Quest conducts major study about Saudi Youth

Quest Consulting has recently completed a lifestyle study of Saudi teenagers aged 18-24. The company utilized qualitative research techniques and ethnography to speak to a cross-section of Saudi teens in the three main urban areas of Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam.

(PRWEB) September 9, 2004 -- Significant differences were found between young men and women. Young men tend to feel powerless and alienated from the rest of society. Young women, on the other hand, are very pro-active and seeking a wider role in society. They see themselves very much as pioneers and are keen to break down barriers in the workplace and to become good role models and contribute to the development of society.
QUEST has also developed the REACT® model which provides insights into the types of brands and activities that capture their imagination. The REACT® model helps us to understand why Saudi youth love certain brands and can also act as a marketing checklist to help create advertising and promotions to better engage them.
The cost of this study is $12,500.

Quest Consulting         
QUEST is a specialized research company devoted to uncovering human insights about consumers in the Middle East. It provides these insights to multi-national and local companies to help them develop more impactful marketing communications.

The company was set up by Ken McDermott (Mohammed Suhaib), a British Muslim who has been working in the Arabian Gulf since 1985. We spoke to him:
Q: HOW DID YOU COME TO EMBRACE ISLAM?
A: I came to the Gulf in 1985 when I joined a market research company called MERAC in Bahrain. In the consumer research projects that we were conducting, there were often references to Islamic guidelines, which we did not truly understand. I thought that it was beholden on me to read up on Islam, to help me to do my job better. That sparked an interest that eventually led to me embracing it. That was 15 years ago and I am pleased that the worst fears of my friends have not materialized. I have a loving wife and 5 amazing children and I count my blessings every day.
Q: WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO SET UP QUEST?
There has been a marked shift in our industry in recent years. Clients have become significantly more demanding and are seeking genuine insights that they can use to maximize the impact of their marketing campaigns. Insight is perhaps the most overused word in research nowadays. Most research companies talk about it in their credentials presentations, but a lot of this is mere lip service. Real insight does not come easily. To me, a pre-requisite is that the researcher should have an insatiable curiosity about local consumers and to be engaged in an ongoing quest -- hence the name -- to get inside their heads. Too many researchers are expatriates who know that they will go home in a few years anyway and are therefore reluctant to make the time investment required. I have been lucky enough to have been able to become associated with insights in this market and thought that now was the right time to do my own thing.
Q: WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO CONDUCT THE SAUDI YOUTH STUDY?
We all know that the local population has a very young age profile -- 70% of Saudis are under 30 years old -- and yet the feedback I was getting from advertising agencies was that there was much that they did not know. This was despite the fact that many of the leading multinationals have invested considerable sums in youth research in the past. We decided to take it on as a challenge and to lay down a marker on what we are all about.
Q: WHAT PROBLEMS,IF ANY,DID YOU FACE?
With regard to young females, it was relatively straightforward. We were fortunate to have the services of some excellent female moderators and the girls were very ready to talk. It was almost like a dam breaking -- information came gushing out. With the guys it was much more difficult at first. In the Gulf, there is the principle among men of being 'katoom i.e. reserved. Being too talkative is taken as a sign of weakness. A conventional research approach was producing the same kind of drab, uninspiring findings that the advertising agencies had been complaining of.
Upon reflection, we realized that it will not work when an expatriate Arab moderator turns up with a tape recorder and starts asking probing questions such as Tell me about your relationship with your father?" There is no way that they will play ball in this kind of scenario. So we changed our approach. We are fortunate to have on our team Mr. Maher Al Maskari, an Omani national who has over ten years research experience in the region. We asked him to 'go under cover so to speak and spend time with these young guys and really get to know them. Once he had built up a basis of trust, he was able to get a much more in-depth understanding about how they really feel about their lives.
Q: WHAT WERE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES THAT YOU OBSERVED BETWEEN MALES AND FEMALES?
Significant differences were found between young men and women. They are like chalk and cheese -- so much so that we are presenting the results in two separate sessions. Young men tend to feel powerless and alienated from the rest of society. Young women, on the other hand, are very pro-active and seeking a wider role in society. They see themselves very much as pioneers and are keen to break down barriers in the workplace and to become good role models and contribute to the development of society.
Q: CAN YOU SHARE WITH US SOME MORE OF THE MALE FINDINGS?
Naturally, I dont want to give too much away as we are still doing presentations of the results to paying clients. However, we did notice that one of the words which they often use to describe their life is 'Mathloum" i.e. victims of injustice. They feel that adults are too ready to condemn them as being at fault or just plain useless. For example, if a young guy has a traffic accident with another car driven by an older driver, his own parents will often automatically blame him - without taking the trouble to investigate what actually happened.
Q: WE UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE DEVELOPED A MODEL THAT HELPS CLIENTS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW TO CONNECT WITH THEM?
Yes, our model is called REACT® and is based on an acronym of 5 key elements that explain why they gravitate to certain activities, role models and brands so readily. It explains, for example, their love of Playstation and rap music. Their favorite brands of cigarettes, cars and soft drinks also embody these elements. The model is a useful checklist when designing new advertising and promotions targeting young men. It can also be used as a template to develop and enhance brand equity. There are obvious parallels with youth in other countries which is not surprising, but the real value of the study lies in its explanation of the specific Saudi manifestations of these leanings. Overall, despite having to listen to the multitude frustrations which they complain about, we came away with an optimistic outlook. Many of the young guys that we met impressed us with their intelligence and determination and we are in the process of recruiting several of them. Their image as a bunch of timewasters is inaccurate in so many cases. Many are just looking for the opportunity to show what they can do.
Q: WHAT ABOUT YOUR FINDINGS FROM THE YOUNG WOMEN?A: These young women represent a radical and ambitious generation. They see themselves as being much better educated than their mothers and believe that this education will be the springboard for them to play a much wider role in society. They typically talk about the duality they need to have in their lives, in terms of having a role to play both 'within and outside the home.
They are losing their respect for their male counterparts -- and I was really surprised by the extent of this -- and they feel that they have a lot to offer in confronting the problems of daily life.
Q: HOW CAN YOUR CLIENTS APPLY THIS KNOWLEDGE?
A: Of course, we have been aware of the feminist movement for some time and it was covered in detail in a previous syndicated study that I was closely involved with. What I am pleased about in this study is the great deal of texture and detail that we have managed to bring to our understanding of them. I am pleased with our analysis of their hopes and dreams and the type of women and housewives they hope to become. We have developed a very detailed pen portrait of the 'Aspirational Me as we call it. The potential value to clients lies in their being able to align their brand personalities in line with this aspirational self and, in so doing, to hopefully steal a march on their competitors. I know of at least one client who is hoping that this will help it to topple a leading competitor that has previously been regarded as being unassailable in its category.
Q: WHAT DO YOU HAVE PLANNED NEXT?
A: Well, we have just recruited our first Saudi female and male reserachers who are now based in our Dubai office and we are in the process of opening new offices in Jeddah and Tehran. On another front, one of the most interesting trends in Saudi right now is the growing trend towards philanthropy amongst leading businessmen who are seeking to do something to help their country. Several of them have approached us and asked if we can share the results of the Youth study as an input into their planning. We will be only too happy to help out on this and hope to do more pro-bono work in future.

Ken McDermott (Mohammed Suhaib), Managing Director
Quest Consulting, Dubai, UAE
Tel: + 9714 3671615,
E-mail: ken@qc.ae
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