Can't we all just get along?

While the Millennial generation is made up of millions of individual teenagers and young adults with different attitudes, the total sum of those personalities creates a brand in and of itself. Through my research for this blog I've encountered many articles (often cited here) that discuss what Millennials are attracted to in brands, but few that have discussed the Millennial brand itself and how it has been shaped. 

Last night I stumbled upon a TED Talk given by Scott Hess, the Vice President of Insights for TRU - a global youth research firm - that painted the generation in a different light. Check out Scott's presentation, which is entitled 'Millennials: Who They Are and Why We Hate Them' and runs just under 22 minutes, below:

Scott uses his peers, Generation X, as his method of comparison throughout the presentation. Given Gen X was the last full generation to come of age, it's interesting to analyze the similarities and differences between the two generations. As Scott points out, at one time members of Gen X were seen as wild and crazy kids clashing with the Baby Boomer generation. He uses terms like lazy and entitled to describe them - sound familiar?

For the purposes of this blog, I'm less interested in the "Why We Hate" them theme and want to focus on the brands Scott uses to make his points. When comparing "cliquish, judgmental" Gen X'ers to "inclusive, tolerant" Millennials, Scott uses Abercrombie & Fitch as the poster brand of Gen X where the cool kids "create a secret clubhouse in the mall" in contrast with American Eagle which has prospered by embracing an identity where "everyone is hanging out together at the high school football game."

One may wonder is this a case of the chicken or the egg? Did the brands shape Millennials or have they shaped the brands thus inspiring others to mimic what they are attracted to? I believe it's the latter. As compared to "anti-corporate" Gen X, Scott highlights the Millennial generation's tendency to feel large corporations are actually best positioned to solve the problems they may have created and they support companies who do so (Scott uses the great example of Starbucks' Ethos water.) What I find most interesting is that many companies transcend both generations, but appear to be embracing Millennials because of their positive outlook, and in turn Millennials embrace those companies.

Based on TRU's research, Apple is reported to be Millennials' top brand by a long shot. We could probably write several books on how well Apple has marketed their brand. Thankfully Scott highlighted several key factors by deconstructing Apple's brand to understand who Millennials aspire to be. I've highlighted a few below:

• Premium, yet accessible
• Savvy, yet approachable
• Massively personal

Rather than what they aspire to be, I'd categorize these traits as what Millennials ARE. This is why Apple is so successful - because they recognized the core traits of the generation and marketed them back in an appealing fashion.

"Generation Y-ine"

My first experience with wine was my senior year of college when one of my best friends organized a wine and cheese party. It all felt very grown up, and my love for wine blossomed when I began working in DC after college.  Having a glass of wine or sangria at a post-work happy hour was one of the things I felt solidified my status as a ‘real’ adult.

Apparently, I was not alone. Millennials are the fastest growing segment of wine drinkers (Stanford, 2011 para. 6), and brands are taking notice and catering their advertising and branding to attract a new demographic.

For some brands, this means expanding their presence online. BusinessWeek profiled the world’s second largest wine seller, Constellation Brands, who has increased their online presence 150% to connect with Millennials (Stanford, 2011, para. 10). The company’s aim is to increase their scale while remaining authentic (a key trait Millennials are attracted to.)

These strategies work well for consumers who actively engage in discussion about wine, or are open to interact with their preferred brands online. However, it’s also important to attract attention on the store shelves. Personally, I’m attracted by the packaging and branding. An interesting label will often intrigue me to look for more information about a given brand, and sometimes I’ll just take a leap of faith and purchase based on the label alone. 

