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Chuck Underwood, President

1343 Fleming Street. Cincinnati, OH 45206.

PH: 513 - 221 - 1973 EM: chuck@

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Generational Marketing And Advertising Strategy

Generation-Specific

Tips, Tactics, & Guidelines

Connecting With The Silents

Born 1927 – 1945. Current age, in 2005: 60 - 78.

Remember

Silents have more spending power than any prior generation to reach their current age bracket & life stage.

They feel it’s essential to be open to new products and services because it helps them to think and live “young”, which is an important motivator to this generation. This means they are receptive to advertising, changing brands, and trying new products.

They are a thoughtful, patriotic, politically-active, news-reading, plugged-in generation.

Many will work, at least part-time, in retirement. And many will do so not because they need the money but instead to stay active, involved, and “alive”.

They spend freely on a strong list of categories, such as their grandchildren, travel, automobiles, housing, and many others. They’ve worked diligently in their careers, and because of the culture of their youth, they feel they’ve now earned the right to reward themselves in retirement.

Not only that, they have a vague sense of having lived “conforming” lives that were “safe, apolitical, and boring – but now it’s our turn!” They have a pent-up desire to grab life for all they can - while they can - and they possess the spending power to act on that urge.

They grew up long before “malls”, when local store owners and clerks knew their names, knew their families, and stood behind their products in a one-to-one way. Give them genuinely personal service. Chat with them.

Courtesy is very important to them.

Silent Blacks and single women are not in the same solid financial position as many white couples and white men, because these two groups faced job and wage discrimination much of their career years.

Silents are a very charitable generation but tend to contribute smaller individual amounts to their favorite causes.

Silents have an uncommon passion to connect with their grandchildren. They remember the solidity of the American family from their own childhood era, they’ve witnessed its deterioration over the past several decades, and they want to do all they can to demonstrate the value of “family” by being a constant and positive presence in the lives of their grandkids.

Also: you’ll notice some of the articles mentioned below are dated in the mid-to late ‘90s. The info is still good! Generational values, attitudes, and consumer patterns are guided by the youthful Formative Years and don’t significantly change in adulthood.

So, here are tips, tactics, and guidelines for marketing, advertising, communicating, and messaging to an important Generation in the American marketplace:

TIPS, TACTICS, GUIDELINES – SILENTS

1. Develop a relationship with them. The Silent Generation became consumers in an era when merchants knew them by name and gave them personalized service. Get to know them. Give them personal service. Talk with them.

2. Use inter-generational images and audio. Disney World’s television campaign showed a Silent grandpa and his pre-teen Millennial grandson at the park.

3. Nostalgia works: it connects Silents to their comfortable past rather than to their uncertain future; plus, Silents feel overlooked and under-appreciated, and the use of nostalgic references in your message “acknowledges” them.

4. Bargains and discounts and coupons and promotions work. Silents grew up with Green Stamps. They also received a free drinking glass for each fill-up at the “service station”.

5. Are you planning on giving them your business card? If so, what type-size and color-contrast are on your card? Is it reader-friendly or have you decided to “express your creative side” with a small-type, low-color-contrast, user-unfriendly, difficult-to-read card? Is your staff top-heavy with younger employees who aren’t sensitized to this?

6. Celebrate Silents’ maturity and wisdom and experience with your message: they’ve come a long way, baby.

7. Demonstrate how your product or service gives Silents the opportunity for first-time experiences and personal growth. But couch those first-time experiences in security and safety, not high-risk adventure. This has not been a risk-taking generation.

8. Don’t hype. Don’t lie. Prove your claim. This generation has seen more than a hundred versions of “new-and-improved” laundry detergents! They’ve been disappointed many times.

9. Don’t make a long story short. By all means, get to the point, but Silents have time – and will TAKE the time - to read your story.

10. It’s okay to be a bit more formal when messaging to this generation. Silents came of age with a strong emphasis on manners and courtesy and so are more sensitive to it. “Please”, “Thank You”, “Sir” and “Ma’am” are appreciated. So are prompt and full responses to their questions. This, by the way, also happens to work with ALL generations….

11. Use their life passages to connect with them. Grandparenthood. Retirement. Moving. Loss of spouse.

12. Avoid the suggestion of newness. Don’t say you’re going to change their pattern; instead, you’re going to help them improve that pattern.

13. Loyalty works. Make use of rewards and reminders.

14. Let them interact. They want to be experiential. Nabisco introduced Eggbeaters by cooking more than 300,000 breakfasts in more than 1800 senior centers nationwide; the seniors received a recipe book and coupons. Don’t give them a tutorial CD Rom and ask them to sit alone and learn on the computer. This is a “people” generation. Group events with other Silents can be effective.

15. Educate… Educate…Educate. Silents are especially hungry to learn.

16. Make it memorable. Age diminishes short-term memory and verbal memory. Visual cues are critical. Messages should be simple and explicit.

17. Use Silent Generation grandparents, and their values, to reach the pre-teen and teenage Millennial Generation. For example, let Grandma and Grandpa set up a passbook savings account at the bank for their grandchildren, and reward Grandma and Grandpa for doing so, with special offers. And vice versa: use their grandchildren to reach them!

18. Consider both generational values and life-stage influence when targeting Silents (life stages might include empty-nest, grandparenthood, change of job, retirement, loss of spouse, moving, diminution of physical health and cognitive function).

WHICH MEDIA WORK WITH THE SILENTS?

1. Television. This includes public television.

2. Direct-Response TV. Longer-form messages fit the Silents’ need and time-availability to hear the entire story. It also permits you to sell the emotion of the product/service.

3. Magazines. Magazines were immensely important and influential during the Silents’ formative years. Check the most recent research at any given time on which specific titles are hot, but generally Silents read the weekly news magazines and the fashion and home magazines that target mature women. Travel mags, too.

4. Direct Mail. You can tell your story more completely, and they have time to read it.

5. Internet. The percentage of Americans 65+ who are online is escalating daily. Because the internet landscape is still in flux, you’ll need to find the very latest research as to which specific websites Silents frequent the most, but most research studies document that Silents use the internet to:

1. send email

2. monitor news and events/weather

3. research health information

4. make purchases online

5. research other topics

6. research products/services to purchase OFFline

7. research stocks and investments

8. play games

9. conduct genealogy research

10. access discussions.

More than the other generations, Silents and G. I.’s view the internet as a way to keep in touch with family members and friends.

But they don’t want learn a new skill by going through a tutorial CDRom. Silents want to learn FROM other people, and WITH other people, not in isolation with a computer. They’re social, and sociable.

EXAMINE YOUR OWN MARKETING/ADVERTISING/PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAMS:

• Look inward: are your decision-makers younger than Silents and susceptible to stereotyping? Is there a good reason you don’t have Silents on your staff?

• Be prepared for a world turned upside down. You’ll need to revere the elderly while often ignoring the young. The youth culture that began with the Baby Boomers is now ending. The purchasing power and the population and the marketplace clout are all moving towards 50 +. Ignore this at your own peril.

• Kevin O’Keefe, managing director of Weber Shandwick, a PR firm with clients that target Silents, says: “Clearly, marketers will have to re-orient 40 years of thinking. Marketers fall into old patterns and bad assumptions even as they realize how critical this group is”.

OTHER MESSAGES ABOUT THE SILENTS:

You’ll notice that some of the following items were published several years ago. Don’t be put off by that: the information is still good! Core values, molded during the formative years, are for a lifetime.

