1. Look Back or Look Ahead?

The Question: “If time travel existed, was readily available, and you were guaranteed to return to the present, would you prefer to travel to the past or to the future?”

The Answer: For Millennials (those under 30), the answer is resoundingly the past. Seventy-one percent said they would choose going back rather than into the future. This compares to just 59% for Boomers (45-64). Why the desire to return to another time? I have no idea, but can only guess that they will be around to see the future, while the rest of us will not? At any rate, it’s an interesting window into how they think.

2. Best Thing That Could Happen?

The Question: “If one of the following things could happen to you without any effort on your part, which one would you pick?” Receive $10,000 fax-free, Get a college or advanced degree, become fluent in a ntoher language, be one year younger, lose 10 pounds.

The Answer: Those under 30 elected education over money by a wide margin – 46% vs. 23%. Among Boomers and Gen X, the majority (43% and 45% respectively) would choose the $10,000. This makes a little more sense, but I still would have expected more to opt for the money.

My point? It’s dangerous to project your own preferences on another generation — and especially on Gen Y. They tend to surprise us. That’s why it’s essential to have a listening post.

Does your company make an effort to stay in touch with how under 30 consumers think? I am fortunate to be interacting with students and young marketers nearly every day. Without that connection, I would be in real trouble. If you are looking to plug in,  here are some ideas for getting and staying connected with Millennial consumers:

1. Recruit Gen Y  brand ambassadors and create an advisory council. Off Campus Media has extensive experience recruiting student brand ambassadors. Or look to your Facebook page for young influentials who have already indicated an affinity for your brand.

2. Start a Gen-Y specific market research community. This is the route Mercedes Benz took with its Gen Benz MROC.

3. Tap an existing Gen Y panel.  There are several good panels available to marketers, such as Colangelo’s YTribes community.

Our Millennial Marketing Gen Y ‘Super Consumer’ community is available to any marketer who wants to connect with savvy young marketing professionals.

This group was hand-selected to represent the best of entry level marketers in PR, digital advertising and brand marketing. Josip Petrusa is one of the roughly 100 young marketers who belongs to the community. Josip blogs nearly daily about marketing to Gen Y. He suggests the best way to get to know this generation is to engage with them directly. Since he says it better than I can, here is a portion of his recent blog post, “Are You Crowdsourcing Gen Y? Maybe You Should Be”.

“What better way to understand the elusive, loyal but not loyal, always buying but can’t be reached through advertising, wanting everything, always connected Millennial generation. The combination of having the ability to get useful information quickly and reach has created a great movement towards Gen-Y Crowdsourcing communities.

Mercedes Benz has done it with Generation Benz, IBM has got into the action and as of late,Durex joined the game by creating it’s own Gen-Y initiatives. Crowdsourcing is definitely not a new idea. But at this moment in time, it’s becoming increasingly valuable just like stumbling onto a diamond in the rough. And though this example is only but a few companies that have gone the way of strategically using crowdsourcing, there is also the emergence of online research communities directed at fulfilling the needs of anyone. At a moments notice, you could quite literally receive powerful and profound information.

Gen-Y Crowdsourcing Communities, such as the Millennial Marketing Super Consumer Community, are fascinating areas companies, brands and corporations should be interested in, investigating and using. This is not just an assortment of random individuals. It is a delicate process of hand-picking the right minds for the subject matter. And I would know this, since I am a member of said community.

Crowdsourcing for Gen-Y thoughts is extremely powerful. Not only does it remove the company centric approach many companies painstakingly fail with, it allows the customer to say what they think, ultimately giving those who need the information the right direction to head in. You’d be surprised what Millennials have to say. After all many people are more than surprised and shocked once they realise I’m a twentysomething myself.

So why leave it to the old adage of “from the outside looking in.” Come join us Millennials on the inside. We’ll amaze you more than you think. We’re more capable and useful than you even know.”

For more information on Brand Amplitude’s Gen Y community contact Carol Phillips. http://twitter.com/carol_phillips

While the facts speak for themselves, I believe the Times has it wrong on the interpretation.

Some young adults figure it out their identity and life path more quickly than others, but collectively it is taking longer than ever before.Over the past few decades, there has been a dramatic shift in the onset of what have traditionally been regarded as the markers of adulthood –marriage, job, children:

One-third of people in their 20s move to a new residence every year. Forty percent move back home with their parents at least once. They go through an average of seven jobs in their 20s, more job changes than in any other stretch. Two-thirds spend at least some time living with a romantic partner without being married. And marriage occurs later than ever. The median age at first marriage in the early 1970s, when the baby boomers were young, was 21 for women and 23 for men; by 2009 it had climbed to 26 for women and 28 for men, five years in a little more than a generation.

We’re in the thick of what one sociologist calls “the changing timetable for adulthood.” Sociologists traditionally define the “transition to adulthood” as marked by five milestones: completing school, leaving home, becoming financially independent, marrying and having a child. In 1960, 77 percent of women and 65 percent of men had, by the time they reached 30, passed all five milestones. Among 30-year-olds in 2000, according to data from the United States Census Bureau, fewer than half of the women and one-third of the men had done so.

While the facts are compelling, they don’t necessarily imply that Gen Y is any less well-equipped, lazier or incompetent, entitled or emotionally dependent. In fact, delayed adulthood may be a reasonable adaptation to  increased complexity and risk.

