THE SECRETS OF ADVERTISING TO GEN Y CONSUMERS
Aiden Livingston
Self-Counsel Press
(a division of)
International Self-Counsel Press Ltd.
USA Canada
Copyright © 2013
International Self-Counsel Press
All rights reserved.
Introduction
The problem with trying to communicate with an individual from another generation is it is a lot like trying to talk with someone from a foreign country, except the variations are less obvious. Most people instinctively realize the difficulty in trying to portray ideas to an individual from, say, Thailand. First, people see the language barrier; the Thais may not understand what you are trying to express if they don’t speak English. Second, most can appreciate a cultural divergence. If a person grew up in Thailand, it is very likely he or she has different priorities and views than someone from Florida. There is literally a plethora of minor nuisances that can further impede communication between individuals from different countries. Most people are aware of these differences when dealing with people from overseas.
By contrast, most people fail to realize that the same obstacles exist when trying to reach an individual from another generation. People confuse proximity for familiarity. “Surely, a person that lives on the same street as me should be the same as me,” one may justify. However, cultural deviations can be formed by temporal separations as easily as they can be from geographical separations.
Many of the obstacles we might expect in dealing with an individual from Thailand can be extrapolated to a generational frame of reference. For example, even though two generations speak English, most can appreciate that they don’t necessarily speak it in the exact same way. The cliché of a parent trying in vain to incorporate his or her children’s slang is ubiquitous within sitcoms and Hollywood movies for its comedic value. That is, of course, without even beginning to discuss the enigmatic code that was born from texting or SMS messaging.
Furthermore, anyone with children can appreciate that priorities and views can be very different despite living in close proximity. Differing opinions on perceived priorities is yet another example of a cultural cliché. Ironically, we all seem aware of the cultural differences inherent to different generations and yet many businesses fail to acknowledge the importance of these dissimilarities in formulating their marketing plans.
This book is a means to bridging the gap between generations. I explain the different values and perceptions so that people can more accurately construct advertising campaigns that reach Gen Y consumers in the most effective and efficient way possible. Many other authors have delved headfirst into this topic, and many are brilliant writers who make cunning observations. However, at the end of the day the Achilles’ heel of these books is that they are based on observations. When the problem is a cultural deviation, it is only prudent to have a member of the studied culture provide insight into the issue. To do otherwise is to fail to address the root of the problem.
I make my deductions based on my life and my experiences, not from what I have observed in an individual from a foreign culture. This is ultimately the greatest advantage to this book for the reader. My conclusions are not subject to error in interpretation because the culture I explain is my own; I live it every day. My every interaction in the day recapitulates the principles I discuss, whether it is a conversation with a friend about what movie to see tonight, or my internal dialogue when I go to make a purchase. It is in exploring my own actions and those of my peers that I am able to produce an invaluable resource for anyone who seeks to truly understand how to best reach Gen Y consumers.
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Why Care About Generation Y?
Why should businesses care about one single generation? Why should they restructure their entire marketing model to cater to one group? The reason is because the methods and tactics that can be utilized to reach Gen Y represent the future of marketing. New technologies and an ever-changing world have assured that we can never go back to how things used to be. The paradigm has shifted and the difficulties most advertisers are facing in trying to reach customers stand only to get worse with each following generation.
Gen Y just so happens to be the generation who was born and raised during this major technological revolution. In a way, studying how to reach and market to Gen Y is in fact a lesson on how advertising will look in the future. The techniques discussed in this book will eventually be explored and refined so thoroughly that they will represent the new standard in marketing. It is beneficial to learn the lessons Gen Y has to teach now, or risk falling behind in a highly competitive, globalized world.
1. Who Is Gen Y?
As a member of Gen Y myself, allow me a few moments to make our collective introduction. Members of Gen Y were born between 1982 and 2002 (exact years vary depending on who you ask), which explains their other nickname, the Millennials. Another nickname is the Echo Boomers, which is in relation to the fact that they are usually the children of the Baby Boomer generation. They have also been referred to as Net Generation, Dot-Com Generation, and Trophy Generation; however, in my opinion most of these names are pretty lame and hopelessly uncreative, so I will stick with Gen Y.
In the United States alone Gen Y represents more than 80 million people, a number that is likely to grow over time with immigration. Gen Y spends more than 200 billion dollars a year in the US alone and have a major influence on their parents’ spending habits, the spending behemoths called the Baby Boomers.
2. Twenty-First Century Digital Boy
Gen Y has grown up in a world bathed in technology. I often can’t help but to look at the world my parents grew up in only to be filled with pity and empathy. I can recall many conversations with my mother, whose exact age will remain a mystery for the sake of my own safety, but suffice it to say she is a Baby Boomer.
“So I can understand that you didn’t have cell phones, but no answering machines either? What would you do if the person you were trying to reach wasn’t home?” I queried. “Just call back another time and hope you catch the person or that someone else would be home so he or she could write a note to get the person to call you back,” my mother replied flippantly. How barbaric, I thought: this seemed to me as reliable a method of communication as homing pigeons.
Most of Gen Y has had cell phones as long as we can remember, or at the very least, a pager. In fact, if on the rare occasion I leave my cell phone at home by accident, I experience what I feel is the same grief and helplessness of an avid jogger who just had a cast put on!
Perhaps most unsettling is the thought of a world without the Internet. The very concept sends chills up the spines of many Gen Ys. Not being able to check on my Facebook account, or Google my every whim or question is a withdrawal-inducing scenario. Moreover, the concept of not having any Internet at all is simply befuddling to most of Gen Y. The idea of having to go to an actual library to look up something, or the tedium of trying to write a research paper at a library having to search through individual books for information that are now available in three seconds on Google is daunting.
3. The Future Will Be More of the Same
The important thing to remember is that all generations from here on out will grow up with the same technological privileges or more, and their expectations will be just