The recession hit young adults harder than everyone else.
The New York Post says youth unemployment is at a post WWII high. August 2009 Labor Department statistics show that while the unemployment rate for adults 25 and over is 8.3%, the figure is nearly twice as high (15.1%) among adults 20-24 and climbs even higher among teens 16-19 (25.5%). Little wonder Millennials are living in Mom’s basement, deferring purchases and taking out more loans than ever for college.
With so many displaced experienced workers vying for the same jobs as Gen Y, the picture is unlikely to improve any time soon. We may be dealing with the psychological and economic impact of the recession on Millennials for decades.
Meanwhile, a generation famous for being optimistic, is becoming increasingly discouraged by their ‘life on hold’ status. The immediate response was to make the best of things, opting for low paying jobs with non-profits, unpaid internships or going overseas to teach English as a second language. Others opted to spend their time as unpaid journalists, blogging away and honing social media skills in the hope of catching the eye of someone willing to pay them for their time. Others gave up in favor of using the time to travel, hike the Appalachian trail or pursue another degree.
But these were intended as short term strategies. As the recession lingers, one can hear the sounds of frustration mounting. I hear from several former students a week it seems, each with a discouraging story. With each unplaced graduating class, the situation grows worse, with more applicants chasing fewer openings. Even Non-profits are finding it harder to make ends meet.
There is evidence (BLB’s National Longitudinal Study of Youth) that periods of unemployment during the 15 year transition from youth to young adulthood is related to depressive symptoms later in life (age 29-37). The same data has yielded evidence (analysis by Yale School of Management) that early unemployment can damage earnings for decades.
“In the long run, this has immense consequences which are difficult to overcome. In comparing groups of graduates who entered the work force during economic downturns with their luckier counterparts who graduated in better times, Kahn found that there is a major difference in the amount of money earned over time. “One striking fact,” she says, is that “over 17 years after college those groups have a $100,000 difference in earnings. The problems begin as soon as a new graduate comes face-to-face with a tough job market and begins making compromises. “People leaving school in a recession are starting at a lower-level job and at a lower earning level,” because there just aren’t that many jobs around, says Kahn. In many cases, graduates end up taking jobs unrelated to their career plan. “By the time you switch back into your field,” says Kahn, “you are behind.”
Those who join the workforce in better days, meanwhile, continue to progress in their higher-level and higher-paying jobs where they can hone their skills and receive pay raises and bonuses based on their higher original salaries.”
Even those who do find jobs are impacted by reduced job mobility. Ironically, Gen Y has been tagged as the ‘job hoppers’ when in reality it is Gen X that is more likely to leave according to Deloitte.
“More than 20 percent of Generation X employees have already been looking for new employment in the past 12 months, which is the highest [amount of active job seekers] for any generation,” said Robin Erickson, a manager in the human capital practice of Deloitte Consulting LLP. …F”orty percent of Generation X employees cited lack of career progress as the prime motivation to switch jobs today, which is considerably higher than their survey colleagues in Generation Y [at] 30 percent, baby boomers [at] 20 percent and veterans [at] 14 percent,” said Erickson.”
Business Week recently offered 23 profiles of Gen Y members who are looking for work. At any other time, this group of talented young people would be welcome addition to corporate and small business teams.For now, they are formulating back up plans and hoping for the best. “Enter Plan B. It’s a backup life that’s a recessionary reality, one driven not by a prescribed path but by raw passion, fearlessness, or desperation—a midlife crisis a few decades early.” Alex Figueroa, a Dartmouth grad and Tuck MBA is helping coffee growers in Nicaragua. Mark Saylor, a Seton Hall business major laid off from a marketing position at Linen’s and Things is directing his own play. Blakeslee Curwen, an aspiring brand manager from Babson College is now a ‘rapper/novelist’. Here’s how he describes his transition.
The defining moment for me was when I was 100+ applications into the job search. I got to the point where I was desperate to get some money on the table and keep the lights on, so I put out a Craigslist ad. I called it “From Hedge Funds to Hedge Trimming” and offered to walk dogs, house-sit, manage a sales force, manage books. I was bombarded with spam. So I decided to start focusing on long-term creative things and stop worrying about an economy that I can’t do much about. A little-known fact to my former MBA classmates is that I’ve been rapping for more than a decade and have been signed to an independent record label for the last three years. One of my songs was featured in an online Sprite promotion. Now with a bunch of time off, music is most of what I’ve been doing. I have also started taking creative writing classes at night and spend several hours a day working on my first book, a suspense thriller. This is definitely not what I thought I’d be doing a year ago—writing songs in a studio by day and putting on the desk light to type seriously on my computer by night. Rapping might run its course at some point; I don’t know if I’ll be 37 and wanting to go out and perform at rap concerts. But I’ll take it as far as I can go. Once you get over the initial anxiety of the job market and realize it’s not totally in your control, it opens up the door to do some soul-searching. And that’s exactly what I’ve done.
