youth beyond 2020 young people know they'll have to work hard to achieve their personal goals and crave stability in an uncertain world but overall they remain resilient and confident yeah i feel like stability is something that we're all like kind of searching for right now i don't know if my life can just fall apart all at once oh i'm ready to get on a plane i'm ready to go travel i feel trapped like it just it's making me depressed at times you know it's making me a little like oh i can't i feel like i'm more invested in putting my physical and mental health before anything else now when it comes to wider issues youth are optimistic for change but are aware that it won't come easily [Music] um i think that the political issues that we are suffering with and dealing with now i think we've dealt with them for forever i'm not sure that there's going to be a major change in what we're dealing with i feel like in the next 10 years um we just kind of have to everyone just needs to get this together honestly like we just have to figure something out they have a lot to think about but despite the unprecedented events of 2020 youth today still believe they have the power to change the world and are excited about the future so if i had to describe the future in three words and three words if i have to describe the future in three words it would be daunting scary boring different movie accepting exciting sustainable caring without this all right well i hope you enjoyed that um and with that going straight from what young people are saying themselves to well what what do we do about it so what um and where we got to that is that really we found three main takeaways that are important for all of us to keep in mind and that is adapt facilitate and inspire and i'm going to go through each of them in a bit more detail and give some examples of what we mean by those starting with adapt where all of us both of course within viacom cbs as well as all of our commercial partners and everybody in general needs to adapt for the future and we need to do that now our future plans should help provide the stability that young people crave and make meaningful commitments to drive positive change around social issues businesses and brands take a long time to build and even longer to steer a tanker in a different direction so what we need to be doing is we need to be thinking about our next steps and the path ahead today just as youth are thinking about theirs investment and initiatives shouldn't be short-term reactions that look for quick fixes they should instead be part of a long-term plan when thinking about the future we need to keep young people's best interest for a stable future at heart and make long-term genuine commitments around the issues that they care about and it's also important to communicate these plans with consumers and maintain a consistent ethos both internally and externally and don't get me wrong you can only communicate something once it is really implemented and you're living that truth before you communicate it but the communication of it is important as well so a few examples um as we've seen young people are looking to brands to drive positive change for the environment and on other social issues and this example here is apple and they are very specific climate change promise they've made a public promise that all of their products will be carbon neutral by 2030 and some brands in addition to that are going even further by aiming to be carbon negative and actually give back to the environment one of those brands as an example is the the british or actually scottish brewing company brewdog now there's also been some controversy about them lately but i think this spot is actually really really interesting in how they communicate that commitment to carbon negativity science is clear we're facing a climate crisis huge change is needed right now and that is why bulldog is now carbon negative every single year we're getting twice as much carbon out of the air as we emit our carbon our problem so we're going to fix it ourselves right here we've bought this beautiful 2 000 acre chunk of scottish highlands to create the brewdog forest and we're going to plant 1 million fees for carbon out of the air the site that we bought for our own foreign five kilometers that way and almost seven kilometers that way this all means that by drinking brewdog beer you're having a positive impact on the planet together let's make earthquake again drink punk kill carbon so that was just one example ben and jerry's are also a brand who have publicly taken a stand for the issues that they believe in and they've done that for many years to the extent that they even have an issues we care about section on their own website one of their most recent initiatives is an ice cream flavor that's called justice remixed the proceeds of which contribute towards criminal justice reform in the u.s so that's just one other example so then we're moving on to facilitate that's the second recommendation and brands really should act as facilitators for young people to help them achieve the change that they're looking for and also to have fun you today want to change the world for the better but they don't necessarily know where to start and they certainly know that it won't be easy brands can facilitate young people's desire for learning and positive change by providing guidance and resources for example around mental health and social issues this is going to enable young people to achieve the change that they want to see and then at the same time young people also need to let loose it's been a very very difficult 18 months and young people have been under a lot of pressure and there's potentially more changes to come so providing an escape for young people to let loose is also important and they want to have fun but not just on zoom but in person too because we did see that having actual relationships with people in person is also key so a couple of examples here this is one from ourselves from viacom cbs showing how mtv has supported young people during this difficult time and are enabling youth to make positive change the mtv generation change content that's pictured here is geared towards life under lockdown and focuses on providing information as well as guidance on how people can take action these are short form videos that cover a range of topics including the environment mental health and equality so that's just one of the things that we've done to try and help in terms of helping young people to have fun both of these examples that are on this slide do happen in the virtual space um fortnite party royale those are events that are a great example of how our digital platform has taken advantage of lockdowns to provide interactive experiences that replicate real world festival fun and we should expect a lot more of that as we are slowly moving to the metaverse um of where all of this stuff is going to happen another example of an event that allowed people to just let loose and have fun during the quarantine period was the lady gaga fundraiser where it was all about tied into gaga's album launch um and he was trying to give an authentic nightlife feel that obviously was