Millennials: Not Lazy, Just Misunderstood

Of all the criticisms leveled at Gen Y in the workplace, the one that stings the most is 'lazy'. Overconfident. Ambitious. Entitled. They can live with those criticisms. But Gen Y knows in its overachieving heart it is anything but "lazy".

True, they readily acknowledge they do not want to work 2000 billable hours a year, and this reality has created resentment on both sides of the generational divide. Adrian Dayton, a young attorney I met on Twitter, posted an interesting dialog today in his blog, Marketing Strategy & The Law. It reports a panel discussion among Millennial attorneys and their bosses. This dialog illustrates very well just how wide the gap in understanding can be:

“Generation Y is entitled, lazy, selfish, tech savvy, and incompetent,” is how Scott Greenfield, one of the finest criminal defense attorneys in NY, started off the panel.

“I spent years as an associate, I hit all my metrics- but I didn’t want to become partner. It's no secret that focusing on making as much money as possible ruined many of these older partners’ personal lives.” said Anthony Zana, he is now Corporate Counsel for Intergraph Corporation- where he left behind the billable hour.“I’ve seen too many successful partners on their 3rd and 4th marriage- and I did not want that to be me."

“I think the problem is that they don’t know how to work, our firm has hired 15 attorneys in the last few years from Generation Y, and not one of them is still working for us.” said Moderator, Dan Hull.

“Well, I have had a totally different experience at my firm. As far as I can tell when I give greater flexibility to my Gen-Y attorneys, they are willing to repay it ten-fold, and make the sacrifices that are needed,” said panel member William P. Morelli, General Counsel at Ingram Industries Inc. in Nashville.

“Flexibility? I built this firm, I’m not going to let Gen Y dictate the terms of their employment.” Scott Greenfield fired back. “Generation Y uses this term life-balance as an excuse for their incompetence.”

Moderator Dan Hull agreed, “We have a very clear written policy at our firm, work - life balance is the attorney’s problem, not the firm’s.”

At this point I raised my hand, “If an attorney works 2,000-2,400 billable hours a year, there is not much room left for balance.”

“But the attorney that works over 2,000 hours a years, is going to learn to be a pretty damn good attorney,” replied Dan.

Boomer and X'er bosses view unwillingness to sacrifice as 'laziness'. Yet Gen Y is not willing to concede that just because they seek balance, they are any less committed. According to Adrian, they are just as motivated, but their goal is different. "We are not motivated by money. At least not as much as our parents were. The currency we are most interested in is lifestyle. Some of us are brilliant and hard working, but you have to dangle the right carrot in front of us."

So what is that 'right carrot'? Money? Time Off?

No, it's Voice. And Context.

This week, I've had the pleasure of talking with three hardworking Millennials. Each has agreed to accompany me to The CMO Summit in New York on May 19 and we've been preparing what to say. The panel will discuss "10 Things Millennials Wish They Could Tell Their CMO". Like Adrian Dayton, my panelists (marketers with 4-7 years experience) insist they want their companies to get the best of what they have to offer. They also insist that harnessing their ideas has less to do with hours on the job than it does with adequate opportunities to be heard and contribute.

The Feb Harvard Business Review case, where Gen Y employee, Josh, is compelled circumvent his Gen X boss, Sarah, and speak directly to the CEO to advance his ideas resonates deeply with Millennials. Most have felt that way at some point in their career. Here's how they express it:

"I hate to be shut down without a hearing."

"Why do I have to go to one person before going to the next?"

"It's the difference between 'voice' and 'say'. I don't expect to make decisions, but I do expect to be able to influence the decision with my ideas."

"Pecking orders seem archaic to me. I have an innate respect for senior management, their success and knowledge, but don't understand why I am expected to be afraid to talk to them."

Millennials have lots of ideas, and many are related to being more efficient. Compelling them to trade lifestyle hours for what are seen as unecessarily long work hours is the surest way to frustrate a motivated Gen Y worker. In their view, if something is not working, why not fix it? What's more, why not fix it immediately? Sometimes this is interpretted as 'attitude', but for Millennials, it is common sense. They are more than willing to work hard when necessary. They just want assurance that it is really necessary, and are deeply offended when told to be a 'good soldier' or 'pay their dues'.

Work smarter, not harder is their answer to the charge of 'laziness'. But, if there has to be inefficient busywork, the least they expect is to have a reasonable explanation why. For Millennials, context is almost as important as having a voice. Knowing the reason, helps them keep faith that their work has meaning and purpose. Without context, they are likely to simply check out.

"I can't stand emails that say, 'Can you take care of this? thx.' Take a minute to explain what you need, why you need it, what I can do to make it great."

As I listen to Millennials talk about what motivates and demotivates them, I can't help but wonder if we all wouldn't be better off thinking like Millennials.