Life may not be any more difficult for this generation, but there is little question that it presents more options, and greater ambiguity.  The Recession has made matters even more difficult by making meaningful entry level jobs much more difficult to find. Why rush into decisions you may later regret? What does five years matter in the scheme of things if it reduces risk of divorce or an unhappy career choice?

These shifts are difficult for many Boomers and  Gen X’ers to understand. We couldn’t wait to get away from home and get on with our lives. It would have been an admission of failure to return home at any point. Only losers did that. Today’s Gen Y’er sees moving home as a practical solution to their problems. Why not save money by living at home while to pursue your dreams rather than settle for less?

While it is difficult to prove, I tend to agree that young adulthood is emerging as a distinct lifestage with its own challenges, distinct from those of adolescents or older adults. I also think this may be a good thing.

There is a strong argument (and much longitudinal data to support it) that young adults are actually more responsible than earlier generations, not less. More are opting for higher education. They are frugal spenders and careful money managers. They value relationships, family and giving back. They want to make sure that what they are spending their money and their time on is worthwhile, not just part of a plan. And if they like their parents well enough to live with them into their twenties, is that such a terrible thing?

Furthermore, as the article points out, society has sent mixed signals as to what we expect of someone 18, 21 or 26.

People can vote at 18, but in some states they don’t age out of foster care until 21.

They can join the military at 18, but they can’t drink until 21.

They can drive at 16, but they can’t rent a car until 25 without some hefty surcharges.

If they are full-time students, the Internal Revenue Service considers them dependents until 24; those without health insurance will soon be able to stay on their parents’ plans even if they’re not in school until age 26, or up to 30 in some states.

Parents have no access to their child’s college records if the child is over 18, but parents’ income is taken into account when the child applies for financial aid up to age 24.

In the end, I think the challenge is for the culture to catch up with Millennials, not for Gen Y to conform to cultural expectations.

Articles like this one in the New York Times suggest the culture has a ways to go if they continue to equate delaying ‘markers of adulthood‘ with ‘ immaturity‘. In fact, it may be just the opposite, a sign of extra-maturity.

1971 Chrysler Simca = Freedom

I got my driver’s license on my 16th birthday. I promptly purchased a 1971 Chrysler Simca (yes orange although not as dirty as the one in the picture).

That tiny, tinny car was the biggest milestone in my life up to that point. It symbolized adult freedom and adult responsibility.  It wasn’t long before I had a real job and more money than I could make babysitting.

Most of my friends made a similar jump about the same time. In fact, 4 million cars were sold in 1971 and 1972, a record at the time that reflected the demographic bulge of the baby boom.

Today the coming age rite is more likely to be a cell phone than a car. In 1978, over half of all 16 year olds had a driver’s license. By 2008 that figure had dropped to 31%.

Over half of all 12 year-olds had a cell phone in 2009. In fact, one study of 17,000 school children revealed more pupils age 7-16 own a cell phone (85.5%)  than own a book (72.6%)!

It would seem a mobile phone now symbolizes a major adolescent milestone much as a car did for me. The Internet liberates them from being bored, and gives them new vistas. For me, mobility liberated me from hanging out with my family.  I had things to do! Places to go! A car connected me with a wider world, and became the center of my social life.

Tim Stock of scenarioDNA observed in his excellent lecture on how different generations were shaped ( “Culture Networks“), that for Boomers, ‘The Road’ was our network, our ‘information superhighway’.  The open road symbolized rebellion, and spawned countless archetypes.  A long, independent car trip was a rite of passage. I shudder now to think that I drove ALONE from Florida to Michigan at age 18.  Times have definitely changed, and Millennials do not have the same relationship with cars that we did. Mobility has a different meaning. They don’t need to ‘get out and go somewhere’.  They can shop online, download a movie, and connect with their friends without ever leaving their room.

As Stock observes, Gen Y is less concerned about where you go and more concerned with ‘how you transform what is there‘. ZipCar and its competitors seem to be perfectly in tune with this refocus on doing things. My Saturday afternoons were spent cleaning and waxing my car, then driving to the beach to see who else was there.  For Gen Y, it’s not about owning and caring for an incredible car, it’s about getting somewhere so you can experience something incredible.

Many Gen Y’ers actively reject the car-centric culture I grew up with.

Cars are seen as wasteful, status-oriented and ecologically unsound. Riding the bus does not have the same stigma it once did. Hummers have become a symbol of what’s wrong with consumer cultureThe money saved by not owning and operating a car frees up money for other things —  like education, technology and travel. These expderiences are higher priorities for Millennials and are perceived as offering greater return for the money.

Millennials don’t hunger for the latest model or edition.  In fact as a nation, we all appear to be satisfied with driving cars longer and longer.  The media age of vehicles in operation was 9.2 years in 2007. This figure is up from 6.5 years in 1990 and from 5.1 years in 1969. Perhaps we’re moving toward a model where we only buy a new one when the old one costs more to fix than it’s worth, as we do with refrigerators and most other ‘appliances’. The thrill of that new car smell is gone.

