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Teen who doesn't tweet reveals how he became top dog in the City
Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter14 Jul 2009
The teenager whose report for an investment bank earned him global acclaim today revealed his new found fame was all down to his dog.
Matthew Robson, 15, from Greenwich, wrote a report for Morgan Stanley while on work experience that the bankers thought so insightful they published it. Matthew's How Teenagers Consume Media was even discussed at the Allen & Co Sun Valley conference in Idaho, attended by business leaders, politicians and media executives.
It emerged today his work placement was the result of a chance meeting in Greenwich Park between the family's pet dog Rudolph and another dog, which happened to belong to Patrick Wellington, a senior financial analyst at Morgan Stanley.
Matthew's mother Sheila began talking to Mr Wellington after their dogs had struck up a rapport. Mrs Robson then told Mr Wellington about her son's struggle to get a work placement.
“We had tried many places, mainly in the local area,” said his mother. Having failed to gain work experience at local businesses, solicitors and banks, Matthew wrote to Morgan Stanley, which offered him a two-week internship at its offices in Canary Wharf.
“The first day was quite scary,” said Matthew, “but it was really interesting. By the second week I felt I understood what a bank did.”
Placed in the bank's media and internet research team, he was asked to write a report on how teenagers consume media.
Matthew, who attends Kidbrooke School, said he simply contacted a few school friends to gauge their opinions before writing his analysis in a day.
He texted some friends for ideas and said: “Most teens would say the same things. We talk about this kind of thing at school quite a lot. Though the way we talk about it you probably wouldn't understand it.”
According to Matthew, teenagers prefer radio stations without adverts, download music free rather than pay for it, hardly ever read newspapers and use Facebook rather than Twitter. Twitter, he explained, is “aimed at adults. Stephen Fry [a regular with Twitter] is not particularly cool”.
Reader views (10)
I read the report and agree with much of it - particularly the bits about the young and new technology/media etc: however, it is a little naive for him to suggest (and even more naive for anyone to accept any premise) that the young do not respond to advertising, or being advertised to. Ever since advertising first appeared on "commercial television" in the 50s, people have said they "do not like advertising and take no notice of it". But of course this is not true. They do take notice of it, even if they do not realise that they do. The young of course take note of advertising cleverly aimed at them. The very fact that he feels Stephen Fry is not particularly 'cool' is down to the way in which Stephen Fry is advertised and marketed. ie, not at them. The people the young feel are cool have been heavily marketed to create that impression (in order to get the young to buy what they have to sell).
- Damian Hockney, London, UK, 14/07/2009 23:33
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Oh what a surprise teenage boys don't do twitter , lol . Who do you think use's Twitter the most??? Its sociable girls of course ,my tween age cousins are addicted!
- Ja Munemann, london, 14/07/2009 22:48
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How much did morgan stanley pay for this spin
- Robert Jones, London, 14/07/2009 13:53
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Good work young man .I hope they remember you on bonus day. A million quid divided by 26 - good part of £40 grand- should come in handy.
- Paul, Kent, 14/07/2009 13:48
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Well done young Matthew - and well done Matthew's dog! I've just sent my son (who is between jobs) down to a posh park with our mutt to network with the dogs of potential employers.
- Charlie, London, UK, 14/07/2009 12:56
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Not even the top executives at the banks, the regulators and the government understood what the banks did, and Matthew understood it in two weeks! Fantastic! We should have him as the Finance Czar for the country!
- Artfuldodger128, London, 14/07/2009 12:07
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What will it take
for the investment banks to admit
it was the corruption of their recruitment systems
that caused their credit failure
- Oil Thieves, london, 14/07/2009 12:00
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Nothing is surprising. This news has echoes of some 15 years ago when basic computers came along and adults considered them just toys, but the young had other ideas!
What does come to light is that the young of today are savvy when it comes to having to pay for something. Now how the commercial world comes to working that one out will be interesting.
The only problem with the teenage view is that nothing comes free, it might not be a question of money being paid out, its the personal information being offered that can follow them around for the rest of their lives.
- Tony Islander, Herts, 14/07/2009 11:21
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How wonderful to read such an inspiring story. Good luck Matthew and congratulations!
- Jay, Southend, 14/07/2009 11:20
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I don't care what this kid says! Nothing in his report surprised me and the fact that it surprised Morgan Stanley and other internet executives shows how out of touch banks and society in general are. Any teenager with half a brain could've told you everything that was in that report without having to work for a stuck up investment bank.
- Adam, London, UK, 14/07/2009 10:27
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