According to her blog, LittlePRPinkBook, one of the young women profiled in the Business Week article, Sasha Muradali, recently left her low paying job as a clerk with a Miami freight firm to devote herself full-time to finding a position in International Public Relations that uses her talents and two degrees. Despite her sunny outlook one can hear the frustration coming through.
“On that note, while the recession is a hindering factor in the job hunt for so many Millennials (80 Million Strong anyone?), maybe it isn’t such a bad thing? Someone told me that I sounded more than frustrated recently and that maybe my hurt for the current state of affairs ran deeper that just frustration. I cannot say that they were right, but I cannot say they were wrong either. I feel like we have choices, and we make them the best that we can given our circumstances. Karma has a funny way of going full circle and life has an even funnier way of working out. Go on a outlandish philosophical thought with me for a minute here. The recession is trying us: our pockets, our freedom, our livelihood, our day-to-day activities; you name it. We cannot be left behind or we will stay behind. “
She is right, they cannot stay behind. The recession will push many to new heights of efficiency and creativity, but unfortunately, it will leave many with emotional and economic damage that will take years to sort through.
Many new marketing campaigns are harnessing the creative energies of young people.
Dunkin’ Donuts is crowdsourcing new donut ideas via social media. A three day campaign/contest asked people to help “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut” contest earlier this year. Engagement time online was more than nine minutes, there were 130,000 contest entries, 333,000 donuts created and 3 million Facebook impressions.
Vitamin Water is asking consumers to help them decide what the next flavor should be via a Facebook application called ‘Flavor Creator Lab’. Vitaminwater’s Facebook page grew by over 11% just in the past week. Since March, when the page launched, it has grown to more than 400,000 fans.
Mountain Dew just launched a new site called ‘DEWocracy‘ inviting consumers to create the next flavor. As with Vitamin water there is also a Facebook app.
A segmentation of people on the web based on involvement with social media put forward by Forrester (described on its blog, Groundswell.com) puts the group they call the ‘Creatives’ on the top rung. Creatives are those who actively write blogs and web sites and upload audieo and video files. The next rung down are the ‘Critics’, ‘Collectors’, ‘Joiners’, ‘Spectators’ and ‘Inactives’ who participate and comment but do not contribute original material. According to a cool interactive profiling widget, 46% of 18-24 year olds in the U.S. are ‘Creative’ vs. 24% for the population as a whole.
All this leads me to suggest that Gen Y has been poorly named. They should be called ‘Gen C’ for ‘Creative’.
Young people dislike any kind of label and they especially dislike Gen Y. Can you blame them for not wanting to be known as ‘the generation after Gen X’? The attempt to rename them the Digital Generation or even Millennials fall short of being adequately descriptive, as they put the emphasis on the shapers of their generation rather than the result. In contrast Creative seems to suit them very well. Who wouldn’t want to be known as creative? In ad agencies, the “Creatives” enjoy the most elite status for a reason.
There is evidence that creativity and self-expression are core Millennial values.
When we asked women in their twenties to select three values that best describe them from a list of twenty, “Creativity” is the value chosen most often by far, followed by ‘Adventurous’.
I have long maintained that the motivation behind Social Media is less about the need to be social than it is about self-expression (some say narcissism, but I disagree). What is a Facebook page than an ad for oneself? And what is MySpace about other than sharing one’s passions for music and all things artistic. Little wonder FB users spend so many hours studying others’ pages and updating their own.
Millennials are famous for their visual sophistication and appreciation of good design. They choose products based on design as well as function (think MacBook). They are comfortable talking about ‘layouts’. I have accepted the fact that my student’s papers are always going to look more professional than my client reports. You can always tell a Gen Y blog by its design. A favorite Gen Y art sharing site, Deviant Art, is the 67th most trafficked site on the web according to Alexa and skews heavily to 18-34 year olds.