Marketing to Millennials in a Recession

At first it was 'a financial crisis' but now everyone calls it a 'recession'. With only 19.7% of new college grads who apply for jobs getting them and 65% moving into Mom's basement, the reality of the 'new frugality' has finally settled in with Millennials. However, new research from JWT (see chart) shows, the recession hasn't yet affected spending across the board. For adults 18-29, some things are indispensible (Internet), others less critical (dining out), and some are completely forgettable (magazines).

Marketing to Millennials now is not fundamentally different from any other time, because Gen Y has always considered itself cash strapped. (I am always amused to hear my students complain about how poor they are). Now, as they graduate and get jobs, Millennials continue to see themselves as careful shoppers, even as they outspend other generations on everything from cell phones to wine. They wouldn't think of making a major purchase without careful and exhaustive research, online and via word of mouth. One of my favorite Gen Y blog posts declared that if you are not Gen Y, you probably overpaid.

With money dearer now, and the tools for discovering preferences of friends becoming ever more accessible and powerful, I expect they will become even more careful in the future.

Of course, it's not just Millennials who are affected. According to new IRI research, the recession has created what they call the "Downturn Generation", a "new generation of Americans adopting practices similar to Depression-era shoppers, implemented both to weather the recession and to keep a close eye on spending long after the recession ends." The strategies characteristic of this 'new generation' sound a lot like practices Millennials have been implementing for years. Here's a sample:

"Consumers are becoming more resourceful and strategic when planning their purchases for meals, wardrobe, home and automobile maintenance and personal care. New approaches identified include consumers turning to the plethora of information available on the Internet to help prepare for purchases, clip online coupons and research reviews, commentary and opinions on products and services before making a purchasing decision. In fact, more than 44 percent of shoppers are using online resources to find coupons today, and 55 percent of them plan to continue this practice into the future."

How do we market to a generation of tight wads who are programmed to avoid impulse shopping? Very carefully.

According to the JWT study, "77 percent of young adults, people18-29, feel nervous and anxious about the impact of the recession."

Extra reassurance is needed for each decision, and that reassurance will be trusted most if it comes from a friend or neutral party. The key is to make sure they find the right information, not necessarily make your brand per se the go to source for the information. In other words, it’s very important to allow them to market to each other. Information is a form of social currency. Give Millennials information they value and they will share it with their friends. According to the article mentioned above, authored by Northwestern Medill Journalism student, Inyoung Hwang, here's how it could work in video games:

Morris Levy, senior at the University of New Hampshire, said even if a new product like a video game sparked his interest, he would hold off on purchasing it until he understood it better. “I’d look into it more – look at reviews online, ratings from different companies and news sources,” he said. Gary Rudman, the president of GTR Consulting, a market research firm, said video game companies will sometimes provide free clips of games to websites like IGN Entertainment. It’s a simple but successful word-of-mouth strategy that allows young people to feel like they’re finding things on their own and then talk to friends about it. “It doesn’t feel like a marketer is forcing something down your throat,” he said. “You’ve gone to a place to find it, you’ve discovered it, and you share it with the world.” Very successful brands understand there’s nothing better than having something “bubble up from the bottom,” according to Rudman.

Music and movie marketers have used this approach to reach Gen Y for years. If it is that effective for entertainment, imagine how powerful it could be for restaurants, wine, automobiles, financial services, higher education, and more.

Millennial Wave Hits Wine

Those of us in higher education were among the first to notice Millennials were different from other generations. Then it was politicians. Now managers, recruiters and HR professionals are scrambling to adjust. What's next? Most likely food and wine marketers.

Millennials are discovering wine in record numbers. Domestic wine volume increased 11% between 2003 and 2007, and imported wine volume increased 27%. According to the Wine Council, Millennials accounted for 46% of the growth (see chart). Savvy wine marketers are aware of the sea change and, excuse my torture of the metaphor, are preparing for what is shaping up to be a tsunami of wine drinking.

Those reading along with me over the past year, already know that Millennials' love of wine is unique to the U.S. - in fact, French Millennials are forgoing wine. You will also know that it is part of a larger affinity for gourmet, premium and imported food and drink in general.

But what do we know about Millennial wine drinkers, and especially about enthusiasts that can help wine marketers?

First, wine drinking appears to start in earnest as Millennials graduate from college and start careers. Incidence of wine drinking increases from 23% among 21-24 year olds to 32% among 25-34 year olds (Mintel, Oct 08), approximately the same as adults in general (35%). However, the wine preferences, attitudes and behavior of Millennials are quite different. They are more sophisticated in their preferences, and more willing to spend to indulgence their preferences.

* Millennials who drink wine are twice as likely to belong to a wine club (20%) and to drink at wine bars in the past three months (38%) than older groups, (Wine Council).

