Who’s more culturally connected: America or the UK?

“Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”…is what someone overheard me whispering to myself in the lift mirror the other day.  After a ‘not-so-dry-January’ comes fun February.  A month when cupid comes to OMD UK, we voluntarily overindulge in pancakes and YouTube the annual Super Bowl Half-Time show.  February is full of cultural events, celebrating how loving, talented, greedy and sporty the nation is.

So OMD Insight thought it would be interesting to see just how culturally connected we are compared with our American cousins.

In a survey of 500 UK adults*, we found that Pancake Day was the event being celebrated most across the country, with 45% of us planning to scoff a pancake tomorrow; vs. only 6% of Americans who probably prefer to partake in the wilder Mardi Gras celebrations on the same day.

UK versus America

 

And with Valentine’s Day fast approaching next week (take note guys), we found that UK adults are significantly more likely to celebrate the day than our US counterparts, making us a more loving nation all round.  Americans are simply more interested in the Super Bowl than sending a valentine, although I guess we are more interested in filling our bellies!

Amazingly,  only 1 in 3 UK men are planning to celebrate Valentine’s Day next week vs. 42% of females…ouch.  I think a few arguments are going to happen.

But what makes me really proud is that despite only 0.8% of the country cited as having Chinese roots (according to the ONS), 10% of us planned to celebrate Chinese New Year over the weekend. Talk about culturally connected!

With February packed with events, the month offers ample opportunities for brands to engage in multiple passion points and cultural events, being on the pulse of the nation.  With two thirds of us planning to celebrate at least one of the events listed above in February, it will prove to be a fun month.

*The survey was conducted amongst a nationally representative sample of 500 UK and 500 US adults between 2-3 February 2016.

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