Paper & Plastic, Compost or EBay/Craiglist

This is a big adjustment for the automobile companies. But it is also an issue for any marketer of  ’durables,’  ’real estate’ or other big ticket items. According to Mike Doherty, President Cole Weber United, Millennials can be thought of as ‘generation prototype’.  ”For Gen Y, hard goods have soft lifespans.  Durability is relevant but mostly in relation to different products.” Gen Y thinks less about the ‘thing’ and more about the utility of the thing relative to other purchases. He writes in MediaPost last month….

“If you are in the “consumer durables” market, you already know that it’s a label that doesn’t make much sense to Gen Y. For Gen Yers, the consumer durables equation seems to look like this:

Product Lifespan = Adopted + Adapted + Left Behind for the Next Version

To a Gen Yer, durability is often acknowledged as being relevant, but its importance is relative to different products. It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that there are really three recycling bins in Gen Y homes: Paper ‘n’ Plastic, Compost, and eBay/Craigslist. If Gen Yers are fortunate enough to get their hands on a v1.0 iPad, they will love being one of the first to have one, but they also know that there are more versions to come in a few months, making their hot item quickly feel outdated.”

This may look like ‘fickleness’ but I think it’s more of an indication of their tendency to not become romantically attached to ‘things’.  Gen Y is first and foremost looking for utility and performance. They will switch for a better alternative, without much hesitation.

This practicality and lack of romanticism poses a challenge to durable goods marketers – the lifestyle approaches of the past most likely won’t work. Young adults are more likely to ask the hard questions: “How does it perform relative to alternatives?” and “Why should I buy it at all?”

A chapter that begins on page 335 of 427 (paperback version not including Appendices and Sources), is titled “Millennial Generation”.

What makes this chapter on Millennials so fascinating twenty years after it was written is how uncannily it matches what we know to be true of how Gen Y is different from preceding generations.

Part of the reason for its accuracy is that the demographics of this generation were fairly predictable, even in 1991, and demographics are one of the forces that shapes generations. Strauss and Howe were able to accurately project the likely size (76 million) and make up (12% immigrant) based on fertility and immigration trends, even though only 33 million of them were alive when the book was published.

The authors were also tuned-in to the major shift in parenting and education as a cultural priority that was already underway by the early 90′s. This shift would prove to have  a remarkable impact on Millennial self-perceptions, aspirations and values. Nearly twenty years ago they noted that “this new generation of children is being treated as precious” and “Boom parents and teachers have also been slowing down the childhood development clock — unlike the Silent, who sped it up.”

“First-wave Millennials are riding a powerful crest of protective concern, dating back to he early 1980s, over the American childhood environment. In 1981, the year before the “Class of 2000″ was born, a volley of books assaulted adult mistreatment of children through the 13er (Gen X) birth years. Within the next couple of years, other authors began reconsidering the human consequences of divorce, latchkey households, and value neutral education.

In 1984, two kids as devils movies flopped at the box office, marketing the end of a dying genre and the start of a more positive film depiction of children.

From 1986 to 1988, polls reported a tripling in the popularity of ‘staying home with family’….In general, Boomer parents are determined to set an unerringly wholesome environment for their Millennial tots.

Where Silent parents had brought 13erkids along to see $-rated movies made about them, Boomers take the Millennials to see G-rated movies made for them.”"

“From 1976 through 1988 the proportion of students held back in elementary school jumped by one-third.”

One of the central tenets of the book is that the fourth generation in each cycle, the “Fourth Turning”, tends to be more civically minded and engaged.  They look for signs that yesterday’s fourth graders might be more evolved as citizens and found it in Anna Quindlen’s observations that kids seemed to be “assimiliating society’s ‘shalt nots’ about crime, drugs, polution and education with disquieting energy and unanimity.” (page 341) Twenty years later, we know from the research that today’s young adults are much more ‘upright’ than earlier generations in terms of their overall optimism, attitudes toward the environment and social action and behavior regarding drug and alcohol use, teen pregnancy, and crime.

What Howe and Strauss could not have known in 1991 was the remarkable impact that technology and the most severe economic recession in over 60 years would play in shaping this generation.

Beyond demographics, two of the forces that are shaping up to be the most influential are easy access to information of all kinds and a realization that America’s high flying lifestyle is most likely unsustainable.  They have already resulted in a more empowered, yet sobered, generation that is exhibiting very different consumer and media behavior as they move into their prime earning years.

BrandAmplitude‘s latest ebook (“How Millennials Are Different“) is focused on spotlighting the ways that Millennials are different from generations that came before at the same age. The book, which zeroes in specifically on longitudinal data from Pew Research and other sources, shows Gen Y is different in many significant ways, only some of which were predictable in 1991.

Nevertheless, what Strauss and Howe foresaw about how Millennials would be different from preceding generations based simply on cultural and demographic trends, they got remarkably right.

One of the questions I hear a lot is ‘W

I have addressed this a few times, before in this blog (see “What’s a Millennial? Why Do Marketers Need a Label?”).  Just like the question ‘what is a brand‘ there is no easy agreed upon answer, although I generally answer that I subscribe to the definition used by Pew Research that a Millennial is someone currently age 18-29, born after 1980.

Just for fun, I decided to answer the question as definitively as I know how. Using Census data and Pew Research definitions, I created a chart that shows the number of people there are of each age, from 0-100 years, based on 2008 projections for 2010. (I also laid the actual birth years below so you can double check your identity.) No doubt this data will be updated when the new Census data becomes available, but for now, this may be as good as it gets.

