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.
It was a special thrill this morning to find myself quoted in German. Eike Wenzel blogged today on the differences between German and U.S. Millennials. His post featured this chart (in English). It’s fascinating to see that U.S. Millennials lag those in Germany and China in their willingness to share details of their personal lives online.
This chart shows how working Millennials around the world use social sites and blogs, and especially their willingness to ’share information about myself or my friends online’.
In the United States, only 8% agree completely with the statement “I love to write about myself and my friends in blogs and on my social sites.’
This compares with 23% in Germany and 32% in China. Other countries with high levels of agreement that they love to share were Brazil (22 %), Japan ( 17 %) and Italy (17 %). The only countries with a lower level of agreement than the U.S. were Australia (5%) and Canada (7%) with the U.K. coming close (11%).
The relative reticence of American Gen Y’ers to share came as a surprise to me. According to Fast Company’s analysis of Pew data on online behavior, “the Internet isn’t just prevalent in our lives, it is our lives.” According to Pew, 72% of young adults (18-29) have social network profiles. Others show the figure as high as 96%
Yet there are some hints that the days of total transparency are waning.
Just 15% maintain a blog, down 9 percentage points in two years. And with the growing awareness that parents, job recruiters, potential employers and even professors are looking at their online profiles, many Gen Y’ers have started to moderate their posting, even causing one Millennial, Kyla Butterfield, to question whether her Facebook page even represents her real personality anymore, or is just an extension of her resume. Here is an excerpt from her post on TheNextGreatGeneration blog.
“All of my friends are beginning to look for jobs and cleaning up their Facebook, Myspace and Twitter accounts to make sure they fit into the cookie cutter mold companies are looking for. Honestly I am not excluded. It seemed so easy for me to adjust my interests after the parental clean up. I have realized my Facebook is just another place for me to list my accomplishments instead of express myself. Has Facebook become Linkedin? For me it has, and I’ve found myself on it less and less. Just FYI employers, you can no longer trust Facebook to be a fair representation of your potentials; for those who have wised up these are just an extension of their resumes.
If you spend much time online and it’s easy to be seduced into thinking all young people are blogging and sharing openly. Yet I know from my students this is not the case. Most do not maintain a blog and few think Twitter is worth the time. The idea of ‘personal branding’ is not something they have given a lot of thought to. Facebook is more of a utility, a tool for planning one’s social life, and sharing photos, not maintaining a Proust-style journal.
In fact it’s the over 30 crowd that is doing more sharing online these days.
According to Pew, blogging is on the rise for adults over 30, who increased to 11% by December 2009 from 7% in 2007. 47% of adults now use social networking sites, up f10% from a year ago. Perhaps social media is something younger adults will grow into as they mature. (How ironic is that?!)
Ten days ago, Coke released a video for its ‘Open Happiness’ campaign that it hopes will become a global viral sensation. The video, titled “Happiness Machine” has so far had over 1,110,000 Youtube viewings. The effort is part of a global effort on the ‘Open Happiness’ theme that includes other social media efforts, including teams sent all over the world to identify ’stories of happiness’.
Here is how Mediapost described the effort last week.
The video, shot on the Queens, N.Y., campus of St. John’s University, concludes with a title asking: “Where will happiness strike next?” and a message encouraging viewers to “Share the happiness, share the video.”
A.J. Brustein, global senior brand manager, Coca-Cola, says the video was conceived as a way to connect with teens and young adults outside of TV ads and online games. “We wanted to give them something that would spread a bit of happiness and something they could pass on to their friends to keep the happiness flowing,” he sums up.
Coke acknowledges that the effort is an experiment and future videos will depend on the success of this one.
So I asked my MBA students for their opinion via our class blog, whether or not this is a good approach for a powerful brand like Coke to use to connect with younger drinkers? Three out of four liked it and thought it was a great effort. Nearly all said it had viral potential. They especially enjoyed the essential kindness of delighting others without expecting anything in return. Here’s a sample of what they had to say.