Millennials’ are strongly interested in fashion, cooking and the arts. Recently I wrote of the influence young fashion bloggers like Bryan Grey-Yambao (BryanBoy.com) and Tavi Gevinson (stylerookie.com) are having on fashion. The popularity of the Food2 channel, farmers markets and cooking classes attests to their interest in cooking for reasons other than sustenance. Six-five percent of 18-24 year olds say they consider cooking a ‘pleasurable hobby’. The likely popularity of the ‘new’ movie, Fame, as well as TV shows featuring creative people and characters like Project Runway, Glee and American Idol all attest to their interest in fashion and the performing arts.
I don’t expect the name ‘Gen C’ to displace Millennial or Gen Y anytime soon, but as a descriptor useful to marketers, I think it offers great potential.
Last night at 9 PM I had the privelege and pleasure of being interviewed for forty minutes by Esteban Contreras who hosts the Social Nerdia Show! on Blogtalkradio and blogs at SocialNerdia.com. (FYI, I DVR’ed the season opener of The Office which aired at the same time).
For streaming or podcast access to the interview click here.
This interview was a new experience for me. Esteban had clearly done his homework (A+). He asked many insightful questions based on things I written in Ad Age and on the MillennialMarketing blog going all the way back to 2007. Topics ranged from what makes Millennials different, perceptions of Millennials, the impact of the recession, multi-generational living, brands and social media.
Esteban Contreras is a Millennial himself with a unique background. He hails from Guatemala works in technology and has a great passion for marketing and social media. Here’s his self-description on Twitter: “Business Strategist + Technologist + Advertiser..ist + Cultural Revolutionist + Social Nerdia Blogger” (how Millennial!) Recent guests include Brett Erlich of The Rotten Tomatoes Show, David Alston of Radian6, John Byrne of Business Week, Craig Newmark of Craigs List and Alex Bogusky of CP+B. These folks are nice company for me to be associated with and speaks loads of Contreras’ professionalism.
Thanks, Esteban, for having me and for giving me a Charlie Rose-like moment of fame.
Amy, young mother on 'Secret Life of the American Teenager'
I was informed this week by Examiner.com entertainment blogger, Jennifer Wagner, that simply mentioning the name of the ABC Family hit, “The Secret Life of the American Teenager“, in a blog is a sure way to drive traffic. SLAT fans are that passionate about the show.
I’ve spent the last few weeks watching ”Secret Life” and other teen dramas like “Greek“, “Glee” and “10 Things I Hate About You” in order to decide how realistically they portray teen lives. Do they really reflect what it is like to be a high school or college student? Or do they bear as much resemblence to ‘real life’ as Green Acres did to farm life back in my days of teenage TV viewing?
I’ve written before of the ‘vularity gap’ between generations. Similarly, as a Boomer parent, I cringe at the matter-of-fact way teens discuss sex with their friends and parents on these shows. There is a lot of frank sex talk, although relatively little sex. The plots emphasize romantic relationships, friendships, parties, relationships with parents and social status. The teachers and professors, to the extent they appear at all, tend to be either sincere Mr. Chips types (Will Schuster on Glee) or ridiculous stereotypes. Only nerds study or worry about grades. Few have jobs, although many seem to have cars.
Is this really how it is?
It’s not an easy question to answer. First, teens are diverse — no two schools in the same city are alike, much less Ohio (the setting for Glee) vs. LA (the apparent setting for most of the others), not to mention differences in socio-economic status and age. There’s a big difference between a 14 year old and a 19 year old. Second, it’s hard to get teens to tell you (hence ‘SecretLife’!). My fifteen year old son and his friends are reticent to talk about the pressures of being in a big city Chicago high school. The experiences of my daughter and students at Notre Dame is likely atypical — there are no fraternities or sororities, all dorms are single-sex, and a there is a heavy skew toward Midwest students who like football.
With personal experience providing little to go on, I looked elsewhere for evidence. Two recent profiles, one by Chicago Magazine (“The Secret Life of Teens: A Special Report”, Sept 2009) and another by New York Magazine (“Class of ’09″, June 2009) provide some good insights. Both articles are based on surveys and interviews of hundreds of young people in dozens of schools. The picture they paint suggests that the TV shows may have it more right than wrong. They suggest teens face enormous ”adult-like” pressures and worries, especially about the decision to try drugs/alcohol, have sex, bullying and harassment and violence/safety.
TV shows especially seem to get it right on sex. According to Chicago magazine’s research, 51% have been in a serious relationship and 16% have had sex in the past 30 days ( although only 3% of parents think so). Sex talk seems to be as prevalent in real life as it is on TV.
