Engaging Millennials: How Marketers Can Break Through

'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.

Why Social Media Matters (in Less than 3 minutes)

This video by Tampa Bay agency, 22squared, is the cleverest explanation I have seen on how social media helps consumers find brands -- and how brands find consumers. While this post (my 200th!) isn't strictly about Millennials, it expresses an essential truth of Millennial marketing - what your friends think matters, and now it's far easier to know what your friends think.

Gen Y to Marketers: You Are Missing Your Blue Ocean

In 2005, a great business book called "Blue Ocean Strategy" challenged marketers to stop thinking incrementally and looking for 'white spaces' in which to compete. The book, now published in 41 languages urged mraketers to identify latent market needs. The authors maintained that too many marketers were playing a losing game by competing in crowded, fiercely competitive 'red oceans' when they should be looking for wide open blue waters.

Gen Y may present a remarkable blue ocean for many industries. Not only are they big, they purport to want something different and new. And many are literally begging marketers to 'think differently' about them.

Just today, Advertising Age carried an article by, Megan Meagher, a 25-year-old account planner at Taxi, New York titled "Millennials Are Evolving; Are You Keeping Up?" Megan doesn't understand why marketers aren't doing more to win over her age group, especially now when the recession has her retinking her spending priorities and brand preferences:

"I'm a changed person, thanks to this recession. I eat more meals at home and actually pay attention to the price of groceries. Living on my own for the first time, I find myself buying and using more household products, from dishwasher soap to stain remover. As a result, I'm newly receptive to advertising in those product categories. But what surprises me is how few marketers -- outside of clothes, shoe, food-and-beverage and entertainment marketers -- actually pursue my age group. I wonder why that is, when much of what I've learned about brand building in my work in strategic planning suggests that marketers that reach out to Gen Y may find that the payoff lasts decades.

In a few years my generation will be the moms and dads of the world, the major household buyers. Within the next decade, we'll be generating $2.77 trillion dollars per year. It's essential for brands to grab us now and reach out in ways we find meaningful. "

The number of marketers with explicit Gen Y appeals is fairly modest, and most tend to be from entertainment, technology or traditional youth marketing categories. For marketers in food, wine, financial services, travel, appliances, household products and for retailers, this article and others like it should be a wake up call to start sailing in the blue ocean -- before it turns red.

Is Your Brand Millennial-Ready?

I am often challenged to justify my opinion that Millennials need to be addressed as a unique target.

My first response is to point out just how many of them there are. As a result of an 'echo boom' in births that began in the late 70's, by 2008 there were over 58 million young adults 21+. (see chart). Fast forward five years and there will be 3.5 million more, a 6% increase. That's 61.5 million consumers in their prime earning and spending years. At the same time, the number of people 35-54 is projected to decline by 2 million.

Many industries -- technology, education, food, wine, beer and spirits -- have felt the impact of Millennials for several years. Looking ahead, we anticipate financial services, travel, and home goods/fashions to be next. Marketers in these categories often doubt whether Millennials are really all that different, or will require significant adjustments in their value proposition or marketing approach. Perhaps they are right. But what is the basis for thinking that the status quo will remain either status or quo? Better to expect a "Black Swan" than to be surprised.

As you consider whether your brand is "Gen Y-Ready", here are five questions to consider:

1. Impact: How important are 21-34 year olds to my category now? Five years from now?

2. Wants & Needs: What is different about this generation's values or upbringing that could impact their decisions about my category? About brands?

3. Influencers: Who are the individuals or communities that influence millennial opinions in my category? Do we have ways to monitor their opinions?

4. Internal Audience: What do Millennials in our organization say about our value proposition? About the best way to reach people like them?

5. Benchmarks: Which brands in other categories are succeeding with Millennials? What can we learn from them?

If you find it difficult to answer these questions, I strongly urge you to get prepared. The Millennials Are Coming!

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.

Conversation with Millennial Marketer, Carol Phillips

Carol Phillips answers seven questions posed by Pete Krainek of The CMO Club on advice for CMO's about marketing to Millennials.

Click here for more resources on marketing to Millennials or to learn more about our work.

(Photo: Carol Phillips and friend, Emily Fleming. Carol is President of research and consulting firm, Brand Amplitude, and teaches marketing at University of Notre Dame.