HobNob wine crafted their entire branding campaign to appeal to Millennials.  HobNob is imported from France, but their advertising isn’t about the wine or the company – it’s about you. Their campaign blankets all media that millennials use on a consistent basis:

“a Web site,; a blog called The Juice; social media like Facebook and Twitter; promotions; an application for the iPhone, Rock My Whirl, that offers spinning-bottle games; an e-mail newsletter, Inner Circle; and a focus on “indie” music that includes a section of the Web site called Creative Juices.” (Elliott, 2010, para. 7)

Interestingly, the brand is also reaching out to the target audience with posters on kiosks, taxis and “wild posting locales.” (Elliott, 2010, para. 8) The creative strategy is to “fit the lifestyle of the millennial consumer” which are “busy, casual lives, filled with friends and entertainment.” (Elliott, 2010, para. 4)

It’s important not to push too hard, or else the image will feel forced and fake. I’m on the fence with HobNob. The branding is appealing, but a bit in your face, playing up the stereotypes about the generation. Given millennials penchant for wanting to be leading the conversation about their preferred brands, your strategy may be better served by cohabitating with consumers in this market, rather than shouting out loud that your brand is the place to be. As the saying goes, if you have to say you are cool, then you probably aren’t.

Elliott, S. (2010, October 25). Selling new wine in millennial bottles. The New York     

   Times. Retrieved on September 13, 2011 from       http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10  
   /25/business/media/25adnewsletter1.html?pagewanted=1 

Stanford, D. (2011, May 12). Targeting millennial wine drinkers online. Bloomberg   

    Businessweek. Retrieved on September 13, 2011 from   

    http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_21/b4229022111543.htm

You've Got A Friend In Me

Another interesting fact highlighted in the Milo.com infographic is the statistic that 60% of girls ages 13-24 consider a store as a friend. The desire to connect with these ‘friends’ is evident in the way millennials so quickly jump on board to connect with brands on Facebook and via official Twitter accounts.

Some companies are now giving their brand a true face to the name. Unlike celebrity endorsements or customer testimonials, these individuals truly embody the brand because they often are the brand. It’s an interesting creative strategy.

Since 2008, J. Crew has actively promoted creative director, Jenna Lyons, as the face of the brand. Catalogs, emails and the website feature “Jenna’s Picks” from J. Crew’s “commander-in-chic.” The picks come with advice straight from Jenna offering advice on trends or how to style a particular look - similar to the advice you’d expect from a friend, and absent of the ‘authoritative’ voice that sometimes appears in magazines a la Glamour’s Do’s and Don’ts. That is the goal, as Jenna states:

“I think there is a need to make things feel a little more intimate and exciting and people are looking for a level of integrity, and a different level of interest, in something . . . I think people want that — most people don’t have the time to really shop and find things on their own, so being able to have something curated for someone well, nine times out of 10 you’re interested in the same things your friends are interested in. That’s how it works, right? So if you like the group of people who are making the clothes, chances are very good that you’re going to like some of the other things we’re looking at, whether it’s the best lipstick we think is out there or the right nail polish, the book, the sunscreen, the perfume or the record.” (Atkinson, 2011, para. 3)

The approach clearly resonates with J. Crew’s target market of 25-to-40 year old women (Krantz & O'Donnell, 2006, para. 7). The customer base is fanatical about promoting and discussing the brand online with multiple blogs devoted solely to the brand.

As always, it’s important to remember that authenticity is key. J. Crew succeeds for a few reasons:

1)   Personality - Jenna is a real person offering personal advice that is true to her personal style.

2)   Applicability – Jenna’s Picks are real advice that consumers could use as inspiration for any outfit, not simply ones from J. Crew (although subsequent purchases are a benefit.)

3)   Accessibility – potential customers can get Jenna’s advice at any time of the day on J. Crew’s website, Facebook page and Tumblr page.

Who doesn’t love a friend who is there for you anytime of the day or night?

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Atkinson, N. (2011, August 20). Q&A: Jenna Lyons, creative director of J. Crew.  
     National Post (Toronto, Canada). Retrieved September 13, 2011 from

     http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/08/20/qa-jenna-lyons-creative-director-of-j-crew/

Krantz, M. and O'Donnell, J. (2006, June 28). Investors show faith in J. Crew's 
      potential. USA Today. Retrieved September 13, 2011 from

      http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2006-06-28-jcrew-ipo_x.htm

 

Millennials Want it All (Or Nothing At All)

The infographic below from Milo.com provides some interesting insights into millennials’ ‘top’ brands - all of which are prestige, luxury brands.

