Ogilvy research reveals the 'One Kilometre Phenomenon'
A lack of respect for both other people and public property
are two of the most common concerns raised by Australians in a new suite of
research released today.
Conducted by advertising and communications group Ogilvy,
the study was designed to discover what issues were concerning Australians, rate
the level of concern and measure how much control we felt over those concerns.
The study uncovered a spectrum of concern spanning relationships, juggling work
and life, ageing, health and wellbeing, technology, food, finances, security
and government.
Titled 'What's
Keeping Australians Up at Night', the research revealed that as a nation
it's the concerns closest to our daily lives that we have in common.
"We've
coined the term one kilometre phenomenon - we read the headlines and
know what's happening on a global and national scale, but it's those issues
that are closest to us - people in the street and our community - that's
keeping more of us awake at night. It's interesting these concerns are equally high across the
demographics. Even younger generations feel concern about damage to public
property and the lack of personal respect," said John Studdert, managing
director of Ogilvy PR.
The one kilometre phenomenon
As a nation, it's the concerns closest to our daily life
that we have in common. The top six most commonly shared causes for concern
were:
-
67% How disrespectful people are of public property
(littering and vandalism)
-
65% The growing lack of respect and consideration
for others
-
61% That companies are charging me to pay my bills
-
60% That children today are exposed to things
prematurely as a result of the internet and TV
-
58% The poor customer service from international
call centres
-
57% The rising cost of groceries
About
the concern /control methodology: Australians set the research agenda
"Measuring both concern and control delivered a new layer
of insight that basic polling rarely uncovers," said Mike Daniels, managing partner
Ogilvy & Mather.
"We found that if a respondent was feeling under financial
pressure, every other issue in their lives became both more concerning and less
under control - even if it wasn't directly related to money. Personal
relationships, community and security worries - even concerns about their
wellbeing - all rated more concerning and less controllable for this group. If
a respondent reported their financial situation as 'getting by' or 'doing well'
their general levels of concern fell and feelings of control increased," said
Daniels.
"Every issue of concern in our study was fed to us
directly by participants in the focus groups across regional and metropolitan
Australia. We ran a series of twelve focus groups across the country and asked
- without pre-conceived ideas - what they were concerned about. We then asked
them to rank their concerns and rate the level of influence they had over each
issue. We then took that research to our partners at ORU and asked 1015
Australians in an online poll about how they felt about those same issues," said
Eugene Catanzariti, head of strategic planning, BADJAR Ogilvy.
Relationships:
Men and women back on the same planet
It seems Australian men and women feel the same when it
comes to relationship concerns and the level of control they feel over them.
Almost a quarter of respondents reported 'that I constantly feel as though I have to
please other people' (22%) which
was the highest response for a relationship concern. Across the survey,
18% were highly concerned that 'I feel I have to try and fit in with people
all the time'.
"As a nation, the Ogilvy research shows we generally feel
we have a high level of control over relationships. In some cases - like making
sure we don't leave it too late to start a family - the feeling of control
actually increases with household income. This is consistent with other
research which shows cost is a key issue for Gen Y when deciding to start a
family," said Anne Hollonds, CEO Relationships Australia NSW.
The Work
/ Life Juggle
More than one-fifth of Australians are highly concerned
they will never have a good balance between work and play. About the same
proportion don't know if they will ever find the 'right job'. People aged 18-24
are particularly concerned with employment issues and more likely to say they
have less control over these issues.
Ageing
Despite the boom in
Botox, it's not losing our looks which are causing us the most concern when
it comes to ageing.
- 47% of
Australians are highly concerned about 'how
getting old will affect my physical
ability'.
- 41% are highly concerned
about 'how getting old will affect my mental capacity'.
- 29% are highly
concerned about 'care for my ageing parents'.
-
21% are highly concerned about 'how
getting old will affect my personal appearance'.
Health
& Wellbeing
Almost half of all Australians are highly concerned about
preservatives and artificial ingredients in food, obesity and not exercising
enough. "Women are more concerned than men about most health and wellbeing
issues and those with children in the household are more concerned about not
exercising enough than those without," said Graham Edwards, managing director
of Ogilvy Healthworld. Respondents aged 18-24 are more likely
to say they have less control over these issues than others.
Government:
high concern, low control
Australians are concerned
about the way they're governed and the quality of public services, but feel
little control over these issues. The sense of disconnect between Australians
and their governments is very high. More than seven million Australians say
they are highly concerned about the quality of public health care in Australia,
only exceeded by the 8.3 million who are concerned by politicians' broken
promises. The level of control felt over these issues is lower than for almost
every other set of issues assessed in the study.
Perhaps
counter-intuitively, Australians feel they have relatively more control over
environmental issues like climate change and drought than other government
issues despite having similarly high levels of concern about them.
Concern over the drought is
the same among Liberal and Labor voters, however Labor voters are notably more
concerned about climate change than Liberal voters, demonstrating the political
partisanship of this debate extends well into the community.
Ends.
Ogilvy
& Mather Worldwide (ogilvy.com), a subsidiary of WPP, is one of the largest
marketing communications networks in the world, with 495 offices in 120
countries, specialising in advertising, relationship and interactive marketing,
public relations, sales promotion and related services.
Ogilvy
Public Relations, Ogilvy & Mather Sydney, BADJAR Ogilvy and Ogilvy
Healthworld are part of the STW Group, Australia's leading marketing content
and communications services group.
For more information please contact:
Rebecca Tilly
Mobile: 0410 501 043
Email: rebecca.tilly@stwgroup.com.au
OR
Carla Vanner
Mobile: 0403 834 504
Email: carlav@howorth.com.au