unachievable unattainable for so many at that point and lastly we also have inspire brands absolutely can inspire young people to be able to face and overcome their own challenges through sharing stories of triumph against diverse adversity and in addition we can also inspire young people by helping them to explore their interests in travel and culture as we've seen young people feel that they will now have to work even harder to achieve their goals but they are looking towards an uncertain future with hope we can look to great achievements and journeys of struggle progress and triumph in our storytelling to help inspire young people as they navigate challenges ahead these stories can also inspire openness around identity self-discovery and mental health and of course telling stories is our bread and butter as an entertainment company but every commercial every ad that is being created is a story and can tie into those and we'll show one in a minute and then of course brands can also tap into young people's appetite for travel and experiencing different cultures content in this space can help to inspire their own future travel provide insight into places that they may not be able to visit in person and also show the diversity of the world that we know they want to see more of so a couple of examples here my favorite one from last year is window swap there's a very very simple thing you literally it allows you to get the feeling of being somewhere else in the world by seeing through somebody else's window out onto the street or nature or whatever that is it provides a network of webcams or uploaded videos that you can randomly be associated with and it just helps it's a great tool for mental health the other one on here is trippin which is a travel platform at the intersection of community creativity and culture which describes itself as connecting cultures worldwide the site features travel guides involving musicians and influencers for example in the screenshot here you can get tips on things to do in places to do to go in kingston with sean paul as well as a guide to black businesses in sydney so those are just two examples the last one and i'm going to play this is an ad from coca-cola which shows how we've all been going through very similar experiences wherever we are around the world it is a really interesting look at the similarities that bind us together regardless of where in the world we live but it also celebrates and gives a glimpse into a range of cultural diverse settings and just makes you feel positive and expect um a positive outcome when all of this is over the day the world stopped was the day we found where to go [Music] and we realized that the things that mattered deserve time that looks good [Music] from now on we're not going to leave anything on our plates because we've learned to save for the moments that were always there [Music] and they never tasted this good all right that one if you really think about it gets you every time so now two more slides of recap and then we'll do a bit of q a so please get your questions ready feel free to type them into the q a section or the chat um and we'll get to some of them in a bit so to recap 2020 has been a really really challenging year but young people are optimistic and they see themselves as being part of a better world and future as a result the events of this year have prompted a desire for stability and a feeling that they will need to work harder than ever to achieve those goals and while the future remains very uncertain and becomes more uncertain by the day young people are excited and eager to make the most of what comes next so what that means for us as well is that climate change should absolutely be very high on the agenda that young people think that that should be the top of the agenda as a matter of fact health and mental health especially also need increased attention and support young people want to continue to educate themselves on social issues to help make the change and they expect the same from everybody else around them with a lack of confidence in governments young people are more and more looking to brands and companies to help make that difference and they want to be able to experience and immerse themselves in other cultures again as we saw they are most excited about this in terms of travel but this appetite can also be tapped in in many many other ways now with that thank you very much for your attention if you're interested there is more about this on our blog at insights.viacomcbs.com and i now look forward to looking at any questions you may have put in here so let me open that up no questions at this point but i can agree with what's in the chat that the philosophical gap between youth and age 50 plus has never been wider so it is something that is certainly very interesting as well and welcome back bill hey christian we do have a couple questions that came in on youtube sorry i'll read those out to you you don't have access to those um one was from john and it's have all the questions in the survey been the same each time it's been run have you seen any questions have you added any questions specifically for the events that occurred in 2020 so yes it's a short answer we've added an awful lot um so much so that we can actually only trend a small number of questions um namely the happiness and stress questions so wherever i've showed progression over time those questions were exactly the same and we even i think it was 16 countries this time it was only 14 countries in 2012 so we've even taken those two countries out that we've added to make it a like-for-like comparison but really this year we looked at this in a very very different way so we started from scratch and really started to dig deep into um the the question wording and the the adjustment to what really has happened in life so yeah it was this is actually quite different from what we've done in the past and i'll piggyback on that um looking beyond 2020 see what i did there um future waves um is there you know i'm sure the you know the gears are always turning but are there things that you're sort of looking forward to um including in upcoming yes of course always i mean yes you can see them turning right um so the most interesting or actually i don't it's actually quite depressing but we did um so australia as many of you know have had until very recently a relatively good run in controlling covet and managing for that so so much so that in the beginning of this year like februaryish we went into field in australia with something that we tentatively called beyond beyond 2020 because we wanted to understand how do people in australia in a market where normality really seemed to be in very close grasp how are they looking for it we were looking at that to hopefully provide us a template of what might happen in other parts of the world that research is finished unfortunately now australia is going very quickly very backwards um in all of this um so we're sitting on it we're still looking to roll this out at a marketing conference in um in australia i think in yeah july august like now ish um but unfortunately it is no longer as as true or certainly no longer but certainly not as