Millennials: A New Generation of Family Values

On Saturday, I attended a wedding for the daughter of our friends. We knew the bride 10 years ago when she was graduating high school, but haven’t seen much of her in the mean time. So when the best man's toast made it clear that he expected the couple to have a family, I was startled. That simply wouldn’t have happened 20 or 30 years ago. Yet, upon reflection, the presumption seemed completely logical. Millennials are in fact showing every sign of being one of the most family-oriented generations to date.

I first wrote on this topic last July when I speculated that babies were becoming cool (What the Cool Kids Want, A Baby). The post evoked this response:

"For first-wave Millennials like myself, we were coming of age just as all the characters on FRIENDS were starting to settle down and even have babies. I think girls my age thought "Why am I going to waste a decade trying to find myself, when in the end what I'm looking for is a family?"

There's more than anecdotal evidence that a baby boomlet may be on the way. Birthrates per women reached the magical 2.1 population replacement rate in 2006 for the first time since 1971. More babies were born in 2007 than even during the height of the baby boom. Studies of values shows Millennials put having a family as a goal. According to longitudinal survey of high school students conducted by the College Board, 77% of students nationwide say “raising a family” is an “essential” or “very important” life objective. In 1977, by comparison, just 59 percent of students gave the same level of importance to raising a family.

What will Millennials be like as parents, and what does that mean for marketers? I have a few predictions:

Gen Y will be attentive parents, albeit for different reasons than the parental-attention-starved Gen X’ers who’s extreme parenting styles seem to be about making up for what they missed as kids. In contrast, Gen Y, enjoyed some of the most child-centric parenting ever known. There is every reason to think they will continue to dote on their own offspring, most likely with help from grandparents. Boomers are unlikely to back out of their kids lives now just as things get really fun. We may even see multiple generations under the same roof again, by choice and in some cases, by necessity.

Millennials will put their kids ahead of their careers.Young, well-educated young mothers and fathers, will find a way to balance their career expectations against their parental responsibilities. Millennials who have already shown willingness to decouple identity from work. (Think of the character Ryan in The Office relative to Michael for examples.). A young cousin of mine and her husband each have part time jobs in LA to ensure that someone is always home with their r 2-year old son. I would also expect young parents to leverage their expectation of job mobility to enjoy alternating periods of working and staying home, or working from home. The direct implication is that there will be more sharing of responsibilities, including shopping, cleaning and child care, putting men squarely in the target for many CPG products.

Millennials’ interest in healthful, locally produced and organic foods will accelerate. According to Mintel, interest in shopping at Farmers’ markets, in food co-ops and community gardens all jump with the presence of children. For example, 6% of households without children buy local goods at a farmer’s market and 3% at a food co-op. That jumps to 9% and 7% respectively with the presence of children.

Millennials will emphasize family experiences over material things. An emphasis on travel, learning and experiences is characteristic of their generation and a pattern they are likely to carry over into their parenting. Again, this may be a function of necessity as well as values. Whatever the reason, look for houses to be smaller and greener, toys to be fewer and family activities to be more common. When my mom was a kid, she and her family used to go to ‘family camp’, and I have recently heard several young couples say they have been doing similar things.

Millennials will evolve their use of social media to focus on their lives as parents. The need for the support of friends and community, for documenting one’s life through pictures and video and for sharing milestones accelerates with parenthood. No doubt we will see many more applications and parent-specific social media sites spring up to fill the need. Already Promo magazine and Fast Company have noted that Millennials are more likely to turn online to make her life run efficiently. According to Promo Magazine, "Gen Y moms were also more interested than their older counterparts in tools that let them create and maintain their own content." Here's what Fast Company has to say:

Age 27 or younger, Millennial Mom is the newest mom on the block, and she's the first generation to use technology to seamlessly blend work and life. Not long out of college or high school, she's facing many firsts: marriage, babies, insurance, jobs, maybe even owning a house. Hyper-connected and beyond tech savvy, Millennial Mom's world is both physical and virtual, bringing social connection and life-skills management as close as a computer or cell phone. She's busted out of previous generations' isolation challenges during those early, tethered-to-the-house years. You'll find her plugged into Myspace.com or TheNest.com, sharing worries, excitement, and ideas with her online family. Products like mythum mobile coupons and Infinity Broadcasting Visual Radio -- delivered right to her cellphone -- resonate with her values of connectivity and access, seamlessly going where she goes.

Values Shift: Gen Y Sees Things Differently

There is more to this chart than meets the eye.

It is the result of a remarkable 20-year study of values by the Pew Research Center.(download entire pdf here). The latest wave of the study was conducted in April/May of 2009. This chart reveals two important findings: a decline in 'social conservatism' among specific age cohorts over time and progressively lower levels of social conservatism among each younger age cohort.