Here are a few observations:

First it confirms that the big three are Millennials (including teens), Gen X’ers and Boomers. Millennials are 73 million strong. Boomers are still the largest cohort by a 3 million person margin and Gen X the smallest.  The bars become shorter and shorter past age 63 (yikes that’s a steep decline!) so we can reasonably project Boomers will shrink each year while Millennials and Gen X will be large for some years to come.

Another observation is that the Millennial population currently peaks at age 19-20. This explains the ultra competitiveness of college admissions the last few years with record applications, selectivity and enrollment. This peak is good news for the age groups that follow, those currently 18 or under, but bad news for those ahead them who are already struggling to find good jobs without the added stress of a peak number of new college grads hitting the market.

A final observation is that while teens are currently separated out, they should probably be considered part of the Millennial generation once they turn 18. Most generations span a period of more than 12 years, and this one will most likely be no exception.

My biggest take away from this chart is a caution. A group of 73 million people (current teens and Millennials) should not be thought of as a single ‘market’ any more than Boomers can be thought of as a ‘market’.

The concept of the ‘Millennial market’ for marketers should probably represent more of a psychographic or starting point for segmentation. Millennial, like Boomer, will most likely come to represent a set of values and way of looking at the world. I have long maintained that when marketing to Gen Y, values and behaviors are most defining and useful than age.

Pew seems to agree with me.  For the last month or so, Pew has offered a How Millennial Are You? online quiz. If you haven’t taken it, I urge you to try it.  The questions are scored 1-100 with anyone scoring 73 or higher rated a “millennial”. The scoring mechanism seems to be pretty accurate based on the results of the quiz. Most Millennials in fact do score pretty high.   I scored an 81, well into Millennial territory, a fact I am proud of.

The actual answers from the 2010 Pew Millennials survey on which the quiz is based can be seen here.  Even among true age-defined Millennials, the answers are a matter of degree, not black and white.

Sorry for all the numbers, but I think they provide a useful caution for marketers: It’s less about your age,  than about young you feel and act.

New data released this week from Pew Research on Millennials and religion quoted in USA Today, Denver Post and elsewhere, says one in four Millennials (25%) do not identify with any one faith, instead describing their religion as “atheist,” “agnostic” or “nothing in particular.”  This level of non-affiliation is much than was seen for other generations at the same age.

At the same time, the Pew study reveals that spirituality among young adults is undiminished. “Members of today’s Millennial generation, ages 18 to 29, are as likely to pray and believe in God as their elders were when they were young.” This leads them to conclude in their headline: “Young Adults ‘Less Religious,’ Not Necessarily ‘More Secular‘.”

There is other evidence to support the conclusion that the issue is more one of lack of affiliation than a lack of faith in God. A survey of Millennials reported in New Yorker magazine last year found that 43% of Gen Y believes they are ‘as religious’ or ‘more religious’ than their parents.  A Marist Institute poll shows over three in ten Millennials define their primary long-term life goal in religious terms (“To be spiritual and close to God”). That figure was higher than for any other age group.

What makes this lack of affiliation especially intriguing to me is that in many other areas of their lives, Millennials are inclined to go along with their parents’ choices.

Within the 25% who are unaffiliated, nearly three quarters were raised in a religious faith tradition and dropped away. This makes faith the outlier as far as decisions that break with their parents.  Recall that this is the first generation that as a rule likes their parents and even thinks of their parents as their ‘best friend’.

• 86% say they share their parents political views.
• Every single student in my Principles of Marketing class raised their hand last week when I asked who banks where their parents bank.
• According to an AARP survey, 41% of Millennials with cars drive the same brand of car their parents drive or have driven.
• The American Savings Council found 71% of Gen X’ers and Gen Y’ers turn to their parents for financial advice.

So why make the break here, over something as important as faith?

I think has to do with the strength of the Millennial subculture and its strong, shared ethical values than a fundamental change in their belief in God.

The Gen Y subculture is astonishingly ethical, both in values and in practice. ’Bad behavior’ on a variety of  social dimensions from pregnancy to crime to drugs are all down among young adults.  Socially, Millennials prize tolerance as a result of their inherent diversity. They are significantly more socially liberal than their parents on issues of marriage, abortion, interracial dating.  Millennials are less inclined to believe that church affiliation is necessary to be a ‘good person’. According to a Marist Institute poll, 56% have donated money to a charity in the past six months and 67% have volunteered their time.

I’ll go out on a limb here and speculate that some of the lack of affiliation is due to a desire for ‘authenticity.’  The Gen Y subculture is unusually sensitive to phoniness. It’s unlikely they will go through the motions of attending church just because it is ‘the thing to do’  if they have questions about their own sincerity.

In the final analysis, reaching Millennials and getting them to re-affiliate with any one ‘religion’ may be unrealistic as a ‘marketing objective’.

Gen Y is accustomed to choices, and there is some evidence they may feel confined by a denominational label.  In December I noted that Millennials are ‘auditioning’ faiths the same way they would look for a college, a spouse or other major decision (“For Millennials Belief Is A Choice“). This represents a huge generational shift and as with so many other Gen Y trends, may start to migrate into  the thinking of other age groups. The Pew research shows that like Millennials, most Americans are embracing ‘multiple faiths’, with beliefs that do not ‘ fit conventional categories’.