1) More and more companies are looking to engage, market and sell more effectively to Millennials. What are the most important things CMO's should consider as they develop their marketing plans?

The most important thing is to take time to truly understand their core values. It’s easy to get caught up in studying their buying behavior, media use and latest-must-have technology. But if you study their values, you will have a better idea of how to connect with them. Obama and Apple won their hearts because they ‘think’ like Milllennials.

In study after study -- on beer, education, social media, philanthropy, workplace needs and news media -- we find that understanding Millennial values helps shed light on behavior. Taking the time to really ‘get’ the way they think is well worth the effort and pays dividends in how you manage, communicate and ultimately market to them. Without those insights, the paradoxes can be baffling.

2) Who does a good job in engaging millennials and why?

Millennials love brands, but are cynical about marketing. They distrust commercial messages, so any effort must be authentic and come from a trusted source. The absolute best way to engage them is through each other. Our advice to clients is to engage them by giving them ‘social currency’, in the form of experiences and information, and then make it easy to share. Starbuck’s Red promotion at the holidays, Taco Bell’s long running late night promotion, and the Ford Fiesta car giveaway contest all have great Millennial appeal because they are about sharing. In the entertainment area, ABC Family did a great job of repositioning ‘family entertainment’ to be more Millennial-friendly.

3) What are some examples of approaches that didn't work or miss the boat?

An iconic brand currently popular with Millennials, but is due for a makeover, is Corona. Millennials love sophisticated tastes in beer, wine and spirits, and they prefer imported beer. But their idea of relaxation is not going on vacation or sitting on a beach. Relaxation is something that needs to happen every day, like watching Family Guy, throwing a frisbee to a dog or making a great meal.

Beyond specific brands, there are whole categories that are missing the boat. Millennials are literally begging wine makers to market to them. Casual restaurants also are missing an opportunity to build community around their brands. Realtors, travel and financial services need to start clueing into their future target.

4) Any myths you think out there on Millennials that CMOs should not believe as fact?

Yes, there a lot of myths. Unfortunately some of them have a grain of truth to them so it can be hard to sort out what is real and what is not. The main caution is not to make the mistake of thinking Millennials are simply younger, more techo-savvy versions of Boomers and X’ers. If you have teenagers or young adult children, you know this is true. They simply ‘think different’. Their sheer numbers make it inevitable that they will shape us – marketers and managers – more than we will shape them.

5)How has the recent economic downturn impacted Millennials and what are the implications for marketers?

Like everyone, Millennials are scared. No one knows what all those billions being spent now mean for the future. Millennials still have discretionary income no matter how poor they claim to be. And they are spending on what they consider ‘necessities’ – education, eating out, transportation, technology. But they are making big adjustments in other areas like housing, transportation and philanthropy. They are inherently cautious shoppers, and research everything before they buy. Marketers need to keep a close eye on what is being said about their brands and address issues right away. With Millennials, the line between marketing and customer service is blurring.

7)When you are hired to help marketers learn about Millennials what specific things have you been asked to do?

Consumer research is our core offering. We do a lot of online focus groups, we also have a special expertise in decision-mapping (laddering research) for which we also leverage special online tools. The projects we prefer are those where the questions and approach are still undefined so we have an opportunity to frame an approach that involves research, consulting, facilitating client worksessions, and in-market experimentation. We are about to launch a syndicated study of Millennials, food, wine, spirits and dining out.

8) What final words of advice do you have for CMOs looking to improve engagement and sales results with Millennials?

Listen to your own Millennials, at home and in the office. They will give you the best advice about how to reach others like them. We learn from our younger colleagues, our own kids and my students every day. There are also a lot of great blogs written about marketing by Millennials. Finally, its not a challenge to talk to them online – they love to talk and they literally ‘live’ online.

Engaging Millennials in the Classroom

If you think engaging Millennials in marketing is hard, try engaging them in discussions about marketing in the classroom. Not only are they accomplished multi-taskers accustomed to high levels of visual stimulation, most are incredibly tired from their 24/7 lives.