* Forty-one percent of Millennials who drink wine say they drink imported wine most often vs. only 24% of Boomers and 31% of Gen X'ers. For example 31% of Millennials have drunk a wine from NZ, compared to only 15% of Gen X'ers (Wine Council).

* Millennials are much more likely to purchase their wine at a winery (33%), specialty liquor store (40%) or gourmet food store (20%). (Mintel)

* Millennials say they spend about $10 more per bottle than average across a wide variety of wine buying occasions. For example, Millennials say they would spend $40 on a bottle of wine for a special occasion compared to just $24 for all adults. (Mintel)

* Forty percent of 25-34 year olds agree that more expensive wine tastes better compared to 31% of adults on average. (Mintel)

* Millennials' criteria in wine selection tends to favor more familiar wines and wines with fun, casual names. (Mintel)

These facts don't completely relate the sheer enthusiasm of young drinkers for wine. They see wine as part of their move into adult life. It is a passion that drives them to look for new ideas and authentic experiences. For example, here is a comment left by Therese on this blog:

Really enjoyed this. I'd have to say that especially as a millennial, drinking wine is also about the experience. This helps explain why I LOVE and other "millenniels" LOVE drinking imported wine. What better way to escape from stress than to sit outside with friends drinking a Spanish Rioja, eating tapas and discussing life's little pleasures?

For wine marketers, the biggest adjustment will be learning work with younger drinkers' high degree of connectedness. Millennials are naturally social. They share their interests in everything from music to philanthropy through social networks, and it looks as if wine will soon be getting the same treatment. Twitter tasting networks and Millennial wine blogs are appearing almost daily. I have already mentioned the Millennier and Just yesterday, Yvette launched her new blog, millennialtastelive, with this introduction and an invitation to all Millennials to share their love of food and wine.

While researching popular wine groups, I found they were heavily slanted toward the more mature wine consuming demographic, particularly the group Twitter Taste Live, now Taste Live! Wine is popular among Millennials for three reasons: Wine is a social drink and Millennials are arguably the Social Generation There is so much variety in wine and Millennials tend to be attracted to constant change: "What's new?" "What's hot?" and "What's different?" And simply: Wine tastes good! It is my hope that this blog and Twitter Feed helps 20 and 30 somethings connect with one another to share our common bond of love of wine and propensity for social networking for the pure FUN of it MINUS the snobby elitest crap.

Efforts to engage this group will need to go well beyond the traditional web site. They are looking for wine knowledge and experiences and ways of sharing them with their friends. Marketers will need to explore leveraging existing networks, such as the 45,000 member online group, Womenwine, or creating new ones. Millennials want social currency they can 'spend' - and savvy wine marketers will be there to provide it.

ABC Family Network: A Deft Millennial Makeover

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Perfect Pairing: Social Media and Millennial Wine Enthusiasts

Social media creates communities of interest, so what could be more natural than reaching young wine enthusiasts through Twitter? Wine is inherently social - you drink it with other people. It's also inherently discussable and recommendations are a form of social currency.

Given the affinities, it's no great surprise that it's pretty easy to find young wine marketers on Twitter. Yesterday I spoke with Shana Ray (@sharayray), an ex-ad agency strategic planning professional and social media strategist who works with the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau to help wineries with their social media strategies. Shana says there is a lot of interest in Millennials among wine marketers. She is considering doing some of her own ethnographic research to help them get insight into young wine enthusiasts.

Other fascinating Millennial wine marketers I've friended online include Sasha Kadey, (@skadey, King Estate Winery), and Leah Hennessey (@millennier).

Most of the tweeting is around books, wine news, wines tasted. But there has already been at least one real time 'Twitter wine tastings', sponsored by Project Vino. (This technique was first used by bloggers has been going strong for over a year at WinebloggingWednesday.org).

As more Millennials join Twitter, I suspect wine marketers will be among the first to engage them with real social currency -- knowledge of and news of wine, where to find it, and connections to real wine authorities. What makes these conversations so powerful is that they can happen right in the store or restaurant. Mike McGowan, aka @WineGuyMike is creating in-store kiosks and a few months ago I blogged about Drync Wine, a cool mobile app for easy access to wine recommendations. Mintel data suggests that it will be worth the effort: adults 18-24 are more likely than average to say they 'stick with the brands they know' and more decided based on brand than on price.

