Growing Up with Harry Potter

One of the basic tenets of generational marketing is that each generation is uniquely defined by the culture and events of their growing up years. My generation grew up in the golden age of dramatic TV series and sitcoms. We knew the prime time line ups and talked about them at school. We can still recite the Gilligan's Island song at the drop of a hat. Farrah Fawcett's passing was mourned by many women who aspired to be Jill on Charlie's Angels.

For those coming of age in the 70's and 80's, Star Wars movies defined their childhood and teen entertainment. And for Millennials, Harry Potter perfectly spanned, and in many ways defines, their growing up years.

As this mega-media dynasty grinds to its conclusion next summer, it will mark the end of an era. A child born in 1987 was 11 when 11-year old Harry received his owl-post admission letter to Hogwarts, and will be 22 when the 17-year old Harry finally vanquishes Voldemort. Little wonder Millennials consider Harry Potter to be their own, despite its cross generational appeal. My daughter can't remember a time when she wasn't waiting for the next book or movie. She even dressed up for the midnight showing this week, much as she has for each event of the past 10 years.

There's more to this than coincident timing. Harry was as much shaped by Millennials and their times as they were shaped by him. Just as J.K. Rowling set out to create an archetype of timeless values, set in a totally novel world, so too Millennials espouse what used to be universal values as their own: Multi-culturalism, heroicism, teamwork, learning, contributing to the greater good.

The simultaneous increase in Internet penetration made it easy for Harry Potter to transfer its fantasy world to the web and become one of the first truly multi-media franchises. No sooner did the book become a movie, than it also spawned video games, trivia games, Internet memes, mugglecasts, Harry Potter Puppet pals videos, music acts (Wrock) and more. As the first to 'discover' Harry Potter, Millennials feel a special affinity to the 'boy who lived'. It provides a shared bond and culture. Just start chanting Snape, snape, severus snape - DUMBLEORE! in a college dorm and you may be surprised to see what happens. That puppet pals episode has over 65 million views on YouTube. Finally, Harry Potter is a global phenomenon; it was an experience shared by Millennials all over the world, and may even have contributed their remarkably similar values.

I'm not sure what the parallel would be for my generation, but I am quite sure that Gen Z will not have the same relationship with HP as my 15 and 18-year old Millennial kids. The question is, what will take its place?

Can Wal-Mart Survive Generation Y?

I found a post today on a financial analysis blog, SeekingAlpha.com, It is so provocative and insightful, I am going to share it in (nearly) its entirety.

The basic question is whether Millennials will find Wal-Mart's value proposition appealing -- and if they don't, what are the implications for Wal-Mart's future? I don't know whether or not Millennials will or will not embrace Wal-Mart, but as Ken Gronbach, the author of this post points out, it's not a slam dunk. In fact, after I posted the link on Twitter, one of my Gen Y followers replied to the question, "I hope not!"

"(Wal-Mart's) retail concept is not about selection or breadth of assortment and it is certainly not about short runs of anything. This concept, therefore, would struggle with the fashion tastes of a new market and therein lies the problem. Generation Y, born 1985-2004 and currently between the ages of 5-24 and the biggest generation in U.S. history is the new market. And new markets generally have very fickle tastes. If they don’t want something, it doesn’t matter if it is free–they just don’t want it. Wal-Mart is very used to dictating what their customers should buy–large quantities of very cheap retailer’s choice items."

"Wal-Mart is a Baby Boomer-based company. Boomers were born 1945 to 1964, and Wal-Mart has decades of experience catering to the clearly defined tastes of this generation who are currently 45- to 64-years-old. Wal-Mart has figured out what the mature Boomer market buys. They have also refined this demand to the narrowest selection possible, almost telling Boomers what they will buy. Boomers in turn are okay with this because when you are between 45- and 64-years-old you have pretty defined tastes and preferences that influence your buying of stuff. If Wal-Mart does not have what a Boomer really wants, but does have something close at a very low price, the Boomer will buy it."

"So where is the rub? It’s simple. When consumers hit about 50 years old, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, their demand for stuff begins to subside. At 60 years old a person pretty much has all the stuff he or she needs and then some. At 60, one’s body has stopped changing so one can wear clothes longer, a lot longer. If you want to see what was fashionable thirty years ago go to a Miami retirement community. The point here is that the bloom is off the rose of the Boomers’ consumption of things. The Boomer population is a huge bell shaped curve with many Boomers turning sixty at its leading edge and with its very top cresting at 50-years-old in 2007. All of this means that Wal-Mart needs to find a new market fast if it wants to continue doing business."

"But where does Wal-Mart turn? The two U.S. generations over 60 do not have the critical mass to serve their infrastructure, and besides, for the most part they have stopped consuming. The U.S. population now 25- to 44-years-old is a non-homogeneous combination of the small native born Gen. X (nine million fewer than the Boomers) and the free standing market of Latino immigrants."

"So who’s left? It is Gen. Y, the largest and most powerful generation of consumers this nation has ever seen. Will they be the solution to Wal-Mart’s sales problems?"

"No. Gen. Y is an emerging market, a huge bell-shaped curve with its peak at age 19. They are inhaling entertainment products, fashion, food, electronics and transportation. Selection is everything to them. They do not care about low price unless it is exactly the item they want. Their tastes change daily. They don’t know what they will want six months from now. Wal-Mart’s limited selection, low price offering to the Boomer will not and cannot translate to Gen. Y."

"Oh yes, and one more thing. Gen. Y is on track to become the greenest and most humanitarian generation in U.S. history. If one wants to do business with them they had better be very green and very nice to their fellow mankind. And popular perception is that Wal-Mart has a dismal record on both accounts. Perception is reality. This fact could seriously injure Wal-Mart’s business all by itself."

T-Mobile Is Calling Millennials

Mobile phone sales plummeted in the first quarter of 2009, and a new Pew Research report released last week, says one-third of 18-29 year olds have changed cell phone plans as a result of the recession, a higher rate of change that was seen for any other age group.

