Ijlal: Unemployment, inflation, security political reasons.

And out of those factors when people are anxious about these things, how can a brand address those anxieties Ill give you an example. The youth of Pakistan want change. Change in the political structure and change in their social structure. So any brands that will advocate change will automatically associate with that. As simple as that. So I will ask you guys first of all in your own particular countries what are the factors that are making people anxious. But first of all you guys need to introduce yourself: your name and what country you are from. Sam: Sam and Im from Germany Ozgun: Ozgun and Im from Turkey Aaron: Im Aaron from America Nora: Im Nora from France Kim: Im Kim from France Julian: Julian from Germany Faizan: Faizan from Cypress John: John from Belgium Ijlal: So my first question will be if you look at the macro factors do you have any anxieties in your country? Do you see your youth worried or anxious about any particular problem? You can give a comprehensive answer Sam: At the time being a lot of people are worried about unemployment Ijlal: What about the Eurozone crisis. Either you guys are optimistic or pessimistic about those situations? Or do you think you are independent of that? Sam: Most of the people are optimistic Ijlal: They are optimistic. So they think that things will turn around. So you are giving me the youths perspective Ozgun: In Turkey it is unemployment. Also in university people are not oriented enough to properly pick their career once they graduate. Ijlal: So you see that Turkish youth they are worried about their current prospects. Ozgun: I mean they are going to finish their university but what they are going to do next in the job environment is not figured out

Ijlal: So is it about the job opportunities are not present? Ozgun: The job opportunities are mostly located in Istanbul Ijlal: So you can say its unequal distribution of opportunities between rural areas and tier 2 cities and tier 1 cities. Like everything is not accessible to every person Ozgun: People are not that well oriented Ijlal: So you mean to say people need to get counseling to get well oriented. Ozgun: The ______matics that needs to be has to correspond to the job markets. They are not that harmonious. Ijlal: Aaron, US perspective Aaron: US perspective, well I am going to say unemployment like everyone else. Not just any employment, good employment. For example there are way too many lawyers and not too many lawyer jobs. Cause a bunch of prelaw firms went bankrupt. And all the big financial firms shed thousands and thousands of jobs which they are not rehiring for because they just dont need to. So I graduate from law school and have thousands of dollars in debt, what do I do, that kind of a big problem. Ijlal: So like the US has other problems as well. Youth is only concerned about the unemployment or either they are concerned about their slow economic growth or either they are concerned about their deficits which are getting rather enlarged. You guys think far are you just concerned about microfactors. Aaron: I think its more about microfactors. Some of them try to think far but thats because during election year.. Ijlal: How much interest did you take in the elections during the last presidency? Aaron: I took a lot of interest but I also study political science so for me its super interesting. From people are like I like Obama because I think he is cool. Things like that. Cause I think they should lower the deficit but they have no idea of what that means Ijlal: So I take your voice as representative of the youth of the US. Either they like Obama and Romney on the basis of their coolness factor or on the basis of the ideas and agendas Aaron: Partially ideas. Youths like idealists. They go with the idea thing but they are more concerned with their short term prospects. More like what am I going to do after I graduate college? How am I .and the cool factor of the election lasts for a few months and then it is over Ijlal: So are you guys not worried about any security concerns?

