The youth market is accelerating technological adoption in Brazil which is radically changing consumer needs especially in how they’re entertained and how they socialise.

The internet and technological innovation has firmly gripped the new youth generation in Brazil. The Brazilian youth are using the internet in very similar ways to mature markets. It is becoming a primary source of entertainment and a means to communicate and make their voice be heard. The core values and needs of young consumers in Brazil are very different to their predecessors. As a result, the Brazilian youth are redefining consumerism in this exciting new country and what is clear is that their hunger to consume will create opportunities that previously did not exist.

The radically different needs of Brazil’s new youth generation

Recent research by GfK [1] shows that Brazil’s youth market, everyone aged 12-30, have a very different outlook on life than previous generations. They see the internet as essential for access to the world, to friends, to acquaintances and all forms of entertainment. The internet makes the chores of everyday life easier and allows them to accomplish many things without leaving the home. For example, shopping from anywhere in the world, getting to know international places and museums, checking movie openings and, above all, saying things that some young people would not have the courage to say in person.

New skills and ways of working are beginning to emerge such as this generation has developed the skill of multi-tasking. They get involved with many things at a time and, because of that, time becomes relative. Brazilian youth are restless, impatient and hasty and typically lose track of time when facing so many possibilities and so many attractions. Life needs to happen fast, and as a result, they crave the latest technology to help them enrich and meet their day-to day needs.

Entertain me! The multi-screen generation

The youth in Brazil crave entertainment and consume high levels of many types of media content. GfK’s research shows that Brazilian youth have no pre-conceived restrictions about what device they use to consume media: this conceptual barrier does not exist for them. While conventional TV is still the dominant medium for TV shows, smartphones, PCs, tablets and mp3/media players are allowing greater access to internet based media.

Brazilian youth’s insatiable thirst for media content has important implications for content producers, service providers and advertisers. With vastly different consumer needs to the older generation, brands and advertisers would be wise to reach out to this audience across popular media channels on the internet and across devices. Whilst the youth share family and career values with the older generation, consumption, socialization and entertainment are new values that define this new youth generation.

Amplify me! Everyone is an author

Social media is a core part of the way mature market consumers socialize and communicate. The impact of social media around the world is enormous. Recently, in Libya and Egypt social media has given the people a voice and has allowed groups to form based on their beliefs or political agenda. Brazil is political stable but the emergence of social media is democratizing the means of production and distribution as the youth market revel in producing and publishing their songs, photos, videos and blogs.

GfK’s research shows that 35% of the young declare they keep a blog or photolog. Prior to the internet, there has never been an era in which historians could have had such direct access to letters, diaries and photo albums kept by the young.

Different social classes, same underlying aspirations

The difference between the aspirations of young people of different social classes has become smaller. Through the internet, they now encounter more of the same references, and so dream about consuming the same things. What is different still is their financial ability to fulfill those aspirations. For example, one of the greatest aspirations within the researched group was to buy a computer but while those from SEC C (social and economic classification) want to have their first computer with access to the internet, those from SEC B dream about trading their desktop computer for a notebook, and those from SEC A think of migrating from the notebook to a tablet with touchscreen technology.

What a young person can accumulate in terms of information, nowadays, is exponentially greater than what an adult could accumulate 50 years ago. Technology and access to information allow young people from all socio-economic classes to widen their possibilities when it comes to education, knowledge and professional growth.

Summary of Brazilian youth

Brazil, a BRIC market, is already recognized as one with high level s of growth and exciting opportunities for business. It is clear from this research that Brazil’s youth market is a vibrant one both in terms of their radically different needs and their propensity to consume. Their thirst for new and exciting ways to communicate and desire to be entertained is a clear sign that technological innovation is widely embraced not just among the wealthy but across a broad spectrum of Brazilian society. This not only presents technology companies, content providers and advertises with an abundance of opportunities but also a warm Latin welcome to do business in Brazil.

 

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Tags: Aspirations, Brazil, BRIC, Consumerism, Emerging Markets, Multi Screen, Smartphones, Social Media, Youth Market