“I want to say one word to you, just one word. Are you listening?”
“Yes, I am”
“Plastics.”
In just :58 this scene summarized the angst of a generation. But what if Ben had actually used this insight? Plastics indeed were the future, and it didn’t take a crystal ball to see it.
By now, we all know the rationale:
- Millennials are a bigger cohort than the Boomers. They have massive aggregated spending power that will grow and grow over time.
- Millennials have disproportionate cultural influence, what they like, we all like sooner or later.
- Millennials think differently. They want different things and that means they will spend differently.
My question is, how do we take advantage of these insights right now?
- What are the future needs your business can be planning for today?
- What businesses are worth investing in now?
- What skills will your company need tomorrow?
- If you are a Millennial yourself, which industries will offer the greatest growth opportunities?
I am concerned that many companies are not doing enough to answer these questions. Seeing the future is difficult. Extrapolating current trends is not.
One company that decided to embrace the Millennial future 6 years ago is Chicago caterer, Tom Walter of Tasty Catering. According to Walter, ‘fighting fire with fire’ was one of the wisest decisions he’s made. Here is how he described the situation and results to BNET (“Handing Over My Company to Millennials Helped It Grow” 8.31.10).
Six years ago we did something radical (for us): We decided to skip a generation and hand the reins over to the youngest employees in the office, the Millennials. And we’ve never looked back. Last year, at a time when much of the catering industry was struggling, we turned a profit from annual revenue of $5.3 million. We have better name recognition, better internal communication and we’ve developed a much stronger corporate culture — all because we looked to the next generation.
Boomers don’t make corporate catering decisions anymore — their administrative assistants do, who are more often than not Millennials. Once we figured out that the demographics of our core customers had changed, we did what any self-respecting business owners would do — we went out and found the expertise that we were lacking.
This course may not be for everyone, but Walters is clearly on to something. If the future belongs to Millennials, including them in decisions now can provide a competitive edge. Another, more direct approach, is to invest directly in Millennial talent that’s already in the family. According to this article, “Investing in the Family”, many parents are providing their Gen Y offspring with the backing required to start their own businesses.
If you haven’t taken time to answer these questions, I urge you not to wait. The future has a way of coming faster than we expect.
Millennials have a way of driving older folks crazy. Just this month, two prestigious publications, have featured articles intended to point out what’s wrong with kids today. Both articles have spurred a lot of discussion and debate.
“What Is It About Twenty-Somethings? Why Are So Many People in Their Twenties Taking So Long to Grow Up?” (NYT, 8.18.10)
“Two Common Mistakes of Millennials at Work” (Harvard Business Review, 8.30.10)
These are just two articles of many, but the fact that they are from no less than the New York Times and Harvard Business Review is rather shocking. Something important is amiss here.
Gen X’ers and Baby Boomers find this generation puzzling, and rather than strive to understand the differences, instead are inclined to view them negatively. It’s as if they were visiting a foreign country, and instead of trying to understand the culture, they respond with, ‘Eww, look at them, can you believe it??!’
I’ve written before that Millennials meet the definition of a subculture. Data and experience both show that Millennials look at many things — work, food, religion, politics, fashion and more — differently. And that is likely to turn out to be a good thing rather than a bad one. After all, we need some new ideas!
Rather than rehash ground I’ve covered before, I’d like to feature an alternative view by Gen Y’er, Tyler Mahoney, a Duke University Divinity School Graduate Student, and Co-founder of Churchrater.com. Monday he wrote a post for the Huffington Post titled “How to Manage Me. Millennials and Communication” (8.30.10). Mahoney’s main point is that the gap between the ‘children of Google’ and others is more cultural than technological, and is possibly larger than in the past. The issue of work life balance is just one example he uses to illustrate the gap.
Managing is a two-way relationship. People my age also need to understand our bosses’ worldviews. Peter Brinkerhoff, nonprofit consultant and author of Generations: The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit, says finding an appropriate work/life balance and flextime are two of the main points of tension the millennial generation faces in the workplace. “We [boomers] think of work as being a place,” he says: “If you’re not at work, you’re slacking off.” We millennials however are consistently looking for a better work/life balance than our parents- who by in large were workaholics.
If I’ve finished my work, I want to go home early, play recreational soccer, and watch the Daily Show. Brinkerhoff says this is a source of disconnection between millennials and Boomers. “We [Boomers] take our work home, but we don’t realize that you [millennials] do work at 3 p.m., 9 p.m., or 11 p.m.,” says Brinkerhoff, “You’re always wired so you always have the opportunity to work. We don’t understand your level of connectedness.”
