The Flipchart, a 1960's Teaching Innovation
“Portable, economical, versatile, the flipchart would get many teacher’s votes as the most useful teaching tool. With a little prepartion and imagination a teacher or leader can reinforce visually the idea or story he is trying to communicate.
What is a flipchart? It is simply a series of sheets of paper bound together which can be flipped over, one at a time, to show a series of thoughts, pictures, outline points, questions, cartoons, symbols, or almost anything that helps teach the lesson.
Probably the most popular permanent flipchart is an artist’s large sketch pad, available at art supply stores. Spiral bound and large enough for use with groups, it has good quality durable paper. Felt-tip pens, crayons, heavy pencil or charcoal can be used on it. With some you can even use tempera or water colors.
The want ad section of the newspaper clipped onto an easel with metal clips is an inexpensive, quick flipchart. Make sure the news type is solid across the page and is too small for any of the audience to read. Mark with a dark felt-tip pen.
Sheets of wrapping paper may also be clipped onto an easel or bound to a piece of cardboard with binder rings. Wrapping paper can be cut to size to fit the size of the group. Any felt-tip pen or crayon can be used if the color contrasts enough with the paper.
Loose leaf or unruled spiral bound notebooks may be held horizontally and used with small classes. Several sheets of vrious colored construction paper can be punched and bound with binfder rings for larger groups. Some felt-tip pens may blur because of the porous paper, but contrasting crayon colors work well, as does white or colored chalk whose tip has been dipped in a little water.”
Source: “Some Variations and Uses of The Flipchart”, The Standard, January 15, 1968
Wow. The flipchart revolutionized education by introducing the idea that a teacher could ‘reinforce visually the ideas or story he (ouch) is trying to communicate’. The homely, homemade flipchart was literally the technological ancestor of the interactive whiteboard and Power Point presentation.
The classrooms at University of Notre Dame are well equipped with the latest classroom technology. While I occasionally make use of an HD Flip camera, there isn’t a flipchart or ‘felt-tip marker’ in sight. Instead, each room features multiple sliding blackboards, computers, high speed Internet connections, computer projection systems, DVD players and sound, LCD photo projecters, laptop connection. Technology assistance is a phone call away. Lighting is completely adjustable. Students enjoy wireless access on their own devices in the classroom.
Students of today would find a classroom of the 60’s primitive. I wonder what students forty years from now will think of our ‘modern’ classrooms? But more than that, I wonder if learning would be enhanced much more by the latest technology than it was by the flipchart in 1968.
Princess Phone - 1970's Connection
When I was a teen we spent hours on our AT&T Princess Phones, tying up the single family line for everyone else in the house. There was no call waiting or voice mail. “Get Off the PHONE! I need to make a call!!” was a common parental lament.
Back then, hanging out with friends meant a trip to the beach or the mall – usually by bus. We had pen pals in distant countries or states who we communicated with a few times a year.
How times have changed.
A defining characteristic of today’s teens is that they are in constant communication with their friends, generally via text messaging, not necessarily voice conversation. I have personally witnessed teens texting each other while sitting side by side, something OTX Research says 25% of 12-24 year olds in the U.K. admit to doing. This makes perfect sense to them.
Morgan Stewart, Director, Research & Strategy, at ExactTarget wrote an article today for Engage Gen Y based on observational research among teens. He writes:
“…hanging out, or even talking, has taken on different connotations from what I experienced as a teenager. “When someone says they were talking with so-and-so last night, it’s more than likely they were texting, not actually talking. In fact, digital communication has become so central to the lives of teens that some struggle to relate without a keyboard, “several times I’ve sat in Starbucks with a teenager who will barely speak. Then we go home and I start getting texts responding to the questions I asked face-to-face. These text conversations can go on for an hour or two.”
The facts bear out the anecdotes. Text messages far outnumber phone calls, (which calls into question whether it should even be called a mobile phone anymore since it is so rarely used to talk).