These changes are likely to have the greatest impact on T-Mobile. Not only is T-Mobile the #4 U.S. provider behind AT&T, Sprint/Nextel and Verizon in both size and spending, it is also the only provider that skews significantly younger; 33% of 18-24year olds claim to have used T-Mobile compared to just 22% of the total population (Mintel, August 2008). With so many accounts in play, I thought it would be worth looking at what T-Mobile is doing to reach Millennials.

The most visible effort is the video of the "T-Mobile dance" stunt created in Liverpool's train station in January (see above). A second stunt April 30 featured13,000 karaoke singers in Trafalgar Square last month. The spots have a great tagline - "Life is for Sharing" - and were a viral web sensation. The Life is for Sharing YouTube channel continues to bring in traffic and videos. Adrienne Waldo's provides a great Millennial view on this campaign in her blog, Ask A Millennial.

This is what happens when a company puts a little thought, effort, money and heart into their marketing. They are getting hundreds of thousands of views a week and sitting solidly at the top of AdAge's Viral Video Chart. People are watching these videos over and over and sharing the gospel - blogging, tweeting, posting, forwarding and linking these videos into every nook and cranny of the web. What did T-Mobile do differently from the countless other brands trying to infiltrate the masses virally? They abandoned the stereotypes of "savvy internet users," realized that the people who use the internet are humans, and created their ads accordingly. I also have to give them mad props for their excellent song choices. Bang up job, T-Mobile, cheers and all that. Now, if only your service was as good as your marketing...

To see a great commercial inspired by the T-Mobile effort, watch this spot filmed in Antwerp, Brussels that features Julie Andrews singing Do Re Mi (don't ask, just watch it.)

I took a look at some of their marketing and was very impressed. Beyond a great branding effort, T-Mobile is addressing the current cost consciousness by directing customers and prospects to a third party site, BillShrink.com for a Mobile Makeover. By entering basic information on usage and rates, you can see if there's a way to do better on your cell phone bill. This seems risky unless you actually do offer better rates. I found the T-Mobile web site very intuitive and easy to use, in contrast to others I have visited. Finally, a quick check of JD Power shows customer service at T-Mobile is a strength: JD Power put T-Mobile first in customer satisfaction in its Feb 2009 report, primarily due to shorter wait times.

Now let's just hope that the rumors that T-Mobiles servers were hacked over the weekend are not true! It would be a shame given their overall great marketing effort.

Who's Next for a Millennial Brand Makeover?

Gen Y is different, and not just because they are young. A 5.15.09 Christian Science Monitor article ("Do You Get The Millennial Generation?") drives this point home home: Don't "assume that the members of particular demographic groups, in this instance young people in their mid-teens through their mid-20s, behave the same and hold the same attitudes at all times." The authors of the article, Winograd and Hais, have extra credibility on this point: they were also co-authors of the prescient book, Millennial Makeover, that predicted the political shift that carried Obama and the Democrats into power last year. Their forecast was based on careful attention to changes in generational values.

Now marketers are finally catching on.

ABC Family understood the latest transformation as an opportunity, and re-directed its programming ago to better align with Millennial values. As a result, ABC Family is now attracting some of the largest Gen Y audiences on TV (see earlier post, "ABC Family, A Deft Millennial Makeover".

In contrast, MTV, the channel that literally invented youth programming 25 years ago, recognized the latest generational shift too late and now is playing catch up. According to CST, "MTV has acknowledged that its programming had become out of step with the progressive, service-oriented values of today's youth, the Millennial Generation. It was very clear we were at one of those transformational moments, when this new generation of Millennials [born between 1982 and 2003] were demanding a new MTV," a channel executive explained."

I expect this trend to accelerate, and restaurants, wine and food brands are the latest to catch on. Last week, even Kraft Foods is moving to reposition Miracle Whip to the Foodie Generation with the theme, "We are Miracle Whip. And we will not tone it down." (We will not be quiet. We will not blend in. And when we are in a salad or a sandwich or a panini or crostini, you'll know it. We are Miracle Whip." ) As might be expected from a campaign targeted to Gen Y, Adweek reports that this effort goes beyond TV advertising to incorporate social media. A Firefox plug in called 'Zingr' users to leave short, 160 character comments on various Web pages across the Internet. It's a nice play on Miracle Whip's brand promise, with the app being promoted as "the newest way to add your own flavor to the Web." Leaving a "zingr" on Kraft's site, for example, triggers this message to a user's Twitter network: "I just left a Zing! On brands.kraftfoods.com (Check it out.)

If Kraft can make Miracle Whipp relevant, who's next for a Millennial Brand Makeover? Here are some suggestions:

1. Hardware and Home Centers: As the earliest Millennials reach their thirties, home care can expected to become more of a focus for Gen Y. Hardware and home centers need to start capitalizing on Millennials' interest in eco-friendly products, green living, repair/reuse/recycle, organic gardening and more.

Financial Services: Charles Schwab is talking to Gen X, but we have seen few efforts to engage Gen Y. Gen Y will be looking for investments that align with their values of social entrepreneurism, environmental and political activism.

Travel Services: Millennials have a passion for seeing the world. As their spending power increases, they will be looking for unique travel experiences that align with their values, of 'giving back', mixing their desire to see the world with opportunities to contribute to the places they visit.

Post-Graduate Training & Education: Millennials will take lifelong learning seriously. Many Millennials see advanced degrees and training as an alternative to 'paying their dues' at work. Educational institutions would be wise to maintain relationships with alumni and stay tuned to their ambitions and desire for self-improvement even beyond college.

ABC Family Network: A Deft Millennial Makeover

When my friend and former colleague, John Rood, SVP Marketing at ABC Family, told me a little over a year ago that they were planning to reposition the network to Millennials, I admit I was more than skeptical. Disney-owned ABC Family was anything but hip. It sounded like a Bridge to Terabitha too far.