This confusion owes to the fact that the schism between the millennial generation, Gen X, and baby boomers is much larger than in past generations. “It’s not just age difference, it’s a cultural difference,” says Brinkerhoff. I know and grew up around technology that enabled me to speak and communicate in ways my parents could not have imagined. From our smart phones to our Facebook accounts, we are living in a connected world that allows us to work on the bus, on planes with Wi-fi, and at home after dinner — and, for some of us, even during dinner. Work to us is not just one place: it’s any place where there is a CAT-5 cable, Wi-Fi, or a 3G signal
Another difference Mahoney points out is the closer relationship between parents and their Gen Y offspring. He points to the shift in the marketing approach used by U.S. military recruiting as a smart response to this important cultural change.
Gen X recruitment focused on “risk, the individual, and personal conquest,” while millennial recruitment focuses on why we’re fighting in the first place. Millennials, says (Neil) Howe, “are looking to be on team that is more than just the some of it’s parts.” We millenials are looking for meaning in what we are doing. “The drill sergeant won’t yell at millenials when they get off the bus for basic training,” says Howe, “They will thank them for their service in a time of war.” That service, provides meaning. This is most poignantly exemplified in the different military commercials used for Gen X and Gen Y. Whereas years ago Marines commercials featured a lone soldier braving adversity and squaring off against — by today’s standards — a poorly-animated lava dragon, today’s ads show young people explaining to their parents why they want to join up. This trend in inter-generational marketing, according to Howe, rests on the fact that “parents are being brought into the equation” in ways they weren’t twenty years ago.
I love this example because it is values neutral. Marketers (and managers) need to stop complaining about young people and understand how to leverage the differences as potential strengths. Think of yourself as a foreigner in a foreign land and behave accordingly. Get to know the language, customs and the reasons why they are the way they are.
It’s not better or worse, it’s just different.
Guest Post by David Ioanne
I spend quite a bit of time these days riding public transportation. As a result I have the opportunity to “engage” with many people. At the simplest level, others may acknowledge my existence and maybe even read whatever message is on my graphic tee shirt. That I consider an impression.
But beyond the random impressions that may facilitate a conversation, it takes much more to tee up a conversation, let alone an engagement.
That said I enjoy conversing with random people. But what if the people I sit next too are already engaged in a conversation or something other than me? I start to consider the ways I can break into the conversation or at least in to their consideration so I can eventually get into a conversation if that’s my objective.
In the traditional world of marketing I might try using a swift headline or pickup line. Or if the opportunity didn’t present itself, I could just blurt out what it was I wanted to say. And if they still didn’t engage, I’d sit there and repeat my message over and over until I got some sort of reaction. This is the interruptive model. Sure after that reaction, I may become part of a memorable story retold to others later on, but I’m quite sure it wouldn’t be in positive light.
The reality is, that most people we come across are very focused and entrenched in their own worlds. Not until they need something do they look outside of their worlds.
I believe I have a lot to offer others in their worlds. However, if I just blurt out what it is I think, chances are they won’t be overly receptive. This is why I listen to the conversation first, wait for the right moment and then add value to the context.
The other day a group of four Millennials sat next to me in the train. We all a good group laugh about something happening outside of the train, but that superficial rapport was not enough to let me into their deeper conversation. I needed another reason for them to give me the time of day. After me asking a number of questions the guy in the group finally asked what it was that I do?
I told him that like the movie, Inception, I make ideas. He hadn’t seen the movie yet, but asked me to give him an example of an idea as he struggled to open a banana. I replied “certainly”, then asked if I could share with him an alternative idea on how to open the banana. Confused, he answered “sure.” I then took the banana, flipped it upside down, pinched the nub and easily peeled back the skin.
“Wow” he exclaimed. “Thats a crazy idea..and it works better then the one I’ve always used.” After this engagement he actually really wanted to know what it was I did. Prior to that engagement, he was soley asking to be polite since I asked him so many questions. And even then, it took 20 mins of semi-active participation on my part to get any sort of acknowledgement.
Point is that I I had not engaged, and had just thrown my message out there is a good chance that it would not have been received and had any impact.
Imagine if I told him how to peel a banana before he had thought about peeling the banana. By the time he peeled he maybe would have forgotten what I said or just decided to do it his own way instead. From a reach standpoint I would have made an impression, but from an action standpoint my message wouldn’t have been as effective and the good idea would be lost in translation or reception. That’s because the time and place of the message as well the delivery – while interruptive – would have been dissruptive and my new approach to peeling a banana may not have been enough to trigger a future action. It definitely would not have helped my objective in engaging in a conversation beyond peeling bananas when he wasn’t even thinking about bananas.
Marketing ideas are no different. Not only do ideas and messages need to be the right message at the right time, but they need to be delivered in the right way for the right audience if they are going to have an impact and cause action.
