Skip to content
  • About Us
  • Case Studies
  • News
    • Media
  • Contact
Menu
  • About Us
  • Case Studies
  • News
    • Media
  • Contact
book a call

5 Shifts Redefining Australia: Part 1

BLOG ARTICLE

5 Shifts Redefining Australia: Part 1

What does “family” mean to Australians and the brands that serve them?

For around 100 years, Australian minds and media generally defined “family” as an inflexible structure: a mother, a father and 1-2 children. From TV to entertainment packages to adverts, the predominant narrative suggested this was a “typical family”, reflected in toothpaste commercials and media spend.

Of course, for many Australians, this definition of family never matched their own reality. Today, that historical definition of a household is even more at odds with the facts. Now, “family” is a broader, more inclusive term spanning diverse ages, marriage statuses, sexual orientations, life stages and how many people are actually living under one roof.

It’s a shift that advertisers and brands need to be aware of before they start to lose relevance. By not reflecting this crucial transformation brands are at risk of misrepresenting the diversity of Australian families, creating a mismatch in their messaging, offers and strategies.

But how do we know things have changed? 

In February, Insights Exchange and Pureprofile surveyed 1,700 Australian residents over the age of 18, weighting the data for gender, age and location to ensure accuracy. Over 3 days, we gathered a significant amount of data that led us to substantiate5 influential demographic shifts in Australia, which we’ll reveal further in future articles.

The first of the major pronounced shifts is, as you might’ve guessed by now, the decline of the nuclear family.

In the near future, fluid definitions of family will become common or even predominant, shifting to single and single parent households, multi-generational households, adult children at home and couples putting off children—or not having them at all. Aged consumers already feel misunderstood.

 

What the Data Shows
When asked about the makeup of their household, respondents provided answers that show a stark contrast from past nuclear family assumptions:

  • Just 1 in 4 said their household has a child under 18 years of age at home
  • 40% of 18-24yr olds are living at home with their parent/s
  • 51% of 18-34 year olds said they’re unlikely to have a baby in the next 5 years
  • 1 in 3 said they feel their family is not represented by Australian media and advertisers; this increases to 1 in 2 feeling poorly represented in the 55+ age group.

 

The causes are complex and multi-faceted, from a shrinking population to housing prices to shifts in technology and culture. Economic insecurity, further exacerbated by COVID-19, has created unlikely roommates and delayed pregnancies, creating ripple effects we’ll feel for decades.

What This Means for Advertisers & Brands

Assumptions we’ve made about age groups or living arrangements need an overhaul. Your customers want to see themselves reflected in your brand, from the people you choose for a social media pic to the campaigns you promote to the messaging on your website. If your customers don’t feel seen and catered to, they’ll find another brand they feel is relevant to their household and values.

You might’ve noticed this transition happening already; single fathers are doing laundry in TV spots and senior same-sex couples are enjoying active hobbies in banner ads. Savvy brands have caught on. But it’s more than just who shows up in your advertising; this shift will impact everything from packaging to logistics to media spend to social impact.

For example, with more adult children living at home, this may upend who influences purchasing power within the home, requiring changes in marketing channels and distribution models. While mum and dad assume purchasing a toothbrush requires going to the shops, their daughter living at home after university knows there’s a subscription toothbrush option—something she learned about from a paid TikTok influencer. 

Because the subscription option is effortless, the entire family converts. Along with this decision, they trade the plastic packaging of retail toothbrushes for compostable eco-friendly packaging, supporting a brand that promises to pay living wages to its employees. They now question how other brands they buy from treat packaging and employees. How different now are the requirements for selling toothbrushes!

What Your Brand Can Do Now

Luckily, you and your brand now know this shift has arrived. Instead of fighting it, realise this is an opportunity to embrace new customers, refresh your brand and innovate in ways that the former definition of “family” prevented.

