In a world that seems perpetually on the brink of collapse, “What the fuck is going on?” is a question we all probably ask ourselves daily. I know I do. Saatchi & Saatchi, however, have decided to ask the question on a more practical and less existential level. They want to know why, in the wake of a highly publicised royal coronation, 64% of us are less proud of the UK than they were pre-Brexit and why 73% of us feel we’re now a more divided nation.
To achieve this, they commissioned the bluntly titled “What the fuck is going on?” report, authored by Chief Strategy Officer, Richard Huntington. Sharing the findings of a deep-dive, ethnographic study, the report features nuanced and real insight and experiences from 13 people across the UK, alongside eight cultural commentators including Jack Monroe and Nick Ferrari.
Tell us what you really feel
Conducted over the course of two months at the start of the year, Saatchi & Saatchi went into homes across the UK, spending half a day speaking to people, finding out what they really think about the UK, and what their lives are actually like. Think of it like a gritter version of Gogglebox.
The agency has also worked with YouGov to survey 1,999 people, with the findings echoing the sentiments of the ethnographic study. When asked about their standard of living and how it has changed, 56% said it is actively worsening, while almost half (47%) of respondents saying they feel less in control of their financial lives than they did five years ago.
According to Mr Huntington: “Whatever your position, the royal coronation is a significant cultural moment, and one that the majority of our nation has not experienced in its lifetime. It was always going to kick off a conversation around how this country runs, but we wanted to go beyond the predictable headlines and find out how people actually feel about the UK.”
The findings of the research and conversations they had with both real people and well-known commentators speak for themselves - there's divide, fractures and deeply concerning realities.
Huntington continues: “For us as an advertising agency, we have a responsibility to our clients and consumers to truly understand how people are feeling, but we hope that this research can do more than inform our work - it’s a cry for help by much greater powers than us.”
Keeping it RAW
It’s all just a small part of Saatchi & Saatchi’s Real Audience Window (RAW), a collection of tools and research curated to provide a deeper understanding of modern Britain.
As part of RAW, Saatchi & Saatchi is also developing RAW Data, a web-based tool to deliver unprompted real time information on what different people and audiences are reading, watching, talking about, and listening to. This aims to provide the company with immediate insight into the digital life of the UK, to inform strategy and creative work.
This is, of course, one of many such programmes being put together using data to gather a more complete picture of the population and provide content that reflects that data. In my opinion, THAT is what the fuck is going on right now – data mining on an unprecedented scale.
Do the ends justify the means though? It remains to be seen, but if it can help us understand what we have in common rather than what’s driving us apart then I’m all for it.