While content may be king, and marketing may be queen – context is the joker that can steal the crown. Engagement is key to keeping the crown safe.
Boo interruptive marketing. Hooray engagement marketing!!
David Ioanne is a Digital Integration Strategist at Colangelo, a Connecticut-based digital marketing firm. He lives in New York City. David is a member of Brand Amplitude’s Millennial Marketing “Super Consumer” Market Research Community. Follow him on Twitter as @ravin_dave. This post originally appeared as a comment in response to an earlier post, “What Millennial Marketers Can Learn From A Corset Maker” on the importance of adding value through marketing. David has graciously allowed me to reprint his insights as a post.
Yesterday the New York Times published an online article that will also appear in its Sunday magazine titled, “What Is It About 20-Somethings?” The article has already provoked controversy for itemizing the ways that today’s ‘emerging adults’ are more immature than the generations that preceded them. (See “The 10 most infuriating quotes from the Times’ latest 20-something takedown” for a sample.)
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.
Nielsen declared 2009 the “year of the coupon comeback” with coupon redemptions soaring 27% overall and as much as 71% in discount channels. That’s 3.3 BILLION coupons. With new online and mobile methods of accessing coupons, the pace is expected to continue in 2010.
While I don’t have data to back this assertion up, I suspect coupons are not as effective among Millennials as other demographic groups. Gen Y, sometimes referred to as ‘Gen Frugal’, is just as cost conscious — if not more — than other age groups. But they have a different way of looking at value and the art of the deal.
Millennials want to know they got a deal, not just a discount. This may sound like hairsplitting but bear with me, according to our Gen Y ‘super consumer’ panel, there is a difference.
First, Gen Y is into saving money. According to Fiserv, 75% of Gen Y consumers have a savings account, 5% higher than any other generation. Their overall credit card debt has gone down, despite the fact that many are either unemployed or under-employed. Fiserv says they are ‘fiscally responsible’ as well.
“Several of the consumers interviewed by Fiserv expressed the sentiment that, “if you don’t have the money to pay for something, you shouldn’t buy it.” Gen Y consumers are selective when making big ticket purchases, and spend a lot of time researching products on the Internet. Many said they were more interested in having fun experiences with friends than having a lot of material possessions.”
But Gen Y does spend on things that matter to them. They will spend less overall, and make many sacrifices in order to afford more expensive items that many would consider “luxuries”, like the latest technology, a great pair of shoes, or even jewelry. These are seen as ‘investments’ rather than consumption as they are carefully considered for their return, not just as items of instant gratification. When a luxury buy is needed and fulfills a Yer’s purpose, it is considered a smart buy. For example, a suit that is needed for interviewing for jobs can easily be rationalized. They also spend on experiences. Millennials account for 12% of all travel spending in the U.S.
When Gen Y buys, they want to know they got a deal. A deal means exceptional quality at an exceptional price, not just a sale on everyday wares. National Jeweler (“Ready for the Gen Y Tsunami, Jewelers?”, July 2010), put it this way:
“Beware of putting items on “sale.” Gen Y consumers consider that word to be the radioactive kiss of death. They strongly prefer the word “deal” as a way to communicate bargains or price reductions. Getting a great deal sounds–to their ears, anyway–better than getting something on sale.”
In order to better understand the distinction, I asked Brand Amplitude’s Gen Y “Super Consumer” panel of marketing experts, “Is there a difference between a ‘sale and a deal’? Between a luxury and an investment?” Here’s what they said.
1. A ‘deal’ suggests exclusivity
“It’s not even so much about about the “sale” vs. “deal”. Although I admit “deal” does sound better to us, its about the exclusivity of the offer and product. Ultimately depending on the situation, I would beware of both the use of “sale” and “deal”. When it comes to luxury vs. investment, I would say their close. But still not close enough. They hit it dead on when by stating we expect exceptional quality. But we also except longevity and again, exclusivity. What’s the point of paying the dollars for “luxury” when everyone else is wearing the same thing?.”- Josip Petrusa
2. A ‘deal’ is more emotionally satisfying
“I’ve always associated deal with some sort of extra value added into it. Sale to me is just a reduction in price. Don’t get me wrong, I love both
but deals are a better “experience” for the simple fact I am getting some personal satisfaction in the value I am getting. I think “deal” has much more of an emotional connection (for me at least) than a sale.” – Joshua Opinion
3. A ‘deal’ is less gimmicky
“I do think they hit it on the head with the appeal of Deals to Gen Y instead of Sales. How many of us are members of sites like GroupOn, Woot, even Rue-La-La in the closely comparable high end clothing industry where we are able to see special Deals. These one-off, limited time offers certainly attract more attention that the standard Sale at your local car dealership, jewelry stores, etc. Frankly, I just assume that Sales are a gimmick and the prices have been so vastly marked up ahead of time in order for the “Sale” to seem like a bargain. I’m not biting.” – Kyle Judah
So there you have it. A deal is special while a sale is business as usual. ‘This week only!!’ feels gimmicky because it’s simply not believable. To these insights I would add one more, a ‘sale’ seems less impulsive, while a deal is more considered. Clipping a coupon may encourage a purchase that otherwise wouldn’t have been made at all. And that is the heart of frugality.
