Op zoek naar ‘bros’ in ‘guyland’
Tommi Laitio heeft enkele jaren in ons land gewoond en gewerkt, onder meer voor de Europese Culturele Stichting. In die tijd was hij ook lid van de redactieraad van ScienceGuide. Sinds enige jaren is hij de trekker van het jeugdbeleid van Helsinki, de jongste ‘ambtelijke chef’ die de Finse hoofdstad ook kende. In een essay vertelt hij over zijn ervaringen en analyses ten aanzien van het bereiken en binden van jonge mensen.
“A couple of years ago we did a report for think tank Demos Helsinki on the power of peer groups. Our focus in the study was to look at ways groups can help drive a change towards sustainable lifestyles. We discovered that several – probably even the majority of – companies have changed their marketing from a age- or gender-oriented approach to a lifestyle-oriented approach. The savviest ones have managed to build partnerships with peer groups, which helps the companies to test, develop and market their products and services.
The reasoning behind the change away from age cohorts is that our age actually tells very little about what we want to do and to be. If you want to answer to people’s aspirations, you need to reach out to subcultures and find the right spokespeople for your work. In the best possible scenario, a partnership with a user group generated true shared value, i.e. value for the company, the consumers and the society.”
U leest het complete betoog ‘On Bros and Twees’ hier.
