We’re an eclectic bunch at team Razor.

Each month, we’ll share with the world a flavour of what’s caught our attention and influenced our thinking and conversations in the office.

Chloë B
Six the musical. I’ve had the soundtrack on repeat and have booked to see it at the theatre for a second time. For anyone that doesn’t know what Six is all about, it’s a sassy, poppy, girl power musical all about the six wives of Henry VIII. I recommend it to everyone!
Click here for more info.

Chloë F
I’ve been loving a podcast by a poet called Tim Clare. He spends each episode reading out the first 250 words of someone’s writing and then totally rips it to shreds…which sounds brutal but he’s funny and well-intentioned. His advice is always spot on. Precision, precision, precision.
Click here for more info.

Gem
I recently welcomed Adam Buxton back into my life. Not that I’d exiled him or anything; he just slipped off my radar since my Adam & Joe listening days on 6 Music. But I was thrilled to not only spot him in my podcast player but to also find an extensive back catalogue of conversations with his celeb pals. His interviews are so funny, warm and gentle that I find them a delight to listen to. People open up to him with ease – a dream scenario in the world of market research!
Click here for more info.

Danny
Facebook Spaces caught my attention this month. Facebook bought VR company Oculus and developed a VR messenger service where friends can hang out together as animated characters in an AR environment. Another example of how a Black Mirror episode (Striking Vipers) has become reality.
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Jill
I’m nerding out about GDP as a measure of a country’s progress. I’m already a massive fan of the Reasons to be Cheerful podcast, but the episode discussing whether or not GDP was still (ever?!) the right measure of a country’s progress really piqued my interest. I know not everyone will agree with me, but I’m FASCINATED.
Click here for more info.

Kate
A podcast I’m really enjoying is called How I Built This; a series of interviews with innovators and entrepreneurs to understand the stories behind the movements they built. I love learning about how an idea turns into a successful business, and being inspired by the eclectic mix of people responsible. (Check out episodes on Five Guys, TOMS, Airbnb and Bumble!)
Click here for more info.

Kenny
This year, I’ve challenged myself to learn more about different branches of philosophy. I came across the BBC podcast series, In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg, who gives great introductions to a broad range of different philosophical fields. An episode introducing the idea of logic really caught my attention this month with a wealth of implications for how we use reasoning and argument in our work here at Razor.
Click here for more info.

Lindsay
I’ve been learning about ‘Nutritional Movement’, which is being led by Katy Bowman; a Biochemist in the USA with a real interest in movement and the importance of it for our health. The idea is that she’s not just saying we need to move more than we do (in our very sedentary lives!). She’s saying we need to increase the amount and the type of movement we do to give all of our muscles and joints the movement they need to stay healthy.
Click here for more info.

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Back to school time is upon us! Uniforms are being prepped, snazzy lunch boxes are waiting to be filled, and people are flocking to Paperchase for the latest funky stationery. 

Seeing kids gear up for the new school year got me thinking about some of the ‘in’ brands from my school days; all left back in the past along with BBM and Bebo: (Argh, I feel old! *starts weeping*)

Hollister
Hoodies, jogging bottoms, and beach vibe stores. Everyone I knew loved shopping in Hollister. I can even remember queues coming out of the door during its peak. But today’s teens don’t share the same enthusiasm; it’s an expensive brand and, as savvy shoppers, they’d rather invest their money elsewhere. They connect more with brands that show realness and diversity in beauty – Hollister’s image comes across as a little too ‘perfect’.

UGG
Soggy footwear ruined by the rain is neither practical nor a good look; but we still wore UGGs whatever the weather. Unfortunately (maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it) cheaper, knock-off versions swept the market and soon everyone was wearing them, taking away their exclusive status and ruining the brand.

Despite the brand trying to make a comeback numerous times, teens shun UGG these days in favour of trainers and an everyday wardrobe of athleisure wear.

Body sprays
Sickly-sweet smells always dominated the school changing rooms. Every girl’s schoolbag had a can of Charlie or Impulse in there. Some still do in fact! Just last year, Impulse brought out a new range to satisfy a need for lighter fragrances in the form of mists. And these aren’t just for teens; luxury retailers have their own ranges as a cheaper, everyday alternative to perfume.