According to Nielsen Mobile, in the first quarter of 2009, the average U.S. teen made and received an average of 191 phone calls and sent and received 2,899 text messages per month. By the third quarter, the number of monthly texts had jumped to 3,146 messages. Even preteens send and receive 1,146 texts per month.
Many parents have learned it’s more effective to text their teen than to call. (For some great tips on using SMS text messaging to reach Millennials, see Engage Gen Y, “What’s In It for Me?“)
When it comes to time spent online, Facebook has emerged as the number one activity for all age groups, not just teens.
In January 2010, Nielsen reported the average U.S. Internet user spent seven hours a month on Facebook. That’s more time than on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Microsoft, Wikipedia and Amazon combined. Note, that’s the average Internet user. The average Facebook user spends 55 minutes a day on Facebook. And that’s across all Facebook users, so imagine how much time teens are spending.
According to Morgan, Facebook’s most critical role is as a hub for coordinating other social activities. Teens may set a time to meet at Starbucks or they may direct attention to another online gathering spot. (If Facebook forms the hub of teen communications, Twitter isn’t even on the wheel. Pew found just 8% of teens 12-17 use Twitter).
“In a recent survey, I asked teens (15-17 years old) to name the brand that did the best job communicating with them. Facebook ranked sixth on the list. Nike, with its focus on athletic accomplishment, ranked fourth. Amazon had more write-ins than any other brand, for males and females and across both U.S. and U.K. respondents.
Why? Because it is a socially driven shopping experience.
Teens can read reviews, they can submit their own, and they can get recommendations based on what they like. If you’re responsible for marketing a consumer product, I’d argue that managing your Amazon presence is more important that building out a Facebook strategy.” — Morgan Stewart, Exact Target
Like Stewart, I have observed that, at least for Millennials, Facebook is utilitarian. It fills the same function for them that Outlook does for me – calendar, message center, contact info.
Beyond Facebook, there are other sites which are more entertaining and every bit as social like Sporcle.com, FMyLife.com, FunnyOrDie.com, TextsFromLastNight.com, CollegeHumor.com, and FailBlog.org. Others connect through online video games like “Call of Duty”.
All together, teens spend more than 20 hours a day using media, the majority of which is electronic.
According to Larry Rosen, author of the new book, Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn,” this staggering achievement is accomplished daily by forgoing sleep and “with considerable multitasking, which peaks at seven simultaneous activities for older teens“.
Those with teen kids have seen Gen Y multi-tasking in action. There is music playing in the background, Hulu on the computer, several homework assignments open in various levels of completion, text messages alerts coming in like sonar, and possibly a little PlayStation or XBox for a break from it all. Yet somehow the homework gets done.
Sleep? That’s for the weekend.
Want More? The May 2009 pdf of Nielsen’s Report, “How Teens Use Media“, provides more detail on teen multi-tasking, online video, text messaging, social media use.
When Millennials are asked what are their favorite brands, Apple generally tops the list. Yet according to research reported last summer by YPulse, Dell still leads the pack in actual current ownership of computers. Thirty-one percent of college students own a Dell, far ahead of Apple at just 23%.Either purchase intentions are less than a sure thing or other factors are at play. That factor is called Parents.