Josip Petrusa offers the last word, a caution against a wholesale rush on the word ‘deal’. If deal starts to replace the word ‘sale’, it too might lose its punch:
“Deal” does sound better than “sale” however in the minds of many people it implies being cheaper. I would say that if “deal” started to replace “sale” in use both would ultimately receive the same meaning. In my opinion “deal” should be used less often to keeps its value and attraction.” — Josip Petrusa
Contact me to learn more about Brand Amplitude’s Gen Y Marketers “Super Consumer” Panel. Why talk to a general sample when you can talk to the experts?
Who is Jaci and why does she want to be my friend?
I started using Twitter because I was curious to see what it was all about. With Twitter, it took a few months to realize how it could be useful to me, so I expected to have to use some patience with Foursquare. Like Twitter, it was easy to sign up and in the early stages it felt a bit ‘game-like’ - who else do I know who uses it? How do I find followers? With Twitter, it wasn’t that long before I recognized its value and could bore my friends, colleagues and students at Notre Dame with reasons why they should join. Today I am proud to say even my husband tweets.
I signed up for Foursquare earlier this year out of the same sense of curiousity that led me to Twitter. However, I am still baffled as to why I should continue or draft others to start.
To date, I have over 60 Foursquare check-ins, 8 badges and one lame mayorship (my apartment building). I am pretty good about remembering to check in when I am at a conference, travelling or spending a day out and about. But I will admit that I often fail to check in at the places I go regularly (like home, the fitness club, Trader Joe’s). I keep thinking if I just stay with it, all will be revealed. But I am about ready to give up. Here’s why:
1. My network lacks critical mass
I have 255 ‘friends’ but I don’t really care where they are, unless they are somewhere near me. Most of them are not the people I really care about anyway and many are total strangers. It’s a little more exciting when I am at a conference like Ad:Tech because I can find the handful of Foursquare users, but what do I have in common with them other than Foursquare? I connect anyway, but much prefer the connections I make at conferences via Twitter.
2. I never get offers
Despite checking in numerous restaurants and stores, I have yet to receive an offer, even from restaurants and stores I have checked into repeatedly. I was at Lucky Store in Oakbrook Terrace Monday night buying jeans. Foursquare indicated that store has over 1000 members. You would think Lucky would make some acknowlegement of that fact? After all, according to Paco Underhill’s book, half of all retail store visitors don’t make a purchase. Perhaps the absence of an offer makes sense though: retailers have many ways to make me an offer once I’m in the store that don’t require a GPS signal. But why don’t t retailers nearbyshoot me some kind of alert? After all Oakbrook Terrace is a very big mall.
3. Checking in is work
Even though I have the app on my phone, I have to remember to check in. It’s another step – why can’t it check me in automatically? If the place I am visiting isn’t already on Foursquare, it’s tedious to enter it. If it is on the list, I have to scroll through and find it. This isn’t my first priority on entering a restaurant and is mildly irritating to my family. There goes mom again…. Apparently I am not the only one who forgets. According to Forrester, of the 4% of U.S. adults who have used a location based service like Foursquare or Gowalla, only 1% check in more than once a week.
4. There are no psychic rewards
Foursquare makes me feel boring. I didn’t realize how little I actually go out and about until I used Foursquare. Really, a night with 4 check in’s is probably beyond me, unless I am travelling. The solution is that I probably should do more. Twitter on the other hand has the opposite effect. Each RT and @ reply makes me feel more interesting.
Location-Based Marketing Is Still in Early Stages
I continue to believe in the power of location-based marketing, but I tend to agree with Forrester that it’s too early for marketers to make a big move onto Foursquare. Of the 2 million users, over 80% are male, 70% of whom are age 19-35, and college educated. While it’s true that these men tend to be highly influential, that target concentration makes ‘FourSquare’ more like ‘ForMales’ – an attractive niche audience. As a Boomer woman this could explain in part why I feel rather left out.
Another reason for caution is that there have been some missteps on Foursquare, even by marketers the likes of Starbucks that should know better, as David Teicher (aka @aerocles) points out in his Ad Age Blog this week. Apparently, Starbucks ended a Foursquare loyalty promotion without letting barristas know how to let participants redeem their offers.
