Cool Wand! Millennials vs. Gen X

Although it happened last November, thanks to disgruntled Gen X'ers, the story of Kevin Colvin and the story of how he was Busted by Facebook is still making the the rounds on the Internet. In case you missed it, Kevin, a senior at Holy Cross in Massachusetts, wrote a polite email saying he would be gone a few days from his internship at Anglo Bank in Boston. A little investigation by his boss revealed his true location, a Halloween party in Worcester. He was busted when his boss wrote to inquire if everything was okay at home, adding as an afterthought, '(cool wand)'. An instructive story on the dangers of the illusion of privacy in the Internet era, certainly. But Kevin is far from the first person to make this mistake. (In fact, I was also fired from a bank summer job at 17 for calling in sick on my birthday, a good early life lesson.) So why has this become a prime example in the indictment of the Millennial mindset? Something in this story has touched a nerve with Generation X. Here is an example from Radaronline, posted May 15.

My lack of empathy for Kevin comes from my sense of loyalty to the generation born between the years of 1961 and 1981. Generation X. Kevin is part of the generation born between 1982 and 2002—a Millennial, formerly known as Generation Y. (They got renamed after whining too much.) They're younger. They're healthier. They got to do anal in high school. They think updating a spreadsheet while simultaneously posting to a Twitter account about the latest gossip on perezhilton.com is an essential corporate skill. And, like Kevin, they're always doing stupid shit, but rarely getting called on it. What's more, Millennials pose a vital threat to my generation's cultural legitimacy, not to mention our position in the workplace.

Intergenerational conflict is nothing new, but it will be interesting to see if this squabbling over the positive or negative character of an entire generation will affect brands. Will Gen X'ers unite to distance themselves from the music, entertainments, products and services enjoyed by its younger cohort? Will Millennials even notice the slurs, or will they decide to fight back, and which brands will help them do it?

Social Media: More Social than Media

I recently ran a campaign on Facebook to recruit Millennials to some focus groups. The 'headline' seemed sure to capture attention: Earn $50 in 75 minutes. Thanks to the pay per click ad model the ad received lots of exposure - 932,917 impressions to be exact. But the clicks didn't happen; just 160 responded for an appallingly low .02% click through rate. Too bad Millennials don't need market research because it would have been a very cheap branding campaign. My 17 year old Facebook addicted daughter explained: "Mom, no one clicks on Facebook ads". Silly me. I should have reread my own Ad Age article, where Notre Dame students' view of social media was explained this way: "Students do not think Facebook was invented for any other purpose that to facilitate their social lives."

According to new articles by Adweek and Fortune, my experience is not unique. Adweek today, "Social Ad Lessons", points out that eMarketer lowered its forecast for social-media ad spending by 12 percent due to "tempered enthusiasm for meshing ads with social environments". MySpace will miss its $1 billion U.S. sales goal by 11 percent and Facebook will take in 13 percent less than the $305 million forecast. In last week's article, Finding Cracks on Facebook, Fortune explains the shortfall as due to the "blase attitude" media buyers have toward the company. The code on leveraging social media as a medium is not broken, but some are getting closer to the key by thinking of social media as a new form of product placement. Adweek describes successful efforts this way:

... Slide and RockYou are developing a new-era form of product placement that brings brands directly into the application experience, rather than relegate them to a banner on the periphery. One of Slide's most popular Facebook applications is SuperPoke, which lets users to give each other virtual nudges. Slide has begun working in branded SuperPokes, like spraying a spritz of perfume for Estee Lauder and rolling a set of dice as part of a Vegas-themed Palm campaign. Coke brand VitaminWater ran a SuperPoke campaign in April that resulted in 9.7 million virtual versions of the brand being sent out.

Meanwhile, save your money on banner ads. They are simply wallpaper.

Millennial Sex: There is a Difference!

