Marketing to the Next Generation
Guy Kawasaki (managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm) recently held a panel discussion in Santa Clara with a group on high school and college students which offered a fascinating insight into how to marketing to the next generation of consumers (18-24).
There is a video of the whole panel discussion at Veotag. Note that I have never used Veotag before, but I instantly loved the ability to move back and forth between the segments that interest me. It is much more effective than anything that Google Video or Yahoo video has.
So what are the traits of the Next Generation?
- The don’t watch a lot TV or employ much traditional media; One average they watch 1-2 hours of TV a week
- They don’t tolerate commercials, and don’t have to; Heavy use of Tivo to avoid any commercials
- They are very mobile; Text messaging is a huge part of staying in contact with friends and family
- They reject overly slick (inauthentic) content and messages.
Tom Hayes summed these traits up as:
In short, they don’t use the media we use (at least in the same way), they don’t want to be interrupted, they don’t stay still long enough to engage, they don’t want their space invaded and they are turned off by highly packaged pitches.
So what is the Next Generation receptive too?:
- Extremely high usage of MySpace and FaceBook. If you are targeting the college crowd, then you must have a presence on Facebook
- Surprisingly, Microsoft Office with Word and PowerPoint are the two tools of students. Those who have been predicting the demise of Microsoft are a little premature
- This generation is surrounded by a lot of noise from advertisers which causes a lot of resentment. They manage to block out the white noise through technology like Tivo, or software to block pop-up and banners ads.
A couple of things jumped out at me during this section. One was the universal usage of Wikipedia as a trusted source of information. For brands, the fact that Wikipedia is now the source of information about your brand is something that has to keep marketing managers awake at night. Second is that divide between MySpace and Facebook users that a lot of marketers are not aware off. Traditionally MySpace has attracted more of a high school demographic while Facebook has traditionally been for the college student. This will change somewhat as Facebook opens itself up to anyone to join, but the key point is that if your customer base is more of the college crowd then you need to have a presence on Facebook.
So how do you market to the next generation?
- They rely heavily on referrals from friends, peers and celebrities for buying cues
- They want active interaction, not passive purchasing;
- They can be reached by “work of mouth,” so actively campaign
That the next generation it turned off by traditional Madison Avenue advertising and tunes out all direct advertising pitches. What they are receptive too is referrals from “credible sources”. These sources can be peers, trusted web sites, blogs or celebrities. As Tom Hayes put it, this “Generation doesn’t want to buy from you. But if they discover you on their own terms, they may invite you into their lives.”
This is a terrific video to watch. Guy Kawasaki’s takeaway was:
The bottom line message is that before you waste your marketing dollars, you should watch what the panelists had to say”
Filed under Social Media Optimization : Comments (7) : Oct 3rd, 2006
October 4th, 2006 at 3:32 am
[...] If the 16-24 year old crowd is your target, you already know you need to use the social networks. Knowing HOW to address this group is much harder. As highlighted by the San Clara panel the Next Generation is always on, always connected and always communicating with friends. To get inside this inner circle you need to be invited or endorsed by someone already in the circle. Banging on the door unannounced will result in resentment, tuning out, and potentially long-term damage to your brand. [...]
October 15th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Marketing to the Next Generation…
… Guy Kawasaki (managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm) recently held a panel discussion in Santa Clara with a group on high school and college students which offered a fascinating insight into how to mar…
January 7th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
[...] I guess that Jim Nail has never read anything that Tom Hayes has wrote at TomBomb.com about the Bubble Generation or watched the video that Guy Kawasaki produced of this panel interview of the Bubble Generation. It is very clear that consumers under the age of 24 are ignoring traditional media completely or they are using tools like TiVo and iPods to avoid direct contact with traditional media tactics like commercials. The middle group, consumers ages 25-35, are equally comfortable in both traditional and new media. Study how they use each medium and in what combination to see how the media world will evolve. [...]
February 2nd, 2007 at 5:23 pm
[...] Many marketing managers have the misconception that all social media sites are the same, and thus all they need is a cookie cutter approach that will work across all the whole social network. This analysis debunks that thinking. In Marketing to the Next Generation (Gen Y) they talk about: [...]
February 7th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
[...] Published February 7th, 2007 in Blog and Audio. Tags: Audio. Tags:AudioMake sure to visit Social Media Optimization because you will learn what they are receptive to and how to approach and reach themarket. I learned a lot. Other resources include: [...]
February 27th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
I don’t see anything that you discuss as being exclusive to the next generation.
I work with baby boomers, GenX and Gen Y small business owners and believe me either as individuals or the clients they connect with cover that profile.
• Their TV watching is way reduced, and they hate being interrupted in that watching
• They increasingly use mobile communication
• They reject overly slick (inauthentic) content and messages
• They frequent social network sites but their connection is much more profound than the “needless chatter” of the “in” social network sites
• They rely heavily on referrals from friends, peers but totally ignore celebrities (ego centric is not in their vocab) for buying cues
• They seek active interaction, not passive chatter
• Word of mouth is 90%+ of their business promotion
Great topic for provoking discussion, may be the bigger picture you discuss applies to big business, may be small business is more connected. Hmmm Interesting thought.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
[...] Y rejects traditional advertising, and prefers word of mouth messages from peers, active interaction (think experiential/event [...]