Aaron: No, not much. It used to be whenever a president got out of a major speech he would use the word terrorist Ijlal: Because they are capitalizing on that word Aaron: Now not so much. Its being phased out now. Now its more economic issues and immigration issues Ijlal: To what extent do you buy that argument that a presidential candidate comes up and talks about terrorism? Aaron: I am like most Americans. I dont know much when youre talking about foreign policy. So I dont know Ijlal: So Nora your frank perspective about the youth. I mean do you see your youth in France are they happy are they not worried about any issue? Nora: Its unemployment Ijlal: Its unemployment because youre again part of the Euro zone. So do you see any spillover effects from other countries like Greece or other things? Overall are you optimistic or pessimistic? Kim: Right now I think the people in our age group are unsure about their future. I dont understand your question about spillover effect from other countries. So do you think Greece is doing really bad and Spain is as well therefore? Ijlal: Ok, your economies are interlinked with each other thats what I mean by spillover Kim: Yes, of course were worried, its one of the main concerns in France. We just had an election that which didnt reassure people much I think. Ijlal: So what are you guys looking for right now? For like change in your government, change in political structure, change in economic structure like how do you see those problems could be addressed which you are saying like unemployment. What is the cost of living in France considering inflation and other stuff? Kim: The cost of living in France is pretty high Ijlal: So when do you see change? Do you want change or do you want status quo? I think we want change but there is more of a status quo set up at this moment. Maybe because I have been away for the past few months and I am not in France at the moment and so I am a bit detached from whats going so I am not aware but I feel there is more of a status quo there Julian: But you have like a new government pretty recently

Kim: Ya, thats what I said earlier Julian: Did it change anything? Do you feel anything? Kim: Now there hasnt been anything.. is more focused on domestic issues. Altough the Euro is very.. I dont know maybe other people might think differently. Ijlal: Ok, Julian from Germany Julian: Ya, I mean we have already heard it the German perspective. Things are pretty good I mean unemployment is pretty low. I am not sure about the number but I think 7% in total, 6% or 7%. Its actually the lowest rate in 30 years in Germany. And we are profiting a lot from the Euro zone. From the compareable with Europe with large surpluses, we export a lot to the Euro zone. It looks pretty good right now. And the 6% to 7% are in total. We have some areas like in where I am from in Lundberg and in Bavaria where there is almost full employment. Good prospects. The other thing what people are worried about is European debt crisis and the large guarantees and loans and everything Germany is giving to almost all of the Euro zone. Be it direct or indirect You its really hard to quantify and umm people are somewhat afraid because they cant estimate it, they don understand it. Ya its hard. I mean Greece for example with 8 million guarantees, what happens if Greece defaults I mean its hard to just know the number but people cant imagine what it really means how much money there is Ijlal: I mean you being a student of finance and economics you would be knowing about all these issues but should I expect from every person in Germany like every youngster should have these concerns you have or they are just worried about their micro level its ok. Life endures Sam: Ijlal:. Like those who are very much mobilized, who are in the corporate sector, either they are doing jobs. When you see most of the brands they are addressed to the youth. And the youth And thats why the question I am asking you guys if you would like is how can brands actually address these issues. I mean the purpose of anxiety index tool is that first knowing the anxiety levels then knowing about the driving patterns of that anxiety level and then the third would be like how they would advice them and how they can address these anxieties to build their brand. Julian: I would say one of the things especially in Germany is because of the fears of the loss of purchasing power and all the loans and bad dept that a lot of people just tend to consume like long term consumption rates are very much in demand right now like people are buying cars and fixing their house right now just because their money will be worth less in the future. So this is I would say pretty unique to Germany because they have to guarantee for whole Europe. They say now we still have the money its all good so lets all spend it. So its a good environment for consumer goods.

Ijlal: Cypress, Are you guys happy? Faizan: The currency ..because of the financial relation with Greece. The young people are very scared about the future they cant find jobs. Cypress is a very small country; its a tourist country so we expect income from tourists every summer, so Ijlal: Overall like after Euro crisis purchasing power of people is going down. So they are not going out for tourism as much as they used to so that also has an impact. Julian: As far as I know Cypress was bailed out like two months ago or something. Faizan: Ya Julian: So any on the economy. it was under the rescue umbrella Faizan: . Increase the taxes so the prices go up Ijlal: So you. Faizan: Yes Ijlal: And the income level is not there. Faizan: Yes Ijlal: And Belgium John: Belgium we had a big problem with the government. Aaron: 155 days without the government John: Ya, like that John: (the problem between the northern part and the southern part ) Ijlal: So you have the problems between the north and the south. What other problems do you see?