Millennials, of course, are not all alike, and one of the main differences is sex. This isn't as blindingly obvious as you might think. Lifestyle and purchase behavior differences between Millennial men and Millennial women are so great, it almost makes sense to think of them as two different cohort groups. Of course, there are many ways that they are the same, but vive la difference when it comes to marketing. On the whole, Millennial men appear to be more like their teen counterparts, while Millennial women are more like, well, young adults. According to Mintel's 2008 report on 18-24 year males, here are a few of the gaps:

18-24 year old men are more likely than women to...

Live with a parent: M: 50% W: 33%

Watch more than 11 hours of TV per week: M: 48% W: 32%

Be saving money to buy a car: M: 36% W: 25%

Be saving money to buy a video game console: M: 22% W: 8%

Visit online chat rooms weekly: M: 42% W: 31%

Read weblogs or watch podcasts weekly: M: 32% W: 15%

Watch online video: M: 77% W: 59%

Agree I don't need a stereo if I have a computer: M: 36% W: 25%

Agree I don't need a DVR because I have a computer: M: 28% W: 10%

Watch TV broadcasts on a computer: M: 37% W: 20%

Record TV broadcastson a computer: M: 30% W: 13%

Have a $100+ monthly cell phone bill: 35% W: 23%

18-24 year old women are more likely than men to...

Think it's cool if a company uses a social network profile to promote its products: M: 64% W: 72%

Own a laptop: M: 48% W: 59%

Own a car stereo: M: 49% W: 64%

Purchased clothing online: M: 32% W: 48%

Live with a wife/husband: M: 4% W: 23%

In college: M: 33% W: 36%

Gender differences often yield productive marketing insights. For example, several years ago we explored purchases of flat screen televisions among young adults. To our surprise, young women thought of a flat screen purchase as a piece of art, something that would make a statement about them in their living room. Young men were focused on the viewing experience, expecially the sound and theatre-like picture.

The Millennial Persona: Part II

If you are casting around (as I have been) for alternatives to Andy Sachs, Hannah Montana, and Harry Potter to epitomize the Millennial Persona, look no further. Joshua Glenn of the Boston Globe provides a comprehensive list of candidates by birth year from 1984-1993. His fresh takes on the subject include the observation that many of the icons of Gen M are actually throw backs to the fifties - think Nancy Drew, Lion Witch and the Wardrobe, High School Musical (a less edgy Grease). He also wonders at the sheer number of Millennial actresses called upon to play the role of 'princess':

I'm thinking of Lindsay Lohan ("Lifesize," in which a princess doll comes to life), Kiera Knightley ("Princess of Thieves," "King Arthur," plus every other role), Mandy Moore (supporting role in "The Princess Diaries"), Hilary Duff ("A Cinderella Story," plus she's sort of a princess in "Material Girls" and "The Lizzie McGuire Movie"), Amanda Bynes ("What A Girl Wants," also sort of a princess), Scarlett Johansson ("The Other Boleyn Girl"), and Michelle Trachtenberg ("Ice Princess"). Plus India Oxenberg on the reality show "I Married a Princess.

Glenn points out that many of the most successful TV shows aimed at young girls suggest princess-dom without the crown: Nickelodeon's "iCarly" is about a schoolgirl with a globally popular website, "Hannah Montana," Miley Cyrus plays an average kid by day who's a rock 'n' roll superstar by night. Are Millennials as insipid as these fictional princesses and fifties personas suggest? Until real life achiever Millennials emerge, we may have to live with these fictional personas.

The Millennial Personna

Is Andy Sachs, heroine of 'The Devil Wears Prada' the ultimate Millennial? Michael D. Hais and Morley Winograd say she is in their new book, Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics'. This book has received a lot of attention for its assertion that Millennials are going to determine the 2008 election (Obama for sure) and go on to change just about everything else in politics. Politics aside, is Andy Sachs truly the 'Graduate' of her generation? According to the book (Sachs is) "a true Millennial, different from the lead character of previous coming of age movies about other generations". Personally, I say no. True she is practical, behaves like her own person (at least for most of the movie), cares about those around her and uses technology as a weapon in her fight to impress the imperial editor. Yet, where is the team work, the social conscious, the ambition that marks Millennial values as unique? I don't have a better candidate right now, but I am not ready to concede that Andy Sachs is the face of this generation.