Fast forward one year and ABC Family, tagline "A New Kind of Family", is on fire going into the crucial April 'upfront' advertiser buying season. According to Multichannel.com, ABC Family network just finished its best quarter ever. The reason? Strength in its core audience of 12-34 year old "millennials".

Its new show, "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" about a young teen dealing with an unwanted pregnancy, finished its first season last month as the network’s most-watched series ever, averaging 3.9 million viewers, despite being head to head with the established 'Gossip Girls' on CW. Two other hit shows, "Greek" and "Lincoln Heights", deal with multi-cultural family issues.

Movies are another bright spot. The Jan. 18 premiere of "Another Cinderella Story" was the top cable movie of the first quarter, drawing 5.6 million viewers. The April 19 premiere of the original movie, "My Fake Fiance", about a woman who devises an engagement sham to replace her stolen belongings scored 3.7 million viewers, ranked as ABC Family's fourth best ever among adults and women 18 to 34.

An understanding of the importance of family relationships to Millennials combined with a willingness to deal with the new family issues of the new Millennium (in a way that doesn't alienate their parents), appears to underlie ABC's success with this group, an insight confirmed by President, Paul Lee:

“[Millennials] are optimistic, they make decisions by consensus, and they’re diverse — but most importantly they love family, which is great for our name and the brand,” he said. “They may define family differently — it’s not Ozzie and Harriet, but rather a much messier, more passionate, more fun, more real family,” .

A visit to the Secret Life of the American Teenager blog reveals the depth of attachment viewers feel for this show. Here are some sample responses to the question of whether 15-year old Amy will make a good mom:

"I think Amy will do great as a mom and i think her and ben make a great couple cuz i mean wat guy would stay with a pregnant girl and its not even his baby that shows how much he really cares about amy unlike ricky he was still having sex with adrian and trying to get with grace at the same time! But i think ricky should still be in the baby's life because the baby needs to know the real father, but ben and amy will do great. "

"Okay, I'm getting annoyed at Amy right now. She's always feeling so sorry for herself, but look at everyone else, they're not. Ricky loves John and isn't feeling sorry for himself. Everyone's being such a great support system. I totally think Amy will be a great mom, but only when she finds out how lucky she is to have such a strong support system, because a lot of girls don't no matter the situation whether boys, drugs, sickness, or babies. OMGSecretLife"

"Amy is going to be a great mom. yes, it will be dificult she mite even have to dump Ben and focuse more on baby John. Ricky is also going to be a great daddy..::. I LOVE THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER.::."

Okaaaayyy, this is definitely not Father Knows Best. Bravo to ABC Family for having the courage to address this target in a relevant way. And sorry, John, for ever doubting it.

Millennial Marketing: The Vulgarity Gap

Nothing dates a Boomer so fast as to wince at expletives and vulgar humor. Yet a quick look at Adult Swim, Family Guy, and CollegeHumor.com quickly show that Millennials are perfectly comfortable with language and humor that makes my generation blush. Vulgarity is no doubt part of the attraction.

I recently begain following an interesting young woman on Twitter. She thanked me for the follow, but sent me several @ replies trying to warn me off.

@carol_phillips i'm not so sure you're going 2 like my tweets. they r pretty raw. :) u seem like u tweeting 4 professional reasons.

@carol_phillips no offense, but most ppl of ur generation usually don't like hearing raw thoughts/emotions/language.

@carol_phillips if u click on my id & look @ past tweets, u will get an idea of why i issued the warning. :)

She's right of course, generally people my age don't like to hear rough uncensored thoughts.

Which brings me to, My New Haircut. The success of this non-professionally shot YouTube video further illustrates the generational divide. Twenty-two million views puts My New Haircut among the all time YouTube greats. Rated "Really Fuckin' Funny", it has spawned numerous spoofs and a top spot on College Humor. While not in the same league as Evolution of Dance (116MM views), or Laughing Baby (79MM views), it does rank up there with Miss Teen South Carolina 2007's 43 minutes of fame (34 million views). (Note: For those who are interested, ReadWriteTalk does a good job of explaining the complexity of ranking YouTube videos as many of the top ones are professionally produced).

For those of you over 30, here is some background. MyNewHaircut is a 2007 video filmed by Brett Tietjen and his friend Mike Allen in New Jersey in June of 2007. Tietjen has a master's degree in film production from New York Institute of Technology and his own production company called L2X Productions. Both Tietjen and Allen star in the video, which features a well-known stereotype in Long Island bars, the 'guido', a tanned, buff, spiked hair guy with more bravado than brains who is singlemindedly focused on going to techno bars and 'winning with the ladies' (Hint: not the way he describes it in the film).

The film, reportedly shot, edited and aired all in one day, has spawned many spoofs ranging from an Asian version (Rated "Reary Reary Funny") to a senior citizen version to a Jewish version (Rated "Kosher") by University senior, Eric Niederman.

Needless to say, the film's popularity has launched Tietjen's career. Jagermeister sponsored a tour called, "The Skanks and Broskis Tour," which has gone all over the country appearing at local bars and clubs. There is a script for a movie version and a reality TV show, all of which will no doubt be wildly successful for the young film-makers, their production partners and brand sponsors.

Which brings me back to my original observation: what Gen Y finds "Really Fuckin' Funny", other generations generally do not. Even Niederman, the marketing major who created Jewish spoof, says, "My family doesn't like my comedy, but thought the video was hilarious. They showed it to my grandparents which was awkward because I cursed a lot in it."

Given the vulgarity divide, I think it's fair to say that My New Haircut and other properties like it, is unlikely to cross over to an older audience. For over 30 Millennial marketers, that means we need to put our own sensibilities aside.