Pressure to talk about sex — and know what you’re talking about — starts young, teens say, mainly with jokes and innuendo. “[Sex] is the undertone of every conversation,” said one Whitney Young High School girl, 16. And it progresses. “You need to get laid. ” That’s what the friend of one 18-year-old Roosevelt High school senior told her, as if it were a badge that she needed to wear. The casual nature of it all baffled her. “[They] claim to be my best friends,” she said. “They say it’s been six months for them, or three months [since they had sex], and they make it seem like that’s weird.” One 15-year old Whiteney Young student, who plans to wait until she’s older to have sex, said this: “Love is a word that I feel like, with teens, in relationships, has lost its value.”
Another area where teen shows seem to get it right is relationships with parents.Millennials are famous for being the first generation to not actively rebel against their parents (with that much freedom, perhaps they don’t need to?). They actually like and admire their parents. As one teen is quoted in the New York article, “My mom is one of my best friends and knows everything about me and my life”. The New York magazine article provides clues as to just how much conversation is actually going on; about half discuss politics and ‘money’ with their parents ‘often’ and 86% say they share their parents’ political views.
Conversation aside most teens still don’t want their parents on their Facebook page. So what is so secret about teen lives? Again, there are some clues in the research:
1. Alcohol & drugs. Drugs are widely available and marijuana is rapidly displacing alcohol as the starter drug of choice. 51% of those who drank alcohol reported doing it at friends houses and at their own houses.
2. Online activity. Most teens say their parents are unaware of what they do online. 42% have met someone online and 20% say they have had a romantic relationship wtih someone they met online.
3. Pressure to succeed. According to the Chicago magazine article, pressure to live up to parents’ expectations and achieve their lifestyle is what drives a lot of the stress in teen’s lives. This has been heightened by the recession and teen’s recognition that they will bear a lot of the burden of their parent’s generation’s mistakes.
Perhaps these areas are still be too ‘secret’ for parents and teens to want to see on TV? Meanwhile, TV is providing a forum for teens to discuss issues of dreams, relationships and sex. Here is an excerpt from the ”Secret Life” blog:
What kind of dreams have to be re-imagined for Amy? College? Relationships? Money? Family? Think of all the things that change when someone becomes a teen parent. Have you ever thought about how YOUR life would change (half of all teen haven’t ever even thought about it!)
Right now Amy is dealing with some tough stuff at home and with Ben and at school. What do you think this year would look like for her if she hadn’t gotten pregnant? Would Ben be in the picture? Would she and Ricky even know each other? Would she be friends with Adrian? What would her high school experience be like? What would her situation with her family be like? Tell us in the comments! And for more to talk about from this episode – such as whether oral sex is really sex or what Adrian’s confession about her first time means for her relationship with Ricky.
One of the more gratifying aspects of blogging for nearly two years is the satisfaction of seeing predictions become reality. Another is seeing Gen Y trends migrate to other age cohorts. Gen Y, because of its size and influence, is a harbinger of trends. This alone makes them worth watching, as Campaign Obama and numerous other marketers have learned.
A new book, featured yesterday in USA Today, says Millennials have significantly impacted retailer practices in technology and merchandising. Titled ’Gen BuY: How Tweens, Teens, and Twenty-Somethings Are Revolutionizing Retail’, they call Gen Y “the taste-makers, influencers, and most enthusiastic buyers of today,” who will become “the mature, high-income purchasers of the future.” The authors conducted surveys and focus groups, interviewed hundreds of Gen Yers, spoke with retail executives and spent lots of time in malls. Here are some examples of how they say Gen Y has changed shopping for all consumers:
•More creative, technically advanced websites (50% of retailers redesigned their sites last year).
•A wide availability of online customer reviews (Gen Y writes half of them).
•A faster stream of product introductions (Gen Y gets bored fast).
•Bigger, more comfortable dressing rooms (Gen Yers like to bring in friends to review outfits).
Here are a few more examples of Millennial trends that jumped, or are jumping, to the mainstream:
1. Don’t Trust What you Hear in the Media or Ads: I first wrote of this in Ad Age in November 2007, based on direct observation from teaching marketing at Notre Dame. Students automatically dismissed any claim made by advertisers as self-serving and therefore untrustworthy. For evidence check out the blog, The Marketing Student. Title of the latest post? “How Kit Kat Made Me Realize Marketing Is Evil“. Now we have new research from Pew that says trust in the media has hit a new low. “Just 29% of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63% say that news stories are often inaccurate.”