Generation Difference or Simply Age-Related?

One of the biggest challenges of Millennial watching is discerning what differences between younger and older age cohorts are likely to be truly generational differences and which are simply due to age? Only time will tell of course. But it doesn't stop us from speculating which of the categories and decisions they are making now will carry over later in life. Case in point: Wine drinking. WineSpiritDaily.com reported earlier this week that young adults (21-31) in France are drinking less wine than ever before, but drinking more beer and spirits.

Is this truly a generational difference or a choice that younger drinkers will reconsider as they grow older? It's hard to say. In the US, younger drinkers (21-25) have traditionally favored beer and spirits over wine. According to Mintel, penetration of beer and spirits is more than twice that of wine (55% vs. 25%).

The only way to really know is to look at the underlying values and motivations of this group. Is there truly a shift in the way that they perceive alchohol? What they consider the 'good life'? The importance of wine to the national character?

A qualitative research project jointly organized by Sonoma State University and Montpellier attempted to find out why French millennials aren’t drinking wine. Among the top reasons why young French adults are choosing not to drink wine, most appear to be age-related, not generational:

• Many French millennials consider wine to be a drink for older people.
• Some French millennials simply do not like the taste of wine. In fact, when they did drink it, most said they preferred sweet white wines such as muscat, moelleux, or Sauternes.
• Also, good wine tends to be too expensive while beer is cheaper.
• (Surprisingly), many of the young French adults said wine is confusing.

Only one of the top five reasons appears to be potentially generational: a strong anti-alcohol movement in effect in France since 1991 has impacted wine consumption disproportionately and led some young consumers to steer clear of wine altogether. The study's recommendations to help boost France’s domestic wine industry (enhancing wine education and culture in schools and universities offering smaller bottles on-premise and making labels more colorful) are unlikely to impact this trend. As you look at consumption or usage differences among younger people, it is a good idea to ask whether any observable changes are truly generational, or something they may 'grow out of'.

Are Millennials Less Decisive?

I attended a Junior Achievement dinner this week honoring the Michiana area's best and brightest. Bill Rancic, entrepreneur, author and winner of the first season's Apprentice, was the speaker. After an entertaining and thoughtful look at his own journey from JA to motivational speaker (with a detour into Donald Trump's empire) he offered that young people today need programs like JA because they are less comfortable making decisions. Fear of 'getting it wrong' causes them to be shy of making decisions at all. Could this be true?

Possibly.

Personal experience suggests that a theory of low decisiveness has some merit. My 14 year old son has instant buyer's remorse each time he purchases a new pair of $90 shoes.

May 1 is the deadline for incoming freshmen to inform their choice of college of their decision. My 17 year old daughter was paralyzed by the fear of 'getting it wrong' even though both of her admitted schools are world class and no wrong decision was possible. She chose GWU at the 11th hour but still has doubts whether Notre Dame might not have been a better choice.

I don't think my kids are unique. Each year I require my sophomore Marketing students to select a publicly traded company that manufactures products to analyze as their semester project. I give them two weeks to make a selection. Most wait until the very end, agonizing over this very simple choice.

Apparently, Bill Rancic and I are not the only ones to ponder this question. Even the American military has its doubts about whether the highly tolerant, tech savvy Millennials have what it takes to command decisively. Booz Allen writes:

"The next generation of soldier: tech savvy, open-minded, multitasking, and perhaps unprepared for command-and-control. (Military of Millennials, 3/10/08) http://www.strategy-business.com/resiliencereport/resilience/rr00056?gko=6681b-4284843-26726738

If true, lack of decisiveness has important implications for marketing, especially for big ticket items like college educations, careers and automobiles. Marketers need to be aware that Millennials will consider every aspect of the decision, and even then have trouble simply deciding. The key will be to make them comfortable enough in the outcome that they can let the alternatives go. Perhaps this explains the popularity of online customization options and automobile 'configurators'; they make it next to impossible to make a wrong choice since you selected each and every detail yourself.