SYDNEY – November 19, 2013 – M&C Saatchi will today release The Modern (Aussie) Man White Paper – an unprecedented qualitative study of Australian men to coincide with International Men’s Day.
The study is the result of eight months of one-to-one interviews with 140 men, M&C Saatchi said in a press release. 70 of the men in the study are an assortment of high profile leaders from media and marketing, business, military, academia, sport and philanthropy. The other 70 were drawn from everyday men from all over Australia.
M&C Saatchi CEO Jaimes Leggett said, “There have been many assumptions made about Australian men.
“It was astonishing to realize how much men have changed in the 21st century, without universal recognition of this evolution. This landmark study, unlike any other, has gone directly to the source.”
Media and marketing respondents in The Modern (Aussie) Man White Paper include:
George Negus, Veteran Journalist and TV Presenter
Richard Wilkins, Network Nine Presenter ‘The Today Show’ Andrew McEvoy, Tourism Australia CEO
Hamish McLachlin, Network Nine Sports Journalist
Mark Brit, Nine MSN, CEO
Ian Bell, Unilever Men’s Lifestyle Division, Marketing Director
Kerry McCabe, UnLtd (Media Assisting Youth), Founder
Simon Traynor, Quicksilver Marketing Director
Dare Jennings, Mambo & Deux ex Machina, Founder
Rob Moodie, University of Melbourne Professor of Global Health and prominent health advocate
Michael Klim, Milk Founder & Former Olympic Swimmer.
The Modern (Aussie) Man White Paper will be released at a launch lunch during the Australian Men’s & Fathers’ Strategic Roundtable in Parliament House, Canberra today.
Hon. Kevin Andrews, MP Federal Minister for Social Services, will introduce the White Paper’s author, M&C Saatchi Senior Strategist Carolyn Managh, at the launch. “The study aimed to draw a line under historic truths and modern-day stereotyping to paint a new portrait of our nation’s masculinity and how men have evolved,” Managh said. “This research steps around the minefield that stops everyday men from saying what they really think.”
Among the findings from the study were a number of key marketing insights, including:
There is a huge, untapped opportunity for retailers given that men love buying, but hate shopping in the present paradigm
Men are unimpressed by what they perceive as largely outdated, stereotyped male messaging that men’s brands target them with.
The White Paper distilled seven character types of which all Australian men are comprised of in varying degrees:
Broadband Connector | Action Man | Amateur Comedian | Nurturing Knight | Retail Ranger | Sensitive Cockatoo and Unassuming Romantic.