Since I began teaching at Notre Dame in 2003, I've moved steadily from the traditional read/lecture approach I knew in the 70's to a more interactive classroom format. After all, in an era when top lecturers are posted online there needs to be more than a talking head to justify coming to class. This sounds easier than it is. Many students don't want to talk in class, and others (shockingly) are not always prepared to contribute. Fortunately, technology offers new ways to coax participation from sophotmores -- threaded conversations, online quizzes, extra posted material, and blogs have all helped enhance my 'pedagogy'.

Sidney Eve Matrix, Assistant Professor in the Department of Film and Media at Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario Canada, takes technology in the class to new heights. @sidneyeve has brought many new ideas to my attention. To see the future of technology in the classroom, check out this slide share presentation, "Lectures That Stick: Digital Tools You can Use to Encourage Engagement and Retention." Even if you have no intention of stepping foot into a classroom soon, it's brimming with ideas for engaging Millennials that you may find useful in Millennial Marketing.

It helps of course, that her area of content, technology and culture, is well-suited to using technology to teach. Sydney Eve's blog, cyberpop is filled with great insights on mobile media use and gaming. Someday I want to take her course, FILM240: Mass Media & Pop Culture! It really sounds like it belongs in the marketing department:

"This course considers a variety of media and genres (including film, TV, gaming, music, magazines, advertising, news media, and online technologies). We study popculture productions, consumptions, and representations in order to better understand the importance of mass media in shaping our identities, choices, and imaginations."

Why I Love Teaching Marketing to Millennials

People sometimes ask how I came to be so interested in Millennial Marketing. It wasn't a conscious thing, I started teaching Marketing at University of Notre Dame in 2003 and was struck by how different the students were from my generation. I didn't even know they were called Millennials, I just knew I couldn't teach them the way I was taught. In 2007, I wrote about my experience for Ad Age, "Clued In or Clueless: What Marketing Students Don't Know About Marketing" and "Get the Best Out of Millennials by Tweaking Habits". After nearly 200 Millennial Marketing blog posts , I am still learning and writing new things about Millennials every day. (For links to pdf versions of the articles, visit brandamplitude.com/whitepapers

An article, titled 'How Tweet It is To Teach at Notre Dame', appeared today in ND Today, an internal magazine for Notre Dame employees. I am printing it in entirety for those who might be interested in my reflections on what a privelege it is to teach Millennials marketing:

If you want to talk to this generation of young people, you’ve got to speak their language. That’s why Carol Phillips, a marketing instructor in the undergraduate and MBA programs in the Mendoza College of Business, blogs, tweets and texts like a 20-something.

“The Millennials are a passion of mine,” says Phillips, referring to the term that has replaced “Generation Y” to describe the offspring of Baby Boomers. “This generation is so different. They’re very civic-minded. Their values are not like ours; they are very team-oriented, social and cause-oriented. They are about making a difference and giving back. It is so admirable.”

They also, of course, are quite tech-savvy, which is why Phillips stays almost constantly plugged in to social media via her own blog, Twitter (@Carol_Phillips for those who tweet), Facebook and other new media as an avenue to reach the younger set.

How she came to teach millennials at Notre Dame was “a total accident,” says Phillips, who has also kept her “day job” as president and owner of the Michigan-based brand strategy consulting firm Brand Amplitude, LLC. Her teaching career was launched in 2003 after she was asked by longtime Mendoza faculty member Jack Kennedy to serve as a judge for a project in one of his courses. The two struck up a friendship and Kennedy suggested that she and Notre Dame might benefit from having her on the faculty.

“It’s a lot harder than it looks,” Phillips says of her work in the classroom, admitting that in the beginning she, the teacher, had a lot to learn. “I thought we were going to interact the way we interact in business.”

Not so, especially, as she first found out, when it comes to the dress code. “I learned very quickly that it’s different. I was going to require business attire,” she laughs. “That went by the wayside in the first class.”

Phillips teaches two courses, an introduction to marketing for sophomores, and brand strategy for MBA students. She enjoys both, but for different reasons. “With the MBAs, most of them have some work experience, so they give back to me in the sense of ideas and an exchange,” she says of the graduate students. “With the sophomores, it’s more the reward of watching them get it. Most of them aren’t going to be marketing majors, but every semester a couple of them go, ‘Wow, I had no idea; I thought marketing was just advertising,’ and that’s exciting.”