Kathryn: “This video was an absolute delight to watch. I could not help smiling throughout the whole thing! Without getting far too philosophical, I think our society has somewhat forgotten that a small deed of good and happiness has powerful ramifications for people and how they feel. This campaign plays on that emotion very nicely, and in a way that connects that feeling with the product. Free Coke in a fun way = Happiness.”
Jack: “I think this campaign from coke is a great strategy for connecting with consumers. From an imaginative stand point I think it would be hard for someone to watch this video without wondering what else they were passing out, how they rigged that machine, or if they were going to do it again (hopefully at Notre Dame).”
Lindsay: “I enjoyed this commercial. It’s heartwarming to see how the unexpected presence of simple, pleasant things—extra cokes, pizza, flowers, balloon animals—can bring people together. It’s fun to watch a shared laugh become a celebration.”
Matt: “Coke = Good! (or happy) That’s all I could think of after watching this commercial… I think it does a great job of spreading the happiness vibe that Coke is trying to convey, particularly when you see the huge smiles of all of the college student’s faces. I think the video will go ‘viral’. It has that ‘wow’ factor that a lot of people (I know a lot of my friends will) share on social websites like facebook or twitter. Pure entertainment always sells. Go Coke! Keep entertaining me! I like it!”
Katie: “Loved it! The premise reminded me of a funnier version of the Liberty Mutual ads from a couple years ago – the ones showing people helping out strangers and other people seeing the “good Samaritanism” and in turn helping out someone themselves. I think that “feel good” aspect can really go far in our society…”
Suzy: “Super fun video! I think Coke did a great job creating an enjoyable, happy sentiment amongst viewers – a sentiment that can easily be associated with their brand after watching the clips and reactions of students.”
Robert: “The gratitude of the random act of kindness is innate in most of us, and this ad taps into that about as well as a large company could ever hope to. I am not cynical about this being unable to convince people to buy, no doubt in my mind this will have a significant impact on the buying habits of shoppers unconsciously.”
This effort reminds me of VW’s recent “FunTheory” viral campaign in its simplicity and appeal. The “Piano Stairs” video has already experienced over 10 million views on YouTube. Given the relatively low cost of production and media, if the Coke video is as successful, I think we can expect to see other big brands follow suit. It certainly isn’t a replacement for an ad campaign but offers a great way to amplify the message via social media.
Sample Twitter Stream Today:
JamesKChou: I have greater respect for Conan O’Brien - http://bit.ly/5YBDmp#Conan #obrien #nbc #leno
ChrisTashima: NBC is so spineless. They really need to get over Leno – the rest of the country has. This is embarrassing.
DmitrySocial: Conan has become the web’s fastest rising brand..why would he want to stay on TV and risk irrelevance?! http://post.ly/IjQl
DrewFromNY: If you don’t think #Conan is funny, read his 2000 Class Day speech at Harvard. http://www.allowe.com/Humor/book/COBspeech2k.htm
DavidInIndy: #Conan *actually* put the Tonight Show on Craigslist: Here’s the link http://bit.ly/4SJkSB Love it! #teamconan
Conan O’Brien may reach Millennial icon status as a result of NBC’s decision to favor Leno over O’Brien for the coveted 11:35 Tonight Show slot.
As the New York Times put its, “They may not have watched (O’Brien’s) “Tonight Show” regularly — or at all — but boy, are they angry now.” According to the Times, Mr. O’Brien fell short in NBC’s attempt to gain younger viewers at 11:35 p.m., yet he is by far the favorite in online viral buzz and voting. There are petitions, Facebook pages, “I’m with CoCo T-shirts, and a steady Twitter stream of support for ‘CoCo’. Sentiment is said to be running 50:1 for O’Brien over NBC/Leno.
Why now, with all the other news in this currently very heavy news cycle (Haiti, China/Google, McGwire) has this story managed to mobilize so many young adults?