To be specific, now is the time to leverage insights about your customers, data the consumer insights experts at Insights Exchange can help you discover and leverage. Working with a global selection of vetted consumer insights pros gives you a cost-effective way to know exactly who your customers are, what they value and how you can reach and convert them.

Don’t forget to check back for the second part of this 5-part series, coming 1st of June.

We’re curious: how has this demographic shift impacted your brand, strategies, products and customers so far? What challenges has this shift created—and what opportunities do you see?

More Articles

How Consumer Insights help brands cut costs during COVID-19
Welcome to 2020 where a pandemic and potential global recession are driving uncertainty and leading business leaders to examine their P&Ls
read more
Will the Future of Work be a renaissance, revolution or dystopia?
I had the privilege to attend the National Future of Work Summit held at the ICC in Sydney on 30th October 2018.
read more
Four reasons why data can drive internal alignment
You are the Founder or CEO and want to launch a new product to ensure the company hits its growth targets and continues to move forward.
read more
Quiet: Business planning solo
“Alone time is when I distance myself from the voices of the world so I can hear my own.” Oprah Winfrey
read more
What is a customer community and how do you host one?
read more
Market research joins the gig economy
It’s the new future of job security, even if it looks nothing like the job security of the past, giving me freedom and flexibility.
read more
5 Shifts Redefining Australia: Part 2
The Rise of Kids Never Leaving the Nest And How Brands Can Rise to Meet the Shift
read more
Your Competitors Are Already Using Customer Insights
Insight-driven companies are growing at 8x the pace of the global GDPa compelling reason for any organization to prioritize customer insight
read more
The Time is Now for ‘Indies’ in Insights
I picked up this month’s NZ Marketing magazine focused on the disintermediation of the marketing industry by specialist agencies
read more
Rethinking customer insights to drive growth for SMEs
In NZ and Australia, SME’s now make up over 90% of industry and will be the main source of new jobs in the future.
read more
The Next Growth Opportunity: Customer Insights in the Age of Agile
Change before you have to… Control your own destiny or someone else will.
read more
10 things I learned at Nurture Change 2019
As a business owner, Mum of two young kids and launching a start-up, life is busy. It is easy to put your head down, grit your teeth and
read more
The return of in-person qualitative research?
Covid-19 has forced how many of us conduct qualitative market research with a fundamental shift
read more
5 key people you need in your corner
How to succeed as a Business Founder: 5 key people you need in your corner
read more
Don’t be like the Emperor and his New Clothes…get the truth from your customers
Businesses are now being told to put their customers first and design products and services with a customer-centric lens.
read more
Customer-centric or data-led?
insight-driven companies in the US are growing at 8x the pace of the global GDP
read more
5 Shifts Redefining Australia: Part 3
The Impossibility of Australian Home Ownership—And Why Brands Can Capitalise On This Change
read more
Understanding your customer – best bet for surviving Covid-19
6 reasons why understanding your customer is your best bet for surviving Covid-19
read more
How Market Research Specialists Are Bringing Data and Agility to Companies
Experts Everywhere: How Remote, Independent Market Research Specialists Are Bringing Data, Savings and Agility to Companies
read more
What role does the customer play in your organisation?
Are your customers driving your business… or is your business driving away your customers?
read more
Join our Newsletter

Sign up for the latest news and updates from the team at Insights Exchange

Contact
  • Email: info[at]insights-exchange.com Tel: +61 424 667 648
Address
  • Level 2, 11 York Street, Sydney, NSW 2000
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and condtions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and conditions
© Copyright 2023 Insights Exchange
Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
Preferences
{title} {title} {title}

Nichola Quail

Welcome to the Insights Exchange scheduling page.
Please follow the instructions to book a call.
I look forward to speaking with you soon!

30 Minute Catch up ►

Contact

Let’s get this conversation started. Tell us a bit about yourself and
we’ll get in touch as soon as we can

  • About Us
  • Case Studies
  • News
    • Media
  • Contact
book a call