From the mouths of babes

In the late 2000s, user-generated advertising gained popularity alongside websites such as YouTube. In theory, these ads provide an opportunity for companies to use crowd sourcing to solicit hundreds of potential ideas - all for free. Promoting contests via millennial-friendly interactive channels seems like a natural fit to attract the generation to both your contest and brand. What's not to love?

Unfortunately, if you ask any of several companies who have run these promotions, it is all more easier said than done. For example, the H.J. Heinz Company solicited entries for a user-generated ad contest for the Heinz ketchup brand in 2007, but received less than impressive submissions. 

 Dan's Heinz Commercial (Story, 2007)

For many companies, the results of these campaigns are often "more stressful, costly and time-consuming than just rolling up their sleeves and doing the work themselves." (Story, 2007, para. 6). In addition, the work involved to manage the contest and campaigns is rarely qualified by the investment as advertisers often spend millions on promotion for the contests themselves (Story, 2007, para. 7).

This is not to say that all user-generated submissions are low-quality. Frito-Lay's Doritos brand has run their Crash the Super Bowl contest prior to several Super Bowls, and the contest attracts many high-quality submissions. The 2011 winner tied for the best ad in USA Today's Super Bowl Ad Meter (Horovitz, 2011, para. 3).

If you are prepared to manage the behind-the-scenes workload of a user-generated advertising competition, and it aligns with your brand personality, then you may find it to be a worthwhile investment. However, marketers looking to woo the millennial generation should proceed with caution.

A report released by the AMA in partnership with Opinion Research Corp. finds that while adults generally find user-generated advertising contests to be customer friendly, creative and innovative as compared to agency advertising, the same does not hold true for a large segment of millennials. The younger demographic (age 18-24) actually find this type of advertising to be less trustworthy, less socially responsible and less customer friendly (Burns, 2011, pg. 641).

There is some wiggle room to reach this group of millennials if done effectively. The credibility of the source of a message can impact its effectiveness (Burns, 2011, pg. 641). If members of your target audience perceive the source as the producer of the advertisement, and they see that person as a peer, then your user-generated ads may have a higher lever of credibility, as compared to a message coming directly from the advertiser (Burns, 2011, pg. 641).
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Burns, K. (2011), From consumers to producers: Engagement through user-generated 
   advertising contests. Handbook of Research on Digital Media and Advertising, 32,     
   641.

Horovitz, B. (2011, February 3). Best Super Bowl ads: A doggone tie for Ad Meter. USA 
   Today. Retrieved October 20, 2011 from http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising
   /admeter/2011/super-bowl-ad-meter/43271432/1

Story, L. (2007, May 26). The high price of creating free ads. The New York Times.  
   Retrieved October 20, 2011 from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/26/business
   /26content.ready.html?pagewanted=all

Give a little bit..

The popularity of brands like Toms Shoes among the millennial generation is no coincidence. Millennials want to associate with companies and brands that are involved in the community and that make them feel good (Sujansky & Ferri-Reed, 2009, pg. 45). 

As the first generation required to complete community service to graduate from high school, millennials are experts on volunteering, and they often extend the mindset to their purchases, which has attracted marketers eager to woo "social-aware shoppers" (Davidson, 2010, para. 5).

Recently, Microsoft's Bing search engine has been profiling Krochet Kids International, an organization launched by three friends who wanted to make a difference, in their television advertisements.

"Buy a hat, change a life."

Thirty-second Bing/Krochet Kids spot airing now

The ad is part of a series of Bing Originals that go behind the scenes to tell various stories, all of which feature the Bing website.

The Bing/Krochet Kids commercials attract attention because they feel somewhat out of character for Microsoft, a company who has been ridiculed for being out-of-touch (see any Mac/PC advertisement by Apple.) The collaboration with Krochet Kids promotes Bing in a positive light while keeping the focus on a company created by millennials that exhibits many of the key qualities the generation values.

Microsoft is currently working with Razorfish and Co Collective to evaluate re-positioning the brand, and feedback on the evaluation isn't expected until next year (Patel & Parekh, 2011, para. 1-2). How and if Bing continues to court the demographic remains to be seen. 

Given millennials' expertise using technology, they should be kept top of mind. Persuading millennials to move away from Google would certainly be a difficult task, but should Bing position themselves as a search engine that offers 'more' than Google, they may be able to capture the generation's attention.

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Davidson, S. (2010, December 1). Have yourself a merry millennial Christmas. 

   Millennial Marketing. Retrieved on October 15, 2011 from 

   http://millennialmarketing.com/2010/12/have-yourself-a-merry-millennial-christmas/

Patel, K. & Parekh, R. (2011, September 23). Bing may ax its "decision engine" 

   positioning. Advertising Age. Retrieved on October 15, 2011 from http://adage.com

   /article/digital/microsoft-s-bing-ax-decision-engine-positioning/230011/

Sujansky, J. & Ferri-Reed, J. (2009). Keeping the Millennials. (pg. 45). Retrieved 

   October 15, 2011 from http://books.google.com/books?id=nG_jJWOzhHMC&

   pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=millennials+charity&source=bl&ots=mVSgcTufTY&

   sig=CZqVp1Ow- hgp7zyWSs9qPlSJqA8&hl=en&ei=a7qYTue5IKH-sQK25aCpBA&

   sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBjgU#v=onepage&

   q=millennials%20charity&f=false

Mother may I?

So often research focuses on teenage and college age millennials, but as the first part of the generation moves through their late 20s and early 30s they are also becoming parents.

