5 Need to Know Facts About Young Urban Audiences

Nicola Barrett, head of research, Exterion Media

In cities across the UK there is a new generation of young urban audiences developing, with behaviours and attitudes unique to them. These ‘urbanites’ have a huge amount of spending power and are hungry for information about their cities. This audience is looking for guidance on what to eat and drink, where they should be travelling to and what they should be buying; this presents huge opportunity for advertisers and creatives.  We recently conducted some consumer research with Time Out to look at this audience and understand how best to engage with them.

Seeking new experiences

They pride themselves at leading the way in telling their friends about the latest fitness trend or restaurant to be seen at and seek out information to inform their conversations and plans. In fact, half of the UK urbanites say they like to discover new bars and pubs, with 36% saying the places they visit are venues they have never been to before. The desire to discover new places and experiences is especially strong with the audience, and they dedicate the time to it.

Young urbanites socialise more than any other group, and are out and about throughout the week as well as the weekend. Often the decisions about what to do are made last minute (two in five plan where to go on the day itself) meaning a greater opportunity to inspire their decision making. In particular, midweek is a good time to entice urbanites out to do something spontaneous.

FOMO is king

As a way of filtering through the huge volume of options on their doorstep, this audience look for recommendations from people they trust. 82% find out about the latest events, restaurants and bars through their friends so getting people talking is key. Even better is offering an experience that people will regret missing out on: the FOMO effect.

The power of this is strong in this audience and can be used to drive awareness, interest and most importantly to take action. This can be reflected in their creative communications when targeting the urban audience; content should encourage discussion and get them excited about it.  

"82% find out about the latest events through their friends."

Create an experience and they will come

Key to tapping into the FOMO effect is through creating real-world experiences. People expect more than just a dinner nowadays. What one dish should they try at your restaurant which is going to give them great social media content? What limited edition product can they get their hands on?

"People expect more than just a dinner."

A good example of this is people now being prepared to queue for a restaurant. Only a few years ago this would be considered a bad thing, which would turn people off going. Now, it’s a status symbol. The queues don’t put people off, if anything they drive intrigue for the audience, and mean they will be able to tell everyone that they managed to get in.

Engagement on-the-go

London commuters are looking for ways to distract them on their journey, in ways that can help them in their everyday life. With TGI data revealing that Londoners have the longest commute of any European city, with the number of Londoners spending more than five hours on the Tube a week rising by 25% in the last five years, there’s a huge amount of time available for advertisers to engage with them. In fact, 40% of London commuters say that they actively seek out new adverts on their commute to inspire them on their journey.

"40% of London commuters say that they actively seek out new adverts on their commute."

This audience is constantly on-the-go; campaigns should tap into them throughout their day. The young London audience is less likely to watch TV than the rest of the UK, but instead spends more of their time commuting. Advertisers can make the most of this by inspiring them on their commute; at a time when they are looking to escape and be influenced.

The success of the suburbs

The impact of the price of housing in Central London has had a real impact on commutes, and ultimately where best to engage with urban audiences. Now, advertising in the suburbs is starting to stand alongside the likes of Oxford Street, and is typically a cost effective option. There’s no one area in a city that is the ‘go-to’ destination and brands need to recognise that there are multiple hotspots to target this valuable audience throughout the week.

Overall, this generation are active agents, rather than being passive consumers, so brands need to be communicating and engaging with them in ways that reflect this. The key is making people feel special; through the tone of your social media, through exclusive events perfectly tailored to the audience, and creating experiences they can’t wait to tell their friends about.

*All stats from The Urban Socialising Report by Exterion Media and Time Out published in July 2017