Blauw gives marketers insight into millennials

Millennials are not easily pigeonholed. Nienke Vreugdenhil and Frederieke van Leeuwen, both qualitative researchers at market research agency Blauw, know this better than anyone else. They noticed a great demand from clients for data on millennials. In order to meet the demand from the market, a community was created with only millennials. The surveys led to interesting insights into that target group. 'Millennials are the first generation substantially different from their parents,' Van Leeuwen states. 'Our clients are very engaged with that target group. The promise of this generation puts the marketing mix on edge: the consumer is changing, so brands cannot be left behind. Then the conclusion is quickly drawn: we have to talk to the millennial! The image that exists of the millennial is very stereotypical. People often think of hipsters or fitgirls, but the reality is so much more diverse. Our experience with this target group shows that while there are certainly differences from previous generations, there may be even more similarities. Deep down, we all harbor similar desires and needs. The way millennials fulfill these, therein lies the difference.'

Chats and challenges

The millennial community consists of about a hundred members who are constantly on standby. 'Customers can ask all kinds of questions, but also, for example, let people sample their products,' says Vreugdenhil. 'The advantage of community research is that you can do this very quickly; within 24 hours you already have responses. With qualitative and quantitative research, you quickly find yourself with at least a week of preparation time. Ask the community members questions and you get immediate answers. Because it's a multi client solution, it's also relatively inexpensive.' Insights into millennials can be recruited in a variety of ways: from creating forum topics, having them fill out questionnaires and conduct chat sessions, to having them do creative assignments and challenges. So, too, marketers can send a product for members to taste or test and talk to them about it in the community.

Advancing insight

Researchers prepare a script based on a briefing from the client. This involves determining the best methods to use. 'The methods are so diverse that we know how to combine them,' says Vreugdenhil. 'That's the beauty of community research: the issue takes from a day to sometimes even three months, which means you can do a lot with progressive insight. We do make a script, but if we hear something interesting and want to know more about it, we can immediately go much deeper into it. In quantitative research, you make a questionnaire and then you can't do anything about it. In qualitative research, you can tweak your questions slightly during the conversation. The advantage of community research is that you can really co-create with the target group because you have them at your disposal for a somewhat longer period of time.'

Digital visiting

As an example, the researchers provide a case that examined the role of clothing for the lifestyle of millennials. 'We wanted to know how they live,' Van Leeuwen explains. 'Then we asked community members to take photos and videos of their homes and closets so we could visit them digitally. One of the things we learned was that they made up the craziest things to get rid of their stuff. Millennials are still at the start of their careers and living small, and those are things that come alive when watching the videos. Those kinds of observations may not be special to millennials themselves, but we can relate to them. Vreugdenhil complements her: 'The ideal situation is for a marketer to spend a week staying with different millennials to get a good picture, but that's just not practically possible. Then community research is just a very nice form to get a glimpse into the life of a millennial.

Regular updates

Clients, without the members knowing it, can look into a community and therefore have immediate access to information. 'So it is not that we tell our clients what we have found, they can also read that for themselves,' says Van Leeuwen. 'Experience shows, however, that it is too much for the client. They get so much information from so many sides that it becomes a mess. It takes a lot of time to read everything, but we know how to extract the red thread and the opportunities. Clients receive regular updates of the most important findings and salient information. Based on this, we agree on whether, for example, adjustments need to be made to the predetermined script. Doing community research gives marketers tools to achieve the next success. As a marketer, you often wonder whether you are on the right track and what the next step should be. With a community, you can get answers to those questions.'

Within the millennial community there is a separate community, that of millennial mothers. This was created because the composition of this target group is constantly changing, difficult to reach for research, and because they are busy. This makes it difficult to get data on these so-called new borns. Vreugdenhil: "Women become interested in other products when they are pregnant or become mothers. Etos, for example, wanted to know how they could get these expectant mothers to visit their stores. On the basis of that research, we Etos some very concrete recommendations.'

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