I’ll hazard a few hypotheses:
1. NBC’s decision violates Gen Y’s sense of fair play. Leno’s failure in prime time was not O’Brien’s fault. He is the victim of others’ poor decisions, not unlike Millennials themselves.
2. O’Brien acted in a classy way. He didn’t overreact, he maintained his dignity and acted gracefully. His open letter to the “people of the earth” seemed reasonable and honest. “The most-recommended comment about NBC on nytimes.com read, “I haven’t been a fan of Conan’s show but this letter is complete class.” Johnny Carson, a former long-running “Tonight” host, “would be very proud,” the commenter added. “I’m a fan now.”
3. O’Brien fills a vacuum. I’ve commented before that as a generation, Millennials have surprisingly few ‘iconic’ celebrity brands. Yes, there’s Colbert, Stewart and Lady GaGa. But who else?
4. The imbroglio is tailor-made for social media. In my class this week, we speculated how much faster the whole New Coke episode might have unraveled if it had happened in the era of the social graph. The speed with which Gen Y has mobilized word of mouth in support of O’Brien is testament to their facility with the tools of digital social influence.
5. Leno is “so Boomer.” Let’s face it, Leno isn’t coo;, he’s the guy your parents watch(ed).
6. O’Brien is genuinely funny. Millennials love to laugh and this has provided Conan with an opportunity to shine. It’s his moment and he’s making the most of it.
What have I missed?
Brands looking for advocates would do well to target Millennials.
Compared to other age groups, Gen Y is more inclined to share their opinions about purchases, both online and off line.
New data from Synovate, reported by Emarketer this week (see chart left), provides strong evidence that making and taking friends’ purchase recommendations are more important to younger consumers than older groups. The chart to the left shows the youngest groups (those 18-24 and 25-34) were more likely than other age groups to have participated in nearly every one of the nine listed activities. Not surprisingly, the largest gaps between age groups were seen for online activities.
What makes this chart particularly interesting, however, is that it shows the desire to share links / provide advice /rate /review / recommend was not limited to online formats.
In fact, one of the largest age gaps was seen for “Taking an active role in organizing an offline event or meet up for a group that originally met online”. The figures by age for this activity closely parallel the figures for “Publishing a blog”. This alignment strongly suggests that young bloggers are more influential than older consumes both offline and online.
Chart and data from “Harnessing Active Brand Advocates“, E-Marketer, Jan 11, 2010.
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.
In Social Media, there are no ‘experts’, only people who are more experienced than others.
I am not an expert, but I have been active in Social Media for almost two years. I’ve blogged a few times a week since spring 2008, a total of 250 posts. My Twitter following just crossed 4000, I’m on 175 lists and I follow 3600 people. I have over 500 LinkedIn connections. I’ve dabbled in Facebook, Youtube, NING, SlideShare and Yelp. In that spirit, I offer these personal insights and lessons.
1. Social Media is ‘narrowcasting’, not broadcasting.
Social Media offers many advantages over other media channels. It’s relatively cheap, highly engaging and can be a lot of fun. However, it builds slowly and has too narrow a reach to rely on it to get the word out. Given the choice, I wouldn’t trade my brief mentions in in TIME magazine or the Financial Times, for a feature on Mashable. Dan Schwabel said something similar in an interview with TTNG recently:
TNGG: You’ve written a book despite having a blog. Why is it that everyone in the social media space seems so compelled to get published offline, in a book? Is it that publishers are trying to get in on the buzz of social? Or do you still feel you need the offline accomplishment to legitimize you?
Schawbel: A blog hasn’t been completely accepted by society. The word “magazine” and “book” are still more powerful than “blog.” Books, such as Me 2.0 (Schwabel’s book), are more legitimate, linear and credible than blogs. If you have a book, it will be easier to get new business and press mentions. Also, another reason to publish a book is to reach the offline audience. In 10 years, a successful blog may be enough credibility.