Buckle's Up! Fashion Retailers Who Get Millennials

As I predicted last month, Millennials are not cutting back when it comes to their favorite fashion retailers.

Yesterday the WSJ reported teen retailer, Hot Topic, which also operates stores offering fashion forward merchandise for plus sizes under the name Torrid, posted a 19% rise in fiscal Q4 profits and 38% rise in gross margin, buoyed by sales of gear connected to the popular teenage-vampire movie, Twilight. Aeropostale, H&M and Zara also appear to be fairly recession resistant, which is impressive at a time when other apparel retailers (e.g., Abercrombie, Ann Taylor LOFT) are struggling.

One fashion retailer that seems to really 'get' Millennials is Buckle. According to WSJ, Buckle's net also jumped 19% in the fourth quarter. A visit to the Buckle web site says a lot about how they do it. The home page features a Millennial-friendly message about a Spring break event. It's free to enter and you can enter everyday. Brands are front and center, and they seem to have the brands my kids want most -- Lucky, Hurley, Puma, Billabong, Fossil and literally dozens more. Major boomer brands like Levi's and Calvin Klein are no where in sight.

The shopping experience is easy, with new arrivals and sale merchandise featured plainly on the home page. There are multiple ways to shop. You can shop by size (even by inseam), brand, item type, price, even by outfit. There's a 'style shop' that features separate 'trend watches' for men and women.

The visuals look like real Millennials, not models. Prices appear comparable to what you would pay on the individual brand sites, but the ability to assemble outfits, and ship all at once is a big plus. Military and international shipping are also featured.

The whole site makes shopping fun and gives you confidence you can create the looks you want. This is a site that really seems to have done its homework on Millennials, a lot of functionality and fun without unnecessary gimmicks or commercialization.

Fast Food Marketers Target Missing Millennials

Everyone is cutting back on eating out these days, but Millennials are leading the way in frugality. As of March last year, 18-24 year olds visited fast food restaurants an average of 3.0 times a week, down from 3.7 times in 2007. Even more telling, 18-24's were the only group to show a decline. We expect that number to drop even farther by March of 2009.

What are QSR marketers -- other than high profile Burger King -- doing to win back this important segment? A lot it turns out.

1. Pizza Hut: Pizza chains are among the hardest hit by the recession (WSJ, "A Smaller Piece of the Pie", 2.23.09). Pizza Hut is taking direct aim at Millennials with its "Pizza Hut Interface" launched October 2008. The Interface allows Facebook users to order their Pizza Hut favorites without ever leaving Facebook. According to AllFacebook, Pizza Hut is the first national pizza chain to offer this method of ordering. In 2008, Pizza Hut awarded $50 gift cards to Pizza Hut friends on Facebook on a weekly basis. Currently, Pizza Hut is running a “Passport to Italy Sweepstakes” through its Facebook page to celebrate the launch of new Tuscani Lasagna. According to Bob Kraut, VP of Marketing Communications, Pizza Hut is pleased with the results.

In the last month, we’ve gone from 700,000 fans to 750,000 fans, which makes us the largest restaurant fan page on Facebook. We want to strike a fine balance between communicating with our fans and giving them meaningful offers, without overcommunicating to them and becoming a nuisance. We want people to see our Facebook page not as something they become a fan of and then forget about, but a place they come back to on a regular basis for the latest news and deals from Pizza Hut. To have a live measurement of the number of fans we have interacting with our brand and the ability to create an ordering application within the site makes Facebook an extremely effective online channel for us. We’re very pleased with the results we’ve seen so far.

2.Culvers: Last month Culver's launched its first ever national ad campaign, starting with E!'s pre-Academy show. The premise is that there is an 'outbreak of niceness' at Culver's. While this is not Millennial-specific message, it is definitely Millennial-friendly. (Pepsi, anyone?) The campaign includes social media: a Twitter feed and Facebook page, although only the eClub sign up is on their home page and the effort is not as integrated as the Pizza Hut effort. Company vice president Chris Contino: "We still aren't sure that it works for quick-service restaurants, because so much of the buying is impulse, but we're hoping to hit on something that makes sense."

3. Arby's: Arby's is betting on new products, especially an "All-American Roastburger" sandwich positioned against hamburgers. Launched in February, it will sponsor an NCAA tournament bracket on Facebook through CBS SportsLine. Arby's spokeswoman: "Facebook engages more than 80 million active users, and 1.5 million people signed up for Facebook NCAA tournament brackets in 2008." Online ads on CBS SportsLine and NCAA.com this month will support the effort, along with March Madness network TV and radio (CBS, Sirius). A PR program for called "Change Your Clock/Change Your Burger" on March 8 will promote a free Roastburger with the purchase of a soft drink. It will be interesting to see how (whether) they leverage the 'news' value of daylight savings on Twitter...

4. Taco Bell: Taco Bell is the second favorite fast food restaurant among 18-24 year olds, right behind McDonalds. Millennials love Taco Bell for their ingenuity in mixing the same basic 7 ingredients into a constant stream of 'new' products (Crunch Wrap Supreme, Fully Loaded Nachos). This gives them a constant stream of 'news', which combined with lots of items for $.79, $.89 and $.99 makes for a experience you can enjoy frequently. Taco Bell has smartly leveraged their late night hours to connect with Millennial bands and their fans with their 'Fourth Meal' promotion, "Feed the Beat".

Dentyne's 'Face Time' Campaign a Winner with Millennials

I love Dentyne's contrarian "Face Time" campaign. It leverages the current obsession with Facebook and virtual friending to make a point about the importance of face-to-face encounters. First launched in October, the campaign includes TV, a web site and remarkably, no NO Facebook group or application I could find! In fact the web site only gives you 3 minutes to find what you want and get out.

Last night, a new 'Face Time' commercial on The Colbert Report caught my attention. It features a charming couple who can't stop kissing. Adorable. And it makes the point: kissing is fun, do it more often (with Dentyne)! (I can't find the new spot on YouTube or I would have inserted it here).