For Phillips, teaching has very much been a two-way street. Her students benefit from her expertise as a businesswoman, as well as her connections. She’s brought in such classroom speakers as the chief operating officers of Blockbuster and Orbitz, as well as higher-ups from such success stories as Facebook, thanks to her outside working relationships. In return, she has access to her own focus groups in the form of these Notre Dame Millennials. “I gain a line of sight into young people,” she explains, “which is very beneficial in my work.”

Acknowledging that Notre Dame students are somewhat uniquely talented and ambitious among young people, what she’s learned here in the classroom gives her cause for optimism about this generation. “I think it’s going to just be fascinating to watch them,” she says. “And I wouldn’t have known any of this without teaching. It’s a privilege to be here.”

For those who might be interested, you can still see the class blog my MBA Brand Strategy class created last semester.

Go Irish!

Social Media Case Study: Urbane Apartments

Social Media: Marketing the Millennial Way

View more presentations from Mike Whaling.

Everyone knows by now that the way to reach Millennials is to go where they are, which is Facebook, MySpace, blogs, and other social media. In theory, the cost is low and the ROI potential is high, but figuring out exactly how to do it can be daunting.

Eric Brown, landlord at Urbane Apartments in Royal Oak, Michigan outside Detroit, spent the last six months cracking the code. Using the insight "no one cares about your apartments", he worked with Mike Whaling of 30 Lines to build community, reduce paid listings, enhance reputation and increase sales. No small order. The campaign (description starts page 22 of the slide share presentation embedded above) left no social media stone unturned: Facebook, Myspace, blogs, Flickr, VIP passes, logo merchandise, text messaging and more. The creative is hip and fun and gives extra meaning to the word 'community'.

The results are impresive -- 65% increase in web traffic, 4300% increase in blog traffic and a 100% increase in lease conversions. With no paid media for 6 months, Urbane is in third position on a google search for 'Royal Oak Apartments'. Most impressive, Whaley reports low manpower cost - 2 employees at 1-2 hours a day plus a few paid resident bloggers.

This case demonstrates the incredible power of social media to flatten the playing field for marketers. What I like about it is that it shows how anyone can use these tools to increase business performance if they have imagination and understand that social media is ultimately about customer service and community. Eric Brown was featured as one of four social media innovators in BusinessWeek in February. Thanks, Mike, for sharing the details.

Full-Service Restaurants Work Hard to Keep Millennials

Our research on behalf of New York-based Rosa Mexicano Restaurants, reinforces the importance of having the right mix of food and atmosphere to attract Millennials. The main reason young adults eat out is to 'relax'. They want a place that isn't too stuffy and the food is exciting and different. What stands out about Rosa's are their signature items: tableside-prepared guacamole (photo left) and pomegranate margaritas. In addition, each of Rosa's eight locations has unique decor and a lively bar. When I visited their Lincoln Center restaurant last month; there was no sign of a slow down.

Unfortunately, Rosa's is the exception rather than the rule. Full service restaurant revenue has declined steadily since 2005, with fine dining being hit hardest. (IBIS, Dec. 2008)

With an average entree price of $19.52, 50% higher than at a casual restaurant, it's no surprise that 47% of consumers say they are "spending less at fine dining restaurants" (Mintel, Nov. 2008). Consequently, fine dining is one of the sectors expected to be hardest hit by the recession. Technomic predicts revenue falling as much as 12%.

Who eats at fancy restaurants? Just about everyone it turns out. It's true that frequency of eating at fine dining restaurants increases dramatically with income; all but the lowest income households eat at them at least a few times a year. The average household eats out at a fine dining restaurant about 8.6 times a year. Younger adults, 18-34 years, are especially important to fine dining restaurants with 10.9 visits a year. Their high level of eating out makes them 17% more important to casual restaurants as well.

Beyond mere frequency, younger age groups are also more likely to have larger dining parties than older age groups, a revenue driver that is only partially outweighed by the fact that "the larger the dining party becomes, the less is spent on a per-person basis." Finally, Mintel reports menu item sharing is more prevalent with younger patrons, "as a form of socializing and experimenting, as well as a way to keep costs down. Older people may be more apt to view the occasion in more intimate terms with a loved one."