1. Gail Sheehy, from her book “New Passages”: “The paramount concern of life in the 60s is this: what will my life add up to? Is it too late to put more meaning into my life before I’m old? Do I want to be remembered only for this?”

2. Retirement can be a difficult passage; often it’s not the loss of the title or the paycheck… it’s the loss of the team. One woman told Sheehy “I wanted something to lose sleep over again”.

3. Dr. Sanford Finkel, at the Center On Aging at Northwestern University: “People who used to be considered old at 65 are usually still in their prime at that age today.”

4. The Silents like to learn. Many will not completely retire; they will re-direct their (substantial) talents.

5. The Silents have made enormous contributions to history, but they’ve never been applauded. First advertiser to publicly applaud them WINS.

6. They are a unified generation with distinctive values and attitudes, but they don’t know it. Tell them about their generation’s uniqueness, and you’ll have their attention.

7. They are worthy of media coverage, but they don’t receive it. Give it to them, and win.

8. They are worthy of celebration, but they don’t know it. Celebrate them, and win.

Book, Silver Linings, by H. G. Lewis:

1. An emotional appeal outsells an intellectual appeal.

2. Benefits outsell features.

3. Motivators include: exclusivity of product; partnership; easy/pleasant.

4. Avoid commands such as “act now” or “urgent”.

5. Always write in the active voice: not ‘your books will be sent to you’, but ‘we’ll send your books to you’.

6. No type smaller than 10 point.

7. The response – the purchase - must be easy and hassle-free.

Article from Potentials In Marketing magazine, June 1997:

a. Don’t patronize or offend.

b. Link advertising, education, and promotion.

c. Educate. They’re ravenous readers, TV watchers, and movie go’ers. They want to learn things.

d. Build relationships with: senior centers and expos; AARP, et. al.

e. Use life stages (grandparenthood, career change, retirement, moving, health, loss of spouse, etc.).

f. Embrace the excitement of being mature.

g. Silents love to try new things.

Margaret Wylde article (Spectrum, Nov-Dec 1994) lists five simple maxims for marketing to seniors:

a. Educate.

b. Build trust.

c. Convey product benefit.

d. Portray real people.

e. Utilize ‘TLF’: Trans-generational (more than one generation together), Love and Fun.

Charles Schewe and Geoffrey Meredith article (Spectrum, Nov-Dec 1995):

a. message simplicity.

b. repetition.

c. rational appeals.

d. pictures.

e. emotional touchstone subjects include: security, independence, information, intimations of mortality, and a yearning for intergenerational experience.

Article, Spectrum, Nov-Dec 1996, by Sharon Fairley:

Seven truths:

a. Seniors are not ‘sweet, little old ladies and men’.

b. Solutions sell.

c. Life after 50 has many benefits.

d. A combination of appeals will capture older adults’ attention.

e. One lifestyle does not fit all.

f. Seniors do not necessarily want to be singled out.

g. Lifestyle changes and events create needs and interests that advertising can address.

Benefits of direct mail:

1. Can tell a story more completely, and the story is important to Silents.

2. Non-threatening form of marketing.

Book: Elderly Consumers and Retail Sales Personnel, 1997

1. Older consumers prefer older sales personnel.

2. Older consumers place a premium on courteous treatment and getting questions answered.

Article, Nation’s Business, by Peter Weaver, 1997

Establishing relationships with older buyers is important. Take into account the Silents’ cognitive capacity, which is slower than it used to be. Make your message simple, tell a story to make your message complete, and don’t clutter it – especially radio and TV spots – with too many visual images moving too fast. Don’t layer a lot of audio in your radio and TV spots; make it very audibly clear.

Advertising Age, June 200, article “Marketing to the 50-plus consumer: Three Tips To Keep In Mind, by Candace Cortlett, CEO of WSL Strategic Retail, a consultantcy:

1. Get to know the customer.

2. Today’s seniors don’t retire, they redirect their talent.

3. Use visual situations that reflect how this age group lives.

4. Use intergenerational concepts that show grandparents with grandchildren and/or children.

5. Appeal to personal growth, first-time experiences.

July 10, 2000 Ad Age:

Direct-Response TV works because long-form messages are a comfortable fit for seniors whose cognitive capacity is slower than it used to be. It gives marketers a chance to tap into the emotion surrounding a product; it gives time to prove your claim, tell your story, and marketers get back an immediate and measurable response.

Rocking The Ages, book by Smith/Clurman of Yankelovich Marketing:

1. Silents feel there’s way too much information floating around, so summarize the information for them. They don’t want to search through innumerable sources.

2. Focus on point-of-sale convenience. Like Boomers, Silents want to get in and out; shopping is not “a pleasant experience” for them.

3. One word to describe the Silent Generation: conformity.

4. “This group is of tremendous value to marketers of a variety of products and services because of their numbers and affluence”. (Bob Jordan, co-chairman of the research firm that produces The Media Audit). “They are readers of the printed word, the backbone of newspaper and magazine readership.”

Add your own future tips, tactics, and guidelines here: SILENTS

Connecting With Boomers

Born 1946 – 1964. Current age, in 2005: 41 - 59.

Remember

Chuck Underwood summarizes the overwhelming evidence when he says this:

“The American youth culture that began with the Baby Boomers is now ending with the Baby Boomers. They’re wealthy, free-spending, open to new brands, products, and services, and receptive to advertising. And with the 50+ demos, this opens up EVERYTHING. Follow the money!! Follow the money!!”

Always keep in mind the numerical implications of this enormous age cohort. Their purchasing power is staggering.

As if that were not enough on its own: they’re beginning to receive the largest transfer of wealth in human history - the inheritances from their beloved G. I. and Silent Generation parents. No one’s sure of the amount, but it’s massive.

They’re wealthy, instant-gratification, free spenders. They’re demanding customers.

In the American marketplace, age bias – especially by young consumers towards the older ones - is dying a swift death, and this generation is the reason why.

The number of industries and individual companies that are rightly pursuing the Boomers is huge.

Always keep in mind that Boomers are NOT blindly brand loyal. Never have been. Never will be. If they’ve bought 5 Toyotas in a row, it’s not because of blind brand loyalty, it’s because Toyota EARNED them 5 separate times. If a competitor comes along at any time with a better car for their needs, Boomers will dump Toyota in a New York Minute. Proof from a RoperASW research study (2001):

• “Americans 45-plus, contrary to conventional wisdom, are no more brand loyal than younger people in most categories. 55% of people 45+ (compared to 58% of people under 45) agree with the statement, “In today’s marketplace, it doesn’t pay to be loyal to one brand”.

• Consumers 45+ are:

• LESS brand loyal than under-45 when it comes to: home computers; cell phones; athletic footwear; stereo equipment; and motor vehicles besides cars (e.g., SUVs).

• EQUALLY loyal to: skin care/costmetics/fragrances; CVD/video players; athletic leisurewear; casual sportswear; jewelry; and clothing accessories.

• MORE loyal TO: bath soap; cars (not SUVs) and auto parts; home appliances; TVs; cereal; vitamins; and shoes.

The study concludes: “With the exception of only a few categories, the majority of 45-plus Americans are not loyal to any one brand.”

At any age, they will be receptive to advertising and marketing messages, and to new products and services. This destroys the obsolete but long-held notion that people 50 + cannot be influenced by advertising. And this single fact changes everything.

Don’t be left behind. Follow The Money! Follow The Money! Follow The Money!

Boomers, like X’ers, tend to distrust authority. So communicate your product’s benefits in an honest, fact-based manner.