I was pleased to see Millennials, not just boomers like me, enjoy this campaign. Adrienne Waldo, creator of the blog AskAMillennial, says she likes it for being 'genuine' and 'happy' (how Millennial of her!):

"I am absolutely crazy about the most recent Dentyne campaign.It is fun, warm, unique and targets Millennials without being patronizing. I think the essential goodness of this campaign comes from its genuine nature. ..The commercial ties in well with the print. The song selection, "Summer Day" by Coconut Records, comes across pleasantly quirky, the setting is beautiful, and the whole thing leaves me feeling happy."

A Millennial View of Superbowl Ads

by Marty Predd, 28, guest blogger

At first, the thought of guest blogging about this year's Super Bowl commercials seemed like a good idea. As a Millennial, football lover and a market researcher what more could I ask for in a topic?

Sad to say, after five hours in front of the TV and far more smokey links than any one person should have in a day, I was disappointed. Although there were a few notable exceptions (more on those tomorrow), the ads I saw yesterday ranged from uninspired to gimmicky to frankly bizarre. So rather than give any one of these lackluster attempts at advertising genius the honor of its very own extended critique, let me offer instead three descriptions of the TYPES of ads I saw yesterday, and why, for me, they fall short.

1. The Not-So-New SuperBowl Spot

e-Trade

What could be better than a toddler in a high chair talking like a frat boy at a night club? For the folks at , apparently the answer was 'two'. This is the classic example of a modestly clever idea played well beyond its useful (ahem, interesting) life. A toddler speaking like an adult is a tad creepy, so you have to wonder who thought it would be a smart idea to wow an audience expecting the newest and most creative in advertising with....the same ad concept you ran LAST SuperBowl?

PriceLine - Shatner the Negotiator

Given the fact that PriceLine has put most, if not all, of its advertising eggs in Shatner's basket, I'm not sure what I'd recommend for them as far a new and exciting Super Bowl ads are concerned. While there may be some wisdom in their 'if it's not broken, don't fix it' approach, it's not going to win them any awards for creativity or excitement, at least not in my book.

Coke Zero

New? No. But this Coke Zero spot is probably the best in the category of not-so-new SuperBowl ads. Unlike its peers, it succeeds by at least changing up the format a bit. It's not immediately apparent that the outraged Coke executives will be making a showing, and this lends an element of surprise (and therefore newness) to an otherwise same-old spot.

2. All Bells and Whistles

Sobe: "Dancers"

I like new technology as much as the next guy (and maybe more so), but the flashiest new animation techniques and 3D wizardry, are not a substitute for a relevant message. Sobe's "Dancers" spot is the epitome of this form-no-function approach to the SuperBowl ad. With absolutely no sarcasm at all (really), I can say that I was impressed by the frolicking athletes, amorphous dancing blob, and the strange menagerie of other creatures used in this spot, but I was left clueless as to the intended message: If you want to know where to find great animators using the best technology, call Sobe? Perhaps if I had dug through my treasure chest of childhood memories for that pair of 3D glasses, the message would have been apparent to me? I somehow doubt it, but even if it were....Unless you're selling light sabers, it's probably not the best idea to limit your sphere of relevance to an audience of techies and nine-year-old boys.

Coke: 'Picnic'

Coke seems to have made a tradition out of making elaborate ads in which nature and a Coke bottle unite. The animation is amazing, and I'm even occasionally left with the same kind of warm-fuzzies that might come from watching a scene in Lord of the Rings or some other animated fantasyland. Yet, no matter how artsy or metaphorical I try to think about it, it always seems like a giant stretch to me, one that only a mega-brand like Coke could pull off. That doesn't mean they should.

Doritos 'Bus'

Eat Doritos, and money will spew out of ATM machines, gorgeous women's clothes will magically blow off...and you'll get hit by a bus, but survive. Visually impressive? Perhaps. Relevant? Not so much.

3. Silly Masquerading as Cool

Pepsi: "Pepsuber"

Much as there is a fine line between genius and insanity, there's a fine line between cool and plain silly. Pepsi's 'Pepsuber' is decidedly on the silly side of the line. In what appears to be a MavGyver parody, hero MacGruber fails to disarm a ticking bomb by wasting too much time shamelessly promoting his sponsor, Pepsi. The spot ends with a long shot of the bomb (and the ship upon which it resides) blowing up. I'm tempted to try to interpret what this catastrophic ending says about Pepsi, but doing so would presume that there was meaning there to be discerned in the first place. To be fair, Pepsi wasn't completely off base in trying to reach out to Millennials using what you might call 'ironic' humor - the same humor that makes Conan O'Brien's 'Walker Texas Ranger' segments so popular. Yet Pepsi appears to have missed a fundamental component to this humor equation: MacGuyver and Walker Texas Ranger are funny because they were originally created to be SERIOUS; it's only in retrospect that their sincere cheesiness is funny. Pepsuber plainly lacks this sincerity and consequently seems a bit like a little brother trying way too hard to be cool by mimicking his older siblings.

Overstock.com: 'Carlos Boozer'

This spot started with real promise, but fell painfully flat. The idea of kids learning to 'surf' (the Web) with a professional basketball player is clever and could be actually be funny, if a bit cutesy. But then the commercial switches to an almost sentimental tone revolving around Boozer's gold medal, leaving the appetite for a punch line severely disappointed.

H&R Block: 'Grim Reaper'

The humor is completely one-note: the Grim Reaper isn't happy with how his accountant did his taxes. It's a funny hypothetical scenario, but there is so little in the way of a story line here (even for a 30-sec spot), that the laughter about the premise ends long before the commercial does.

Tomorrow: Commercials that actually hit the mark.

Marty Predd is 28-year-old marketing researcher living in Portland, OR who specializes in technology and Millennial marketing.