Here is how Mediapost described the effort last week.

The video, shot on the Queens, N.Y., campus of St. John’s University, concludes with a title asking: “Where will happiness strike next?” and a message encouraging viewers to “Share the happiness, share the video.”

A.J. Brustein, global senior brand manager, Coca-Cola, says the video was conceived as a way to connect with teens and young adults outside of TV ads and online games. “We wanted to give them something that would spread a bit of happiness and something they could pass on to their friends to keep the happiness flowing,” he sums up.

Coke acknowledges that the effort is an experiment and future videos will depend on the success of this one.

So I asked my MBA students for their opinion via our class blog, whether or not this is a good approach for a powerful brand like Coke to use to connect with younger drinkers? Three out of four liked it and thought it was a great effort. Nearly all said it had viral potential. They especially enjoyed the essential kindness of delighting others without expecting anything in return. Here’s a sample of what they had to say.

Kathryn: “This video was an absolute delight to watch. I could not help smiling throughout the whole thing! Without getting far too philosophical, I think our society has somewhat forgotten that a small deed of good and happiness has powerful ramifications for people and how they feel. This campaign plays on that emotion very nicely, and in a way that connects that feeling with the product. Free Coke in a fun way = Happiness.”

Jack: “I think this campaign from coke is a great strategy for connecting with consumers. From an imaginative stand point I think it would be hard for someone to watch this video without wondering what else they were passing out, how they rigged that machine, or if they were going to do it again (hopefully at Notre Dame).”

Lindsay: “I enjoyed this commercial. It’s heartwarming to see how the unexpected presence of simple, pleasant things—extra cokes, pizza, flowers, balloon animals—can bring people together. It’s fun to watch a shared laugh become a celebration.”

Matt: “Coke = Good! (or happy) That’s all I could think of after watching this commercial… I think it does a great job of spreading the happiness vibe that Coke is trying to convey, particularly when you see the huge smiles of all of the college student’s faces. I think the video will go ‘viral’. It has that ‘wow’ factor that a lot of people (I know a lot of my friends will) share on social websites like facebook or twitter. Pure entertainment always sells. Go Coke! Keep entertaining me! I like it!”

Katie: “Loved it! The premise reminded me of a funnier version of the Liberty Mutual ads from a couple years ago – the ones showing people helping out strangers and other people seeing the “good Samaritanism” and in turn helping out someone themselves. I think that “feel good” aspect can really go far in our society…”

Suzy: “Super fun video! I think Coke did a great job creating an enjoyable, happy sentiment amongst viewers – a sentiment that can easily be associated with their brand after watching the clips and reactions of students.”

Robert: “The gratitude of the random act of kindness is innate in most of us, and this ad taps into that about as well as a large company could ever hope to. I am not cynical about this being unable to convince people to buy, no doubt in my mind this will have a significant impact on the buying habits of shoppers unconsciously.”

This effort reminds me of VW’s recent “FunTheory” viral campaign in its simplicity and appeal. The “Piano Stairs” video has already experienced over 10 million views on YouTube. Given the relatively low cost of production and media, if the Coke video is as successful, I think we can expect to see other big brands follow suit. It certainly isn’t a replacement for an ad campaign but offers a great way to amplify the message via social media.

JamesKChou: I have greater respect for Conan O’Brien - http://bit.ly/5YBDmp#Conan #obrien #nbc #leno

ChrisTashima: NBC is so spineless. They really need to get over Leno – the rest of the country has. This is embarrassing.

DmitrySocial: Conan has become the web’s fastest rising brand..why would he want to stay on TV and risk irrelevance?! http://post.ly/IjQl

DrewFromNY: If you don’t think #Conan is funny, read his 2000 Class Day speech at Harvard. http://www.allowe.com/Humor/book/COBspeech2k.htm

DavidInIndy: #Conan *actually* put the Tonight Show on Craigslist: Here’s the link http://bit.ly/4SJkSB Love it! #teamconan

Conan O’Brien may reach Millennial icon status as a result of NBC’s decision to favor Leno over O’Brien for the coveted 11:35 Tonight Show slot.

As the New York Times put its, “They may not have watched (O’Brien’s) “Tonight Show” regularly — or at all — but boy, are they angry now.” According to the Times, Mr. O’Brien fell short in NBC’s attempt to gain younger viewers at 11:35 p.m., yet he is by far the favorite in online viral buzz and voting. There are petitions, Facebook pages, “I’m with CoCo T-shirts, and a steady Twitter stream of support for ‘CoCo’.  Sentiment is said to be running 50:1 for O’Brien over NBC/Leno.

Why now, with all the other news in this currently very heavy news cycle (Haiti, China/Google, McGwire) has this story managed to mobilize so many young adults?

I’ll hazard a few hypotheses:

1.  NBC’s decision violates Gen Y’s sense of fair play. Leno’s failure in prime time was not O’Brien’s fault. He is the victim of others’ poor decisions, not unlike Millennials themselves.

2. O’Brien acted in a classy way. He didn’t overreact, he maintained his dignity and acted gracefully. His open letter to the “people of the earth” seemed reasonable and honest. “The most-recommended comment about NBC on nytimes.com read, “I haven’t been a fan of Conan’s show but this letter is complete class.” Johnny Carson, a former long-running “Tonight” host, “would be very proud,” the commenter added. “I’m a fan now.”