2. Internet News. Two years ago when we asked young people what newspaapers they read, we were stunned to see most of them say ‘Yahoo’. In March, I wrote: “Mobile viewing, sharing stories on social networks and video sites, e-mail and RSS all make it easier for consumers to customize their news. In becoming their own ‘news editors’ and ‘repackagers’ Millennials are leading the way. Social media offers a way for Millennials to control and shape their news by filtering it through friends or reporters they trust.” Today, Pew says 42% of people say they get their national and international news mostly from the Internet compared to 33% for newspapers.
3. Social Media Displaces Email for Communicating: Earlier this year, we noted that most Millennials only use email to register for online services and communicate with their parents, and rely on text messaging and social media for everything else. Now we see adults and businesses embracing Facebook in record numbers. For more incredible statistics on why Social media is not a youth driven fad, see this excellent 4 minute video by Socialnomics.
4. Fresh Food. Jamba Juice, Chipotle, Homemade Pizza and McDonald’s all got it right: Young people were early adopters of fresh food, and now ‘freshness’ is the next big trend in food marketing. Millennials choose fresh food as their ‘comfort foods’ and love visiting farmer’s markets, gourmet retail stores and recipe web sites. Now, sophistication in food is growing across the board, thanks in part to the interest of Millennials in gourmet food preferences and a desire for locally grown foods. They even have their own Food Network, Food2.0.
Here are some additional Gen Y marketing trends we have been watching and expect to migrate up:
- Environmentalism
- Frugality and moderated economic expectations
- Volunteerism
- Lifelong learning
- Experiences over materialism
- Multi-generational living
- Career-life balance
- Preference for authentic, iconic brands
(P.S. For related insights on how Millennial research firm, Outlaw Consulting, makes trend predictions based on “What the Cool Kids Want” see my July 11 post.
Tavi Gevinson, 13, fashion blogger
Marketers are interested in bloggers because of their passion, audience, and influence on other consumers. While Dooce is not a Millennial, her entertaining style has given her such clout with Moms that she is able to support her family on her blog with advertisers like Walmart. Her influence is so great she recently was interviewed on NPR and hold major marketrs in terror of falling into her sights.
With Millennial bloggers, the attraction for marketers so far has been is primarily passion. There are passionate blogging communities of Millennials for careers (if you are not following BrazenCareerist start now), food and wine, gaming and design (DeviantArt). These communities are goldmines of insight for marketers interested reaching Millennials.
For pure self expression I like the fashion bloggers best. My Twitter friends, Sasha Halima Muradali of Miami and Adrienne Waldo of New York (and Ad Age ‘Gen Next’ blogger) first introduced me to the world of fashion blogs. In honor of Fashion Week, here is their list of favorites:
Millennial fashion bloggers are starting to have a big influenceon the world of fashion. According to articles this week in the New York Times (“Looking for a Long Leg Up“) and The Wall Street Journal (“Fashion’s Secret Helpers“) they are influencing fashion in a big way.
Blogger Bryan Grey-Yambao, 23 ( BryanBoy), is a fashion muse for famous designer, Marc Jacobs.
Blogger Camille Rushanedy, 16, inspired Clayton Evans to add distressed details to a line of androgynous casual clog after seeing blog postings of a shredded tee-shirt.
Blogger Jane Aldridge, 17 (SeaofShoes), inspired designer, Katie Nehra, to spray paint ‘Jane” on the back of a leather jacket in tribute to how Jane ‘personalizes everything she wears’.
Blogger Tavi Gevinson, 13 (StyleRookie), is the muse for designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, wo say they have been corresponding with the 13-year-old in recent months after they discovered her blog ‘where she writes about her love of fashion and posts photos of herself’. The Mulleavys say, “Tavi makes you think about things differently, makes you see things differently.“
I love that last quote because it nicely sums up the reason to follow Millennial bloggers. They do see things differently and it’s never been so easy to hear what they have to say. Whatever industry you are in, find inspiration in your passionate young consumers. You never know where it might lead.
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I’m preparing a presentation to an entertainment industry client later this month, so I’ve watched more hours of TV in more different ways(channel site, Hulu, DVR and YouTube) than usual. My media habits have changed more in the past month than they have in the past 5 years. According to the 3rd quarter 2009 Nielsen “Three Screen Report’, I’m pretty typical.
