Daily Research News Online no. 8105 - TNS Helps Gulf Youth Find Voice

TNS Helps Gulf Youth Find Voice

March 18 2008

In the Middle East, TNS has launched a study to uncover trends among 16 to 25 year olds in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait.

The firm's 'Shabab Tek' syndicated programme examines how the under 25s in the Gulf - who represent two-thirds of the population - are driving change in society.

'We looked for insights in the quirkiest of places - be it Facebook profiles, blogs, graffiti or matrimonial sites,' explained Tammy Jalboukh, a member of TNS' strategic consumer connect cell. 'We even looked inside the purses of our female respondents in an effort to get to know who they truly are. The whole attempt has been to identify trends and insights beyond the obvious.'

Steve Hamilton-Clark, MD of TNS MENA said that Shabab Tek has already identified 14 emerging trends and 10 'youth truths', including:

Self expression - a need to be noticed and express one's views with respondents not willing to accept the 'conformist' silence of yesterday
National pride - while willing to explore western experiences, Gulf youth are proud of their heritage, nationality and leaders
Luxury brands - on the back of the oil boom, young people are displaying a strong reliance on the consumption of luxury brands in order to define status within their peer groups
Gender stereotypes - while women are becoming increasingly verbal about who they want to marry, where they want to work and how they wish to spend their leisure time; men are relinquishing autocracy for more inclusiveness with their families.

Using a number of qual ethnographic tools, ideation sessions and online desk research, the first wave of the programme took place between July and November 2007.

TNS is online at www.tnsglobal.com.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.