Gen Y Core Value: Fight for What You Believe In

Over and over in our research we hear Millennials talk about wanting to make a difference. This article by Chip Walker provides perspective on this insight and helps explain what their idealism means for their careers and brand choices. I am especially intrigued by his description of Gen Y's activism as 'self-activism' - the idea that their very life is a 'cause'. This is a key difference between Gen Y and Gen X. The article originally appeared on Mediapost's Engage Gen Y blog. I have never reprinted an article in totality before, but this one was just to insightful to excerpt. It carries a strong message to brands or others who want to motivate this generation: Be sure you have a purpose 'worth fighting for'.

The Rise Of Cultural Movements

by Chip Walker, Strawberry Frog

In 2007, I fielded a global quantitative study of Gen-Yers in 13 countries and was surprised to find the No. 1 attitude unifying the generation was: "I would fight for a cause I believe in." A large majority of global Gen-Yers agreed with it from among dozens of other attitudes. My colleagues and I were all puzzled by this finding and weren't quite sure what to do with it. As I've created campaigns for Gen-Yers during the past couple of years, the meaning of this finding has become crystal clear.

Simply put, Gen-Yers have an activist bent. But their activism is different from the idealism and rebellion of their Boomer parents in the 1960s and '70s. For today's Gen-Yers, activism is not about rebelling against institutions -- there's simply not that much left to rebel against. Belief in institutions like government and big business crumbled long ago. Rather, in a world of almost infinite lifestyle choices, Gen-Y activism is about young people knowing their own inner priorities and making a vow to live by them -- even in the face of adversity.

A big part of Gen-Y activism is what I call "self-activism." They treat themselves and their dreams almost like causes. It's less based on idealism and more a matter of necessity: If they don't activate the revolutionary inside, they simply won't get anywhere in today's hyper-challenging marketplace. According to the Wall Street Journal, half of all new college graduates now believe that self-employment is more secure than a full-time job. According to a Gallup pool, over two-thirds of high school students say they intend to start their own companies.

Clearly, an independent spirit pervades this generation, and it's fueled by a strong sense of their personal values and beliefs. Among GenYers' most important personal values are authenticity, altruism and community. Yet, it is this generation's consumer activism that makes them a unique challenge for marketers. Gen Y-ers don't just want to buy brands, they want buy in to what a brand believes in. They flock to brands like Red and Livestrong that spark movements.

Some are social movements -- the sweatshop-free and socially responsible clothing movements are making clothing brands like Timberland, American Apparel and Patagonia must-have items for GenY. Others are cultural movements -- rather than selling processing speed, Apple invites GenYers to join a creativity movement. Obama became the choice of Gen-Y voters because he asked them to join a movement for change, not simply to vote for him.

Would your brand fight for a cause it believes in? Would your employees? Most Gen-Yers would. Today more than ever, GenYers are seeking to summon their own passion, courage and determination. Thus, if you want to connect with them, it's time to stop doing traditional marketing and start believing in something bigger than making money.

It's not easy for a brand to spark a cultural movement. But it's worth doing because it allows us to go beyond having a point of difference and actually have a difference-making purpose in the world. I, for one, believe Gen-Y's unique activist spirit will be its lasting generational hallmark, one that will change the future practice of marketing for the better.

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'.