In any event, younger patrons are critical to fine dining and casual restaurants, so it's not surprising to learn marketers are finding innovative ways to keep young adults from trading down to fast food or cooking more special meals at home. The Wall Street Journal ("Bar Wars", 4.3.08) reports urban high end restaurants are converting some of their dining space to bars and serving more affordable 'bar food'. Not only are the smaller portions and less expensive ingredients of appetizers more profitable, the margins on beer, wine and cocktails are much higher than on food. Here are just four examples of this new trend:

Alain Ducasse's Benoit bistro in New York recently rolled out a bar menu that includes sliders and $1 deviled eggs.

Daniel Boulud, the Manhattan chef behind one of the city's most formal restaurants, Daniel, plans to open DBGB Kitchen & Bar, featuring 24 beers on tap and homemade sausage and hot dogs, in May or June.

Christophe Émé, chef and owner of Ortolan in Los Angeles, has begun calling about 100 customers a week to tell them about his new bar menu.

Thomas Keller's Per Se restaurant in Manhattan, where the only dinner option has been a $275, nine-course prix fixe menu, launched an a la carte menu for its lounge area last week. Diners are seated around coffee tables.

Eric Greenspan's Foundry, in Los Angeles, featured high end cuisine until 3 months ago when it was turned into a lounge with nightly live bands, cocktail waitresses and promotions such as "fried-chicken-and-waffles night."

Casual restaurants are taking a different road to attracting Millennials, emphasizing low prices and special promotional offers. For example, T.G.I. Fridays is advertising its top ten entrees available on Friday's for just $9.99.

Gen Y to Marketers: All Millennials Are Not The Same

Leah Hennessey is a Millennial with a wine brokerage business. Her blog, "Millennier" offers advice to winemakers wishing to connect with others of her generation. She starts by suggesting that Millennials are a generation, not a type, and a diverse one at that:

"The Millennial generation, like every generation, is a group made up of VERY diverse people who all happened to be born within years of each other. We are rich and we are poor. We are waiters and CEO’s. We are crazy college kids and we are parents. What all of these different types have in common is the world that they grew up in, the universal experiences that shaped both their views and their expectations of the world around them. This is an important distinction and crucial to keep in mind. You truly can’t tell what someone in this demographic group will spend in your shop simply by noticing how old they are. This is a very sensitive subject with young people today, and that young couple in your tasting room are just as likely to assume that you will judge them based on their age… as you are likely to do it."

Of course we are all guilty of painting with a broad brush, and Millennials are right to be sensitive about it. The issue is even more complicated in that Millennials often nurture many different interests and sides to their personality. As one Gen Y'er wisely and succinctly puts it, "We're never all 1 thing."

My marketing students at Notre Dame often struggle with segment-specific marketing because it seems so much like stereotyping. How is it okay to address all Hispanics the same way? All New Yorkers? All new moms? It's more efficient however, to market to the rule, not the exceptions -- the trend not the outliers. Millennials do share characteristics, values and consumption patterns -- in everything from foods to media -- that distinguish them from other age cohorts. Any marketer wanting to connect with this critical age group needs to grasp what makes them different from other age groups. But to stop there is to make light of the complexity of this generation.

There have been some attempts at Millennial segmentations:

Mintel provides a segmentation based on education and income. They note college students are just 15% of the 71 million young adults 18-34 in the U.S., 'Affluent Young Adults' make up another 19%, and the remaining two thirds are 'Minimalists' or 'Unpowered Young Adults'. These groups are quite different in their demographics, buying habits and general outlook on life.

Cone provides a segmentation based on social responsibility. 61% of Millennials are 'Doers' who feel personally responsible for making a difference in the world. 20% are 'Active Doers' who are especially receptive to purchasing brands based on perceptions of social responsibility and cause branding. They volunteer at least once a week.

Pew provides a wealth of data for segmentation on politics, media use, values and religious beliefs.

With all this data at our disposal it's time to stop thinking of Millennials as a monolithic group and start finding some meaningful segmentations. As Leah Hennessey reminds us, "It’s crucial that you don’t make the same mistake by judging and generalizing in this way, even if it’s not on purpose. It will cost you a consumer."

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

Millennials: Email? You Must Be Kidding!

I receive and send hundreds of emails a day and use four different email accounts. In generational terms, I am a digital Neanderthal. The average high school or college student uses 2.4 emails a day according to eROI. Students, on average, read marketing emails on a "rarely to never" basis, with 61% falling into this category, says the report. Only 16% are reading marketing emails on a frequent basis, while 66% of students rarely or never take action on marketing emails.