I have noted before that when targeting Millennials, it’s wise for markters to “Meet the Parents”. They are unlikely to make major decisions without parental input. And in some cases (especially when they are underwriting the cost), the parents’ vote is the only one that really matters. Computers are perfect example of why that advice is worth considering. According to Ypulse:
“Understanding the apparent disconnect between current use and future intent among college students requires a better understanding of who’s doing the buying and when. Laptops are largely paid for by Mom and Dad just before a college student’s freshman year. Only one third of collegians report paying for their laptop using only their own money – the other two-thirds get help with a portion of the price tag (10%) or have it purchased for them entirely (56%). While deciding what to buy is more often within the student’s control, more than a third (36%) are being influenced by the advice of others.” — YPulse Report, July 2009
“Dell is the laptop brand most often used by high school students at 30% current ownership while Apple trails dramatically at 4% current ownership. Future intent is nearly at parity with 22% intending to buy an Apple and 20% intending to buy a Dell. Merely one out of eight (13%) of high school students paid for their own PC and merely one-third (33%) made the decision as to what they would purchase.” — YPulse Report, July 2009
“A subculture is a homogeneous group of people who share elements of the overall culture as well as cultural elements unique to their own group. Within subcultures, people’s attitudes, values and purchase decisions are even more similar than they are within the broader culture.” MKTG3, Lamb, Hair McDaniel, 2009
By this definition, Millennials are a subculture.
While they share many of the myths, customs and rituals of the larger culture, they have language, preferences and customs that are distinct to their generation. They have a unique set of reference groups and opinion leaders. These cultural factors exert enormous influence over Gen Y buying decisions, and are crucial for establishing relevance.
Learning about Millennial culture can be a tricky business if you are not a Millennial yourself. Even within the Millennial subculture, there is diversity. In fact, this generation is notable for it’s multi-culturalism.
Two of the best Millennial culture sleuths I have discovered are Tim Stock, Head of Planning at scenarioDNA, and Kevin Walker of Culture Labs Creative.
I found both Stock and Walker on Twitter and have spoken with each of them ‘live’ (proof Twitter works!). They are both passionate about understanding cultural influences on consumer behavior among youth.
ScenarioDNA describes itself as a ‘consumer insights think tank.’ Stock, who is also adjunct faculty at Parson’s School of Design, urges marketers to think in terms of ‘culture networks’ and ‘culture codes’. This philosophy is based on the idea that “values are shaped at critical points of the maturation process”, and that “our image of what products mean is dictated by this imprinting“. In other words, generations are shaped by common experiences peculiar to that point in time.
Stock has developed a strategic methodology for segmenting consumers based on their ‘culture code’ and for ’mapping’ the corresponding networks. He offers a fabulous lecture on culture networks (via slideshare), and another look at one particular network, the ‘Transformer Generation”. Both are well worth viewing.
Culture Labs Creative is a research-focused digital agency with special expertise in urban youth culture. Walker, who comes from a marketing communications and research background, emphasizes immersion techniques. 15-20 members of the target audience are invited to share their experience and ideas in a live workshop that is part event, part research. Sample output from a Global Trends event is provided on the Culture Labs site.
To identify the ‘Top 10 Trends, Culture Labs ‘monitored social media chatter during the last quarter of 2009′ and conducted in-market explorations in Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York as well as a ‘Trend Summit’ in Dallas in December. Among the 10 Trends were these observational ‘gems’ I haven’t seen anywhere else:
Vans Sneakers
“Take note of the Classic Americana fashion trend developing. We also predict that Vans sneakers will be the hot brand of 2010. Vans are classic, inexpensive and are offered in many colors and styles…. As times remain challenged and serious, people are going to dress up more in 2010. The era of sloppiness in dress and casual Fridays is so ’00’s. Young people are rediscovering “dressing up” and it is driven by a new pragmatic sense that to make progress, get a job, and be taken seriously you have to look the part. As one of our speakers at the Trend Summit, Michael Hastings-Black, mentioned, it is the “grown ass man” syndrome that is inspiring people to dress up more.”
I recently finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s best selling book, Eat Pray Love. The book chronicles Gilbert’s literal and figurative spiritual journey toward a deeper relationship with God, but never actually reveals which if any religion speaks to her yearning. Gilbert, a Gen X’er, seems to have a lot in common with Gen Y.
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’.
Youth marketing has traditionally been about understanding what the ‘cool kids want’ and then translating those insights and trends to influence the broader youth market.
Yet in an age where everyone who wants a voice can have one, is the idea of ‘influential trendsetters’ as relevant?