3. O’Brien fills a vacuum. I’ve commented before that as a generation,  Millennials have surprisingly few ‘iconic’ celebrity brands.  Yes, there’s Colbert, Stewart and Lady GaGa. But who else?

4. The imbroglio is tailor-made for social media. In my class this week, we speculated how much faster the whole New Coke episode might have unraveled if it had happened in the era of the social graph.  The speed with which Gen Y has mobilized word of mouth in support of O’Brien is testament to their facility with the tools of digital social influence.

5. Leno is “so Boomer.” Let’s face it, Leno isn’t coo;, he’s the guy your parents watch(ed).

6. O’Brien is genuinely funny. Millennials love to laugh and this has provided Conan with an opportunity to shine. It’s his moment and he’s making the most of it.

What have I missed?

Source: CDC/NCHS National Health and Nutrition Study

On two occasions in the past year, when remarking on my observations about Millennials and their evolved food preferences, I was challenged by senior executives who quite reasonable asked, ‘If Millennials are so much more sophisticated about their food choices, shouldn’t it follow that they are less obese?” On both occasions I had no ready answer.

Are Millennials healthier than previous generations, or is all the talk about fresh and nutritious foods, gourmet tastes and healthy lifestyles, just that: talk?

The data to address this question is surprisingly hard to find. There is a lot of research on kids and obesity, but adults tend to be lumped together by the CDC and other government health reporting groups. Now, just in time for New Year’s Resolutions, I have the answer, thanks to my new Twitter friend, Rick McGuire, a writer and expert on health and medical issues. He provided a link to a 600+ page report with the intimidating title, “Health, United States, 2008, with a special feature on the Health of Young Adults.” This report draws on a wide variety of sources to paint a most comprehensive picture, based on what I can only call ‘a ton of data’.

Unfortunately, the trends suggest the opposite of what I would have predicted: Gen Y, defined as young adults 18-29, are less active and more obese than earlier generations.

“The proportion of young adults 18–29 years of age who were obese more than tripled from 8% in 1971–1974 to 24% in 2003–2004.”

“Nearly two-thirds of young adults did not have regular leisure-time physical activity and three-quarters did not report strength-training at least twice a week.”

Beyond obesity, there are other reasons to be concerned about the Millennial generation’s health. Overall, the report makes for alarming reading. The statistics on risk factors such as cigarette smoking, drug and alcohol use, unmarried pregnancy, and infectious disease rates among 18-29 year olds all suggest a generation who’s health is in serious danger.  These facts are not well understood and important to consider as country is about to take on the enormous challenge of insuring a greater proportion of the population.

Alcohol: “Trends in heavy drinking remained constant for both men and women during the period, with about 6%–8% of young men and 3%–5% of young women reporting heavy drinking. Heavy drinking is defined as more than 14 drinks per week for men and more than seven drinks per week for women, on average. One-fifth reported 5 or more drinks in a day on at least 12 days in the past year.”

Illicit Drugs: “Almost 40% of young adults 18–20 years of age, about one-third of 21–25 year-olds, and one-quarter of 26–29 year-olds reported using an illicit drug in the past year.”

Tobacco: “In 2006, nearly 30% of young adults were current cigarette smokers. Between 1997 and 2006, the current smoking rate declined nearly 20% among young adult women but did not decline significantly among young adult men.”

Sex: “Twenty-one percent of women reported forced sexual intercourse before age 30.”

HPV: “45% of women age 20–24 years tested positive for HPV infection.”

Overall Health: “Eighteen percent of young women and 12% of young men reported at least one of six selected serious health conditions in 2004–2006, and 4%–5% of young women and young men reported overall fair or poor health or an activity limitation due to a chronic health condition.”

Mental Disorders: “An estimated 7% of young adults 20–29 years of age had a diagnosis of major depression in the past 12 months. 9% of young adults 20–29 years of age had one or more of these three illnesses major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, or panic disorder)  in the past 12 months. Young women (11%) were almost twice as likely as young men (6%) to have major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, or a panic disorder in the past 12 months.”

Unmarried Pregnancy: “Between 1990 and 2005, the proportion of births that are to unmarried women was highest for women under age 20. Between 1990 and 2005, the proportion of births to unmarried women rose from 66% to 84% for women age 18 years, from 58% to 77% for women age 19, from 37% to 56% for women age 20–24, and from 18% to 29% for women age 25–29.”

Health issues and health care are likely to be the single biggest issue of Gen Y’s lives.  Already, the desire to maintain work-related benefits is contributing to keeping them in place on the job, according to a report by Fidelity (“Gen Y Workers Under Financial Stress Value Their Benefits”).  Although they are healthier than older adults, young adults are still subject to chronic diseases, activity limitations, and death, and need health care for various reasons. As this report points out, however, “they are the age group least likely to have health insurance, and when they do need health care, they experience problems accessing the health care system.”

Looking ahead, the cost of health care overhaul will mostly be borne by Gen Y. The single biggest thing they can do to keep the overall cost of health care down in the future is to change the choices they make now. It’s a new year and a new decade. Let’s hope for their sakes Gen Y makes a resolution to take the health care debate and their own health care seriously.

