Revitalizing Audi: Unveiling Consumer Insights into China's Dynamic Youth Generation

Challenge

Audi aimed to understand the unique characteristics and preferences of China's youth, to tailor its brand strategy effectively. The challenge was to gain insights into their motivations, values, and expectations, in order to bridge the perception gap and strengthen Audi's brand image among the Chinese youth.

Solution

We divided the 3rd generation into different ages into different life stages:

Post 80s
The Post-80s are trying to make their life easier and more stable. At this stage in their life, they do not want to indulge in the crazier ideas they had when they were younger. Family starts to play a more important role in their life as they have to take up the responsibility of caring for their parents as well as their child. Life has become simpler for them with the shift of focus from themselves to their family.

Post 85s
The Post-85s aspire towards self-achievement in their life and are willing to reward themselves when they achieve their goals. They seek a quality life. They are more confident in their life choices and have grown to be more rational in dealing with challenges in their life.

Post 90s
The Post-90s are in the process of self-exploration. Most of them are workplace newbies who still struggle to find a clear direction in their life. They are creating their own values in life and trying to pursue their interest as their career. However, being immersed in a rapidly changing world, they are easily influenced and confused.

Based on the political, economic, societal, technological context, we found out that the 3rd Generation has a more distinctive value system compared to past generations, now mostly led by societal expectations.

We have identified and clustered the respondents in order to have a clearer picture of the different typologies within the 3rd Generation. We noticed that across the 3rd Generations, we could look specifically at their motivations (intrinsic purpose to engage in activities) and desired social role (extrinsic reward) to anchor the key typologies within the 3rd generation.

Results

In terms of 3rd generation’s consumption pattern, we found that they are more likely to select and consume brands that resonate well with their value system. That is to say, in addition to tangible benefits, winning brands must deliver intangible elements and have an emotional connection to propose. The 3rd generation has its framework of how they categorize brands, brands that more and more need to deliver rich experience across their different touchpoints. Our analysis of this part is to answer “How the 3rd Generation uses technology?” and “What Mobility means for the 3rd Generation?” Technology serves different purpose among the 3rd generation and each typology shows different levels of engagement towards those tools. Technology has also influenced their behaviour and expectations towards mobility solutions.

Based on the finding, we conclude that the 3rd Generation expects augmented connectivity as  part of the future of mobility through the three aspects:

OPTIMIZE DRIVING EXPERIENCE
The car is expected to be plugged into big data and offer autonomy from driving to optimize the driving experience

ENHANCED PERSONALIZATION
The car will become highly personalized to become more secure yet offering flexibility to deliver on efficiency

EFFICIENT SOCIALIZATION
The car will empower me to enjoy the journey through connectivity, entertainment through a higher level of safety as a result of autonomy

Audi's consumer research on China's youth  enabled the brand to gain a deeper understanding of their preferences, motivations, and expectations. The findings emphasized the need for Audi to deliver rich experiences and emotional connections across various touchpoints. Furthermore, the research revealed the 3rd generation's desire for augmented connectivity in future mobility, with a focus on optimizing driving experiences, enhancing personalization, and enabling efficient socialization. By leveraging these insights, Audi can shape its brand strategy and offerings to better resonate with the Chinese youth and strengthen its brand image among this important target audience.