But more so than X’ers, Boomers tend to respond to celebrity endorsements because they remember a time when celebrities and the products they endorsed could be trusted.

Boomers – read this carefully – value “values”. They’re moralistic – your product must be “right”.

Boomers are time-stressed. Many face extended eldercare with their parents and extended childcare with their 20-something kids who are staying at home in bigger numbers than ever before. They seek fast and convenient and no-hassle and reliable, and they’re willing to pay for it.

Boomers have a distinct “first wave” and “second wave” to their generation. The first-wave Boomers, aka the Vietnam Generation, are the social activists of the ‘60s; idealistic. Second-wave Boomers, aka the “Me” Generation, missed out on all the activism, don’t feel they have a lot of causes, and came of age during the time-to-party era of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. But they share enough common values that they are a single generation. Strong sense of family. Strong sense of right-and-wrong. Optimistic, by nature. Workaholics. Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll. Great love for, and respect of, their parents. They want to make the smartest possible purchase.

Boomers are in the midst of several huge life passages, all of which create marketplace opportunities:

• They’re becoming empty nesters.

• They’re facing eldercare with their parents, who are living longer than parents ever have.

• A significant number are facing extended childcare, as their adult children stay at home longer.

• Boomers have been ambushed at MID-career by the recent downsizing and corruption, so many are in big trouble with their retirement financial planning.

• Boomer women, an especially lucrative market, are re-writing the book about living, working, and spending as they pass through their 40s and 50s.

Boomers are the Peter Pan Generation. Their formative years imbued them with a very genuine mind-set and way of living that embraces one credo: Forever Young. And this opens up countless opportunities for marketers and advertisers.

Boomers are the workaholic generation. They have defined themselves by their careers. They cherish relationships with their work mates. They live the motto, “TGIM –Thank God It’s Monday”.

TIPS, TACTICS, GUIDELINES – Boomers

Do not ever – EVER - use the following words when marketing or advertising to Boomers. Not now, not when they’re 120 years old:

• Senior Citizen

• Aging

• Elderly

• Mature

• Retiree/Retiring

• Slow Down

• Golden Years

Don’t use copy that says “Life Begins At 50”. That’s an overused phrase that, to Boomers, refers to prior generations, not them. Instead, grow your copy younger. Say something like, “Forever Young.” Or, “Full Speed Ahead”. Don’t make any age sound like a marker. Present life as one continual, ageless adventure.

First-wave Boomers, and maybe the younger second-wave, too, will respond to socially-responsible companies that offer socially-responsible products and services: investments; environmentally-friendly; underprivileged-sensitive; and so on.

Boomers are passionate parents and grandparents, especially because so many of them botched their early attempts at marriage and parenting. Connect them with their families; it’s a hot button. Multigenerational advertising will work with Boomers.

From the book Rocking The Ages, with additional comments from Chuck Underwood:

1. Boomers prefer text to charts and graphs. They love meaningful detail. They hate meaningless detail.

2. Organize your information for speed and ease of reading, like USA Today and People. Boomers are the most time-stressed generation of them all. No time for cute story-telling; just the facts.

3. Frame your information as “news”. Boomer viewers drove the early success of television’s prime-time news magazines; they came of age with 60 Minutes. They are news-hounds.

4. Are you planning on giving them your business card? If so, what type-size and color contrast are on your card? Is it reader-friendly or have you decided to “express your creative side” with a user-unfriendly, impossible-to-read card? Use big-enough type and sharp-enough color contrast. Don’t test your business card on a 25-year-old employee. Show the design to Boomers, get their thoughts.

5. Boomer women’s lives became especially stressful and complex in the ‘90s as hard-fought career opportunities collided with motherhood responsibilities. So don’t remind them of the complexity. Instead, applaud their achievements and their extensive skill-base.

6. Point-of-sale information, done right, is a key convenience to a generation that considers itself very time-poor. Boomers want to get in and out of the store quickly, but having made smart purchases.

7. Don’t get so carried away with your website’s creative and design that you slow it down. Visually interesting, yes. But never-never-never slow it down “too much”, not with Boomers (or X’ers). As a tip, keep your complex graphics/pictures on inside pages, not your main page, which should download swiftly.

8. One word to describe the Boomer Generation: demanding.

From Phil Goodman:

a. What’s really most important to the Boomers?

• Staying young. This is the Peter Pan Generation. Won’t grow old.

• Finances. Many are unprepared for retirement.

• Their kids and grandkids.

• Career. They are the workaholic generation.

b. Hot categories: cars; real estate; home improvement; fitness facilities/equipment/classes; nutrition; rock concerts; dating services; pharmaceuticals; skincare/haircare; cosmetic surgery; sporting goods; golf camps/ski getaways/running clubs/dance lessons/karate; nutraceuticals (enriched foods, like antioxidant-enriched cereal) and nutritional supplements; classic cars; and, a gazillion others.

c. Travel deserves a special mention: the travel industry is right to pursue the Boomers, who want experiential and learning vacations, not simply flopping on the beach. But travel, according to research, is not a high priority right now because of time, career, and financial constraints on their lives.

d. Double-check your own staffers: are they all younger than Boomers? If so, they might not accurately relate to Boomer consumer attitudes and might be guilty of stereotyping. It’s a new world.

e. Also, ask this tough question about your media planner, who is probably an X’er. A significant number of X’ers, from their own difficult childhoods, harbor a deep-seated (and, it can be argued, understandable) resentment towards their divorced, workaholic, pot-smoking Boomer parents’ generation and a fierce loyalty to their own Generation X. Is your media planner strong enough to make the right business decision for your firm or your client’s firm??

f. Boomers remain the Golden Demographic because of their enormous body count and their awesome purchasing power. If you’re not pursuing them, you’d better have a good reason why.

g. John Nielson, VP of Colle & McVoy, thinks Clairol’s tag-line (“A Beauty All Your Own”) and Victoria’s Secret (“At last, I’m comfortable”) are right on-target with Boomers.

Marketing To Boomer Women (“Where The Bucks Are”, from Fast Company, March 2004):

1. Shift the focus in ads from the product to the prospect. Women are biologically programmed to be more interested in people than men are, and Boomer women are especially interested in family ties and community involvement.

2. Convey empathy, not rivalry. Ads that talk about outranking others and defeating opponents are great for guys, rotten for women. Emphasize collegiality, closeness, helpfulness, and consensus – values that resonate particularly well with midlife women.

3. Portray them authentically. The Boomer woman is more assertive, confident, and global in her outlook than marketers have given her credit for. A bonus: these attributes also work for midlife men.

From various sources:

1. “Boomers are eternally kids… they buy things to make them feel younger.”

(Mike Bisceglia, Sr. VP Marketing, Technoscout, a retailer).

2. Technology:

a. “Boomers are more likely to buy tech items that can benefit the whole family”: e.g., DVD players, home-theater products, digital TVs. (NPD Techworld, a marketing research firm).

b. Also: global positioning satellite systems and DVD players for their vehicles.

3. Automotive:

a. Boomers have avoided buying car brands that they associate strongly with their parents’ generation: Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Buick. But then Cadillac got them back with a very targeted, Boomer-specific campaign and product design. Repeat after me: BOOMERS ARE NOT BRAND LOYAL AND THEY ARE RECEPTIVE TO ADVERTISING!!!!!

b. The ‘90s campaign “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile” failed to lure Boomers. “The hell it isn’t!”, they replied. Sometimes, you must take the significant step of changing the name of your brand.