Nevertheless, location-based marketing holds a great deal of promise if these early obstacles can be overcome, as Sara Hoftstetter points out in her Ad Age blog post yesterday (“Four Reasons Brands Must Check In To Foursquare. Now“) Regardless of whether it’s Foursquare or another, yet to be invented service, retail locations are still the last mile for marketers trying to connect with prospects. Any service that promises to bridge the gap will get marketers’ attention.
I just wish there was something that required less work on my part relative to reward. Meanwhile, I think I’ll wait and check in again in a year.
Yesterday I shared portions of a remarkable Twitter chat among 45 Gen Y’ers on the topic of the “American Dream”. Today, I’m going to share the rest of that conversation where they discussed what it means to have a good life. The conversation took place over an hour using the hashtag #genYchat and included contributions from 45 different people.
The overall take away is that while Millennials still relate strongly to the idea of a “dream” of limitless possibilities, they also are in the process of redefining those possibilities in a less material and more experiential/personal way.
Some of the redefinition is a rejection of what they in the lives of their parents. Some is simply part of a deeper desire to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others, the nation or the world. Many defined success in terms of affirmation from peers, others defined it in terms of greater satisfaction from work or ‘happiness’.
@GenyChat: Q2. Do you believe that there are generational differences in how personal and material success are defined?
@kelly_ashworth: Absolutely! I think GenY will be less focused on $ which failed for many of our parents and more focused on happiness.
@malapropicninny: Heck yes. As GenY, I’d like to have a nest egg, but if I’m working & doing something I love, I don’t mind the lifelong grind!
@josippetrusa: Definitely, how gen-y appears to the world both online and in person “defines” our perceived success
@steve_campbell: Definitely. Gen Y doesn’t necessarily care about following a set path to find happiness.
@Outlaw_Inc: Yes. GenY’s success = having the freedom and flexibility to pursue passions, have great experiences.
@steve_campbell: I’d say we definitely worry about our future less than our parents do Not to say we don’t care, but we’re not overly worried
@NahumG: Let’s see..if the American Dream is supposed to be living on your own with a career and great family I’m on my way, but it’s taking a LOT longer than I thought it would take to get there.
@E_Hanson: We’re more focused on doing what truly makes us happy and experiencing everything we possibly can.
@steve_campbell: I agree. Experiences seem to be a bigger part of our lives.
@niltiac: Definitions of ‘success’ have changed over time. The Baby Boomers who started that process, Gen X and Y continue it.
@kelly_ashworth: I think we have a belief that it will work out, and we’ll figure it out along the way… ties into our optimism
@WriterChanelle: Are those the trappings of success for us, though? I just want a place of my own and a car.
@josippetrusa: Not so much a trapping of our own but something that we have put into believing
@GenerationMeh: Interesting! I see a lot of worry/angst/second guessing, maybe more about self-worth than $, though.
@daniellewriter: For me, success is liking my job, not how big my paycheck is.
@steve_campbell: Familiarity with technology helps with our vision of how the world works too, which lessens worry
@josippetrusa: When someone RTs an article I’ve written, that’s what I see as “successful”
@WriterChanelle: *Deep sigh* YES!! I’ll take a Google Alert with my post showing up over a BMW
@TylerDurbin: Amen!
@josippetrusa: When you [@WriterChanelle] notified me that one day when my article came up, biggest smile ever!!
@WriterChanelle: It’s GenY’s “having your name in lights” re: Google Alert
I’m particularly fascinated by the last few remarks as they are less about ‘fame’ than about affirmation. Your name in lights re: Google is not exactly the world’s definition of success, but it appears to be a meaningful yardstick for these Gen Y’ers.
Last week, Jenny Blake, the blogger behind “Life After College” announced in her blog that she had landed a book deal. The excitement was contagious. Here’s how she described her feelings a few days later. Note the focus is on her immediate ‘supporters’ – one senses this is the group that truly matters to her:
I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Partly because of the book deal, but partly because I got propped up by a small army of support these last two weeks by having all of you celebrate with me. Every tweet, text, email, call, facebook note, hug and high-five just filled me to the brim with gratitude. This book finally feels real — thanks to you.
Experiences are better when they are shared.
I think of Jenny’s response as quintessentially ‘Millennial’ – team oriented, collaborative and authentic. For marketers, this insight could be potentially quite profound. Social media is not just about ‘communicating’ with friends, it is about ‘connecting’. Marketers who provide affirmation, as well as information, will find it easier to fit into the lives of Millennials and their idea of success.
How can your brand provide the ‘high fives’ and ‘five minutes of fame’ Millennials value?
Millennials are different from other age groups and from other generations at the same age in three ways.