Here's how the report summarizes this chart:

"Younger age cohorts are less conservative than older ones, with Baby Boomers significantly less conservative than the Silent Generation and its predecessors, and Generation Y considerably less conservative than either the Baby Boomers or Generation X. Within age cohorts, the change over time in social conservatism is very modest, indicating that the societal change in these values is mostly a function of newer generations replacing older ones."

What that means is that Gen Y is distinct in its values from both Gen X and their largely Boomer parents. This finding was widely touted Monday, June 29, in many newspaper and online articles. Here is a sampling:

New York Daily News: "Survey shows widest generation gap among American children and their parents." A survey released Monday by the Pew Research Center shows a widening generation gap on issues ranging from religion to marriage, creating divisions not seen since generational clashes over the Vietnam War, civil rights and women’s rights 40 years ago.

Yahoo News. "Study finds widening generation gap in America." From cell phones and texting to religion and manners, younger and older Americans see the world differently, creating the largest generation gap since the tumultuous years of the 1960s and the culture clashes over Vietnam, civil rights and women's liberation.

MSNBC "Study: Generation gap in U.S. largest since ’60s." A survey Monday by the Pew Research Center highlights a widening age divide after last November's election, when 18- to 29-year-olds voted for Democrat Barack Obama by a 2-to-1 ratio.

Sounds serious! Yet, how can these headlines be reconciled with the common wisdom that Millennials get along famously with their Boomer parents? In the past, 'generation gaps' led to physical and emotional distance, but not so for this generation and their parents. Somehow, the culture wars appear to be, suddenly, over. They have apparently learned to 'mind the gap'. While they may not see eye to eye, these generations have no problem with that fact, and it's not that they are unaware of the differences in outlook; according to the Pew Study, almost eight in 10 people believe there is a major difference in the point of view of younger people and older people today.

The reason also has nothing to do with the nature of the differences or how strongly they are felt. Indeed, most said that the biggest differences concerned issues of morality, religion, and the social values surrounding lifestyle, family, relationships and dating -- hardly minor issues. Older people also cited differences in a sense of entitlement. Those in the middle-age groups also often pointed to a difference in manners.

Instead, the reason appears to have everything to do with a flourishing of 'tolerance', especially among younger people. If there is one value young adults hold above all others, it is tolerance. Apparently, this even goes for their parents.

Millennials: Moving Home is an Option

The conversation about Millennials lately has centered on work expectations, the high cost of turnover and "How to Keep Gen Y Workers on The Job". Gen Y's inclination to leave a job that doesn't meet expectations seems to be the impetus of much of the advice about managing Millennials at work (as opposed to, say, a desire to maximize their contribution, or create a genuinely Gen-Y friendly environment or handbook).

That Millennials have different expectations is widely assumed, although not really proven. A recent academic exploration of Gen Y attitudes by academics at the London School of Business ("Gen Y: The Reflexive Generation") concludes Millennials may not be so much different in what they want than older workers, but they are more likely to give voice to their expectations and their frustrations. Why? Because they were raised to expect more from their career than just money or advancement. They are looking for meaning and self-improvement and to speak out when their needs are not being met.

"Many of the elements we uncovered, such as being in charge of one’s own work, career and life, are probably applicable to many people. This generation might be more vocal in expressing their needs, but we should not forget that the period of time in which they grew up shaped this mindset.

One of the overriding impressions of the men and women of this generation is their frustration with performance management practices which are too slow, too bureaucratic and too hierarchical.

They place a great deal of emphasis on intellectual capital (the knowledge and insights they have), social capital (the depth, richness and extent of their networks) and emotional capital (the means by which they understand themselves and build self knowledge). For this generation the emphasis is on ‘work to learn’ rather than ‘work to live’.

I agree that the differences in expectations are shaped by their upbringing. But I would go further. Millennials also have the financial freedom to demand more of their jobs as a result of enjoying a parental safety net.

According to some reports, as many as 65% of recent college graduates are returning home. Unlike earlier generations, Millennials feel welcome to return home and moving home carries no stigma. For their part, parents are eager to (continue) to help their kids get a good start in life. According to a study by Vibrant.com, 37% of Boomer women have an adult child living with them and 44% are helping a child or grandchild financially.

Saving thousands of dollars a year in rent provides many with the option to take a unpaid internship, a volunteer position, or wait for a better job. Even those who have good jobs are deciding living at home is a reasonable option. A successful Chicago hairdresser I know recently moved back in with her parents in order to be able to afford health care. And another young employed worker plans to stay with his parents until he saves $30,000 to start his own business.

These are considered rational sacrifices, if they are sacrifices at all. After all, Millennials famously like their parents.