 

When you think about advertising targeted towards this group, what is the first image that pops in your mind? For me, it's typically a mom who is dutifully preparing a snack or getting a stain out of her well-behaved, albeit messy child's clothes.  

 Electrolux commercials mentioned by Katherine Wintsch in the Forbes article

Although not a mom myself, I am not alone in this perception. In early 2011, Forbes magazine profiled Katherine Wintsch, lead strategic planner of the Wal-Mart account for The Martin Agency. After realizing the disconnect between advertisements and real life, Wintsch founded a think tank called The Mom Complex (Goudreau, 2011, para 2-3). Research revealed that 3 out of 4 moms - or approximately 34 million - feel misunderstood by marketers (Goudreau, 2011, para. 3). 

As times are changing, and a greater proportion of tech-savvy millennials become moms, it is even more critical for brands to connect effectively with their consumers. A quick internet search can reveal ten of thousands of 'mommy blogs', a number indicative of the fact that moms are the biggest group of bloggers and social networkers (Goudreau, 2011, para. 10). Word spreads quickly amongst these networks so understanding what moms are looking for is key. 

As we've heard before with millennials, authenticity is a non-negotiable. (Goudreau, 2011, para. 9). To capture this in Walmart's advertising, Wintsch and her team focused on life's everyday events. The commercials that came out earlier this year are much more relatable and should strike a chord with young millennial parents who are still figuring things out, as opposed to picture-perfect parents presented by companies in the past.

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Goudreau, J. (2011, January 27). Wal-Mart's Mom-In-Chief targets millennial mothers. 

   Forbes Magazine. Retrieved October 7, 2011 from http://www.forbes.com/sites 

   /jennagoudreau/2011/01/27/wal-marts-mom-in-chief-targets-millennial-mothers- 

   advertising-campaign-consumer-supermom-real-women/

Can you hear us now?

Among the well-chronicled attributes of the millennial generation, their experience and use of technology rarely fails to be mentioned at the top of the list. Many millennials feel the generations' relationship with technology is the key factor that sets them apart from earlier generations (Taylor et al., 2010, pg. 25).

Millennials have an especially tight bond with their cell phones. The Pew Research Center reports that 83% of millennials have slept with their cell phones in or right next to their beds (Taylor et al., 2010, pg. 6) - a marked difference compared to other generations.

Many cell phone advertisements focus on the attributes of the phones themselves, although a few companies have targeted millennials directly. 

The biggest success in this arena was the T-Mobile Sidekick, which debuted in 2002. When I was in college it seemed just about every other person had a Sidekick, and the phones were blatantly targeted at the teenage/college age market. CNN suggests that the Sidekick created the millennial generation's obsession with text messaging (Wilson, 2011, slide 7).

The phone quickly caught on with celebrities and young adults alike. In later years, the brand paired with multiple celebrities and designers like Juicy Couture, Dwayne Wade, Diane Von Furstenburg and Tony Hawk to release exclusive versions of the phone. 

Since the height of the Sidekick's reign, few phones have used celebrity endorsers to reach their target audience. Earlier this week LG announced they will be pairing with celebrity stylist and designer Rachel Zoe to market the LG Marquee phone to young female consumers (Bruell, 2011, para. 1). 

The strategy is part of LG's overarching goal to be seen as a lifestyle brand rather than a hardware manufacturer, according to Chief Marketing Officer Kwan Sup (Bruell, 2011, para. 5). The Marquee campaign will run via a web series entitled "Style Rules" where style bloggers will base different 'looks' on the Marquee's slogan, "Thin, Light and Bright" (Bruell, 2011, para. 2). 

Since the iPhone became a category killer, no one phone has been able to capture the millennial demographic so soundly. It will be interesting to see how young females respond to the LG Marquee campaign. Oddly enough, LG has paired the upscale Zoe with a tongue-in-cheek infomercial style video that mocks some of their target's obsessions: Jersey Shore and Twilight.

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Bruell, A. (2011, October 3). LG mobile enlists Rachel Zoe to target young females for 

   Marquee phone. Advertising Age. Retrieved October 4, 2011 from http://adage.com

   /article/digital/lg-mobile-phone-enlists-rachel-zoe-target-young-females/230165/

Taylor, et al. (2010, February). Millennials: a portrait of generation next. Pew Research 

    Center. Retrieved October 1, 2011 from http://pewresearch.org/millennials/

Wilson, J. (2011, October 7). The evolution of mobile phones. CNN.com. Retrieved on   

    October 7, 2011 from http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/07/tech/mobile/gallery-

    evolution-mobile-phones/index.html

The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You

As the millennial generation continues to mature, they will wield more and more economic power across multiple channels. Once they move into the 35-44 age bracket average household spending will increase 23% or greater than 10k per household (Franchese, 2011).

Where is the largest concentration of millennials (currently age 25-34)? Texas, followed closely by Washington, Arizona and Colorado.

 

(Franchese, 2011)

 

(Franchese, 2011) 

Marketers attempting to reach this demographic should keep an eye on these states because the economic impact will likely be impossible to ignore should current trends continue. 

These statistics will also be of special interest to local and regional companies located in these states that do not yet have this demographic on their radar. As millennials age, they will increasingly patronize businesses targeted to parents, home owners, investors, and the like. 

If they are not doing so already, companies should be planning for this change now so they will be ready when millennials arrive.
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Franchese, P. (2011, July 13). Top 10 states for economic growth, based on millennial 
   pop. Advertising Age. Retrieved October 1, 2011 from http://adage.com/article
   /adagestat/top-10-states-economic-growth-based-millennial-pop/228497/