More diverse demographically
More at ease with digital and communications technology
More optimistic outlook
The third difference, ‘optimism’, may be their most defining characteristic Why? Bcause values ultimately guide and predict behavior.
Pre-recession, study after study in the U.S. and globally, reported that Millennials may be the most optimistic generation to date. And why not? Born into a period of unprecedented prosperity, into child-centric families who regarded children as minor royals, and into a period of exploding technology, Millennials are endowed with an unprecedented sense of empowerment. For these children of the new Millennium, anything is possible.
A fascinating book by Clotaire Rapaille, The Culture Code, describes the power of the American Dream this way: “We’ve built our [American] culture on dreamlike stories that, amazingly, are true.” It is this faith in the possibility of dreams that makes America so influential in the world. Who wouldn’t want to believe that anything is possible, that mistakes are simply ways we learn and precursors to eventual success?
For Millennials, the American Dream is very much alive, even in the midst of the Recession.
Pew Research has been tracking attitudes of Gen X’ers and Gen Y’ers for many years. They recently reported that “Today’s employed young people are actually somewhat more optimistic about their economic future than Gen Xers were when they were young.” (“Millennials Confident. Connected. Open to Change”, February 2010) Even more startling, Pew found the overall level of optimism among Millennials about their personal economic future today is higher than it was in 2006!
“Even though the recession has been hard on young people, it has not dimmed their optimism. About two-thirds of Millennials (68%) say they are not earning enough money to live the kind of life they want. However, within that group the vast majority (88%) say they expect to earn enough in the future to live the good life. That is significantly higher than the percentage of Gen Xers (76%) or Baby Boomers (46%) who share this hopeful view.”
The same pattern holds for their optimism about the overall state of the nation. While their opinion has held steady, dissatisfaction among older consumers means the gap between generations is wider than it’s been in 20 years due, at least in part, to widespread dissatisfaction among those 65 and older.
What does the American dream mean to a Millennial?
This question was asked last week in a fascinating Twitter Chat hosted by a member of our Gen Y Marketers “Super Community”, Chanelle Schneider (aka @writerchanelle and @genYchat) and co-hosted by J. Maureen Henderson (aka @generationmeh). The discussion evoked 436 tweets from 45 contributors. The responses suggests the concept of ‘dream’ is one that Millennials strongly relate to.
@GenYChat: What ideas or associations does the term “American Dream” conjure up for you?
@tylerdurbin The American Dream is having the freedom to explore any and all opportunities we desire. ‘Nuff said. Chat over.
@josippetrusa: Gen-Y is reinventing it. Gen Y is a generation based on dreams.
@WriterChanelle; American dream is freedom and opportunities
@nahumg: GenY wants to live dream lifestyle now rather workin a lifetime to get it
@tylerdurbin: If we work now can we not have things we want?
@daniellewriter: American dream is meritocracy-if you work hard enough, you cam have it all
@GenerationMeh: Great summation!
@kelly_ashworth: I think we have to fight harder and have more of a plan… opportunity is not there waiting & won’t just fall into place
@GenerationMeh: But what constitutes a “dream lifestyle”?
@josippetrusa: Depends, but gen-y would like a managerial job, a bmw and all the gimmicks of success.
@josippetrusa: The american dream has been changed to exemplify quick success that some have achieved from advances in technology. We are limitless.
@GenerationMeh: Idea of opp, potential & self-sufficiency as the ingredients for success is ingrained in American identity. Source of pride.
Tomorrow: How Gen Y is redefining the meaning of success.
Yesterday I talked about how to get Millennials’ attention online. Now, let’s assume you have it, how do you keep it, given all the competition?
The Internet is a modern day three ring circus: there’s something cool going on everywhere you look. According to Comscore, 45% of all page transitions are ‘link following’. Every web page offers multiple enticements to move on. To create interest, you must say something worth staying with, in other words ‘relevant’.
Keeping Gen Y’s attention in an environment defined by distraction requires being ‘interesting’.
Gen Y blogger, Meg Roberts, wrote an article titled “How I would market to myself’ in which she offers this advice:
“Focus on adding value rather than overloading on content. The best way to ensure we’re listening to your messages is to make them relevant to us. Learn why we’re in a given community, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter or an iPhone app, and speak to us without severely interrupting what we’re doing .”
Note the words “without severely interrupting”. When creating messages for Millennials, it’s important to ask whether or not the message meet the test of whether it’s worth interrupting.
If a friend wouldn’t interupt than a marketer shouldn’t either.