Studies have shown there has been a generational shift in the way young adults relate to food. They were exposed to better food at home, in restaurants and through travel with their Boomer and Gen X parents.  In their lifetimes, there has been an explosion in new tastes from greater accessibility to ethnic foods, TV cooking shows, specialty food stores, and not but certainly not least, Internet how-to and recipe sites. There was no Food Channel when I was learning to cook.  I am embarrassed to admit how much Velveeta I ate in college. (Velveeta is shelf-stable in case you didn’t know.).  I never met a garlic clove or realized salad dressing didn’t have to come in a bottle until graduate school.

Here are some of the highlights of this week’s experiment at TTNG relevant to food marketers. Think of it as an early Christmas present:

Cooking and Shopping

Matthew Nolet, “Cooking From a Book is So Last Century” “Like so many of my generation and beyond, I believed that the art of cooking was best left to others: parents, professionals, and McDonalds. However, when the moment of edible reality hit me, I found myself completely overwhelmed by cups, teaspoons, garlic, and French culinary vocabulaire. It was the confidence of Bobby Flay, the simplicity of Rachel Ray, and the “how-to” approach of Alton Brown that brought me and so many others back from the brink of dietary disaster. With the invention of the cooking show and the celebrity chef, the process of cooking, baking, and assembling meals has moved from being simply a domestic exercise into an expression of creativity, devotion, and skill. The secrets of souffles, emulsions and sauces no longer escape or confuse us. By following our favorite television chefs, we have been able to discover the ability within ourselves to create great works of delicious art. As a result, we have found ourselves with a new form of celebrity. Fandom is no longer reserved simply for athletes and movie stars.  The celebrity chef now holds a devoted spot within the American psyche and television channel listing. Their restaurants are packed nightly and their faces are recognizable. Top Chef makes chefs into celebrities. The Next Food Network Star makes the everyman into a chef into a star. Food now fulfills a larger role than simply as sustenance; it is entertainment and it is impressive. As a result, food and the creation thereof is now “cool” and a highly desirable skill amongst the general masses. Now almost four years later and hundreds of Food Network episodes later, I enjoy cooking for a biweekly dinner involving close friends where we try new recipes, new techniques, and chastise each other for both our failures and successes.”

Zoe Meeran, “Cooking by Nose” “Like many of my friends I don’t grocery shop particularly often, and certainly not in the middle of the week. When I do go to the store, I buy foods that I can use in more than one dish. Vegetables, lemons, ground beef.  Most of the time, I just don’t think to plan out my meals, but in addition to that I’ve always been an innovator. My love affair with Top Chef has me wondering what I can whip up using vegetable stock, corn and black bean salsa, spices, and only one hand (tortilla soup – GO!). I like the challenge of combining unexpected flavors – if, for example, you haven’t tried watermelon and balsamic vinegar, put the laptop down and head to your local farmer’s market now.”

Food Brand Loyalty and Lovemarks

Dan Rosenberg, “My Cheatin’ Heart” “When given the choice between two parity brands, love can only go so far. And I’m not alone. There are a precious few who really won’t accept Pepsi instead of Coke, or will pay that extra dollar and cross the street to go to McDonalds instead of Burger King. If you want to get an all-things-equal-and-controlled study of brand loyalty, go to the corner of Boylston and Tremont Streets in Boston where a Starbucks and a Dunkin Donuts are separated by no more than a 50-foot stretch of asphalt. Here, you’ll see the hipsters and theatre-goers choose which brand of coffee gives them the buzz they love…A competitors discount, a picky friend or even the wafting smell of burritos in the wind can lure me away from the brands I claim to love. Man is a fickle beast, and my dolla-dolla billz have no discretion. But certain brands have a stronger hold than others. Everyone has their preferences, but they also have the brands that they choose to define themselves by: their “My” brands. Much in the way Miley shouts “they’re playing my jam” about the Jay-Z song that made her butterflies fly away, these are the brands that do everything right. When interacting with these brands, everything becomes right in the world. If I had to pick, my “My” brands would include Tropicana Orange Juice and Heinz Ketchup. They’re delicious and remind me of home, but I’ve cheated on them too. Damned if it doesn’t leave me with a bad taste in my mouth.”

Pizza

David Ricaud, “Sex and Pizza” “Could pizza be what unites generation Y with its predecessors? Sex. Entitlement. Self-involvement. To me, these are the three qualities that other generations use to set themselves apart from millennials. The boomers think we are oversexed (maybe we are!) and undervalue some inherent meaning to sexual relations. Gen-Xers, the slackers, say we feel a sense of entitlement to good grades and great jobs. And they all think we are self-focused and value careers over friends and family. “You kids have no roots,” a 68-year-old New Yorker said to me. Pizza, though, connects us to the slackers, reformed hippies, and WWII heroes. At dinner, my gen-X brothers, my baby boomer parents, and my great generation grandmother show the same appreciation for this simple triangular delicacy. Dough, mozzarella, and tomato sauce form a timeless American classic—one that, even when we judge our children and grandchildren, will continue to unite us all.”

