OBI Children and Youth Study

With creativity against worries about the future

DIY projects are a means for young people of Generations Z and Alpha (Gen Z from the year 1995; Gen Alpha from the year 2010) to feel self-efficacious and free themselves from the Corona Blues and the uncertainty they feel about the future. These are the findings of the children and youth study now published, for which the market research institute rheingold conducted a qualitative and quantitative survey of 1,059 children and young people between the ages of ten and 18 in Germany and Austria from April to May 2022 on behalf of OBI.

Every second young person growing up in Germany and Austria today feels pressured in the face of major social challenges and feels anxious about the future (76 percent of those surveyed). Girls between the ages of 16 and 18 in particular are overwhelmed by looking ahead. They wish they could live more carefree lives. DIY projects are a way for young people to free themselves from the perceived stress and live out their creativity without the pressure of perfection. These are the findings of a representative study by rheingold. For this purpose, the market research institute conducted an online survey between April and May 2022 on behalf of OBI among a total of 1,017 young people from Germany and Austria between the ages of 13 and 18 on their lifestyles and attitudes toward do-it-yourself (DIY). In addition, rheingold conducted 42 qualitative interviews with children and young people between the ages of ten and 18.

No self-efficacy experiences in the Corona crisis.

The survey shows that 71 percent of young people have already completely redesigned their own rooms and one in three has built small decorative objects themselves. For those surveyed, the motivation for such projects stems primarily from the final pride in their work (70 percent) and the fun of realizing their own ideas in DIY projects (64 percent).

Experiences that have featured very little in the lifeworld of young people in recent years, as Sebastian Buggert, a member of the management team at rheingold Institut, makes clear: "With the study, we have taken a deep look into the lifeworld of the growing generations. It turns out that in view of the perceived permanent crisis they face, they have a great need to find a project that is not linked to any great expectation of them, where they are allowed to make mistakes and try things out. Something they have been missing in recent years. This is exactly the need that do-it-yourself projects, with their wide range of expression, completely fill. The opportunity to recycle existing materials is also a big driver for young people," says the expert in the field of psychological market and trend research.

DIY culture as a creative balance with visible success

Impressions that Christian von Hegel, Managing Director Corporate Marketing at OBI, confirms: "DIY culture has a great appeal for young people. Projects in this environment convey the fundamental understanding of how important it is to keep at something in order to complete it. But also that it's perfectly okay to make mistakes and learn from them."

The demand for inspiration in the DIY environment - on the web, but also as a regional offer on site - is increasing considerably. And OBI is meeting this demand: The market leader in the DIY sector offers exactly these needs in the OBI MachBar in Cologne as well as in online formats with Upcycling and Ready-Made Workshop formats. Upcycling means transforming waste products or useless materials into new products. Ready-Made workshops provide inspiring ideas on how everyday objects that were originally industrially manufactured can be removed from their original context and integrated into a new decorative object.

OBI also feels confirmed in its offerings by the other findings of the study: Young people are inspired by videos or online articles for their own DIY projects, especially by influencers and content creators from their own generation (58 percent). In addition, young adults are following more and more social media channels, for example on Instagram, TikTok or Pinterest, where everything revolves around the DIY experience.

Creativity knows no origin: Language as an enabler for education and DIY culture

This is an offer that the leading brand in the German and Eastern European DIY market has been making to the young target group for many years with "Create! by OBI" and "MACH MAL mit OBI" - and constantly developing it further. MACH MAL mit OBI" is one of the most popular DIY channels on YouTube - more than 165,000 subscribers, millions of views, thousands of comments. Young content creators and influencers regularly upload their crazy and creative do-it-yourself projects here - easy for the community to copy and build themselves.

"We place a lot of emphasis on making our how-to videos easy to understand and replicable for our customers, even if they have little DIY skills. For us, this is completely in line with our 'anything can be done' approach. We don't just want to teach tips and tricks to the pros, but empower everyone to tackle their own projects at home - regardless of age, background or DIY skills," explains Christian von Hegel, also referring to the recently launched "We all speak DIY" initiative, which shows that OBI is there for everyone. As part of this, how-to videos from OBI are no longer offered only in German, but also in the most widely spoken foreign languages in Germany and Austria, including Ukrainian.