Jane Norman
The PE bags! Everyone at my school used a plastic Jane Norman bag to carry their PE kit in. Even if you’d only bought one item from that store, you kept that bag and used it at least a hundred times until it was bruised and battered. You won’t find these bags around anymore; the retailer failed to keep up with changing trends and consumer demands leading to its administration in 2011.

So, what do brands need to know about the needs of today’s youth? They’re more demanding than ever and want brands that actually do something for them, making their life easier in some way [Uber]. They want to connect with brands but on a deeper level, feeding into product design and development [Glossier] And as we’ve heard several times, they like brands that demonstrate social responsibility [Lush].

Not much to ask for!

Thanks to gearing up for last month’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) deadline, everyone’s heads are now fully in the data privacy zone. Companies must now treat their customers’ personal data with extra special care (or risk a hefty fine!). In other words, this is topic is even more serious than it already was.

On the plus side, we are more informed than ever before. People are increasingly aware of security risks that come with sharing their personal data; mostly because we’re hearing more about data breaches in the news.

Social media channels are under a new level of scrutiny since the scandal surrounding Facebook and Cambridge Analytica hit the headlines back in March.

In an age where personal data is more precious than ever, people who previously wouldn’t usually have thought twice began questioning the security and levels of trust they should place on social media. For months, news outlets closely reported every detail of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica case as it unfolded. But how much did people trust social media anyway; and have the revelations had any impact on this?

We collated some of the studies out there (of which there are quite a few!) to provide an informed viewpoint on whether social media is really losing its shine.

Trust in social media has always been low, but is now falling further
Edelman’s 18^th annual trust & credibility survey was published in January. They questioned respondents from 28 countries. 3,413 people from the UK shared their views.

Less than a quarter of those questioned claim to trust social media as a source of information. These low levels of trust are nothing new; it’s consistently been ranked as the least trustworthy source in the Edelman report for the past three years (vs. traditional media, search engines, online-only media, owned media, and media as an institution). However, social is now falling even further behind, while trust in traditional media sources (now at 61%) has increased since the previous study in January 2017.

Distrust in social media is driven by inaction on some key issues:

Furthermore, over a third of people think social media is no longer a force for good. Prominent areas of concern for over half of respondents link to fears of being exposed to ‘fake news’ and the view that the average person isn’t accurately able to tell good journalism from rumour. Alongside this, people are demanding a greater level of responsibility from social media companies: regulation, transparency, and the sharing of personal data are all hot topics! Below are some of the key stats that show how severe these concerns are:

Social media channels also seem to be losing connection with their audiences
We’re also increasingly seeing a lower level of engagement with social media platforms (especially among young people):

As much as most of us enjoy using social media to stay connected, there is an increasing acknowledgement that an over-reliance on it can have a very negative impact. As a result, active rejection is becoming more common. Detox camps and advice on how to adjust to life without a dependence on social have been popping up here, there & everywhere!

A survey of 5,000 students, commissioned by Digital Awareness UK and the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference last year found that 63% claimed they wouldn’t care if social media no longer existed, and a huge 71% had already taken a break from social media in some form.

What about Facebook specifically?
Unsurprisingly, Facebook is the main company in the firing line, and there is evidence of the Cambridge Analytica scandal impacting usage of the network. The forecast is not overly rosy: Emarketer estimates that 2 million users under the age of 25 will stop using the social network this year.

Populus ran an Omnibus survey on the topic in March. While 73% of people reported that their Facebook usage hadn’t changed since the story broke, 1 in 5 people stated they used it less, and 30% had considered deleting their account altogether. They also asked people to evaluate Facebook against some important criteria. It was rated an average of 4.28 out of 10 on the favourability scale and only 3.64 in terms of trustworthiness. While we don’t have direct figures to compare this to, these are not exactly positive scores from a company set for world domination.

It should be no surprise that there are people struggling to believe that Facebook take their data seriously, with only 17% agreeing with the statement ‘I trust Facebook to hold data about its users securely’.

So, what does this all mean?
Users are becoming more savvy about the value that their data holds – and how companies use the data that they share. Social media channels have widened the trust gap, falling further behind traditional news channels as a source of information. Levels of engagement & over-reliance on these channels seem to be dwindling against many users. It’s clear that although we are a long way from breaking away from the strong grip social media has over us, over time (and especially in the light of a heightened focus on data privacy), users are becoming more cautious and starting to question the dominant role it plays in their everyday lives. Brand that prioritise digital should think carefully about how they use these channels to promote themselves and to build relationships with their ‘customers’.