Millennials' love affair with wine is part of a larger relationship wtih gourmet foods. Millennials think of food and wine as an 'art form', and eating and drinking with discrimination as another means of self-expression. Although it may seem counter intuitive, a love for gourmet actually decreases with age. 22% of young people 18-24 agree with the statement "I try to eat gourmet food whenever I can", a figure that is 20% higher than that of all U.S. adults. Their love of fine food extends to wine. Unlike French Millennials, young adults in North America are increasing their wine consumption. A Gen Y blogger who calls himself 'The VinoBandito' describes the appeal this way:

I’d like to let you in on a little secret about young people. Just around the time we reach legal drinking age we also start to have a desire for sophistication or a desire to be seen as an adult. We’ve done a lot of moving on from our teenage years and, contrary to popular belief, the majority of us are not a bunch of binge drinking, hard partying, pierced, and tattooed hooligans as we are portrayed in the press. The majority of young people today are smart, ambitious, inquisitive, and above all we’re sophisticated and discerning consumers (even if we’re not yet, we like to think so). This is where wine can compete. Make us feel sophisticated, after all this is one of the ways it is marketed to adults. Wine is a complex and beautiful drink with a great history and a great culture. This is something a lot of the Millennial Generation would love to learn about but the marketers don’t think we want to learn the story. Sure we have our idiosyncrasies and like cool stores, but most of all we want to be treated like the adults that we are.

Millennial Food and Wine Enthusiasts: Announcing A New Exploratory Study

Evidence that Millennials are food and wine enthusiasts isn't hard to find. When my daughter, Ariella (right), went to Hong Kong two summers ago, most of her photos were of the things she ate -- both before and after they were cooked. The title of her Facebook album "Adventures in Cuisine", sort of says it all.

Two of our Millennial researchers, Sara and Marty of Portland, OR record their meals in area restaurants in a blog, knowourvelocity.com and regularly post reviews on yelp.com. While doing taxes they "discovered a shocking amount of money was spent on dining in and out for just the two of us last year." In March, they travelled to Ireland.

Ariella, Sarah and Marty are all fairly typical of their age group:

• According to Mintel, two out of three Millennials are Cooking Enthusiasts who make an average of 4.4 ‘elaborate’ or ‘gourmet’ meals every six months.

• Millennials’s spend a disproportionate amount of their income on food, food away from home and alcoholic beverages.

• Millennials are driving growth in the beer, wine and bourbon categories. They tend to prefer premium / imported brands.

• Millennials are trading up from fast food in their restaurant choices: 18-24 year olds were the only age group to show a decline in the average number of meals eaten at QSR’s between 2007 and 2008.

• 18-24 year olds are 17% more valuable than the average customer to the leading seven chains of casual restaurants.

With their absolute size and aggregate income expected soon to exceed that of Baby Boomers, it is critical for marketers to understand how Millennials think about their food, beer and spirits choices. But learning about Millennials, and especially trendsetters, can be tricky. They are unlikely to respond to traditional surveys, and their answers are likely to be superficial when they do. By definition, their tastes can change rapidly.They are hungry for newness, and want to know what is emerging and coming next. Because of this mindset they don't get stuck being literal and instead thrive on new ideas and can envision how or why something not yet a part of their world might fit in.

Here's how Marty describes his desire to stay on trend:

I think one of the challenges is always keeping a brand or product 'new' while maintaining the core brand characteristics that drew Millennials to it in the first place. That's certainly true of my own experience anyway. Whether we're eating out or I'm cooking, the underlying motivation is almost always avoiding boredom...hate doing the same things again and again. I think there's a related tendency to want to avoid things (brands, idea, anything) that seems too mainstream. SEEMS being the key word. We've actually shifted our grocery shopping away from Whole Foods for that very reason, in part. All the excitement over 'natural' and 'organic' foods was new and exciting at first, but after awhile it seemed a little too..typical...like we were doing it just because it was the thing to do. Why do I want organic chicken again? What does that even mean? Why do two small chicken breasts cost me $15?

Understanding Millennial food and wine enthusiasts proves to be a very real challenge to marketers who want to learn how to make their offerings appealing. That's why we are starting a unique research project designed to investigate these questions. Here are some of the topics we plan to investigate:

• What motivates their interest in new tastes, flavors and experiences? What is emerging in terms of new tastes, flavors and experiences? What motivates these desires?

• Where do they learn about new food, restaurants, recipes, wine and distilled spirits products? What is the role of word of mouth, on premise consumption and off premise parties? Who do they look up to for recommendations?

• How important are characteristics such as ‘organic’, ‘locally grown’ and ‘hormone free’ in their food and wine choices? Everyone talks about it, but do they do more than make more than token gestures? What exactly what are they doing? What more would they like to be doing?

• How interested are they in travel shows, cooking shows, celebrity chefs and other food and wine media? Which ones are most influential and why?

• What are their different restaurant eating occasions? What drives or triggers a night out? What do they look for in a restaurant experience and how does that vary by occasion or who they are with? How important is the dining experience relative to the food? What would get them to eat out more often?

• How is the economic downturn influencing their overall spending and brand choices? Where are they cutting back and what are they holding ‘sacred’? If they had more money, how would they spend it?

The study will focus on Millennial trendsetters who love food and wine. If you are a marketer interested in partiipating, give me a call!