The evening of June 5 marked the highly anticipated return of the Peeps Talk series. Peeps Talk 03 once again brought together a community of passionate professionals, academics and students for an evening of insights into what makes them tick.
Dr. Jon Callegher kicked off the night with a thought-provoking Talk on the myths surrounding Millennials and social media. Jon started out by noting that the Millennials are a generation that has mastered multitasking; however, he went on to say: “This is the only thing I am prepared to say unites Millennials. We are complex.” Three myths concerning Millennials — their perceived narcissism, friending habits, and concern for their privacy — were debunked. Along the way, Jon’s research made it clear that the behaviour of Millennials on social media is indeed complex.
Dr. Csilla Kalocsai spoke next, taking the audience through her ethnographic research of behavioural change. “People talk about their behavioural change as a long journey, involving many steps building upon each other.” Csilla’s Talk dealt with this idea in detail, showing how behavioural change comes about due to a variety of factors, and is often deeply related to social and personal change in a person’s life, for example, using safer cleaning products after bringing home your first child. After detailing how marketing campaigns have succeeded in changing social behaviours for the better, she left us with the hopeful note that although it is complex, it is not impossible.
Graham Candy wrapped up the evening with a discussion of the way in which research insights become actionable strategy. As he pointed out in his talk, there is a long journey from cultural insight to the creation of a product or campaign for a client, and culture is constantly shifting, therefore requiring that process to start all over again. “The cultural script changes very quickly. It can be very hard to negotiate it.” Drawing on popular culture and even a clip from the film 21 Jump Street, Graham guided us through this process and showed why it was so important.
The evening was a success, enjoyed by everyone including Graham’s five-month old daughter! As the event drew to a close, we were happy to see that neither our audience nor our speakers were quite ready to see the evening end. The opportunity to share and engage with their interest in people inspired many to approach us afterwards about the future of Peeps, and the possibility of involvement with our project. As our foundation of contributors grows, we continue to see the potential of Peeps, and foresee growth for the future.
By Aliah El-houni
Photography by Magdalena M