4. Travel:

a. Boomers seek “adventurous, yet safe, and family-oriented” travel opportunities.

b. They’re very experiential right now. Spiritual.

c. Travel themes of history, nostalgia, adventure, movie-themed tours (in the UK, there’s a tour of the palaces and churches used in the shooting of the Harry Potter movies), learning, and so on are popular.

5. Housing:

a. "Today's boomers want choices," said William Novelli, executive director and CEO of AARP. "These are people who are not afraid of making decisions, and they want instant gratification."

b. Whether boomers choose to live in rental apartments, condominiums, attached villas or single-family homes, they want choices.

c. How do builders know what consumers want? John Migliaccio, an applied gerontologist and president of Maturity Mark Services in White Plains, N.Y., has a simple answer: just ask. “Don't tell them, ask them what they want," Migliaccio said. "You need to educate the market to make its own choices."

d. Remember: The average life expectancy is increasing swiftly, so Boomers might live in their “retirement homes” for 30 years, or longer. They don’t necessarily want smaller homes in their empty-nest years; they want space for offices, home theater, spacious and cushy bathrooms and bedrooms, and a sense of indulgence and stress relief.

e. And Boomers are not going to flee to the Sun Belt like prior generations. They’ll stay put to be near their families and their roots.

f. Give them lots of options to put their distinctive touch on their own home. Ask them what they want, don’t tell them what you can give them.

6. As Grandparents:

a. Boomers won’t necessarily spend more on their grandkids than previous generations of grandparents did, but the sheer number of Boomers will make grandparenthood a lucrative market.

b. Boomers increasingly are involved in the day-to-day care of grandchildren and so are involved in the purchases associated with it, from food to transportation to vacations to entertainment.

c. As grandparents, Boomers will direct such purchases towards the goals of safety, education, and shared experience.

7. Finances:

a. Gerontologist and author Ken Dychtwald, in his book Age Power, cites research that says 1/3 of Boomers are prepared for retirement, 1/3 will have to work until about 70 to maintain their current standard of living in retirement, and 1/3 are heading towards poverty in retirement because they are so completely unprepared.

b. This instant-gratification generation knows it needs help from financial planners. Those who get the Boomers where they want to go without great sacrifice (perhaps not possible, in some cases) will resonate with Boomers.

From Smart Bomb Marketing, a publication of Pipeline Marketing:

“The impact Baby Boomer women have on product and service purchases cannot be understated. For starters, they're responsible for 80% of all leisure decisions. And it's Boomer women, not men, who wield the most influence on matters involving the children, the family's health and wellness, the house, careers, even the election of a president. It was boomer women (mostly soccer moms) who put Clinton in the White House.”

CASE STUDY: VARILUX. Presbyopia is an affliction of eyesight. Varilux offers eyeglasses to help the condition. It ran a TV campaign that presented a fictional 1960s-style protest by the Presbyopic Six (harkens back to the Chicago 7 of 1968 protest fame), who protested and carried signs about their “right to see” and were arrested. Campaign cleverly captured the protest era of the Boomers, with sit-ins, protest songs, guitars, all very powerful memories, especially for first-wave Boomers now in their late 40s and 50s.

Be aging-friendly with Boomer products: consider the inevitable diminution of both hearing and eyesight. Adjust your type size and audio clarity appropriately.

Boomers worship their parents. They know the incredible devotion Mom and Dad made to raising them right. Use this powerful, emotional tie. Land’s End put Rosie The Riveter on a recent cover. In first-wave Boomers, that image stirs powerful memories of hearing how G. I. Generation young women worked in the factories during World War II to help the war effort. Other old photos and images from the ‘50s and ‘60s will stir similar emotions of love and worship of Mom and Dad.

Add your own future tips, tactics, and guidelines here

Connecting With X’ers

Born 1965 – 1981. Current age, in 2005: 24 – 40.

Remember

They’re a numerically-small generation. There are roughly 33% fewer bodies in this generation than in the two generations that flank them, Boomers and Millennials.

X’ers came of age during a difficult time to be a kid. “Uncertainty” is the operative word of their formative years. Government leaders were caught lying and cheating. Big business was laying off their moms and dads. Divorce rates were skyrocketing. Mothers now had career opportunities and weren’t at home as much. So X’ers became the first latchkey kids. According to American Demographics magazine, 40% of X’ers had lived in a single-parent household by age 16.

So this generation grew up skeptical and often cynical of older generations and institutions. They offer loyalty to individuals, usually their fellow X’ers, but frequently not to major institutions.

They grew up spending less time in the presence of older people than prior generations had. There is a significant disconnect between many X’ers and older people.

GenX is more of a “me” generation than all others: self-focused, self-immersed.

The one industry that showed such career promise for this generation – technology – crashed in 2000, and now IT jobs are being sent offshore, more so than any other occupation. That, combined with significant debt (as one newspaper headline reads, “We Are The Deep-In-Debt Generation”) and the X’er inclination to change jobs frequently, has a negative impact on their spending power and saving.

Because they experienced what sociologists label “premature wealth” – due to dual-income parents or divorced parents feeling guilty – a significant number of X’ers were showered with expensive “things” during their formative years. X’ers grew up with expensive tastes. They know quality.

And as the first generation of youth to have their own radio stations and their own TV channels (the MTV Generation), X’ers have been heavily marketed to, and advertised to, their entire lives.

From all of this come core values and attitudes and self-perceptions such as these:

1. X’ers are not merely cynical of advertising hype, they actually deride it. Laugh at it.

2. They can smell hype from a million miles away. They are very street-smart and advertising-savvy.

3. They need to be convinced. They grew up in a time of one broken promise after another.

4. They’re skeptical of government and big business and the media.

5. They are the most inwardly-focused generation. They spent less time than all other generations – including the younger Millennials – around older people.

6. The people they feel they can really trust are people their own age. Think of the theme song of the TV show Friends when thinking of X’ers: “The job’s a joke, you’re broke… but I’ll be there for you.”

7. Unlike the Boomers, who have always felt like an empowered generation that can and does make a difference and can change major institutions, X’ers have always felt especially disempowered. Powerless to stop Mom’s and Dad’s divorce. Powerless to stop the corporation from giving Dad’s job to cheaper labor overseas. Powerless to stop corruption in government, business, and other major institutions. And so on. So X’ers have grown up to be pragmatic. They’ll do what it takes to get through their own lives. They’ll focus on a much smaller “world” that they feel they can influence.

8. This generation has been all about “survival”, so they’re self-focused. They’re a “me” generation. What matters most to them is their own immediate environment. National and international news and events are usually irrelevant. My life is all about my neighborhood, my kids’ school district, my job. Things I can actually see, touch, and have some control over. And see the results of my work.

9. In unprecedented numbers, GenX is NOT watching TV news and NOT reading newspapers, compared to the prior generations when they occupied the same current age range.

10. They’re technologically savvy, excellent multi-taskers.

11. They don’t want to be workaholics like their parents. They insist upon a healthy work/personal life balance.

12. As a generation, they have no major ideology or causes.

13. They don’t “feel” like a generation (but they are one). Unlike the other generations, their formative years had almost no positive historic events that molded a unifying core value that gave this generation a sense of a “shared center”. But they ARE a generation, very clearly defined. They just don’t know it.

14. With a lack of serious historic events to cling to, Pop Culture from their formative years assumes a disproportionately large importance to GenX. They like to poke fun at it, but it’s what they have, so it’s uncommonly important to them.

