A Broad Quantitative Survey, Focus Groups, and Digital Qualitative Research Opens a Window into Kazakhstani Youth

The challenge

The Kazakhstani business and marketing community sought a better understanding of the values, attitudes, and behaviors among youth in Kazakhstan. Knowledge was limited to macro or informal datasets, and traditional methods of research were superficial. This meant that businesses were not speaking in the target audience’s language through their marketing efforts. Kazakhstani companies across different industries (FMCG, telecom, finance, government) banded together to fund a project to paint a clearer picture of this valuable target.

The solution

The BRIF Research Group took a multi-modal approach, including desk research, a broad quantitative survey, focus groups, expert interviews, and online communities, the latter of which utilized Revelation, FocusVision’s digital qualitative platform. The quantitative survey and desk research sketched an outline of trends in youth behavior, while the focus groups, expert interviews, and online communities fleshed out the motivations and attitudes driving them. Revelation online communities allowed researchers to be alongside their targets for three days. They interacted with respondents via their smartphones, which allowed for responses in any format (video, photo, text), and helped put motivations into context.

“By using the Revelation platform, we were able to obtain a large amount of “live” material – many photos and videos – that helped us understand the lives of our youth from within. It also helped us get more sincere answers from the participants, as it was not “face to face” with us as the researchers.”

The results

The study identified three major trends with big implications for companies in Kazakhstan: a rising proportion of youths leaving or wanting to leave the country; luxury brands on the decline as youths look for better value and seek to be less showy; the internet emerging as the prevalent source of information/entertainment. Social networks, in particular, are popular among younger age groups, perhaps explaining their affinity for the Revelation platform, as its interface mimics a familiar social media environment. This research effort has given companies a clearer vision of this target and will serve as a springboard for stronger, more relevant marketing efforts.

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