For Millennials, interruptions are the height of rudeness. There is a heirarchy of communications. A phone call is highly interruptive – and it’s little wonder that Millennials make very few phone calls. Phone calls are reserved for very important conversations, like telling your parents you need money or will be traveling to Puerto Rico rather than home for spring break. For less momentus communications, which is to say most communications, they rely on texts. A teen sends hundreds of texts a day. Texts are less intrusive than phone calls and yet still has urgency. Email is even less intrusive than texts. Email is used when a message is not time sensitive or does not require an immediate response.
Is it Relevant, Cool or Exciting?
Another test for relevance is whether a communication is ‘status update worthy’. As Gen y marketer and community member, Josip Petrusa, puts it this way:
“One thing we love to do is tell the world when something cool, great or exciting is happening to us. In a sense, we love to brag for attention. You’ll always hear about the vacation we’re going on, the sports event we’re going to, the movie we’re seeing, the concert we were at and I could go on and on. Make it something that will give me a reason to tell everyone else about it. A funny and ridiculous video-clip, a great experience or something that even seems exclusive, would all be status update worthy.” You have to reinvent cool, great and exciting.”
What’s In It for Me?
There is a myth that Millennials don’t like advertising. Actually this isn’t true. They like ads that are entertaining or funny, especially for brands they already love. They love the iPad, Axe and current Kindle ads. These are ads that give back something in return for attention.
The Associated Press (AP), a group with a vested interest in Millennials’ interest in news and ads, released a study in March that looked at ‘news ad fatigue’. The study took an in-depth, ethnographic approach that focused especially on people 18-34. The research concluded that consumers are “tired, even annoyed, by the current experience of advertising,” and that, as a result, “they don’t trust very much of it“.
Younger consumers, ages 18-34, want to be in the know, and two thirds think it’s important to be among the first to hear news compared with just 10 % of older people. Millennial consumption of news is actually increasing. According to Mckinsey the average person consumes 72 minutes of news a day, compared with just 60 minutes in 2006 and the increase was driven almost entirely by people under the age of 35.
Young adults have adopted ways of getting their news that are much different from those of past generations. Younger consumers are not only less reliant on the newspaper to get their news; they also consume news across a multitude of platforms and sources, all day, constantly. They also think of each other as their main news source.
Here’s a description of how “Mark”, a 28-year old manager of an online travel agency consumes media.
“Mark’s news cycle was continuous and he spent up to six hours a day searching for and receiving information. Mark was on the Internet most of the day and used that time to keep up to date on news coverage and sports-related information. Mark liked his news to be “punchy” and pointfocused. He read the headlines followed up online to “find out what’s happening” with stories that he wanted to track. Mark’s news consumption was related to other activities that he was engaged in and although he was actively consuming the news, it was almost always in tandem with other activities such as driving or working…
You may be surprised to learn, that brands do not do all that well in social media among Millennials. Only 12% have ‘friended ‘ a brand on Facebook. Only four brands on Facebook have more than five million ‘liking’ – only 16 have more than 1.5 million. 22% of Millennial use Twitter, a small number to begin with, but of those, only 29% follow companies. Friending a brand is a high hurdle. In terms of Facebook fans, the numbers are even lower. Just 2 brands have more than 5 million fans on Facebook, Starbucks and Coca-cola.
So what do they find relevant?
It will probably come as no surprise that the main reason to join a fan group on Twitter or Facebook is to get news or discounts. Here according to a Pace University study are the top reasons to fan a brand on Facebook:
- Getting news or product updates (67%)
- Having access to promotions (64%)
- Viewing or downloading music or videos (41%)
- Submitting opinions (36%)
- Connecting with other consumers (33%)
Meg Roberts concurs. Her blog post, “How I would Market to Myself”, goes on to offer this advice about ’free stuff’ and interating ‘conversatoinally’ with her favorite brands.
“We’re just out of college. Loan payments are becoming a harsh reality. If you want us to try out your brand, give us some free samples or coupon codes. Plus, if a company could build an entire online community based on the loyalty rewards system, I’d probably check it out to see what other users are saying about new products/sales/coupons/etc.”
“Don’t use social media as a billboard but as a telephone. Social media should be an interactive tool, and when your consumers speak, listen and respond. In my experience, the most successful Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages are those that go beyond simple @replies and wall posts. Ask questions, get our feedback, and implement changes. Everyone likes to have their ego stroked, right? Brand consumers, especially Gen Y ones, are no different. What feels better than having a company listen to reasonable, quality recommendations we’ve made?”
(This post is the second in a series about digital marketing to Millennials based on a speech given at iMedia Summit, Miami on June 15. Tomorrow: “What Do They Want? Tapping Into Desires”)
The foundation of brand equity is familiarity, and that starts with ‘hello’. Awareness is a critical first step in any brand relationship — unless you happen to subscribe to the power of subliminal advertising. It’s impossible to deliver any kind of message, let alone create engagement, interest or desire, without first gaining attention.