I know that better use of RSS feeds, Facebook, NetVibes and other Web 2.0 tools would simplify my email life and do wonders for my productivity. But I don't make the effort to do it. However, I completely change my habits when communicating with Millennials. To reach my daughter and son quickly, text is the only way to go. My teaching assistants? Facebook messages. I once sent my TA's Amazon gift certificates to their email address. It took a suggestion to their Facebook account to look for it before they even noticed.

So what are those two emails a day about? According to eROI, it's probably got something to do with their parents. 81% got an email address for communicating with family. Students are now using email primarily to sign up for social networking sites (25%) and receive email alerts (36%) to keep up to date on what's happening on their social networks. What's clear is that email for marketing to this generation is dying, dead and buried. And who can blame them, with Cisco's latest Annual Security Report showing that 90% of email is spam.

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.

Big News! Millennials Disproportionately Influential

Okay, so it's not big news. The Obama win shows how influential young voters are in politics. Research from Rubicon Consulting group shows how influential they are in marketing. Rubicon's report, "Online Communities and their Impact on Business: Ignore at Your Peril" provides these statistics on just how important they are:

About 80% of the user-generated content on the web, including comments and questions, is created by less than 10% of web users, a group we refer to as the most frequent contributors (MFCs). The rest of the web community sits back and watches the interactions as a mostly-passive audience that only occasionally injects a few comments"

Half of all MFCs are under the age of 22.

MFC's look a lot like Millennials: They're more ethnically diverse; more technically skilled; more likely to be single; more likely to work in technology, entertainment, or communication companies; and more likely to be Democrats.

The Rubicon report emphasizes that far from being a problem to be solved, the fact that most web communities are dominated by a few active voices and a lot more 'voyeurs' is something marketers can leverage by targeting MFC's. There really are influencers - a lot of people are reading the opinions of MFC's and using them in their purchasing decisions across a variety of product categories, especially electronics, vacations, movies, restaurants and jobs. The chart below shows that this is especially true for Millennials. For nearly every category, the influence of online word of mouth is strongest for those 18-22.

The Word of the Day: "It's Generational"

"There's no doubt that we represent the kind of change Senator Clinton can't deliver on. And part of it's generational," Barack Obama on Fox News November 2007.

"I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change and that's why I'm supporting Barack Obama, not out of any lack of respect or admiration for Senator John McCain." -- Colin Powell on Meet the Press Sunday.

Obama's Gen Y appeal has accelerated public awareness that Millennials are not just younger versions of their Boomer parents and Gen X siblings, but the result of a massive generational shift. Obama was named "Marketer of the Year" by Ad Age today largely because of his savvy use of his knowledge of Millennials. I agree with Winograd and Hais that Millennials are not politically motivated this year because of the appearance of Obama. They would have been involved regardless. But Obama's marketing has been pitched perfectly to this group in everything from message to medium, and that is not an accident. Team Obama did careful research, created focused brand messages and showed clear strategic understanding that Millennials matter. Here is what Winograd and Hais, authors of Millennial Makeover, had to say on their blog Oct 8:

...the political attitudes and identifications of Millennials were clearly evident long before the Obama candidacy gained widespread visibility. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in March 2007 indicated that Millennials identified as Democrats over Republicans by nearly a 2:1 ratio (52% vs. 30%). And, a study conducted at about the same time by the Millennial Strategy Program of communication research and consultation firm Frank N. Magid Associates showed that Millennials were the first generation since at least the GI Generation to contain a greater number of self-perceived liberals than conservatives. All of this at least raises the possibility that the high level of Millennial political involvement is significantly based on the Democratic and liberal affinities of the generation and would be strong even without Obama's strong candidacy....Millennials are intent on working together to create a better America than the one Boomers have left them as an inheritance. Their confidence, political activism, and unity will begin to initiate that change on Election Day this year thanks to a record turnout of young voters. The 1.7 million vote plurality given to John Kerry by young voters in 2004 will grow to between 8 and 10 million for Barack Obama when this involved and unified generation goes to the polls on November 4.

