I am pondering the question, what will be the Millennials ‘iconic’ brand? Doug Holt writes in his thought-provoking book, How Brands Become Icons, that ‘to become an icon, a brand must come to represent an important cultural idea or ‘identity myth’….The crux of iconitis that the person or the thing is widely regarded as the most compelling symbol of a set of ideas or values that a society deems important.’ Holt argues that this symbol is usually NOT a mainstream idea — rather it grows from a contradiction or ‘anxiety’ that society faces at a particular point in time. The brand helps those caught up in the contradiction to resolve their identity issue. Snapple, Corona, Mountain Dew and Coke are all more than beverages – they are identity systems that at least at some point in their history, embraced a contradiction. They appealed to a specific value or group and their power lay in an imaginary, populist world that was counter to the prevailing notion of what society deemed good or appropriate.

What will be the counter-culture brand of Millennials? Gen Y offers many contradictions, but the one that intrigues me the most is the gamer culture. It just seems so, well, contradictory to the other values pinned on Millennials. Gamers are not trying to ‘make a difference’. They are more loners than team oriented. They are different. And that may make them what slackers were to Gen X’ers, what ‘red necks’ were to yuppies, what James Dean was to 50’s teens. If I were writing a cultural brand brief, I think I’d take a hard look at gamers. The gamer subculture meets many of Holt’s criteria for contradiction and anxiety. It is a populist sport – no one gained any status by being a gamer, except among other gamers. Gamers go their own way. They eschew the mainstream brands. Gamer parties are not everyone’s idea of fun. You bring your laptop to someone’s house and play against them and their friends. In the same room.

I don’t pretend to know much about this group, but I know it is big, and not just limited to 12-17 year old boys. In a focus group last month, an engaging 20-something college grad with an advanced degree sheepishly admitted he spends a lot of his spare (and not so spare) time playing Worlds of Warcraft. According to Mintel, he is not alone; 24% of males 18-24 and 13% of 25-34 year old males say playing games is ‘a favorite leisure activity’. The first brand that embraces this cultural contradiction could find a ready audience and become the next ‘brand icon’.