2. Social Media is about talking to people who think like you do, not winning hearts and minds.
It’s easier to connect meaningfully with people who share your interests; the narrower your interests, the easier it is to find them. I am pretty confident that I know most of those active on Twitter who are seriously interested in Millennials, generational marketing, Notre Dame football, and using technology in the classroom. For me, Social Media may even have diminishing returns going forward; it took me much longer to get to 3000 followers than 2000, and it took even longer to get to 4000. I have serious doubts about whether 5000 is possible or even desirable.
3. Social Media can insulate you from different points of view.
Spend a lot of time talking to your network and you can be misled into thinking everyone thinks the way you do. To hear dissenting voices, you cannot rely on your own network. This point was driven home to me last spring when I discovered at a CMO Club event that many CMO’s are skeptical about whether Gen Y truly represents a new type of consumer, distinct from young audiences of the past (i.e, not just younger versions of themselves).
4. Effective use of Social Media requires enthusiasm and diligence.
Consistency is required or you will drop off the axes of your social graph fairly quickly. Conversely, stepping up activity brings disproportionate rewards. Two weeks ago I made a commitment to post to this blog every day. My blog traffic immediately jumped 30% as stayed there as long as I was blogging daily. It dropped back this weekend when I cut back again. I have come to think of it as ‘feeding the beast’.
5. In Social Media, it’s best to think of yourself as the target audience.
I am my own best audience. ‘What would I like to read?’ seems to be the best test for deciding what to post or tweet. I enjoy having a trackable, searchable record of my travels through the Internet. I often refer to the RSS feed of my Tweets that flows into my email. It’s all there, nicely labeled.
6. It’s easy to confuse Social Media with real life.
Spending a lot of time on Social media can feel a little like David After Dentist- “is this real life?” I don’t make money from Social Media so it’s hard to justify the time I spend on it on it solely on the basis of ROI. My time is finite, so I have to take care to prioritize my time reading blogs and Twitter relative to the time I spend reading books, traveling, networking on the phone, talking with clients and students, writing whitepapers and articles for publication.
7. Social Media is about people, not brands.
Marketers like to think of social media primarily as media, but for most people — and especially for Gen Y — it’s purely social. Yes, brands are a key part of many an online conversation, but that has always been true in analog life as well. TV, radio and magazines are primarily about marketing. Social Media is not, and marketers should beware thinking of it that way. Social Media is friendlier to individuals than to brands. That’s why I tweet and blog as @Carol_Phillips, rather than as @BrandAmplitude . For brands, social media appears to be getting more traction in its application to customer service than conveying brand or promotional messages. I follow very few product brands, agencies or media brands, but I follow many CMO’s, creative directors and journalists.
7. Social Media is fun.
When my kids were small, I used to marvel at the fascination they had with any kind of television. The slightly open-mouthed ’TV stare’ meant they were mesmerized; it was hard to look away. I sometimes have a similar sense when reading tweets or deciding what to ReTweet — it’s hard to look away. Social media combines the intrinsic rewards of a game and socializing. It’s potentially addicting and I expect we’ll be hearing more about how it impacts people’s real lives — for the better and the worse — in the coming years.
I’m looking forward to more lessons in 2010. but first, I plan to take a hiatus to reconnect with books, magazines and my analog life. Meanwhile, what have you learned about social media? Be social, let’s share!
Happy New Year, see you in January!
I had an interesting conversation today with Rishad Tobaccowala of Publicis/Vivaki/Denuo. By way of background, Rishad and I started our careers at Leo Burnett at a time when agencies did advertising, period. It wasn’t exactly the Mad Men era, but advertising in 1983 probably had more in common with the business as it was 20 years earlier than it has with the business 25 years later.
Despite our handicaps (no word processors, email or FedEx), somehow we managed to create a lot of value for our clients. Because I was there, I can attest that Rishad was among the first to forsee the power of the Internet to disrupt advertising — and just about everything else. He still has his headlights on high beam and spends a lot of his time enlightening big companies about what lies ahead.