John: Not at the moment. Northern part has to pay a lot to the southern part Our economy is getting worse. Unemployment rate is also rising I guess. And also we have a big problem with our banks. Our banks almost collapsed. Ijlal: And what were the reasons? John: The economic crisis caused them to be compromised . .. Ijlal: So being a resident of Belgium what do you see? How is that impacting your life? John: Not much actually, I think. At the moment, because I think our government is so quite socialistic and they are still thinking along the way like we will fix it somehow but at this moment they are not doing a lot. So what I think I dont know if we will be able to be back. Ijlal: So you are looking at the future. At the micro level you are ok. Whats the cost of education in Belgium? John: Almost nothing Ijlal: Ok, thank you. The second question will be if you all have discussed the problems of your country like if I ask you in a short statement or a word how will you see your people or your youth, I mean whats the solution with you guys to handle the problem. Like if you ask me then I have already mentioned that we in Pakistan want a change in the political structure. We get a change in political structure, we will get a change in economic policies, we will get change in world policies and then we will see that things will work better. So what do you guys see how could these problems be tackled in your country? Either you want change in government? Either you want some revolution? Either you want something peaceful or radial? What do you want? I am asking this because I want to understand which brands embrace or build their marketing strategies based on these ideas Sam: I am really comfortable with the German political system. A good part of the discussion right now is about the European system. People talk about whether Germany should stay part of the system or whether Greece should leave the system. But I think at the moment nobody really knows, nobody is really sure about. Ijlal: Do you guys want to remain unified? Sam: I actually think thats the only way .. Julian: I dont see how it effects the European brands or something?

Ijlal: That is a very big question. That is a very big issue. Brands cannot talk about it because it is actually sensitive. That is political. Brands need to be apolitical. You know out of politics. So ya, they will just tackle, they will just address the social issues which are building on these political issues because they can take along the social band wagon but they cannot talk about political issues. Julian: I would say that they can talk about and they sometimes take a stand point because of course the corporate leaders in Germany particularly from industry and manufacturing they want the Euro zone to stay, to last for sure. For example the auto firms, they export the cars and for them its very important to have European currency. Not only for the European market but also the profit from that the euro is weaker then the \german mark is a better outcome. Ijlal: So going further from this idea. I mean how can a brand like if you think about any automobile brand. How can an automobile brand pass on the message we need to stay unified not split up like they need to give a message of the whole Europe, like a car for the Europe, you feel like those slogans would make sense? Kim: Can I say something. I think mainly after seeing whats been going around I feel peoples anxiety comes from uncertainty of the future and that has an impact. I actually saw a research last year how female types are preferred for a generation. People with mature features are preferred during times of crisis and people with baby face or girls that look more young are more preferred when the times are going ok. Therefore I think thats why people are uncertain; they dont know whether they are going to have jobs they dont know whether their kids are going to have jobs. They dont know if they are going to die with money. People are desperate to an extent and brands need to give an reassuring image with something like that. Ijlal: You have talked about unemployment issues. What do you see out of France? Any move or anything that can address these issues, like you have a new government. So what do you see what one initiative can be taken from the government or from the big companies? Let me give you an example of Japan when the earthquake came in I read that people are not happy with their governments. They were happy with the big corporations because they helped a lot. So I mean big corporation played a part in alleviating all these macroeconomic issues. If the government is not performing big organizations can do their part. Kim: So you are looking for solution to the current problems coming from brands not in the way that they brand themselves but actually in corporate actions Ijlal: Any stakeholders can play their part either they are governments or big corporations. I mean what do you see in France that how could this unemployment issue could be addressed? Aaron: Let me give you an American example. So a very big political issue is outsourcing. So we say HP slashes 10,000 jobs. But most of them are not being eliminated they are being moved to India, Brazil or whatever. So what a lot of American companies these days do is that You should buy my products because what I am going to do is hire