by Rebecca Novack | Editor | The Daily Anchor
Every Monday The Daily Anchor features a column by advertising sales expert Rebecca A. Novack. Miss Novack has sold advertising for The San Francisco Examiner, Clear Channel Communications, 7×7 Magazine, Marin Magazine, and Morris Visitor Publications (Where Magazine and Guestbook.)
Marketing to the Creative, Sophisticated, and Hard-to-Interrupt Millennial Generation
In the spirit of Barack Obama’s Inauguration this Tuesday, I want to focus on the one group that helped push him into the White House, the Millennial generation. This group, the coming-of-age youth of America, has given their belief and trust to an authority figure, which are the hardest actions to inspire from the tech generation. This group will bring a wave of new ideas and technology as they graduate one by one from high school and college.
The definition of Millennials/Generation Y: For the sake of this discussion, Millennials were born between 1984 and 1991 (aged 18 to 25). This generation is fluent in the digital world and is perhaps the most technically literate generation to date. They have never known a world without computers, email, texting or the Internet. Millennials multitask, and they do it well. You can most likely find them in front of the television while uploading new music to their iPod, texting their friends, and surfing the internet at the same time. Their priorities are simple: they want whatever the next new product or gadget is and they are egocentric: they want it first.
This generation has marketers scratching their heads on how to reach them and the disposable income provided by their baby boomer parents. Millennials don’t pay much attention, if any, to marketing despite the fact (or perhaps because) theirs is the generation most marketed to in history. They notoriously ignore Facebook and MySpace ads; they use DVR to zip through commercials on TV, and they resist mobile messages on their iPhone. They oppose censorship by the government and care about making their own mark on the world, and are are scrutinizers that enjoy challenging political views and debunking authority values.
How are marketers going to penetrate this hot group of “know-it-alls” with the pockets to get their new product? Well, there are some obvious companies that have targeted them effectively and you can learn a few things from their quiet and compromising ways of interacting with them: Apple, Scion, Converse, Facebook, and Nintendo. One thing all of these companies have in common is a way of personalizing their products so each Millennial youngster can fit the product to their ideas, looks, and independence. This generation is fully aware of marketing tactics such as online ads, online tracking, product placement, commercials, radio ads, and email marketing. They have mentally been able to filter and block ads coming at them from all directions. The trick is to approach them openly and creatively.
Obama’s Campaign Spoke to Millennials… and They Listened
Obama approached our country with kid gloves by consistently delivering a message of “Change.” He comes across as approachable, understanding, and most importantly he doesn’t talk at his audience, but interacts with them. Neil Howe agrees. Mr. Howe — co-author with the late William Strauss of “Generations” (1991) and “Millennials Rising” (2001), which christened the generation — said that Mr. Obama “has a certain coolness, detachment and a slight formality. He never loses his temper.” “Then there’s the messaging. Mr. Obama sticks very well to his script,” said Mr. Howe. He spoke to the younger generations through his website my.barackobama.com (MYBO), which is optimized for Millennial appeal. He used the key word “my” at the beginning of his domain name, bringing it to a personal level. The site allows the young user to take control of their relationship with the Obama brand by customizing and personalizing the site when they log on. The site offers the use of tagging, discussion boards, photo uploads, and other interactive elements.
Obama also hit the Millennials hearts by talking about ending the war in Iraq, taking a proactive stance on the environment, improving education, and his philosophy that every person can make a difference. This allowed the youth to feel independent in thinking and knowing that they impact our world and are not just another number under the Bush regime. It became trendy to vote for Obama, because youngsters saw their favorite celebrities, music groups, and their peers registering to vote for the first time and supporting Obama. Case in point, the Yes We Can video that set an Obama speech to the music of a star-studded cast. Although the campaign briefly backfired when John McCain attacked Obama for his “celebrity status,” Mr. Howe found it perfect for millennials: “They’re more civilly connected, and they find strength in numbers.” Barack Obama also did a great service in establishing the importance of voting in the youth who felt that their vote wouldn’t count in the big picture. Boy was he right! The youth played a huge role in clinching the Presidency.
How We Can Learn From Obama’s Campaign
The Millennial generation is attracted to something smart, fresh, and different and they found these qualities and more in President Obama. His success is a result of both product and uniform branding. Obama showed he was dependable and consistent with his message when the McCain team was busy putting out fires with Palin or dancing around debate questions. Not once did Obama show nervousness, or doubt his ideas or mission to lead us in changing our country to where we want it to be. This election made history and Obama was able to reach not only the millennials, but also the baby boomers who had a chance to reminisce on memories of the 60’s and what they wanted to change then. There are parallel issues at hand with the war, corruption, health care, and Obama addressed the baby boomers as much as the Millenials.
This young and lucrative generation is one-of-a-kind and is going to impact our country and world more and more as they age. Even though they are opposed to marketing and advertising efforts there are ways to conform to their thought process. Cut the mass branding and start niche marketing, so they feel they are “learning” about the next cool music device or clothing trend. Catch them on Facebook not by advertising on the site, but by starting a “group” about your business or product and invite those who would be potential customers to join. Try appealing to college students by tailoring a line to the top colleges, as Victoria’s Secret did with Pink: OnCampus.
If Barack Obama can inspire action and earn votes from historically inactive young voters while making sure to maintain support from older generations, his brand strategy may turn out to be absolute and a great model for marketers to follow to reach millennials.
Photo credit: Danielle Whalen
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