Although many spent the summer on a beach, Amplify were again busy chatting to 2,000+ 18-30 year-olds for Young Blood 2: ‘The Formula is Fucked’, a major update to our long-term and ever-growing passion project exploring and celebrating modern British youth culture.

Helping brands and businesses that want to connect with youth audiences, and predicting what’s to come, Young Blood is vital to understanding the current youth mindset.

Since the inaugural 2016 Young Blood, we’ve witnessed Trump, Brexit, #METOO and Grenfell. It’s taken its toll and today’s youth are losing faith. The optimism and hopefulness that defined this generation two years ago is morphing into something more serious and introspective. And yet, on a more positive note, more 18-30 year olds now look inside themselves for happiness and validation.

So Young Blood 2 paints a complex and sometimes contradictory picture of today’s British youth culture. Crucially, these nuances can only be understood by genuinely listening to young people, rather than lumping them together in a cheap catch-all label like ‘millennial’.

The research and films are free to use, but here are five of the most salient trends for our industry:

Give them experiences: This experience-driven group is galvanised by participation in the brands they love. Give them experiences and stories that connect through a culture-driven encounter that they can learn and share socially.

They’re internalising the process of happiness: They’re rejecting traditional materialism but still respect those that can help them fulfil a genuine need.

Location influences opinion: Everything varies regionally – whether measures of success to attitudes towards drinking. Localised activations are better placed to resonate that a one-size-fits-all approach.

Use technology and their data responsibly: Their ambivalence towards data sharing demonstrates feelings of hopelessness. They’re looking for a hero in this area. 

Gender issues are not going away: Everyone is entitled to feel comfortable in their own skins. We can’t shy away from equality issues and need to create change from the ground up.

Get the full research and films here: https://www.weareamplify.com/young-blood/