15. Almost all of them do not know that the name GenerationX is actually a badge of honor, not an insult.

16. They take great pride in their individuality. They see themselves as millions of diverse individuals, not as a unified generation (which, actually, they are; but self-perception is everything).

17. They consider themselves a non-racist generation and take pride in their acceptance and tolerance of all ethnicities and lifestyles.

18. They grew up with a sense of disempowerment, a feeling that they cannot effect change in major institutions like government and big business. That has led to a disinterest in politics, voting, national causes, and following the news.

TIPS, TACTICS, GUIDELINES – GEN X

Remember, GenX passed through its formative years during the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. In terms of pop culture, X’ers shared the ‘70s with the last of the Boomers, they shared the ‘90s with the first of the Millennials, but the 1980s’ are All Gen X. If you use “retro” elements to reach GenX, focus on these 3 decades.

X’ers are easily bored. They enjoy unexpected and clever tricks and surprises in advertising.

Treat them as individuals. They don’t feel like a generation, even though they most definitely are. Don’t let them think you view them as a big homogeneous target market.

Give them options. They’re addicted to “choices”. One size does not fit all with this age cohort.

They have few true “heroes” from their formative years, just lots of “celebrities” or “superstars” instead. Choose celebrity product endorsers very carefully.

HUMOR: X’ers’ sense of humor has been described as one of “ironic detachment”. They know they wield little power and have to take what they can get. “Sooner or late, life is going to screw me and there’s not much I can do about it.” X’ers like cynicism and skepticism in the messages that target them.

TRUST: Generally speaking, they don’t trust the media. Don’t trust government. Don’t trust big business. If it’s big, I probably can’t trust it. It has never done anything to help me. They do not accept media information – including the news – at face value.

BRAND: X’ers are indifferent to “brand”. They want factual product information. They’re skeptical of commercials.

COMPUTER: The average age at which X’ers began using a computer is 9.

VIDEO GAMES: The average profile of the video game user is a 29-year-old male, right in the heart of the current GenX demographic. Females are gaming in increasing numbers. Video gaming is part of the DNA of X’ers (and Millennials).

Don’t be linear with your message. Add some twists and turns, irony and mystery.

They value their GenX peers, their friendships. Avoid the solitary “Lone Ranger” image. Think along the lines of the TV sitcom Friends.

From Rocking The Ages (published in 1997; this is one of the important early books on generational marketing. It comes out of Yankelovich, a marketing research firm that was the one of the first to examine generational influences on the marketplace), and from Chuck Underwood’s own research:

a. Avoid creative messages that obviously stereotype or pigeonhole X’ers. Although, in truth, they can be slotted, stratified and compartmentalized, they don’t like the idea of somebody being able to slot them. So do it, but stealthily.

b. Celebrate the pride X’ers take in their diversity and eclecticism and tolerance of alternative ideas.

c. X’ers don’t like the term GenX, because it hasn’t been explained to them that it is not a derogatory term. Until they know the story behind the name, be careful when using it.

d. X’ers are “retro”. They like to take things that already exist and give it their own unique twist: swing dancing; platform shoes; bellbottoms; etc. So, facilitate this attitude. “Retro” to X’ers primarily means the 1970s and ‘80s.

e. To split hairs, X’ers like the term “retro” more than “nostalgia”. Nostalgia suggests “sentimentality”, and they’re not very sentimental about their formative years.

f. Use multiple media by mixing and matching them in unique ways. This is an eclectic generation.

g. Forget the hard sell. X’ers are proud of their street smarts, feel they’ve heard and seen it all. Their antennae are always up and they can smell the stink of hype from a million miles away.

h. Give them respect. Respect is something X’ers passionately desire. GenX’ers themselves have also written they’re starved for true love. It’s doubtful a marketer or advertiser can feed that need, but you might want to at least make a mental note of it.

i. Anti-commercial commercials have worked well with this generation: commercials that make fun of the hype of traditional advertising. Nike’s famous “Just Do It” campaign. Saturn campaign: emphasis on low-key honesty. Sprite: Image Is Nothing, Obey Your Thirst. This effort at no-nonsense honesty shows respect for X’ers’ street savvy.

j. Attitude. Attitude. Attitude. Deliver attitude. With X’ers, it’s about attitude!

k. Have some fun. X’ers seek fun. And make your fun off-center. Most of the dot-com ads of the 1990s delivered this droll, way-off-center fun.

l. Emphasize pragmatism. This is not a visionary “change-the-world” generation. Life is about survival and doing the best you can. Time Magazine calls them the Whatever Generation. Life is about making sound, ordinary decisions, one decision at a time.

m. Reduce their risk. Protect them with their purchase. As Rocking The Ages phrases it, “provide prophylaxis”.

n. Think in terms of “enclaves”. X’ers, with such negative experiences and perceptions of older generations, are incredibly peer-focused, perhaps the most peer-focused generation ever. So their friends’ opinions influence them tremendously. Think of the TV show Friends. If you want to sell your product to Monica, you’re gonna have to win over Rachel and Phoebe, too.

o. Don’t forget: X’ers did NOT “grow up with the internet”. Technologically, they grew up with the computer and video games. They view technology as “isolating” in a negative way. So marketers should create interactive opportunities that resist isolation and enhance interactivity with other persons.

p. Like the Silent Generation, X’ers do NOT prefer text. Instead, like the Silents, they prefer colorful, moving images. (Remember, the Boomers are the ones who prefer text).

q. Make it PARTICIPATORY. X’ers like interactivity. They’re not a passive generation. They want to sample media, make their own choices and judgments, and have their opinions count and be acknowledged. They don’t want to sit still.

r. X’ers need more reassurance than other generations. There is an underlying insecurity to their generation. So, position your products so as to send positive and reinforcing signals, remedies, and encouragement.

s. X’ers like things on the edge. They like danger, but only if there’s some kind of safety net beneath them. Witness the popularity among X’ers of the X Games on television and the many reality shows based upon “Survivor”. Dangerous, edgy, but still with a safety net.

t. A quick contrast regarding “brand”:

• Silent Generation: A brand confers status.

• Boomers: Brand means next-to-nothing, it’s what I think that counts.

• X’ers: Brand confers status, but it’s not what other generations think about the

brand, it’s what my peers and I think.

u. One word to describe Generation X: diversity.

v. Focus on after-the-sale elements. X’ers are more likely than other generations to fear that nothing will be done if they have a problem. As General Motors did with X’er-targeted auto models (e.g., Chevy Cavalier, Monte Carlo), give this generation - which is distrustful of major corporations - something they CAN depend on. GM’s current tagline to its Cavalier spots: “Until the very end, we’ll be there”. Hyundai has enjoyed a nice run with X’ers with their industry-topping “10-year, 100,000-mile warranty”.

w. Invent something new with your creative message. X’ers resist traditional media pitches.

TV Viewing:

Make it VISUAL. X’ers did not grow up on the written word. They grew up “reading” visual images (think MTV) and look for the message in the images more than the text. Restless TV viewers, they are chronic channel surfers.

X’ers multi-task while at leisure. They divide their concentration. And they want to be involved, not just sit and watch.

MULTI-GENERATIONAL MARKETING AND ADVERTISING:

The GAP and Old Navy are among marketers that have done well with multi-generational marketing and advertising strategies. GenX seems to like this style. Pop music from the 1970s, but with on-camera talent from multiple generations, such as Boomer Lauren Hutton and Silent Willie Nelson.

Berry Burst Cheerios used the 1970s pop tune “I Think I Love You” by the Partridge Family. And the 1974 B. J. Thomas song, “Hooked On A Feeling”. The campaign was “a huge success”, according to Erin Newkirk, Marketing Manager for the brand.