A lot has changed even since November when I last blogged about the meaning of changing video viewing habits. TV viewing is holding its own with an all-time high of a whopping 141 hours and 3 minutes a month. But viewing is also up dramatically for the ‘other’ two screens, Internet (+46%) and Mobile (+70%), largely due to multi-tasking and greater availability of content thanks to Hulu, network streaming web sites and YouTube. With total media consumption up, that means there’s a lot of multi-tasking going on.
“Although we have seen the computer and mobile phone screens taking on a significant role, their emergence has not been at the cost of TV viewership,” said Jim O’Hara, President, Media Product Leadership, The Nielsen Company. “The entire media universe is expanding so consumers are choosing to add elements to their media experience, rather than to replace them.”
Here are the facts:
- Online viewing of TV content is up by almost a full hour – 59 minutes in the second quarter relative to 2008. Much of this growth is driven by Millennials. Adults 18-24 watch more than 5 hrs of TV online each month vs. Adults 65+ watching just over 1 hr of online video. According to a new Conference Board/TNS report, 25% of households watched TV online, up from 20% last year. Where are they going online to watch? More than two-thirds of online TV viewers access television content through the official TV channel’s home page. YouTube.com still retains second place, accessed by 42% of online TV viewers. There has been a great explosion in the popularity of Hulu.com, with usage growing from 8% of households in 2008 to 32% today.
- DVR use is growing as well, with Americans watching an entire hour more of time-shifted TV each month than a year ago.
- Mobile viewing on ipods and cell phones, as noted above, is up 70% according to Nielsen; that’s 15 million Americans. As with online viewing, name-brand’ TV network content comprises the majority of mobile video viewing.
It’s worth taking a closer look at mobile viewing since many marketers are interested but hesitant. According to Knowledge Networks more than two-thirds of Americans use mobile devices that are video-enabled; 67% of video ipod owners use them to watch video (15% of the total surveyed population). Similarly, 48% of video enabledcellphone owners use them to watch video (5% of the total sample).Lack of data service among Millennials is probably the only thing holding cell phone viewing back. According to mobithinking.com, a blog devoted to issues of mobile marketing, youth are more likely to have a pre-paid or pay-as-you-go plan which limits their likelihood of watching an entire show on their phone.
(FYI, Mobithinking has some goodideas on how marketers can overcome this hurdle to engage with mobile Millennials. For more great ideas on mobile youth marketing visitMobileYouth.orgby Graham Brown and Josh Dhaliwal. They have gieven me a real education over the past few months and generously share their data and ideas in over 50 slideshare presentations).
What the facts mean:
As usual facts alone do not tell us the significance of the changes. Beginning with the introduction of the VCR, there has been a movement away from ‘appointment’ viewing toward watching when and and now where you want. The season openers of Glee last night on Fox and Mad Men three weeks ago on AMC were eagerly awaited. But how many actually watched them the moment they aired? In November, I noted this delayed viewing phenomenon when Heroes opened it’s new season. At the time, I speculated that the role of the network ‘brand’ would decline:
“If these patterns hold, we are moving toward a model where the venue is less important than the content. Soon, it will all be simply ‘video entertainment’, with viewing devices presenting alternative formats for watching the same stuff. Each format will offer different advantages in the user experience, but the same content. In that world, does it even matter that Heroes and SNL are on NBC? From a branding standpoint, channels simply won’t matter. It will all simply be ‘video’.”
I am no longer so sure that’s right, especially with content becoming more available on network web sites. Networks seem to be doing a good job of branding their shows and their networks. Ironically, this may be the dawn of a new golden age of network brands where the focus is on the content and not the venue.
Restaurants, grocery stores and food manufacturers are catching on that Millennials are into food.
Our research shows that 85% of 20-24 year olds visit a sit down casual restaurant at least once a month and 48% visit a ‘fine dining restaurant’ (defined as entrees of $20 or more) at least once a month. Many Millennials consider cooking a hobby. When we ask our standard opening question – tell us about yourself, cooking consistently comes up as a hobby or passion.
“Cooking is my passion, I love doing it!”
“I love watching the food network.”
“I’ve seriously gotten into cooking”
“I now intend on taking classes to learn how to cook.”
“Cooking always matters in my life
love food!!!”
Our quantitative research provides extra evidence that this passion is shared by more than a handful of food-obsessed Julia-wannabes. Among 20-24 year olds…
- Half say the statement “I really enjoy cooking” ‘describes me a lot’
- One third say ‘I try to eat gourmet foods whenever I can’.