Fast forward 20 years and it's possible the tables could reverse! Boomer parents, who selflessly paid for advanced degrees and provided shelter in time of need, and who experienced significant savings depletion in 2008, may call on their adult children to return the favor. My guess is that Millennials will have no problem taking in Mom or Dad.

Class of 2009: An Unscientific Profile

Journalism met ethnographic market research this week in an article in New York magazine, "Class of 2009". In four short, highly graphic pages, the article reports the findings of a survey of 200 college students and young adults.

The sample, while unabashedly unscientific, represents a range of New York schools, including NYU, Brooklyn College, the NYPD Police Academy, Wharton, Yale, and even Friends Seminary. The survey questions show a lot of imagination ('what does 'hooking up' mean to you?', 'what do your parents not understand about you?'). The result is a provocative portrait of Gen Y circa 2009.

The main finding according to the author, Emily Nussbaum, confirms that Gen Y exhibits a surprising degree of optimism. Most of those surveyed think the recession will not last more than two years, and 91% expect to be better off in five years -- even though only 58% have a job lined up post graduation.

"Nonetheless, the results of this imperfect survey were revealing. We were startled by the fact that, circumstances be damned, we found very little bitterness at all—caution, yes; worry too—but judging from the responses to our questions, this is a reflexively optimistic cadre of graduates, feeling, if anything, existentially freed up by this era of radical change. They’re nervous about the job market but figure it’ll sort itself out. They describe their parents with shocking regularity as their “best friends.” They’ve lived online for so long it’s a default setting, one they believe lends them a more global-minded perspective than that of their elders. Their tone overall was more bemused than outraged: “I’m a mixture of excited and nervous for the future,” says Forrest Petterson, a graduating senior at Friends Seminary. “But there’s no point in getting upset, because it’s not the end of the world.”"

I found the questions about Millennials attitudes toward their parents especially creative and revealing. We know that Millennials admire their moms, move back to a welcoming home when necessary and overall enjoy their parent's company. But this is the first data on how much they see themselves as like their parents. 86% say they share their parent's political views and 43% say they are 'as religious' or 'more' religious than their parents. Other highlights:

49% say they are less frugal than their parents

52% 'often' discuss money with their parents

48% 'often' discuss politics with their parents

6% 'often' discuss sex with their parents (some things apparently don't change!)

Millennial Childhoods: The Why's of Gen Y

Millenials

View more presentations from Steve_Mellor. (tags: boomers baby)

There are a lot of presentations that do a great job of describing Gen Y. This presentation By Steve Mellor and Cathy O'Donnell of Harris Interactive is the best I've seen of at explaining why they are the way they are. Definitely worth a read, it provides cultural context for understanding Millennial values and the pressures that shaped them. (My only criticism is that Millennials should have two 'n's').

Role Reversal? Marketing to Millennials Through Their Parents

Every marketer knows parents' purchase decisions in everything from breakfast cereal to cell phones are often strongly influenced by their children. Wise marketers have leveraged this by marketing directly to their kids, even though they are not the ultimate decision-maker. With close relationships between hovering parents and young adults increasingly the norm, the opposite strategy may start to make sense: influence young adults' decisions through their parents.

Colleges have long known the importance of parents to the application and decision process. Now HR managers are also directly addressing parental concerns after noticing parents were helping their adult children negotiate pay and benefits, angle for promotions and evaluate job offers. According to BNet, Office Depot is planning to include a reassuring message to parents on its web site; Merrill started sponsoring a Parents’ Day in 2006. The company flies parents and caretakers of diversity students to Manhattan, teaches them about the business, provides a tour of the Big Apple, and emphasizes company support and benefits, such as free meals and transportation for employees working overtime. The program has been so successful they are considering expanding it. Last year only one student whose parents attended the event didn’t accept the firm’s subsequent job offer.

Millennials are just beginning to make their first significant adult purchases -- automobiles and appliances, student loans, health and life insurance, a home, financial investments, and automobiles. As they make these decisions for the first time, they will turn to their parents for advice. Smart marketers will anticipate the influence parents are likely to have in these decisions. After all, 50% of 18-24 year old men and 33% of women still live at home, and many continue to receive financial support from their parents. Increasingly, consumer decisions may look more like corporate 'buying center' decisions, with multiple influencers and lack of clarity around who is the true decision-maker.

Millennials: A Product of their Upbringing?

It's widely conceded Millennials are unique from previous generations. What caused them to be so different? Was it the times they grew up in -- unprecedented prosperity, the uncertainty of terrorism, the dawning of the Internet Era? Or was it something about the way they were raised?

