Last week, Viacom International Media Networks Americas strengthened its footprint in Argentina with a first-ever research forum that solidified our millennial expertise across our kids, youth and adult demo thanks to our global study The Next Normal. The exclusive experience gave an audience of 75 influencers, including advertising, affiliate, pro-social, label and media partners, the opportunity to better understand the behaviors of this evolving generation – at the local level.Following a very engaging Key Note, VIMN’s leadership across our executive, research, social media, programming and production teams further discussed the key findings, shared best practices, and organically introduced VIMN’s innovative marketing solutions.

The positive feedback from advertisers and media has been exciting and only reinforces the need for us to continue investing and building our knowledge bank of insights. The Argentina presentation was an incredible launch pad for the series of The Next Normal forums we are hosting in Mexico and Brazil.

Here some of the key findings:

THE HAPPIEST IN THE WORLD

Latin America findings reveal that Mexico, Argentina and Brazil lead as the happiest countries in the world among Millennials, mostly driven by strong family relationships, optimism and prosperity and development in the region.

For Mexican Millennials, being happy is correlated with success, for many, success comes from being happy and having a loving family (80% and 68% with 15-24’s respectively). In Brazil, Millennials are happy by nature, but when they do feel stressed & need to relieve stress, for young adults aged 15-24, music is also essential (71%), as well as sleeping/taking a nap and chatting with friends (50%). Millennials in Argentina are less stressed than Brazil and Mexico as it’s one of the least stressed countries globally:  only 21% in Argentina.

GLOBAL CRISIS IMPACT

Although all these high levels of happiness don’t mean they are not impacted by the global events! The economic crash has been the #1 event to impact their lives. For Mexicans, 7 out of 10 people felt the impact of the economic crisis and over half of them are thinking that the job in-security will still be around over the next few years.

In Argentina, the level of impact of the global crisis is lower than the world average. The economy in Argentina is becoming more independent, from the economies of the powerful countries (especially US) like Brazil.

Millennials in Brazil were not heavily impacted by the recent global credit and debt crisis, as they look forward to more prosperity and development. Only 29% of Brazilians felt that the recent global economic crises had impacted their lives personally.

EMPLOYMENT OPTIMISM

In Brazil, issues around future job security have become smaller as the labor market is expanding, which is reflected in this new Brazil scene of having the lowest expectation of the job market to worsen with only 13% of Millennials concerned about future jobs, vs a global average of nearly 50%. Plus, Brazilian youth have higher expectations, 69% strongly agree/agree with the statement that they will earn more than their parents.

In Argentina, only 47% (12+) believe job security will continue to get worse and 73% say it’s better to have a job paying minimum wage than to have no job at all. Argentinean youth unemployment is relatively low compared to many countries but people know from the past how important it is to have a job – and with the economy growing only slowly, there are perceptions that job opportunities may not be easy in the future.

Mexican Millennials are highly committed to having a successful life and being positive, kids and young people tend to think that they can meet their goals as long as they work hard (over 90%); they rely on their studies to accomplish their expectations, that’s why around 90% of them think it is important to study hard; and they know is not easy to fulfill their goals but they are willing to try things to make them work even if sometime they make mistakes (89% 9-14’s & 97% of 15-24’s)

TECHNOLOGY DOESN’T DEFINE, IT ENABLES

Rather than defining the millennial generation, technology is more of an enabler. If asked, a Millennial might say, “Technology doesn’t make me who I am. It lets me be who I am.” Technology underpins relationships and plays an important role in sustaining happiness and broadening horizons.

Brazilian youth are always connected and are responsible for large audiences in social media, kids and young people believe they can change the world for the better (86% of Brazilians agree with this statement) and feel empowered with access to different cultures via the Internet, contributing to new ways of thinking. (76% agree with having access to the internet changes the way I think about the world).

In Argentina, 80% of Millennials think that they have the potential to change the world and 62% agree “having access to the internet changes the way I think about the world”

Mexicans are one of the leading countries in Latin America who believe ‘their age group has the potential to change the world, for the better’, with 91% agreeing with this statement, plus 73% agreeing that ‘having access to the internet changes the way I think about the world’.

PRIDE AND TOLERANCE

Latin America Millennials, similar to Millennials around the world, are displaying a growing sense of national pride and interest in maintaining local traditions. At the same time, they have an increasingly open and tolerant view of other countries and cultures.

In Brazil, the feeling of national pride has always been very strong, with 93% of children 9-14 declare that they feel proud to be Brazilian, especially at this time of up-coming major sporting events. Yet, Brazilians like to welcome people from other countries; this can be shown by the 15-24’s who agreed with this sentiment very highly, (82%) stating that they like to have people from other countries living here, a much higher percentage comparing to the global average  (70%).

Among Mexican teens and young adults (15-24’s), 86% of them agree to be proud of being Mexican and keeping the country’s traditions; but at the same time they are accepting globalization and have no issue with people from other countries coming to live in Mexico.

In Argentina almost 90% of the Millennials agree to be proud of being Argentinian and keeping the country traditions. Also 70% think it’s great to have people from other countries coming to live here – an indication of the tolerance and flexibility which are key defining traits for this generation.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

From “The Next Normal” insights and trends, the four key takeaways for brands looking to engage millennial youth in 2013 hold true across Latin America as well:

1. Brand Aid: Enabling, Up-Skilling and providing Support
2. Love Brands: Delivering authentic experiences by connecting to passion points
3. Brand as Family: Facilitating close connections and personal interactions
4. Brand New: Provide Inspirational glocal content (global + local) and experiences