I love this graphic to the left (click on it to enlarge) because it laughs at the whole idea that anything is particularly hip, or unhip. One recent blog hilariously suggested that ”Eighties Nerds are Contemporary Hipsters“.
Today’s hipster can take many forms. Outlaw Consulting, a leading expert on understanding trendsetting youth for companies like Levi’s, Diageo and Nike, features this quote on their web site’s home page:
“Everyone wants to be a hipster, which makes being a hipster tricky and nearly obsolete.”
In a recent interview, Outlaw’s President, Barbara Bylenga had this to say about what Makes Gen Y different from earlier generations.
BYLENGA: “Millennials, or Gen Ys, are definitely different. They seem to feel more empowered – and more entitled– than any generation before them. They have an innate team orientation that makes them excellent collaborators. And the ideas about issues like marriage and career are radically different. Their “American dream” isn’t about the picket fence; it’s a flexible freelance career and a life defined by passion. … Gen Ys see themselves as change-makers. But they’re also busy trying to have a middle-class life, so their protests take different form than youth protests of the past. They see corporation’s as having lots of power but little heart, and they try to create change by using their dollars. The “aha” for corporations is to recognize that values and authenticity are important to this generation — and that directly affects how they spend. American Apparel, for example, has been totally embraced by youth because of its labor practices. Shopping there make them feel like they’re spending money in the right place. Companies that really “walk their talk” about core values will be endeared. If you want to be relevant to Gen Ys, you need to understand their mindset.”
Today’s social currency seems to have more to do with being ‘authentic’ than with being avant garde.
According to Outlaw Consulting’s brand report, some brands, like Converse’s Chuck Taylor shoes, are cool because they’re grounded in the past. Others, like Apple and Nike are cool for the opposite reason: they embody change and constantly reach towards the future. But there is a third category of cool brands, those that appeal to Millennials’ inner nerd. Pop culture has celebrated the nerd/geek culture for many years (Napoleon Dynamite, Jimmy Neutron, Sand Lot). Millennials are not afraid to admit to a dorky side and they admire brands that can do the same. According to Outlaw, Trader Joe’s, Jet Blue and In N Out Burger have won the love of Millennial trendsetters simply by being their quirky selves, doing things they own way and never apologizing: “(Trader Joe’s employees) wear these tacky Hawaiian shirts and publish that ridiculous newsletter. But it’s their own style. And it’s so much more inviting than the normal rigid grocery store.”
In short, the very definition of ‘coolness’ seems to have shifted.
In focus groups, Gen Y tells us that the cool kids today are the ‘DOERS’ — the ones who are fixing, leading, changing, advocating, entrepreneuring in order to make a difference in the world. When you stop to think about it, that ’s a radical shift….being influential by actually influencing something!
I was reading Josh Bernoff’s book, Groundswell, last night as part of my effort to spend more time with analog media. The book challenged me to think about to do more to bring together the community of Millennial Marketers. Voila, an idea! A wiki!
Twelve hours later, here it is, a one-stop resource for research reports and data Millennial marketers can access FREE, all neatly categorized.
Home Page: http://millennialmarketing.wikispaces.com
Millennial Consumer & Shopping Behavior
Millennial Lifestyle, Attitudes & Values
Millennials & Financial Services
Millennial Demographics & Economics
Millennial Political & Civic Engagement
Bookmark it! Use it! But most of all, please Join it!
There are about 40 links already, but it is my hope that readers will contribute their own links. The goal is participation, so please feel free to add your finds to the lists.
As Josh Bernoff puts it, “...amazingly, people are willing to spend lots of time helping each other if you just get out of the way.”
Source: Ad Age
As the new decade opens, marketers are reflecting about what changes it will bring for advertising and media. (For a good example, see Mullen’s Edward Boches‘, “10 Predictions for Advertising in 2010“).
