“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.

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, 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. 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.”