One of the more high-visibility, multi-generational campaigns occurred during Super Bowl 2003: the various Pepsi Twist spots that aired during the game, mingling Donny and Marie Osmond, the wacky Ozzy Osbourne family with retro TV shows from the ‘70s. The Cincinnati Enquirer asked a panel of GenX’ers to judge ALL the Super Bowl commercials, and Pepsi Twist was easily the most highly-rated, with panelist comments such as “It integrated every generation”, “It was cross-generational”, and “It had all the different American icons (from different generations)”.

MUSIC IS THE MOST GENERATION-SPECIFIC MEDIUM: Remember it - music is THE most generation-specific medium. An excellent weapon for generational strategy. And even if you can’t afford to buy the rights to use the actual music, you can still reference it in your ad, like Taylor Guitars does in an award-winning print ad that argets Boomers. Its copy says, in part, “You’re never too late to give the world another cover version of Smoke On The Water.”

POP CULTURE: X’ers do not have many major historic events from their formative years to bond the members of their generation. What they do have was the pop culture of those years, especially the ‘70s and ‘80s. And the typical X’er response to just about anything, cynicism and poke-fun-at-it, is how they view their pop culture: cheesy, tacky, ripe for sarcasm, but it’s ours and we love to talk about it. X’ers don’t view their youth with “nostalgia” or “sentimentality” because it wasn’t all that pleasant an experience. But their pop culture is “what they have”. VH1’s series “I Love The 80s” is one such success story of reaching X’ers by having their own members poke fun at the cheesiness of their own pop culture.

From Marketing Partners Incorporated (2002):

E-commerce:

a. Speed matters. Fast results are a primary goal of X’ers. So… make it simple and fast, and yet exciting, with a sense of discovery.

b. Don’t overlook the importance of your website address: make it easy to remember, something that will catch X’ers attention; catchy; fun. Think of and .

c. Don’t get so carried away with your website’s creative and design that you slow it down. Visually interesting, yes. But never never never slow it down “too much”, not with X’ers. As a tip, keep your complex graphics/pictures on inside pages, not your main page.

d. Obviously for e-commerce, secure your site and let them complete the purchase at your site; don’t make them call or snail-mail to complete the transaction.

e. Keep your pages short and visually interesting. Don’t make X’ers scroll downward forever. Give them reassurance by including all of your contact numbers and addresses if they have a post-purchase problem or question.

f. Give them a feedback option so they can tell you what they think.

From Baby Shop Magazine (Ken Gronback, President, KGA Advertising, Middletown, CT.; 2002)

• “Marketers… need to hit X’ers with messages that appeal to their self-oriented and pragmatic nature. These are people who see themselves as survivalists. Unlike the Boomers who value spontaneity, X’ers want things mapped out for them. They like it when marketers say , ‘do this and you’ll get that’.”

• Arouse their sense of adventure and passion. Volkswagen’s ‘Drivers Wanted’ campaign did this. The spots were quirky and the campaign even offered the ultimate Gen X status symbol, a Trek bike, as a give-away. The results were a 25% increase in sales and a real niche as the Gen X car.”

• Make it funny and a good time. Mountain Dew did this by weaving extreme sports into its ads and having fun with it.

• X’ers are quality-conscious and cynical and incredibly convinced (rightfully so) of their Street Savvy when it comes to commercialism. They can spot an insincere message, so don’t use it.

• Appeal to their unique attitudes towards work and career. Many of their bosses don’t understand their reluctance to get into the habit of working overtime and on weekends, and their desire for a balanced life. Tell them they’re okay.

PARENTHOOD: GenX men and women as parents:

• Many X’ers grew up in broken and/or unconvential households. They want their own children to have a sense of family and roots and traditionalism, but they’re not sure how to create that because they didn’t have it as kids themselves. Help them to create it with your products and services and information, and you’ll win.

• GenX moms have replaced Boomer moms as the dominant purchasers of children’s toys. And X’ers want toys that are both fun and EDUCATIONAL. They want their kids to play and learn at the same time. Fisher-Price, in 2004, is basing its biggest television-advertising push ever on this generational core value.

• X’er dads want to be involved in their kids’ lives. This year, for the first time, the national PTA is running a print ad in the annual NASCAR Guide, urging dads to join the PTA. Research is coming out, documenting how fathers can have a profound effect on their children’s academic success by volunteering at school. So find a way to catch this wave.

• X’er parents overwhelmingly feel they don’t have as much time to spend with their children as they would like. And they know how beneficial it would be to the kids if they DID spend more time with them. The primary obstacle is the parents’ work schedules. If your products and services can somehow GENUINELY help to solve this enormous stress, you can score big with this generation.

• The ultimate GenX TV show is Friends. And one of that show’s primary messages is this, according to TIME magazine (April 19, 2004): “There is no normal anymore…. The characters have dealt with one problem: how to replace the kind of family in which they grew up with the one they believed they were supposed to have.” If you can market a product or service that helps X’ers to figure this out, you win.

• As the primary parents-with-young-children demographic when the terror attacks of 9/11 occurred, X’ers have been significantly influenced by that moment to place a higher priority on family than they did pre-9/11. Says Rutgers University professor Dr. Susan Newman, “Watching the news and hearing about all those families that were destroyed has left an indelible impression on this generation of parents.” This information comes from four research studies commissioned by American Demographics magazine.

HOME IMPROVEMENT:

• X’er women are now the target of home-improvement stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot because they –and Boomer women – want to tackle the same household tasks that men traditionally have handled. This comes from the benefits of Title IX legislation and the athleticism and strength and coordination they now know their bodies posses. It also comes from the sense of independence the women’s movement permitted. And it comes from the reality that a significant number of them live alone, or might someday. These women don’t want pink hammers. The research shows they want the same tools as men, bought in the same stores as men.

• Home decorating: X’ers are more likely than older generations to mix styles. Expensive stuff with less expensive stuff. According to New York research company PortiCo Research, X’ers focus on decorating one room at a time so it meets their exact specifications. X’er men are more involved in decorating decisions than older generations of men. Embrace BOTH the woman and man.

• X’ers will have done their homework when they enter the store but still need help. Customer service might become the make-or-break for the retailer.

MUSIC: Music, to GenX, is more than entertainment. Growing up, it was – and still is today – a true friend. It’s the story-telling of music: X’ers love “stories” about feelings, emotions. Don’t give them just bullet-point adjectives in your marketing and advertising. Tell stories, like the music did.

BAGGAGE: Beyond their control, X’ers entered adulthood with “baggage”: feelings from their comparatively difficult formative years – some deeply buried, others not – of pain, victimization, anger, distrust, and a wish to rid themselves of all of those feelings but the resignation that they probably will not. This baggage often lies just below the surface and can emerge and erupt quickly. Respect this frustration. And if you can GENUINELY do anything about it, you win. Big-time.

FIND THE GOOD: From 1983’s A Nation At Risk report, the people of Generation X have grown up hearing their generation labeled as under-achievers, slackers, whiners. Marketers and advertisers face a significant opportunity: find the good in this generation, celebrate its positive qualities, tell them about their generation in ways they’ve never heard so they can UNDERSTAND what the heck happened to them as kids that was so different from the childhoods of prior generations.