 

It presents an interesting dichotomy given the current state of the economy and job market. Perhaps the some of the inherent attraction to premium luxury brands is in part due to the fact that many of our “helicopter parents” were able to provide us with the hottest, must-have, new ‘it’ thing as we were growing up. My mother waited in line for hours at the toy store to get me a Cabbage Patch doll when I was a toddler, and the list goes on. . . 

Expectations were set early that in-demand products are attainable. Fast forward to present day and while I may have aspirationally wished, dreamed, hoped, prayed wanted to own a Chanel bag, I’ve never been in a position where I could realistically afford one (yet.) In fact, I’m unsure I will ever be able to reach my parents’ level of financial success. Perhaps echoing some of those concerns, the infographic also indicates that while they love luxury, millennials/‘Gen Yers’ are also looking for a deal.

Their combined spending power undoubtedly makes this group an attractive market, but brands should be careful about discounting strategies to capture their attention as this has the potential to lower the value of your brand. I receive emails almost every day from the Gap offering various discounts, which makes it hard for me to believe any messages that try to position their clothes differently, i.e., their “Premium Pant” and “Premium Denim” lines. 

Luxury brands remain status symbols because of their exclusivity. This is not a luxury afforded to all brand categories.Target is a great example of a company who caters to champagne taste on a beer budget.

 

The company does a fantastic job of capturing the attention of both luxury and discount consumers with its’ Designer Collaboration collections. The limited nature of the lines is exclusive, and the marketing of each line makes it feel accessible and anything but cheap. From a branding standpoint, most of these collections are a win-win for the designers and Target.  

Target is by no means considered a luxury brand per se, but their branding positions them as the upscale retailer in their category. The "Design for All" and "Expect More. Pay Less." slogans set the foundation for their brand personality, and I've found the creative is something that makes you want to start a conversation - something millennials are apt to do. 

Target seems to be connecting. My favorite commerical from their Fall back to school campaign has over 630,000 views on YouTube:

 

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Milo.com (2011, July 18). Gen Y's Luxury Buys. Retrieved September 13, 2011 from   

     http://milo.com/blog/gen-ys-luxury-buys-young-people-crave-designer-brands/

This is living

For all the information out there about catering to millennials, Toyota’s recent ad campaign for the Venza appears to highlight the generations’ least appealing qualities. You’ve heard them all before: spoiled, entitled, lazy and self-involved.

Given the positioning, it’s clear millennials are not the Toyota’s target market for the Venza. That said, for all the campaign’s effort to target the Venza to the active, social parents of my generation, the ads immediately caught my attention with their subtle, self-deprecating tone.

In fact, I’d argue that the Toyota Venza ads are targeting both the Boomer and Millennial segments, and I think it works. The Venza is targeted to the older generation, but the Toyota brand is expertly marketed to millennials. Here’s why:

-     Authenticity

Perhaps it’s because they are spot-on in the areas they critique (I just moved cross-country, often microwave my dinner and my parents have 18 and 31 Facebook friends, respectively), but I’m attentive to situations that are/have been similar to my own. I appreciate the honesty and believe it would appeal to others in my demographic as well. 

   -  Humor

The millennials portrayed in the ads are deadpan. However, I find the spots have an appealing self-deprecating quality similar to the classic Volkswagen ads of the 1960s. The ‘caricatures’ presented in the Venza ads make you pay attention and are “funny because it’s true.” 

In my mind, Toyota and Saatchi & Saatchi have given the spots a unique voice even if it may not have been intentional. Mention Toyota and I’d have these ads top-of-mind – great news for a company plagued by recalls and a deteriorating image over the past couple years. This is especially true for a group that hasn’t yet reached their prime car-buying years. It’s a little something for everyone.

