Matthew Robson

For no particular reason, I have decided to dedicate this my 100th blog entry to a 15-year-old named Matthew Robson. He is or was an intern at Morgan Stanley, which is some kind of bank filled with farts my age who are dying to know what young people “out there” think. So young Mr Robson was asked to write a report on his and his friends’ media habits. Here are the insights that have London’s bankers wetting themselves over having discovered the key to reaching tomorrow’s consumers:

* Teenagers hate online ads (no big surprise there)
* Teenagers don’t twitter, since it’s pointless (a growing realization on my part, too)
* Instead of paying money to surf on a two-inch screen on the bus, teenagers wait until they get home where they can surf for free, i.e. let Dad pay. (Breakthrough insight from the thought leaders at Morgan Stanley: Teenagers don’t have much money.)
* Teenagers don’t have time to watch TV (this one is actually new to me, so maybe it’s not true)
* Teenagers chat more on their game consoles than on their phones (you can chat on a game console?)

One irony in this beautiful story is that many bankers must have 15-year-olds of their own at home who might (only might) tell them the same thing if they would only go home and talk to them.

As for Mr Robson, he must surely be on the short list for “Britain’s Most Influential Man” of 2009. Just as I was beginning to worry that the best that island could muster was Tony Blair and that other guy who succeeded him. What a relief.