The Biggest Youth Marketing Campaign of 2008

The undecided bloc has shrunk from 14% to 7% and the polls are showing Obama ahead by a furlong as the race rounds the final bend. Both sides know that the biggest risk to Obama's election is youth voter complacency. We are about to see the the biggest youth marketing campaign of the year: Get Out the Vote. Many of these efforts rely on celebrity influence: Comedienne Sarah Silverman is asking young voters to visit or call their relatives in an imaginative effort called The Great Schlep. Her video calls for young people to visit their relatives in Florida and convince them to vote for Obama. If you can't visit, call (mini-Schlep). The Great Schelp was featured on Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood and on Facebook. Hip hop artists, The Beastie Boys, are staging a series of get out the vote concerts featuring Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, Ben Harper and Crosby & Nash. The concerts will be held in three swing states: WI, MN and VA. T.I., Ludacris and Ne-Yo will tour the country to educate potential young voters for two special episodes of 106 and Park that are scheduled to air in October. A MySpace- and HeadCount-sponsored contest among colleges to see which can sign up the most voters. Death Cab will perform on the winning campus.

Will all this effort make a difference? We won't know until election day. What is apparent is that getting out the vote could make the difference in who wins.

Gallup figures released today (10.19.08) look at the race according to two scenarios. In the traditional approach, voters' intention to participate in the current election as well as their voting history in previous presidential elections is considered. This method shows Obama leading McCain by just three points, 49% to 46%. The second approach considers only voters' self-professed likelihood to vote in 2008, and does not factor in whether they voted in past elections. This approach assumes new registrants and infrequent voters will turn out on Election Day to a greater extent than has been the case historically. Using this approach, Obama leads by seven points, 51% to 44%, twice the margin as the first scenario. No wonder Obama is concerned about complacency, despite his clear lead in the polls.

Millennial Resources: Gen Y Bloggers

I am not a Millennial. But I know a lot of Millennials. Here are my favorite Millennial authored blogs. Each has a marketing slant that makes it well worth putting in your NetVibes folder or Technorati favorites:

David Fallarme,

www.themarketingstudent.com Sample post: Gen Y will be the Helicopter parents from hell

"Gen Z: don’t even think about lying to your Gen Y parents, we’ll have documented evidence. Of pretty much everything you do."

Sarah Ewing, www.adage.com/gennext

Sample post: Political Advertising Should Be Held to Higher Standards

"Using the same logic that regulates the rest of the advertising industry, why should these campaigns not be regulated?"

Michael Girts, www.adage.com/gennext

Sample post: View from the Inside: Part I

I like to tell people that they gave me a corner office. It's my clever way of saying I sit in the corner. At the end of the hallway. In a makeshift cubicle. Using an in-store display featuring the Incredible Hulk. That's right, it's just me and the Hulk crammed at the end of the hallway. It's okay.

anastasia, www.ypulse.com Sample Post: 11 take home points from what teens want

"Teens today grew up taking their Keds off at the airport in case of shoe bombs. They had leashes, Baby on Board signs and eat all organic. I call this Teacup Parenting. Marketers need to be aware of how delicate and fragile these teens are. They feel like everything is a big deal and they worry a lot. This is why trust, brand building and authenticity are crucial."

Mindcomet, GenYVooDoo Sample post: Are Execs on point with Millennial Marketing?

"Unsolicited text messages I find a nuisance, but I suppose if I signed up to receive some sort of offer through text message it would be less bothersome."

Jeff Taylor, MillennialMarketer.com

Sample post: Microsoft vs. Apple: Competing for Gen Y's Digital Lifestyle

"I am writing to give you an inside look on how marketing and advertising efforts targeted at Gen-Y are seen by us."

Millennial Market: SlideShare Resources

Hola! Today I am in McAllen, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley to share a presentation on Millennials with the AAF Club. It's hot, and the food is great. I also have a better sense of what a market with an average age of 28 looks like. The slides were uploaded to SlideShare (link below). If you also want the text of the speech, contact me and I will send it to you. Meanwhile, I have I've included links to two other Millennial-focused presentations you may want to check out. Warning: They are very heavy on social media. Tomorrow: Blog resources. Adios!

Clued In Or Clueless: A Marketing Professor Talks About Millennials

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: millennials millennial)

Next Generation Participation

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: collaboration brand)

Marketing To Millennials

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: demographics statistics)