One of the more intriguing parts of our conversation concerned the impact of digitization on people. Today we have more information, more choices, more sheer empowerment than ever before. But we also face the challenge of balancing our digital and analog lives, of ascertaining what is real and what is ephemeral.
It’s troubling. It’s easy to feel off balance — in either direction. I rely heavily on Twitter, Google RSS, email, Blogs, IM, GotoMeeting, etc. to communicate my services and get work done. It’s a daily struggle to strike the right balance; between electronic and in-person socializing; between Internet reading and book reading; between in-person research and online research. If I spend too much time reading social media blogs and newsletters I start to feel like the digital world is the only world that really matters. If I spend too little I become anxious about what I’m missing out on.
In my opinion, much of what is happening in social media falls in the ephemeral camp. What do some of the ‘experts’ actually do to create value for their clients or their brands? Is there a reality behind the talk? For that reason, I like to follow people who I know are on the front lines, not just observers and pundits.
Millennials seem to instinctively understand the need to balance their online and analog lives. They understand there is a difference between their ‘personal brand’ and their authentic selves.
Edward Boches, Creative Director at Mullen Advertising is the originator of The Next Great Generation blog. Last Sunday, I told him via Twitter how much I enjoy the new blog. Here’s his reply:
Edward: thanks, but it’s all the writers and editors who deserve the credit. I will pass it on at tonight’s editor’s meeting
Me: You actually meet? Like in person?! How analog of you.
Edward: yes, but as Gen Y has explained to me, digital is just an extension of their analog lives, they actually have analog lives.
The acknowledged expert on personal branding, Gen Y’er Dan Schawbel offered this insight in an interview for The Next Great Generation: Your online brand is the part of your life you choose to project to others.
TNGG: Should everyone try and create his/her personal brand?
Dan Schawbel: In most cases, you brand has already been created for you. Your friends, family and co-workers label you and each first impression you have determines your fate with that individual. It’s not about creating a brand anymore but rather about how to manage it so it works for you. Since perception is greater than reality and the online world is the cheapest and most effective way to distribute your brand, you must have online assets that can project the brand you want others to see.
Today I had the pleasure of a conversation with Bret Bernhoft, Principle of the youth marketing firm, InsYght Consulting, that was broadcast live on KPSU.org, the internet college radio for Portland.
Bret asked some very intriguing questions about marketing to Millennials, and especially what media and programs connect best. We covered everything from color TV’s to Failblog. It was a great time, and you can listen to the 18 minute segment here (the first part of the hour show).
Bernhoft’s questions are so good because he is a Gen Y member himself. He describes himself as “a brazen leader, outspoken, a Captain Crunch eatin’ go-go Power Ranger who prides himself on being Generation Y to the bone.” In addition to operating a consulting firm and being a radio host, Bret maintains three blogs, and serves on the board of directors for the Alzheimer’s Assocation in Portland
I think I should have interviewed him! Stay tuned…
‘What will break through?’ is a question I am often asked. My very first post on this blog in (“A Collective Chill”, 4.28.08) reported about the comments of a Millennial panel at a marketing conference I attended in New York last Spring:
The audience was ANA members gather to discuss “Innovations in Marketing”. The panel was impressive, brand managers from Mercedes, Unilever and Lincoln Financial. But their answers to questions about their media use sent a collective chill through the room. They don’t watch TV other than NCAA Finals. They don’t see online advertising thanks to blocking software. They don’t want ads on their mobile devices, facebook pages or IM. They don’t even like ads. This should not be news to anyone. However, it was shocking coming from Millennial Marketers. They seemed as stumped as the moderator as to how marketers could reach them most effectively. Ah…..with relevant content? Reaching Millennials with messages they want to hear, in the format they want to hear it is going to be a challenge!