Bottled Water

Melanie Wong, “I’m Sorry This Water Is Reserved for Special People “Voss water is only available in some specialty stores, namely in Whole Foods. An admirer of good minimalist design, a bottle of Voss water costs around $3.14 plus tax. If I was to consumer just one bottle a day, that would amount to $1,146.10 a year. A thousand dollars a year on a small bottle of water in a glass. What insanity! But look at the bottle, with its sleek, elegant design. The embossed “VOSS” lettering on the bottle with a silver screw on top. With my love for gray and minimalist design, Voss water is my savior in a world of strange colors and comic sans lettering.Bottled water in any form also carries an image in each of their bottles. Fiji and Evian carry a sense of exotic faraway-ness that watch and car companies also embody. Aquafina, the official sponsor of the MLB carries a pure, water-for-athletes image that may appeal to people who are more active. Companies place stronger brand identity to everyday items like bottled water than products that speak for themselves like Midol, Kleenex, or Crayola. This branding effort does not go unnoticed for marketing majors like myself. I want to become one with the luxury and exoticism of Fiji and Voss water, because carrying around bottles of water with a brand, associates myself with it.

Eating Healthy

Adam Di Stefano, “Toxic Foods” “My previous eating habits were fairly representative of my generation, but they are without a doubt a function of our lifestyle.  In a world where fast food isn’t fast enough, we take shortcuts and it comes at a cost.  If at my age I was already feeling the impacts of my food choices, I can only imagine what I would feel like in my 30s, 40s or 50s. I’m not alone in recognizing this, though.  We’re in the midst of a fundamental shift in the way people perceive their relationship with food.  The tail end of my generation is coming of age in a time where McDonald’s has salads on the menu, and Happy Meals come with apple slices.  While our parents’ generation is the McDonald’s generation, we may well be remembered as the Whole Foods generation.  We have the motivation.  We’ve witnessed what a generation that grew up in the golden age of fast food has led to: record levels of obesity and cardiac problems being the number one killer in North America. A generation ago, a vegan, or an organic farmer was a hippie, a fringe character.  Now, they may not be the majority, but they’re mainstream minorities.  We’re a generation that understands food labels.  We know what organic means.  We’ve turned movies like Supersize Me and Food Inc. into blockbusters.With every passing day, more and more Gen-Yers are going to come to the same conclusion I did, that we need to stop treating our bodies like dumpsters, and change the way we interact with food.  Gen-Y is the generation that is going to reclaim our relationship with food as being sacred.  No more toxic junk.  Bring on the real food.”

Kristin Fritz, “The Real Risks of Real Food” “My mom has never used a crock-pot or Hamburger Helper. She never served Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and is proud that my brother and I were exposed to different foods growing up. The most exciting part about getting my first apartment was the kitchen and not having to rely on a dining hall anymore. I proudly adopted some of my mom’s cooking habits while discovering a few tricks of my own. Even so, my skills need improvement, so it’s nice to know I can call home when a question comes up. Food awareness is a popular trend right now. With the movie release of Food Inc. and Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book, Eating Animals, it’s evident that more people today care about where their favorites foods come from.In order to lead a more proactive lifestyle I’ve decided to pay more attention to what I eat. Whether at home prepping dinner or at a restaurant I believe it’s smart to carefully consider food options before taking that big bite.”

Colby Gergen, “Fast Food Frenzy “I’ve managed to hide my fast food fiendings from my pantry so far. I don’t think it suspects a thing. …The problem is, I don’t want to leave my pantry. It’s been great to me. And for everyone else. I feel great when I spend time with it, my friends dolphin, deer, and eagle all thank me, and the buttons on my jeans get along great with my pantry. Sure, I may not always enjoy it. There are definitely times when I’ve been with my pantry but thinking about Wendy (or Sonic, the Queen, Colonel, etc). But even when I stray, I always come back to my pantry. I know that it will always be there. As a whole, we have a rock solid relationship. There’s a future, a long one, with my pantry. I don’t see that long of a future when I’m with the King (or the Bell, Five Guys, Hardee, and so on). So I stay true, for the most part, to my pantry. I know that in the long run, I’ll be better for it. Even if there are some rough batches, err, patches.”

Online Delivery

Mariam Shahab, “Enough of the Paper Menus” “We’ve matured from the days of ramen noodles satisfying our mere hunger pangs, and upgraded to relying on delivery to satiate our palates. When searching for food delivery, one-stop shop sites like Campusfood, Delivery.com and Grub Hub have marked their territory. Since we’re all hyper-connected but shy of actually speaking on our phones, online delivery is a natural fit for my generation. A run-down of the big players in the race for the delivery game:

• Campusfood.com attests itself as the largest virtual food court in the country with a 2000 plus network of restaurants. Campusfood is also the savviest user of cultivating relationships with their customer base. They created a Facebook app called Food Friendzy based on the idea that playing online games and sharing the app can lead to wining free food.

• Grub Hub has occupied the green food delivery site niche: they buy carbon offsets on all orders and make it simple to decline extras (i.e. – plastic utensils and paper napkins).

• Delivery.com centers itself based on efficiency and convenience. The site saves your favorite restaurants and previous orders for simpler reordering.

There’s much more on the TTNG site, about Ben and Jerry’s, about binge eating, dieting (different article thank goodness), the coolness of healthy foods as well as the full articles on the topics above. Check it out.

With insights this good, marketers can only hope they tackle adult beverages next!