Marketing to Millennials Presentation

Marketing To Millennials

View more presentations from Engauge . (tags: ideas transformational)

I've written a few presentations on Millennial marketing and I've read many more. This is among the best I've seen. Kudos to digital agency, Engauge (previously Spinlogic) for creating a a data-based yet readable look at marketing to Millennials. It draws on a variety of sources, many of which I have also used for this blog (Pew, Outlaw Consulting, BIGresearch). So if you looking for a place to start or just a great summary, this presentation has it all nicely organized.

What Is Generational marketing?

Who THEY Are

Why THEY Became Important

How Much THEY Changed Media Consumption

The Workforce Culture Clash

Examples of Millennial Marketing (many good examples, some of which I had not seen before)

The Affect of the Financial Crisis

Millennials as Automotive Consumers

Microsoft just completed a study in January that concludes, predictably, that "Automakers Should Turn to Technology to Target Millennials". While not a 'newsflash', it is nevertheless interesting to know that Millennials want to connect with car companies through IM (56%), company blogs (74%) and mobile alerts (52%) about new car releases and price drops. Fifty-two percent said they would use self-service kiosks or mobile devices at the dealership rather than talk to a real person. My hunch is that most Millennials would never set foot in a dealership until they were fully armed with all the comparison shopping information they need.

One of the more interesting, and somewhat less predictable findings, is that "44 percent sought to network with other auto enthusiasts through automotive company-supported social networking sites, Facebook or MySpace groups....Large percentages of millennials report they will seek advice from third-party consumer Web sites (65 percent), third-party consumer blogs (45 percent), friends or colleagues via social networking sites (61 percent), and friends and family (87 percent)."

Mercedes Benz is using social media to connect with Millennials. The site is called "GenerationBenz.com". Launched in December, it requires a pass code to enter and provides moderated discussions with Mercedes employees and other enthusiasts. The community is still small but credit goes to Mercedes for reaching out to Millennials this way. Scion offers similar community tools for owners and prospects.

Personally, I think the main barrier to Millennials purchasing cars is not technology, it's financing the new purchase and reducing the risk of not being able to pay back the loan. Ads for Hyundai's 'Assurance' program guaranteeing to take back cars if the owners lose their jobs are likely to catch the attention of many Millennials when they air on the SuperBowl this weekend. While not specifically directed to Millennials, the Assurance program message is sure to resonate: According to MediaPost:

Two ads for the Assurance program carry messages like: "In times like these, buying a new car is a big commitment. So what about the company selling it to you--how committed are they?" and "Whenever you buy a new car, you have to sign a contract. But what about the company selling it to you? Where's their signature?" The ads direct viewers to HyundaiUSA.com for details.

My recommendation to the automakers: focus less on the technology and more on making a car purchase seem realistic and smart. One Millennial friend of mine tried using Zipcar, but gave it up as unrealistic. A creative offer for 'car sharing' or pooling with a friend or roomate might strike the right tone?

picture from thedigeratilife.com

How Marketers Can Connect With Millennials

I am frequently asked to comment on how Millennials view their lives. To many 'older' people, Millennial lives seem 'complicated'. All those gadgets! The constant connection and 24/7 activity looks exhausting. Aren't they overwhelmed?

After hundreds of online and face-to-face interviews with college students and young professionals over the past six months, I can confidently say that 'complicated' is not how Millennials describe themselves.

Gen Y says their biggest challenge is 'busy-ness', the sheer volume of things they want and need to do. There simply isn't enough time to do it all. As a result, they see their lives as 'hectic', 'exciting', 'dynamic' and 'fun'. However, busy-ness also is the main barrier to achieving things that are really important to them, like staying in touch with old friends, making new friends and finding time to lead a 'balanced' life. Here is a sample of how they think of their lives and challenges:

Moderator: Now tell us what 3 words best describe your life right now..I know this might sound weird - but just say whatever comes to mind!

Jessica S: hectic, exciting, perfect Jason J: Dynamic, Fun, Anxious Doug: Fun, Non-Stop and Dynamic Lindsay J: busy, uncertain, overwhelming Alex S: interesting, action-packed, dynamic where action-packed = busy John C: Transition, Stress, Excitement Mary A: exciting, fun,hard Justin D: Margarine, content, excited. Katie H: busy, fun, happy Mike G: Three words that describe my life: dynamic, in-flux and wandering.

Moderator: a lot of you said "busy" - what are you mostly busy with?

Lindsay J: work, social, personal (moving) Jessica S: everything - work is busy and family life is busy - that makes for a feeling of going non-stop - I"m also moving and getting married Doug: Busy would entail for me...work (travel, responsibilities) and social life

Moderator: a lot of you said "exciting" - what makes your life exciting?

Mary A: new experiences everyday Katie H: constantly running around John C: just having a lot of fun and not sure what is coming next but it all is pretty fun and new.

Moderator: what makes your life hard or stressful?

Katie H: work and personal, wanting and trying to be in too many places all the time Mary A: meeting new people at both places and making connections John C: life is stressful because of trying to balance success at work with having a personal life. Work is also stressful because it seems to never end.

While finding time and achieving 'balance' is their biggest challenge, Millennials tell us they experience three other sources of stress:

1. Creating Meaning. Millennials yearn to make a difference. Many find it hard to do this in their work lives, so they search for ways to make a difference outside of work through volunteer work.

2. Making New Friends. Surprisingly, many post-college age Millennials say it is tough to meet new people and form meaningful friendships.

3. Meeting (High) Personal Expectations: Millennials are their own harshest critics. They are accustomed to achieving their goals, and often feel discouraged with their jobs when they don't get the responsibility or career progress they think they are capable of.

Marketers who demonstrate an understanding and sympathy for these stressors will find it easier to engage Millennials. Brands that help them ease or resolve their challenges will earn customers for life.