After nearly two years of thinking about this question, I have distilled my advice to one not-so-easy-to-accomplish formula:
Engaging Millennials = Enabling Discovery + Energizing Experience + Encouraging Advocacy
Of course, this formula presumes you have a relevant product and positioning. If not, you have more problems than simply breaking through. But assuming for a moment you have cleared the Product, Placement and Pricing hurdles, how should you go about Promoting your brand to Millennials? Let’s unpack this formula a bit:
Enabling Discovery
No one wants to be told what to do, what to like and what to think. That is especially true of Millennials, who have an instant aversion to anything that smacks of ‘marketing’. They want to believe that they have uniquely discovered the things they like. That’s not to say that mass brands are not appealing, as Obama can tell you. But mass brands don’t start with any advantage. The ideal way for a Millennial to first experience a product or service is to discover it for themselves. Think of ‘Stumbleupon’ as the model.
This feeling of ‘discovery’ underlies the success of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog and Tom’s Shoes. Discovery is social currency, you can spend it with friends (or wider) and increase your personal brand. Discovery is the dynamic that drives marketing for restaurants, music, wine and microbrews. (For more on the social dynamic behind wine’s growing popularity, see my earlier post, “A Perfect Pairing”).
Achieving a sense of ‘discovery’ is no accident. It means creating events where Millennials can meet the brand, as Red Bull has done so successfully. Or creating a smash viral video. Social media, social media, product placement, and sampling are all good ‘discovery’ media.
Energizing the Experience
This is literally having a brand experience worth writing home about, one that not only meets the minimums for efficiency, personalization and value, but that goes over and above expectations. Success with Millennials requires being distinctive; they love ‘shiny‘ things.
Marketers at Apple, Nike, Zappos, Jamba Juice, Red Bull, Zipcar, Vogue magazine and other beloved, ‘iconic’ Millennial brands understand that to be remarked upon, you must literally be remarkable for something inherent in the user or customer experience. This can be accomplished through customization, design, ease of access, or price (free works especially well). However it is accomplished, it must be both authentic and fresh to overcome the impressive filters Millennials have perfected. The experience must be fun, compelling or unique or you will never get to the third and final step of the formula: advocacy.
Encouraging Advocacy
If this was a real formula, ‘advocacy’ is the variable that would have an exponent after it. Advocacy is the thing that makes Millennial marketing unique today, and is likely to be the biggest change to mainstream marketing in the future.
Yesterday I had a wonderful conversation with Sarah Newton, a radio celebrity, Twitter friend, and author of the blog, GenYGuide.com. Sarah lives in Northampton, England. Despite the being oceans apart, we agreed on many things, above all that Gen Y is unique. We also speculated the thing that makes them unique, perhaps in all history, is access to platforms to broadly communicate and share their ideas. This ability alone may make the gap between Gen Y and earlier generations more striking than any previous gap, or possibly any to come (profound thought isn’t it?). A new global study of 9000 -27 year olds by YouGovStone reached a similar conclusion: “The digital revolution has not only given this generation of young people access to knowledge and information on an unprecedented scale, but it has also given them massive influence.”
Mobilizing that influence requires making it easy to access and share information with peers. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, topic-specific blogs, and opinion sites like Yelp are all ways to encourage Millennials to talk to each other about your brand. Of course, talking about brands is not something Millennials are inclined to do without good reason. That’s why so many brands have found success by associating with worthy causes, or highlighting their support of environmental or humanitarian initiatives. Advocacy efforts take many forms, both long term and short term promotions (Starbucks Project Red, Taco Bell Feed the Beat). For more immediate sharing, brands are experimenting with mobile applications and widgets, like DryncWine.com. However it’s done, advocacy via social media is now a critical part of any youth marketing effort.
My final words of advice on reaching Millennials is much simpler: take time to get to know them. If you are over 30, the worst mistake you can make is thinking they think like you do. Listen to Millennials, at home and in the office. They will give you the best advice about how to reach others like them.