VIDEO GAMING: It’s a fact of life for X’ers, especially X’er men. It represents marketing and advertising opportunities for those who target them. Video-gaming is a pervasive culture. And one-third of video gamers are female. The average gamer is 29, but it’s strong with Millennials, too. Video games are a $9.4-billion business in the U. S., bigger than the movie box office. Advertisers spent $414.1-million in the category in the first 11 months of 2003. Hollywood movies, TV programming, rappers, fashionistas, and Madison Avenue ad agencies are embracing the look, feel, and sensibility of this interactive entertainment world once considered only a geek subculture. Cable channel G4 creates programming around gaming. The U. S. Army uses video-game style in its TV and theater advertising. Ad agency Young & Rubicam recently created an internal gaming division to deal with it.

SLEAZE BACKLASH: Marketers, in their attempt to reach X’er men, have spent a long time pedaling what the masses call “sleaze”, especially in a way that denigrates GenX women. TV programming like Jerry Springer, The Man Show, Howard Stern. Beer commercials like the big-breasted Coors twins bouncing up and down on a trampoline, or the Miller Beer catfight between two voluptuous women, or the video game Grand Theft Auto. In early 2004, a backlash against this began, and the beer commercials started pulling away from this strategy. Consider carefully before you decide whether to use sex, vulgarity, and the denigration of women in order to get the attention of X’er men. This strategy is currently in limbo.

GEN X INTERNET USE:

Caution: internet use by ANY generation is still in constant flux. The following information might become dated at any time, but for what it’s worth, here is an April 2004 report on internet use by Americans 18 to 34, which is to say mostly X’ers with some Millennials. The source: The Center For Media Research and the Online Publishers Association (OPA). Check the Online Publishers Association website for more details.

Note that 9 of the top 10 FEMALE sites are retail, while only 2 of the top 10 MALE sites are retail:

Top Indexing Categories Top Indexing Categories

Visitation By Males 18 to 34 Visitation By Females 18 to 34

1. Gaming Information 1. Retail – Fragrances/Cosmetics

2. Automotive Manufacturer 2. Retail – Jewelry/Luxury Goods

3. Sports 3. Retail – Toys

4. Travel – Car Rental 4. Retail – Apparel

5. Retail – Tickets 5. Retail – Food

6. Entertainment – Movies 6. Retail – Flowers/Gifts/Greetings

7. Dir./Resources – Personals 7. Retail – Department Stores

8. Retail – Consumer Eelctronics 8. Community - Family

9. Automotive 9. Retail – Home Furnishings

10. Dir/Resources – Classifieds 10. Retail – Tickets

Add your own future tips, tactics, and guidelines here

Connecting With Millennials

Born 1982 – present. Current age, in 2005: birth to 23.

Remember

For the most part, this generation, in 2004, is still forming its values. All but the very oldest Millennials are still “kids”, when the fickleness of youth will drive most of their consumer choices. So, don’t over-rely on generational values and attitudes when marketing to the youth market. But don’t overlook it, either.

Millennials are ethnically diverse: about 1/3 are from minorities. Millennials are noticeably tolerant of divorced households and gay lifestyles, but traditional values and parental approval are still more important to them than they were to GenX’ers before them.

Millennials feel like a generation. Like Boomers and the G. I. Generation, they have major historic events – September 11, the Iraq War – and other shared formative-years experiences that are giving their 80-million members a sense of a Common Center. This is quite different from X’ers, who don’t feel like a generation.

Millennials are a nurtured generation. A very adult-supervised generation. Living in a very structured environment.

They LOVE their parents. Very close relationships with them. They have a positive view of older people, quite unlike X’ers.

They influence family spending, including the big purchases.

They take multiculturalism for granted. They take globalism for granted.

This generation feels tremendous time pressure – they schedule everything – and grade pressure, because of all of the new proficiency testing and the competition to get into the better colleges.

They are a “we” generation, not a “me” generation like X’ers. Technology now constantly connects Millennials to other people: cell phones, pagers and beepers, email, chat rooms, instant messaging.

The terror attacks of 9/11 have molded a long list of core values in all Millennials: a sense of nation; giving; patriotism; an appreciation of heroism; selflessness; a sense that there’s more to this world than just “me”; an interest in spirituality.

This generation has a strong sense of community service, in part because schools have emphasized it during their formative years.

And they’re hearing that same “you’re a special generation” message that Boomers heard. Millennials are growing up with great expectations for their own generation.

As Strauss and Howe emphasize in their book Millennials Rising, this is a “dangerous” time in youth marketing: the “transition period” from one generation’s hot buttons to a new generation with new values and attitudes and, hence, different hot buttons. Don’t get caught making the strategic blunder of “preparing for the last war” by assuming Millennial teens will respond to the same “creative” and strategies that X’er teens responded to during the last decade. There is a generational change taking place. It’s a new world.

This generation possesses spending – and saving! - power unprecedented among youth in American history.

Remember: the internet is to Millennial youth what television was to Boomer youth.

TIPS, TACTICS, GUIDELINES – MILLENNIALS

They’re still kids, so they’re still wacky and fickle, so Deal With It. Today’s hot fad is tomorrow’s hot air.

“Hip” is essential. Go where kids go: the mall, the concert, the skateboard park.

Peer-to-peer recommendations and approval are enormously important. Win over their friends. Consider assembling a team of teen peers. Use viral marketing. Examples:

• Avon created a program whereby girls 16 to 24 would sell their new girls’ cosmetic line, “mark”.

• Procter & Gamble launched a new grooming/hygiene line for teen boys, “OT/Overtime”. The girls are demanding that the boys look like rock stars. Teen boys are tuning in to hygiene.

• P&G also launched Tremor, which emails info on new products to 200,000 teen “connectors”, or influencers, who will spread the word about the new product to peers.

Claire Raines, co-author of Generations At Work, writes that Millennials” have a renewed enthusiasm for reading print.” So, consider exploiting that enthusiasm. Don’t assume your message must be moving video.

Naturally, multimedia messages are essential.

CAUSE MARKETING - Cone/Roper survey, 2000:

• 91% of today’s Millennial teens value companies and products that support good causes.

• 89% would be likely to switch brands to one associated with a good cause.

• Says the report, “Companies that support causes will win teen loyalty and dollars”.

• And remember, this survey took place BEFORE 9/11, which only fortified this sentiment.

LOGO:

In 2005, there is a growing backlash to visible logos on apparel. Millennials are growing up suspicious of corporate branding. Case in point: the t-shirt chain American Apparel began 2005 with skyrocketing sales and new-store openings. “Not a logo in sight”. And the chain promotes a high-minded social agenda (patriotism, social values, environment, and so on).

TECHNOLOGY USAGE:

• The internet is the Millennials’ medium of choice.

• As multi-task, high-speed-connection consumers, they can move at a fast pace, so update your online and creative offering frequently. Make it rich, relevant, and interesting.

• Give them clear choices online.

• Let them interact with you.

• Customize their online experience.

• Offer surprises for those who look hard enough.

VIDEO GAMING: For Millennial boys, video-gaming is a pervasive culture. And one-third of video gamers are female. The average gamer is 29, but it’s strong with Millennials, too. Video games are a $9.4-billion business in the U. S., bigger than the movie box office. Advertisers spent $414.1-million in the category in the first 11 months of 2003. Hollywood movies, TV programming, rappers, fashionistas, and Madison Avenue ad agencies are embracing the look, feel, and sensibility of this interactive entertainment world once considered only a geek subculture. Cable channel G4 creates programming around gaming. The U. S. Army uses video-game style in its TV and theater advertising.