Forecasting is a tricky business at any time, but it is especially so right now. Consider that as the last decade opened, there was no ipod, Google was just getting started and Facebook founder Mark Zukerberg didn’t have his driver’s license yet. In 1999, there were no DVR’s and a cell phone was only good for phone calls; online social media meant chat rooms and discussion forums.
The proliferation of ‘digital media’ seems to have outrun our available words to describe it. Coining a new name for ‘new media’ that captures its interactivity has proven difficult. Somehow ‘Dynamic Media’ , ‘Shareable Media’ , and ‘User-generated Media’ fall short of describing what is happening.
One of the more curious aspects of the digital explosion is that marketers seem to be lagging consumers in embracing ‘digital media’. Josh Bernoff of Forrester who writes the blog, Groundswell, points out that consumers spent 34% of their total media time online in 2009, yet digital media amounts to just 12% of all media spending. This means most marketer’s energy is still spent developing advertising programs for newspapers, magazines and television, much as it was in 2000.
It should also be noted that while digital media has been growing, the total advertising and media industry have been shrinking, at least in terms of jobs (see chart). According to Ad Age, employment in the advertising and marketing services industry is down 10% from its 2007 all-time high, a loss of approximately 76,300 jobs. Media jobs fared even worse, down 112,500 since the recession began, which translates to one of every eight jobs. Although things are stabilizing they are unlikely to ever return to the levels of 2000 — when employment was 19% higher than it is today. This is a sobering reality, and one that is unlikely to turn around anytime soon.
Meanwhile a cottage industry is springing up to service the growing demand for social media programs. Individuals and small firms are filling a vacuum created by larger agencies who are finding it difficult to produce social media programs profitably — or that clients are not confident they can produce at all, I am not quite sure which. This cottage industry has little overhead and offers enthusiastic and creative practitioners who understand the new tools and platforms and are willing to try new things. Many are Millennials who unable to find a traditional PR or advertising job are innovating their way into an entirely new kind of marketing career, leveraging their knowledge of the target and of digital media.
Will these groups be the agencies of the future? Or will traditional agencies figure out how to absorb these renegade providers into their model? It could conceivably go either way. Regardless, I am in agreement with Denuo’s Rishad Tobaccowala that we are about to enter an exciting new age in marketing, where strategy and execution are more closely aligned than ever before. In the past, strategic capability was strong, the tools for executing communications and marketing programs were often clumsy and blunt. Insightful psychographic segmentation schemes were often reduced to the target ‘women 18-44′. Now, the opposite seems to be true: the tools are sharp, but strategy often lags.
My prediction for 2010 and beyond, is that digital will continue to grow at the expense of traditional media in the race to attract consumers’ attention. The marketers who will thrive in the coming decade will be those who know how to bring the tools and the strategies together.
If you are a food marketer trying to figure out the 18-25 year old market, you won’t want to miss what’s been happening this week at The Next Great Generation blog (#TNGG on Twitter). All week has been ‘Food Week’. A dozen young bloggers have contributed personal and revealing essays on how they think about food. Think “Slate-magazine-meets-market-research-community” and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
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!
It’s the last three weeks of December and Christmas, at least in America, is unavoidable. Everywhere you look there are lights, parties, gifts, shopping, music and wishes for a Merry Christmas. For Millennials, it appears, Christmas is a time of introspection, as there have been several articles and blog posts lately about the difficulty of making religious choices.