Are Millennials Attention Deficient?
With Millennials, earning attentions can also be the most challenging step in the communications model. Millennials spend their attention the way the rest of us doing money – very carefully. They are accused of having Attention Deficit Disorder. I disagree. They simply have superior Attention Deserving Detectors.
One of the characteristics that separates young adults from less digitally savvy older consumers is their remarkable filters for tuning out information they don’t want to hear.
This category of information includes alarm clocks, due dates, nagging parents, and negative feedback. It also includes advertisements. According to a study by the Participatory Network and Pace’s Lubin school, 81% say ads are not relevant and 36% say they never look at them. The reason is that they perceive advertising to be irrelevant at best, and manipulative at worst. Rebecca Denison, a 20-something social media analyst at Edelman and member of our Super Consumer Gen Y community puts it this way:
“The big thing for me and my friends is that we don’t want to know we’re being marketed to, if that makes sense. We’re smarter than that (or so we think), and we don’t like to be advertised to. It feels like manipulation, so I think a big aspect marketing to Gen Y has to be a lack of manipulation. You have to be really careful that you don’t make it too much like old school marketing because I think that really does turn Gen Y off.”
Information My Way: Customized, Personalized, Contextualized
Millennials don’t attend to banner ads, commercials or radio ads because they prefer to discover or search for information than have it foisted upon them. They are masters at finding the information they want. They also know how to ensure that the information they want is pushed to them. A year ago, I was introduced to NetVibes by a Gen Y’er who assumed I was already using it. They are masters of RSS feeds and bookmarks, Google alerts and customized home pages. As Kristin Dziadul, another Gen Y marketing community member put it, “In the attention economy today, we don’t find information, it finds us”.
This is not to say that ads never work. Of course they do. But with Millennials context and credibility may matter more than message in enabling an ad to breakthrough. A message from a friend or trusted source is far more likely to be attended than a randomly placed ad.
A new joint study by Facebook and Nielsen demonstrated the lift a campaign receives in effectiveness simply by being in a social context. An ad on a homepage enjoys a 10% lift in recall relative to a control group. Put the same ad on a Facebook page with some social context and it enjoys a 16% lift. But the same ad in an organic feed enjoys a 30% lift.
The key to getting attention is to stop waving your hand in the air and start thinking about how to get your brand discovered. Creative brilliance and heavy rotation is no longer enough. With the Millennial audience, attention is less about intrusion than it is hiding in plain sight. Millennials want to believe that they have discovered information for themselves. It’s no accident that the hottest bars, like El Secreto in Sao Paulo, are usually well-kept secrets. What’s the point of knowing about it if everyone else does too?
Fishing Where the Fish Are
‘Being found’ is not easy. It requires a shift in thinking away from message broadcasting to extreme narrowcasting. It also requires more imaginative ways to embed messages into places where they will be welcome. Ironically though, it may be easier to be ‘found’ on a more obscure digital site or special interest community than on Yahoo.
The top sites for Millennials might surprise you in their degree of specialization. Facebook of course is the number one site for 18-24 year olds, yet it is really is not one site but a Balkanized nation of groups, subgroups and special interests. Bill Tancer of Hitwise provided drill down data on top sites for 18-24 year olds by income, geography and ethnicity. The top sites for 18-24 year olds on an index basis might surprise you. Those with family incomes $150,000 are actually most likely to be found concentrated on sites like DeviantArt, Fanfiction, UrbanChat, OVGuide, ProjectPlaylist,and MathXL.com. Those under $30,000 are most likely to be found on some of those sites but also badoo, zShare.net, mocospace and IMVU.
A New Idea – Search Enabled Discovery
Another way to ensure your ad is ‘welcome’ and ‘hiding in plain sight’ is offered by a company I learned about this week at iMedia, Vibrant Media. Vibrant Media offers a way to provide greater context for brand messages by embedding ads within relevant content. Think of it as search meets social media. Here is how it works. As an online user is reading an article, certain words or terms are highlighted by hypertext links, similar to how they appear in a blog or wiki. When the reader, who is presumably reading this article because it is relevant to them, passes their mouse over these words, an advertisement appears (and disappears as the mouse passes on). The content can be tailored to be relevant to the key word and can offer more than a standard banner; it can be an API, video or demo. For example, BING used Vibrant to demo its search engine. (To see how it works check out my bylined article on iMediaconnection today. Near the bottom of the first page, the word ‘social media’ is hyperlinked to a dynamic search app from imediaconnection that features what else, ‘social media’!).
(This post is the first in a series about digital marketing to Millennials based on a speech given at iMedia Summit, Miami on June 15. Tomorrow: “Who Cares? I is for Interest”)
