I can hardly believe it, but this is my 300th post. Wow! Allow me to reflect a moment on how much has changed in the area of Millennial Marketing.
One of the biggest changes is the sheer amount of information available to marketers about Gen Y. Two years ago, there was little to draw on, so we did our primary research studies – on the workplace and on social media. No longer. There are mountains of free published information, and a lot of is is very good. Any marketer who needs to understand Gen Y (and who doesn’t?) should start with what is already published. True much of it will not be exactly what you need. A syndicated study doesn’t ask that specific question about your category or brand. But for context, many of these studies are better than what any one firm could do on its own.
Earlier this year we started keeping track of the best studies we ran across in a wiki, called Millennialmarketing.wikispaces.com. (Bookmark it!) Each study has been classified into one of a dozen categories. There are usually dozens of studies within each category, and new ones are being added nearly every day. (If you register, you can add your own finds as well.)
Millennial Consumer & Shopping Behavior
Millennial Lifestyle, Attitudes & Values
Millennials & Financial Services
Millennial Demographics & Economics
Presentations & Ebooks on Millennials
Generational marketing skeptics (yes, there are many) usually have two main objections.
The first objection is that Gen Y is really just like other generations at the same age. Any differences are due to stage of life – students and young adults naturally are different in their outlook, values and spending patterns. As they mature, marry, take on real jobs, have kids, etc. they will naturally lose some of their ‘distinctive’ qualities.
The second objection is based on the concern that sweeping generalizations about any age group can obscure important individual differences and be misleading.
Of course, there is a grain of truth to both claims. Lifestage is part of the puzzle and an important marketing variable — young people are different from older consumers. That’s why age is one of the first bases of most segmentation schemes, along with gender and ethnicity. BUT! It is a mistake to assume young people of your generation are the same as young people today. They grew up in a different time and were shaped by different cultural forces, not to mention different technology and prevailing parenting views. Do you think your parents were the same as you at the same age?
If this logic isn’t compelling enough, longitudinal research studies provide evidence of generational shifts. Here are several studies worth checking out. They compare young adults of today with people the same age at different points in time.
As for stereotypes I have addressed this before. Stereotypes and ‘profiling’ are problematic in most areas of life, but they are essential for marketers. Until we have tools that can target people individually (and that day is coming faster than you might think), marketers must aggregate people based on characteristics into segments and create profiles (or if you prefer, ‘persona’s’) to keep their products, messages relevant.
Which brings me back to the value and limitations of secondary research. It provides an excellent starting point, but should be considered just that, a beginning. Marketers need specific information about how Gen Y thinks about their category, brand or marketing program. For that, there is no substitute for primary research.
Longitudinal Study of Young Adult Mental Health
Pew Research Reports: How Are Millennials Different than their Parents at the Same Age?
Girl Scouts USA Longitudinal Study of Values
College Board Student Poll of Incoming Freshman
DEMOS: Economic State of Young America