Millennial Businesses: Doing Well by Doing Good

Harvard Publishing calls Better World Books the 'real deal' in terms of a triple bottom line - people, planet and profits. They call themselves 'The Online Bookstore with a Soul'. Founded five years ago by three University of Notre Dame graduates (had to mention that right away, so proud), Better World Books is Amazon with a soul. They collect unwanted books from 1800 campuses and 1400 libraries, rescuing them from landfills. They sell what they can, returning a portion of the proceeds to the donating library and a portion to literacy programs. The unsold books go to literacy programs around the world. Books are shipped USPS for $3.97 using Carbonfund.com offsets.

This deceptively simply idea has grown to a $21 million operation with 200 full-time full-benefit employees that has done a tremendous amount of good. From the spring of 2003 through June 2008, Better World Books has collected more than 16 million books, raising more than $5.2 million for over 80 literacy and education non-profit organizations, sending over a million books to partner programs & saving over 8,000 tons of books from landfills. They have also set aside 5% of their stock option pool for their core literacy partners and purchased 2,400 tons of carbon offsets - and growing the company to $21 million in revenue. Now that's a triple play.

Success does not seem to have made the three founders any less idealistic. I quote from their web site:

"We believe that literacy gives people water to drink, imparts knowledge to eliminate disease, and develops self-esteem that enables people to make their mark on the world. Our story has taken us to places we had never seen. Our dream is to continue to work for those whom we have never met." The BWB Cofounders (from left to right): Xavier Helgesen, Jeff Kurtzman & Chris "Kreece" Fuchs

Fussy Drinkers? Wine Brands Matter to Millennials

Wine drinking is exploding in the U.S., driven by lower prices and increased interest on the part of Millenials (see earlier blogpost). Total inflation adjusted sales of wine in the U.S. have increased 20% over the past five years and are expected to growth another 16% in the next five years (Mintel, 2008). Wine outpaced every other non-water beverage category 2005-2007, including beer, although distilled spirits comes close in rate of growth.

So how do Millennials choose a wine? Surprise! Brand names in wine mean more to Millennials than to older wine drinkers. While the 'animal names' may not work with older wine drinkers, popular and memorable names like Yellow Tail can mean a lot to a Millennial. According to Mintel, 29% of 21-24 year olds and 31% of 25-34 year olds say "I prefer wines with casual and fun names such as Red Bicyclette, Three Blind Moose, compared to old-school names such as Bordeaux or Beaujolais." This compares to just 18% for all adults. They are also more brand loyal. Millennials are much more likely than other adults to agree with the statement 'I stick to (wine) brands I know'. The % of 21-24 year olds who say they decide based on brand (55%) is higher than the number who say they decide by price (48%). (See table above).

Millennials' emphasis on brands helps explain the success of a new mobile phone app, Drync-wine. Launched originally in November, last week Drync added an iPhone application with the explicit goal of reaching "70 million tech-savvy Millennials, the fastest growing segment of the wine industry." Here's how they explain how it works:

Drync, LLC today announced the release of Drync-Wine, simplifying the way people research, remember, share, and purchase wine using their mobile device. Built initially for the iPhone, Drync-Wine is the only mobile wine application that scours multiple databases of nearly a million wine listings in real time to identify the exact wine a user is drinking. Perfect for the wine novice and connoisseur alike, Drync-Wine delivers expert reviews, ratings, descriptions, and pricing. Users may snap a photo of the label, save the wine to their own virtual wine cellar, add their own tasting notes, and even purchase the wine all from their mobile phone.

A million wine listings? With that many brands to choose from, this category seems perfect for social networking. Community features allow users to share wine information among friends. Future upgrades "enhanced community features such as twitter integration, enhanced sort and filtering of cellar data and wine recommendations." Sounds smart to me. Click here to learn more from Drync's blog.

Pepsi: The Choice of the Millennial Generation?

Okay, I'm not so old that I actually remember Joanie Sommers singing "Come Alive! Your (sic) In the Pepsi Gen-er-ation!" (See video if you were born after 1950). But I do remember some of the great generational Pepsi campaigns that followed. Seriously, is there any brand more closely tied to generational marketing than Pepsi? So it is not a surprise that Pepsi would make a run at being the choice of this new generation. It's starting with the release of research dubbed the "Pepsi Optimism Project" or POP. The research made a big splash by announcing the self-fulfilling finding that Gen Y is more optimistic than other generations.

When asked to select words to describe how they feel, eight in 10 (81%) selected “hopeful” and two-thirds (65%) chose “optimistic.”But Millennials (57%) are also much more likely than Gen Xers (49%), Baby Boomers (38%), and Post-War Americans (27%) to report feeling “excited” about the future.

Astonishing. Who knew?! Roll out the PR machine.

But wait there's more insight ahead:

When Millennials are asked how to describe their views of the word “change,” nearly all of them (95%) make positive associations. They most often associate “change” with the concepts of “new” (79%), “progress” (78%), “hope” (77%) and “excitement” (72%). They are less apt to make negative associations with the word change. “Uncertainty” (59%), “concern” (52%), “stress” (40%) and “loss” (26%) ranked at the bottom of the list of words that come to mind. Two-thirds of Millennials (67%) say that the election of Barack Obama as president is making them feel optimistic about the future of the country.

Someone better tell the Obama folks. Be sure to tell them that Millennials are also optimistic about their health, their career, their finances, even their romantic prospects.

With these kind of insights, I can't wait to see the ads. According to Pepsi, we can expect a "significant, multiyear reinvestment in carbonated soft drinks" and the debut of a new advertising campaign "featuring a consistent theme of optimism that mirrors the current social climate". Let's hope that their research leads them someplace more exciting than a Pepsi and a smile (oops, that was the other brand). As I have written before, this generation has yet to embrace an 'iconic' brand, and no doubt Pepsi wants to be it. But it will take a special effort to break through to this generation, and I am betting that a retread of Obama's campaign is not going to do it.