true for australia but it could still be um a directional influence in information for us for the rest of the world so we are essentially waiting until i don't know that there's ever going to be an after like a point at which you know this is going to be over but as we are approaching some sort of normality whenever that happens um really the interesting thing is right so what does that mean for now um and that is interesting for young people but also what we're working on right now actually is looking at excuse me at kids so six to 12 year olds um saying right for them these past 18 months have been an even bigger chunk of their life so what does the world look like to kids that's one of the things that we're focusing on now um we'll look at younger adults again in the near future as well so there's loads of questions out there and the next question is from rachel and she asks how important do you think authenticity and tone in company messaging especially directed at younger generations will be going forward how important what story can you repeat the first part of that authenticity and tone in company messaging yeah no way i think authenticity is incredibly important because young people have an incredibly well-honed meter um and that's really where authenticity is coming for you can't say things that you cannot absolutely live up to it is incredibly transparent to young people and on top of that they will also hold you to account if that's what you're trying to do so authenticity is you but what that means for a lot of companies is first you got to figure out who you are and what you're doing what is authentic to you and then you can start communicating so you look at patagonia for example as one of the brands that is incredibly authentic in what they do and how they do it and how they fight for climate um and and their communication around them like that's an example of of how you can start looking at that the tone is the other thing um and and tone is is a very it's a very different thing because this is where actually it'll be interesting to see how people of different ages generations whatever it is reacts to tone differently um and and i always find that really interesting when when when i'm browsing through tik-tok which you know is is a certain thing where there are things that are just not matching up like you really have to craft your messaging very carefully you have to be much more careful on who you're trying to reach what you're trying to say and then craft that message individually so the the time of oh here's my one message that goes for everybody the broad cast message um well and truly not really the only thing anymore you need to at least augment that with much more tailored and specific pieces within that and i know you shared some some examples of of brands that are they're doing this well right um did that exploration uh bring you across some that are maybe missing the mark you know we've got the shining examples on one hand and you don't have to name names but if there are any that you've noticed along those lines that are kind of falling short i think there's loads of them and there's there's actually too many to mention but one example that that i do find really really interesting because it is it's doing so many things so incredibly well and still getting bits wrong um and i am going to call them out on that because we've seen this over the last few years is nike right nike is doing a lot of things incredibly well um and there's the the whole the whole colin kaepernick messaging all of that type of stuff and that's where authenticity then becomes important because at the same time they're being called out for having all sorts of people of color making their shoes under minimum wage um so it's that divergence there same thing they're they're standing up for the williams sisters and sports athletes and female empowerment all that stuff yet they're not paying their athletes when they're on maternity leave um so it's all of those things you really have to think about this holistically and by the way none of this was me finding it this was people talking about it so this is just us listening um you really have to think about this very carefully and and holistically of am i in a position to say this and then how do i position it and how do i message it uh let's see we've got another question from brett uh you mentioned that the us uk brazil and south africa had some significant differences in some ways from other markets can you speak to some of the key differences that you saw among global markets yeah so um there's two things that were going on one is of course we fielded this online survey at one point at that very point the status of cobit was very different in very different markets so we saw somewhat different responses and and thoughts about the covet situation um at the time so that's one thing but that that's merely a matter of time right um just like we're counting i don't know what wave we're counting in the us now but in country x we're in wave three four five six or seven um so that was one thing that kind of influenced but the other thing that was very interesting was very clear was that what is important to people in terms of society so the things that that i found particularly interesting was that the black lives matter complex of course originated in the u.s was incredibly important in the us and resonated not only in international markets with large populations of people of color but also in some others you look at some of the more continental european northern continental european markets where the population let's face it is still largely um white you started to see references there what australia did with that topic is also really interesting because it was fundamentally translated to australia's first people um and aboriginal rights and again people of color in that way but in a slightly different thing so so those were differences that we saw but the biggest thing was just that the environment was so important to so many people in so many countries that it even trumped cobit in a lot of places and and a lot of that i mean we knew the fact that the environment is incredibly important in china is not a new thing partly driven by the fact that it is under even more threat than in most other markets or at least most western um countries and and there's food safety issues and always have been and there's along that all of those things are incredibly important and the the uniformity in those topics was actually really interesting to learn awesome all righty i think that's it um so we'll you know i hear some stomachs growling so we'll give give everybody a few minutes to go grab a bite um but yeah this is great christian um and you know from a personal standpoint i learned the fact that i can drink beer and improve my carbon footprint i can offset so this this is fantastic yeah you just have to import that beer i think but yeah that's true we'll figure something out i'm taking your face man but yeah thank you so much it was really good to do this um and happy to engage any further if anybody has any follow-up questions just get in touch insights.viagramcbs.com all right thank you awesome thank you