The concept of religion as a personal choice is a generational shift. My generation did not think of religious belief as a choice. You were Catholic, Jewish, Presbyterian or Baptist, just like your parents. But young people today take a more conscious approach to faith. As my 15-year old son put it, “If I were born in a Hindu family, I’d be Hindu”. The implication being that religion should be a considered choice, not something that happens by ‘luck of the draw’. Adam DiSefano writes today, in The Next Great Generation blog, that for Millennials, it’s hard to know ‘how to choose the correct religion’:
“Nearly every major religion preaches that it is the one true religion. If there’s only one true religion, what happens to all the people who don’t subscribe to it? Do they rot in hell just because they chose the wrong religion? I was baptized Roman Catholic. I went to Church and Sunday School most weeks until I was eight. I was Roman Catholic because that was all I knew. There was no other choice. In the sixth grade, I had a class that aimed to teach us about morality and religions from around the world. One day, the teacher said something that stuck with me: “Religion is a choice. You can choose your religion….It used to be that if your parents were Catholic, you were Catholic, end of story. Religion had a captive audience. Now, we have a choice. We’re shopping around for the best religion, and you know what? We can’t pick a winner. We’re paralyzed by choice, and so, we decide that maybe we don’t need organized religion after all.”
No choice appears to be the choice of a large number of Millennials. According to research by Lifeway.com, “70 percent of young adults ages 23-30 stopped attending church regularly for at least a year between ages 18-22.” Paul Eulette wrote in October for his blog, “QuarterLifeMagazine” that when young adults reach college, ”the support of the “family atmosphere” is gone and now young adults of Generation Y are having to realize the need to make these decisions for themselves for the very first time.”
Young adulthood today seems to be a time of auditioning different beliefs. Adam reports that he is still in the process of deciding what he believes:
“Today, I don’t consider myself a Catholic. I meditate and have dabbled in Yoga, but hesitate to call myself a Buddhist. After all, I don’t believe in reincarnation. I have issues with organized religion in general, but still consider myself a spiritual person. I do good in a way that’s consistent with my own values, as they’ve been defined by my parents, my friends, social norms and my personal experiences. But as for a label, I haven’t chosen one yet.”
In this respect, as in so many others, Millennnials appear to be on the vanguard of a trend.
New research released today by Pew shows most Americans are embracing ‘multiple faiths’, with beliefs that do not ‘ fit conventional categories’. Nearly three-quarters of Americans (72%) say they attend religious services at least a few times a year, including 38% who say they attend at least once a week. Among those who attend religious services at least once a week, nearly four-in-ten (39%) say they attend at multiple places and nearly three-in-ten (28%) go to services outside their own faith. In other words, most church going americans are a lot like Adam DiStefano — they like to mix it up and avoid a ‘label.’ A surprisingly high number of Americans, say they believe in reincarnation, ghosts and fortune tellers. Three fourths say they communicate with the dead.
“Though the U.S. is an overwhelmingly Christian country, significant minorities profess belief in a variety of Eastern or New Age beliefs. For instance, 24% of the public overall and 22% of Christians say they believe in reincarnation — that people will be reborn in this world again and again. And similar numbers (25% of the public overall, 23% of Christians) believe in astrology.
Nearly three-in-ten Americans say they have felt in touch with someone who has already died, almost one-in-five say they have seen or been in the presence of ghosts, and 15% have consulted a fortuneteller or a psychic.
Twenty-three percent (23%) believe in yoga not just as exercise but as a spiritual practice. Similar numbers profess belief in elements of New Age spirituality, with 26% saying they believe in spiritual energy located in physical things such as mountains, trees or crystals, and 25% professing belief in astrology (that the position of the stars and planets can affect people’s lives).
Fewer people (16%) believe in the “evil eye” or that certain people can cast curses or spells that cause bad things to happen to someone.”
The desire to avoid a label and celebrate diversity is characteristic of Gen Y. What I find especially fascinating is how this characteristic appears to be migrating into other age groups. The trend toward embracing broader spiritual views appears to be well underway. Half of Americans (49%) say they have had “a religious or mystical experience – that is, a moment of religious or spiritual awakening.” According to Pew, this represents a sharp increase over the past four decades. In 1962, only 22% of Americans reported having had such an experience, which grew to about a third in 1976 (31%) and 1994 (33%). This seems to at least partly explain the current fascination in angels, demons, vampires, and other supernatural beings.
Will Millennials continue to forge a more individualistic spiritual path? Or return to a more conventional approach as they age? What do you think?