- Forty-percent consider themselves ‘foodies’.
What matters to these young connoisseurs? Of all the claims made by restaurants, the one that is most likely to resonate is ‘fresh’. Most consider fresh produce at a restaurant ‘essential’ or ‘very important’, far outranking attributes such as ‘organic’, ‘locally grown’ and ‘natural’ and even outranking ‘homemade’. The importance of ‘freshness’ can be seen in their shopping behavior as well. Nearly two thirds say they purchased produce from a farmer’s market or farm stand in the past two months and 40% say they grow their own herbs.
Given this emphasis on freshness, it is no surprise that the number one casual restaurant among Millennials is Chipotle. In California, three out of five 20-24 year olds visited Chipotle in the past year, the highest penetration of any casual restaurant chain. (The next closest in visitorship is California Pizza Kitchen with about half of Millennials frequenting in the past year.) Chipotle’s Millennial penetration is twice what it is among older age groups.
No doubt much of their success comes from their emphasis the story they have built around the freshness and integrity of their ingredients. Chipotle was among the first casual restaurants to make freshness a cornerstone of its marketing efforts. A series of billboards currently on their web site calls out their messages of ‘gourmet’ and ‘ethical farming’. Here are a few of the headlines:
Chicken from Farms, Not Big Pharm
Farmed Friendly
Chicken Raised with Care, Not Chemicals
A Gourmet Burrito without Pretension
We’re Anti-Anti-biotics But Pro-Chicken
Pork from Farmers Not Factories
The entire Chipotle experience screams ‘fresh’ with each burrito or Buritto Bol made especially for you while you watch. The web site cleverly features web cams showing the back room care put into the preparation of ingredients. It also spends quite a lot of time explaining its ‘Food with Integrity’ approach. This “our story” blurb reads like something from Whole Foods rather than a fast casual restaurant:
”Food With Integrity” isn’t a marketing slogan. It’s not a product line of natural and organic foods. And it’s not a corporate initiative that will ever be finished or set aside to make room for other priorities. It’s a philosophy that we can always do better in terms of the food we buy. And when we say better, we mean better in every sense of the word- better tasting, coming from better sources, better for the environment, better for the animals, and better for the farmers who raise the animals and grow the produce.
The hallmarks of Food With Integrity include things like unprocessed, seasonal, family-farmed, sustainable, nutritious, naturally raised, added hormone free, organic, and artisanal. And, since embracing this philosophy, it’s had tremendous impact on how we run our restaurants and our business. It’s led us to serve more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant in the country, to push for more sustainable practices in produce farming, and to work with dairy suppliers to eliminate the use of added hormones from their operations.
With that kind of sincerity and authenticity, it is little wonder Chipotle is a Gen Y favorite.
As a choir parent, I had years of experience with high school ensembles, regional performances and state competitions. So, when I heard Fox had a new show featuring high school kids who sing, I was somewhat skeptical it could deliver the necessary drama.
But after watching the director’s cut for ‘Glee’ on Hulu, and the ‘Tweet-peat’ on Fox tonight, I’ve concluded that the buzz is deserved. To call it “High School Musical with an edge”, as Newsday and the New York Times did last spring, or “singing teenagers” as the Wall Street Journal did this week, seriously underpromises the sly humor and creative characters.
True, we’ve seen the plot before. A dedicated teacher, Will Shuester, leads a group of misfits to overcome ridicule and discover inner talents (remember Hamlet2?). The student and faculty stereotypes are all there (i.e., ‘high school is a caste system’). And the outcome is certain. But Glee rises above the usual fare:
- Irony – The humor goes beyond TV’s customary sight gags and situational comedy. When Will’s wife criticizes him for lacking a ‘creative outlet’ as she is surrounded by a craftroom complete with Santa closet the point comes home, and home again as she complains, ‘it’s hard for me not having the things I need – like a working glue gun’. Rachel, the aspiring diva is entirely earnest when declares “Being anonymous is worse than being poor”.
- Talent – ‘Glee’s’ actors are truly talented and a pleasure to watch as they sing and dance. Matthew Morrison (Hairspray on Broadway) plays Will, Jessalyn Gilsig, (“Nip/Tuck” and “Heroes”) plays his whiny craft-obsessed wife, The cast also includes Jayma Mays (“Ugly Betty,” “Heroes”) as a sympathetic fellow teacher, Jane Lynch (“Talladega Nights,” “Two and a Half Men”) as the school’s autocratic cheerleading coach, and Lea Michele (“Spring Awakening” on Broadway) as the club’s female lead.