GRANDPARENTS: Use Boomer and Silent Generation grandparents, and their values, to reach the pre-teen and teenage Millennial Generation. For example, let Grandma and Grandpa set up a passbook savings account at the bank for their grandchildren, and reward Grandma and Grandpa for doing so, with special offers. Grandparents are wealthy and want to be – and ARE – a meaningful presence in the lives of their Millennial grandchildren. They don’t want to merely “buy gifts”: they want to spend time, teach, bond with their grandchildren. And importantly, their grandchildren want – and love – it, too.

TRANSITION FROM X’ERS TO MILLENNIALS:

The youth marketplace is transitioning from X’ers to Millennials; that is, from:

• An attitude of exclusion to one of inclusion;

• “Edgy” advertising to “optimistic” advertising;

• Separation from parents and older generations to “It’s cool to go shopping with Mom”;

• “Me” individualism to “We” collectivism. This is a team-oriented generation.

Mass fads and big brands are resurging because of the instant and mass-communicative power of the internet. Mass merchants like Wal Mart and Target are doing well with Millennials, especially during a “down” economy.

GENDER BENDERS: This is a gender-bending generation. The males will pursue traditionally-female activities (cooking, cleaning, careers in nursing and elementary-school teaching, etc.), and females will pursue traditionally-male activities (sports, home-improvement, and careers such as homebuilding, construction, etc.).

“HAVE’s” AND “HAVE-NOT’s”: The rich-poor gap is widening. The cost of cell phones, internet access, and other such technologies is prohibitively expensive to a significant segment of the country. Kids are either “Have’s” or “Have-Not’s”.

Viral marketing – “buzz” marketing – is huge with the Millennials.

From the book MILLENNIALS RISING, by Strauss and Howe:

There are four major components to the change involving Millennial consumerism:

1. Parental influence over kid purchases is growing, according to 1996 Roper research.

A. Parents are concerned about product safety and shielding kids from nasty

messages.

B. Even when shopping alone, Millennials have been given, and obey, a

clear sense of where their mom and dad draw the line.

C. There is a proliferation of educational toys, educational camps, etc.

2. Kid influence over parental purchases is growing.

A. For example: minivans, SUVs are now designed with kids in mind.

B. Houses are designed with more security, larger family areas.

C. Club Med, cruises, Las Vegas are now accommodating the kids.

D. Texas A&M Marketing professor James McNeal says Boomer kids

began influencing parental purchase around the age of 12. Millennials are

doing it at age 2!

3. Kid Marketing is towards a smaller number of bigger brands.

A. GenX was a fragmented and splintered generation of consumers, but not

Millennials. However, because youth usually “rebels”, smart marketers can

let Millennials think they’re individualistic, nonconformist, and

rebellious, even though they’re not. As USA Today writes, “Kids fancy

themselves free-thinking individuals… but the truth is teens are pretty much

a huge wad of fashion conformists.”

B. Millennials – with the same teen magazines, same websites, chat-rooms,

and TV shows can now be reached EVERYWHERE by one big brand.

C. With this instant communication and coast-to-coast connectiveness,

tastes tend to become standardized (exception: the poor, who don’t have the

same access to the internet, cable TV, etc.).

D. Even in schools without uniforms, Millennials are dressing more

uniformly, especially girls.

E. Therefore, once a marketer figures out what’s cool and what isn’t, it can

instantly get to Millennials.

F. Because of this technology and the way Millennials use it, geography no

longer matters. The days of New York and LA dictating taste are over.

4. Kids are re-defining the purpose of information technology.

A. For Boomers, technology meant information.

B. For Gen X, technology meant individualism.

C. For Millennials, technology means “a badge of generational membership”.

1. Group projects, chat, e-commerce.

2. Teen product-rating websites (what’s cool, what’s not).

D. A higher percentage of teens say they can live without television than

without their computers (by late ‘90s, the figure was roughly 36% to 23%).

E. Parents monitor their kids’ e-commerce activities, so e-commerce has

become a joint teen-parent activity.

MULTI-GENERATIONAL MARKETING: Millennials have a positive view of older people, unlike X’ers. They look up to them and welcome their wisdom. Multigenerational marketing and advertising can work well with this generation. Weave in the parents and grandparents, like DisneyWorld and Energizer Battery have done.

ATTITUDES:

• They’re very confident, almost overly so. Don’t talk down to them.

• Time is their rarest commodity. They’ll pay for convenience and time-saving.

• They’re brand-conscious.

• They’re logo-overloaded: they’ve grown up with “naming rights” to stadiums, concerts, bowl games.

YOUNGER MILLENNIAL INCOME SOURCES:

• Direct cash from parents for specific purchases is up.

• Money for doing household chores is up.

• Weekly “allowance” for no specific purpose is down.

• Income from paid employment is down. Parents increasingly want their kids to study math rather than wrap tacos.

LOGOS: Millennials are growing up with logos and brands everywhere: stadium names; school soft drink licensing rights; apparel; websites; etc. But, Millennials might be breaking America’s Logo Fever. Witness:

• More school uniforms and stricter dress codes.

• Less time spent watching TV, listening to radio, reading pop-culture magazines; less time

spent watching the conventional Big Three sports, which have always been a

major logo conduit.

• More protective parents who are aggressively shielding their children from commercialism.

• A parental backlash to the ill effects of Logo Fever. From the Wall Street Journal: “some parents are denying their wealth… deliberately living below their means… dishing out philosophical lectures before every purchase.” WSJ labels it a “bratlash”.

Ad campaigns are changing for Millennials (remember the above-mentioned caveat: we’re in a dangerous transition from X’er youth to Millennial youth. Don’t find yourself “preparing for the last war”):

1. Bright colors are moving in, drab is moving out.

2. Ads present kids as smarter, doing good deeds, often in teams.

3. E.G., Gap ads: choreographed, wearing uniform clothing.

4. Athlete spokespersons who are nice people are in, Dennis Rodman is out.

5. Animals work: Taco Bell Chihuahua.

6. Some marketers (.e.g., Burger King) have successfully linked their messages to community service, which is a Millennial hot-button.

7. Conversely, Calvin Klein suffered a storm of protest and PR calamity in the ‘90s when it tried to erect a billboard at Times Square showing Millennial Tweens (age 8-12 or 9-12) in underwear.

8. Commerce in public schools is under scrutiny and significant criticism (Channel One; soft drink pouring licenses; etc.). Even students are rebelling against school commercialism.

Consider Millennials’ strong interest in spirituality. Enrollment in the nation’s 104 “intentionally-Christ-Centered” colleges is up more than at traditional 4-year colleges. There is opportunity here.

THEY ARE A GENERATION: It’s okay to couch your message in generational terms. Unlike GenX, Millennials feel like a generation, are developing generational pride, feel special, and if you celebrate them they’ll “get it”. Don’t call them Gen Y.

A final sweeping thought about marketing to Millennials, from Texas A&M Prof J. McNeal: “Someday soon, advertising that encourages children to defy their parents, make fun of authority, or talk unintelligibly, will be replaced with informative ads describing the benefits of products.”

A final sweeping thought about Millennial values and attitude:

Don’t forget, they’re TEENAGERS. So they’re unpredictable, susceptible to the next, newest, latest, and greatest fad, without any logic behind their choices! And they are a Work-In-Progress, as a generation. The core values, beliefs, and attitudes that will ultimately guide their consumer, lifestyle, and career decisions for a lifetime are still being formed. When targeting youth, generational analysis might be less reliable than it is when marketing to adult generations.

And remember: Do NOT call them Generation Y.

Add your own future tips, tactics, and guidelines here

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