While environment no doubt played a role, I think it has more to do with earnestness with which their Boomer parents took their parenting responsibilities, revolutionizing what it meant to be a 'good parent' just as they revolutionized so many other aspects of our culture.

Millennials were raised with doting parents who were attentive to every detail of their development and education, and often brought enormous personal energy and wealth to bear on task. I don't remember my parents taking such an interest in every aspect of my schooling, friends and overall development as I have with my own two children. Millennial kids have been closely supervised, carpooled, sports-leagued and lessoned, sometimes to the detriment of free play time. They have spent time in organized groups since they were babies. David Brooks described the phenomenon brilliantly in his book, "On Paradise Drive": "The entire weekend economy of small town America seems to depend on prepubescent sports tournaments with boxing bout names." (p.144). Last week, the Wall Street Journal examined the ends to which some parents go to create exceptional kids ("Under Pressure", WSJ, Oct 4, 2008).

As a result of their large numbers and parental advocacy, classes for Millennials became smaller, teachers used more active learning styles, and new opportunities for learning outside the classroom opened up. The result of all this focused attention on their every need is a generation that, at worst, feels 'entitled'. At best, it is a generation that is better prepared and more confident than ever before.

Millennials are skilled negotiators; they thrive in team settings. They are optimistic and trust in institutions. They can talk to adults like peers and have more worldly experience to draw on at a younger age. They effortlessly know how to use technology to organize their lives and get work done by the time they leave high school. Little wonder Millennials feel ready to take on any challenge. (What Boomer parent has not lamented they would like to come back in their next life as their own child?)

I am often asked precisely when is the definitive cutoff for a Millennial -- 1978 or 1982? I believe it has less to do with the birth year, than upbringing. Gen X'ers, who grew up in the 70's and 80's with distracted career oriented parents, know they did not enjoy the lavish attentions of the Millennials. And therein lies the difference.

Millennial Parents: Hopelessly Devoted to You

After three days spent observing and interacting with 500 Millennials and their parents at George Washington University's "freshman orientation", I now have a better understanding of the parenting relationship that resulted in such a self-confident, community-oriented, civic-minded cohort. The fact that there even is such a thing as 'parent orientation' speaks volumes about Millennial parenting.

As a Boomer parent who went to small liberal arts college in the dark ages of 1973, I don't recall my parents even being interested in what challenges I might encounter at college, much less with the details of registering for the right classes, finding clubs that interest me, achieving a realistic balance of classes and outside activities, resolving issues with roommates or identifying the right career. Of course, my parents weren't paying more than their mortgage for a college education either -- but that is another story.

In the Millennial era, orientation is a 3-day affair with separate events for and parents and students. There were theatrically produced skits on the perils of college life (X-rated for students, PG for parents), speeches from the deans, tours, small group sessions and more. I admire the marketing insight behind the event: Reassure parents and their kids they great choice and address any lingering buyers' remorse. I also admire the 'target insight': 'Helicopter' parents have a hard time letting go. The skit that evoked the most laughter among parents depicted a mom who arrived on day one with her son's teddy bear, a super sharpie to mark his underwear and an extra phone so she could leave messages on his phone -- to the mortification of her son and the amusement of his new roommates. Another skit "The Little College Student Who Could" modeled good parental behavior: refraining from helping kids register for classes, not offering to bring them home too often, sending too many packages, texts or voicemail messages. I began to wonder, do I (who me?) have issues I don't even realize I have?

Clearly this is an issue. As the head of student services informed us, "it's one thing to call a professor, it's another to call a boss, so you may as well start letting go now". (More laughter) How this situation came about is easy to comprehend. Boomer and Gen X parents ran a parenting gauntlet, what David Brooks refers to as the 'Achievatron', to get their kids into a top tier school. They certainly can't be expected to stop now just as their kid encounters his/her biggest life challenge to date.

Millennials enjoy closer, more friendly relationships with their parents than previous generations. According to "Millennial Makeover" by Winograd and Hais:

"Half of all Millennials say they see their parents in person every day, and aided by widely available and relatively inexpensive cell phone service, nearly as many (45%) talk with their parents in the phone daily. Virtually all do so at least weekly. One in five communicates with them by email at least occasionally. These incidences of ongoing parent-child contact are well above those for all older generations of Americans (Pew Research Center 2007a)."

Many parents continue to support their Millennial kids well beyond the point when kids used to be expected to be self-sustaining. The traditional hallmarks of adulthood, marriage, children, home buying, are all being delayed. What this new extended 'pre-adulthood' means for marketers is anyone's guess. At minimum it means extended spening power for Millennials as they continue to draw upon parental subsidies and housing. It also means Millennials have more opportunity to influence parental choices, particularly in the areas they know best, such as technology and entertainment. As one parent put it, "when it comes to college these days, it takes a family."