Millennials: What is Their Iconic Brand?

I am pondering the question, what will be the Millennials 'iconic' brand? Doug Holt writes in his thought-provoking 2004 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'.

Millennial Target: Starbucks Project Red

Starbucks appears to have hit it right with Millennials with its Dec 1 RED Event for World Aids Day. So far, nearly 580,198, people have RSVP'ed on Facebook. Whether all of them actually come and sip a 'handcrafted beverage' (and generate a 5 cent donation to Project Red), is irrelevant. Starbucks is already a winner just by getting that many people to raise their hand in support of the effort. At minimum, those handraisers will think twice before buying a latte someplace else on Monday. The event is only the beginning. For the next few months, all holiday drinks will also result in a 5 cent donation. There's a Red Community site where customers can use an 'impact calculator' to see how their donations are impacting the world crisis.

If Monday's event results in lines at Starbucks stores, it will owe its success to doing its its homework on Millennials. The Project Red promotion hits a number of Millennial hot buttons:

1. A worthy cause.

2. Easy to do - doesn't require any extra effort.

3. Social - hey, let's all go!

4. Multi-media - everything from TV to celebrities in Times Square.

5. Lots of ways to participate online and in person -- even a photo op in the store.

While RED is a promotion, it feels bigger, more like a party. That's what makes its appearance on Facebook more permissible than most commercial attempts on Facebook, and consequently something Millennials click on rather than ignore. A lot has been written lately about Facebook's struggles to become a viable advertising medium. Perhaps Starbucks has just given us all a clue as to how to leverage its potential.

What Are the Cool Kids Doing Online?

Millennials spend 12-14 hours a week online searching for information, watching video, updating their profiles and messaging their friends. They are confident "neti-zens" who have never known a time when up-to-date info about friends, grades, tonight's biology homework, favorite political candidates and the latest SNL episode wasn't instantly and freely available. It's worth understanding what they like online now, because Millennial's online tastes are very influential. According to Deloitte's 2007 State of the Media Democracy Survey, word of mouth is the most common reason for Millennials to visit a website. When they find a particular television show or website that they enjoy, they tell an average of 18 people, compared with only 10 people for all age groups. So what online brands are hot with Millennials today? New research from Outlaw Consulting among 100 hand selected Gen Y Trendsetters sheds some light. The biggest surprise here is that there are no real surprises here. Facebook is number one, even among trendsetters, who at the beginning were vaguely uncomfortable doing something so, well, popular. It just seemed so vain. That apparently has changed however, due to the ubiquity and ease of use.

>"Facebook has become more of a fact of life, a way to communicate and schedule events—consider it this generation’s version of Microsoft Outlook, but with an emotional side. “There is an entire army of friends who I don’t see regularly but still care about. It means a lot to automatically be able to see their photos from time to time, and keep abreast of who’s where. Facebook provides a warm blanket for me. It makes me feel more connected, less alienated.”

In our research with recent college graduates, we learned Facebook has become essential for remaining in touch with newly scattered friends. While the Facebook habit is strongest among those who actually used it in college (those who graduated less than 4 years ago), we expect the trend to continue.

Other popular trendsetter sites pose similar paradoxes. Ironically, trendsetters want to tap into the 'wisdom of crowds' available, where else, on EBay, Yelp, Wikipedia, Craigslist.

“There are tons of different opinions on there, but you can sift through and get a feel for the truth. I don’t know what I did before Yelp.” “Whenever I have an item in mind, I check eBay. It standardizes the pricing. If you want to know what the public thinks an item is worth, eBay will tell you.Gen Y trendsetters will gladly sacrifice 100% accuracy for direct access to the public’s version of reality, whatever it may be. They believe they know when to trust sites, and when to seek another source. In the meantime, they credit these sites with doing no less than changing their lives. The model of the open platform giving voice to a crowd will be close to their hearts as this generation comes to power.

The rest of the list is equally unsurprising. CNN, NYT, Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Flickr and Pandora round out the list. Where are the obscure, the trendy, the not on the map ideas? Perhaps that is the big finding. The Internet, arbiter of every personal whim and taste, may be more mass than we even suspected.

Research Insights: Brands that Connect With Millennials

Understanding how and why brands connect with Gen Y is critical to Millennial marketing, but research on the subject can be hard to come by. Primary brand research is often closely guarded. That makes figuring out what Millennials want now and, more important, will want in the future a challenge for those without money to spend on getting out and talking to them. Here are three great, free resources on Millennial brands:

1. Outlaw Consulting Trend Reports: Outlaw specializes in researching Millennial trendsetters. They have been doing this longer than anyone I know and provide great content on their site in the form of their in-depth newsletters. These newsletters are full blown reports. Last year, they profiled the top 15 brands.

2. Businessweek recently shared their list of brands with global girl appeal ("How Brands Become Girl Approved", 9.18.08) as part of an overall survey of global brands. There were the usual suspects: Coca-Cola, Apple, Starbucks, and Google. But there are also a few surprises -- Ford, Citi, H&M, Motorola. Actually, I am not so sure about the surprises and neither are they. But what I especially liked was the slide show, the synopsis of what each brand means to girls and suggestions for what it could mean.

3. Graham Brown also has a long record of understanding youth culture, especially mobile marketing to youth. His blog, mobileyouth.org contains a wealth of data and links to slide presentation on youth culture and mobile marketing. For a sample, check out this presentation to Vodaphone on slideshare:

Mobile Youth Presentation to Vodafone by MobileYouth.org featuring trust, loyalty, net promoter score

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: mobile marketing)

I especially value the links to four slideshare presentations on the Gen Y appeal of four specific brands: Scion, Jones, EA games and Red Bull. He describes these as 'brands with uncommon sense'. Here is the Red Bull presentation.

326475 - Red Bull, "It's Not A Drink, It's a Lifestyle".

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: yagerbombs nightclub)