- Music– The show takes chances I don’t usually see on TV with a mix of classic broadway numbers and pop hits. What shows today would feature ‘Cellophane man’, ‘You’re the one that I want’, ‘Rehab’, ‘Leavin’ on a Jet Plane’ and ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ — all in the same show?
- Motivation – Glee give teens credit for wanting more out of high school than parties and sex. Rachel voices it best – “Doing something special makes you special” and “I don’t want to leave high school without something to show for it”. The dilemma faced by the lead singer, played by actor Cory Monteith, is deeper than the surface tension between being in glee club and being on the football team, it is a struggle to rise above the norm and realize his potential. “We’re all losers, maybe half will go to college and maybe two will leave the state to do it”.
Quality costs more and Glee is said to cost $3 million an episode, 25% more than most prime time dramas. Fox has made smart use of social media to promote the show. The pilot aired in May as a ‘sneak peek’ following the final performance of American Idol. While it was risky to preview the show months ahead of time, the bet appears to have paid off. There was also a ‘Gleek Tour ‘ this summer. And tonight’s Tweet-peat (@gleeonfox) was creative and well-promoted (although I found it somewhat distracting).
Will Glee appeal to Millennials? I think so, and I also think it will have broader appeal, as well, thanks to the sophisticated humor and music, and talented cast. It rises above the usual ‘high school’ TVdrama genre. My only concern is that it will appeal more to girls than boys. Although glee clubs ae hot on college campuses with both men and women , many high school choirs struggle to attrack men. With her music background, my daughter loves Glee, but my 15-year old son prefers to watre-runs of Burn Notice and The Office.
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter get all the social media headlines. But ask Millennials what other ‘must see’ sites they visit and you get some interesting answers. Here are a few you may want to bookmark:
1. Failblog.org This site featuring embarassing and ridiculous videos and pictures gets over 3.6 million visitors a month according to Alexa. Visitors can contribute their own Fail candidates and vote on what should appear on the home page. The site is not only huge it is sticky. The average visitor spends 5.2 minutes and traffic is up 47% in the past 3 months.
2. Fmylife.com With over 3.5 million monthly visitors, this site enjoys roughly the same popularity as Failblog and works on the same idea, only stories rather than video and pictures. Fmylife works on the premise that things that go wrong can be terribly funny and there’s always someone having a worse day than you. The stories are short and end the same way – FML. Here’s a sampling:
Today, my girlfriend dumped me proclaiming she wanted someone more like her “Edward”. I asked her who Edward was. She held up a copy her “Twilight” book. She was talking about a fictional vampire. FML
Today, I texted my college boyfriend to tell him how terrible I felt about cheating. He replied saying he was so relieved because he had been cheating on me with a girl in his dorm. I was talking about my math exam. FML
3. Textsfromlastnight.com TFLN reaches over 1.9 million monthly people. The site is popular among a younger, fairly wealthy, college educated, more male audience. Most have a sexual angle and many are genuinely funny. Texts include the senders’ area code and are ranked by the viewers.
(919): Apparently I signed “I love you” on my bar tab last night.
(315): Instead of having sex, we spent the entire night making pillow forts and have sword fights. I think I’m in love
4. Sporcle.com College students are expert procrastinators, and the current rage is a trivia quiz site called Sporcle.com According to Alexa, this site was up 60% in traffic last month alone and indexes above average among males and people 18-24. The attraction is timed knowledge games on every subject imaginable from most valuable brands by country to Pokemon to the periodic table. The average time spent per user is a whopping 14.9 minutes.
According to my daughter and her roommates, “It’s the fun, addictive thing you can check every hour or so, when suddenly what ever you’re doing doesn’t look so appealing.” I’m told the games are often played as a group, or even competitively. What’s the attraction? “Hey, I know more than I thought I did (and more than you).” A Twitter search reveals that the game is most often described as ‘additive’.
“don’t know where you got that sporcle site from, but i’ve been doing that the last 2 days instead of work…my employer thanks you”
“Sporcle is awesome and addicting”
What does it mean?
All four of these sites skew heavily to college age, college educated young adults. Like a lot of social media, whether it is a ‘time waster’ or not depends on whether you think entertainment is a ‘waste of time’. On the plus side, it is interactive and social, and more involving than say, TV. I’ve spent a few days watching teen television shows and I have to say I found sporcle more fun.