Check out the other campaign spots below:

Nooks and crannies

Now we know a few key facts about millennials, but it is also key to fully understand your brand to engage them. What image is it projecting? How would consumers describe it? As they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression (or a handful depending on how efficiently your messaging is breaking through the clutter.)

My first memory about a specific brand occurs around the tender age of five. The grocery store-brand English muffins provided at my daycare did not rise to the occasion. In my mind, if they weren’t Thomas’, they weren’t English muffins. My loyalty lay so deep that I even took to hiding my ‘breakfast’ in the bottom of my backpack after getting on the school bus - only to dispose of the meal upon arrival at school each morning (and sometimes less frequently – sorry Mom and Dad.) 

 Starting them young!

How’s that for brand loyalty? Unusual for a small child? Perhaps, but a study released in April 2010 by researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Madison indicates that not only can preschoolers (ages 3-5) recognize brand names, but that they also make judgments based on those brand associations (Dell'Antonia, 2010, para. 1). Some of the associations they made with the brands ranged from "McDonald’s has a playground so you can play there and everyone likes you” to “he won't have any friends because nobody wants to eat burgers all the time.” (msnbc.com, 2010, para. 17)

Putting any potential ethical questions regarding marketing to children aside, when (future) consumers begin forming opinions about your brand so early on, it’s critical to have a handle on your brand’s essence – its' certain je ne sais quoi – and to capture and communicate it effectively.

You must understand the ‘nooks and crannies’ of your target audience (please forgive me for the play on words.) Kirk Phillips, a principal at Conrad I Phillips I Vutech, posted a list of the 9 criteria for brand essence on his blog brandSTROKE. Here are just a few I wanted to highlight:

"Intangible One is no more independent on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle than another brand, but somehow one feels like it. Tap into what the consumer feels." (Phillips, 2009)

This is the element of je ne sais quoi. What emotions does your brand evoke? While it can be difficult to summarize those intangibles, you must narrow your focus. A great example is the Walt Disney Company’s vision statement – “To make people happy.” Although lengthy in terms of describing the essence, it is simple, straight and to the point and captures the heart of their business. 

"Unique The essence of a brand is how it is different from competitors in the same category. E.g., if Apple (and its products) are friendly and approachable, then it is claiming that its competitors are not." (Phillips, 2009)

"Experiential The essence captures what the consumer feels during an experience with the brand. E.g., “Driving a Volvo makes me feel that my family is safe.” (Phillips, 2009)

This one should come relatively easily if you understand the qualities of your brand and target consumer. Are you a ‘Mac’ or a ‘PC’? What is it that keeps Apple devotees lining up again and again to be the very first to have each new product? And perhaps more importantly, as a consumer how does that designation make you feel?  

"Authentic The essence must be credible or the brand will be rejected. To find out what consumers believe about your brand, ask them. It’s okay for the brand essence to be aspirational, but only if your customers believe you can deliver on the promise." (Phillips, 2009)

"Sustainable A brand’s essence is baked in. It doesn’t change. Ever." (Phillips, 2009)

Just like those nooks and crannies (last time, I promise) – if Thomas’ creative ever went in an edgier direction it would be difficult for me to swallow because I’ve personally always identified the brand with family. As my Media Management professor, Dr. Matthew Eastin states “all advertising starts and ends with the audience.” As you are evaluating your brand essence, keep your target top of mind to ensure you don’t miss the mark. 

If you are interested in learning more about brand essence, Kirk shared a fantastic slide deck on the topic via the brandSTROKE site, and it is also available to download via SlideShare.

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Dell'Antonia, K.J. (2010, April 3). Preschoolers know all about brands. Retrieved   
     August 30, 2011 from http://www.slate.com/id/2248986/pagenum/all/#p2

msnbc.com (2010, March 9) Even a 3-year-old knows brands. Retrieved August 30, 
     2011 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35780830/ns/health-behavior/t/even--year-old-knows-brands/#.Tn0Jck8ihC5

Phillips, K. (2009, February 9). 9 criteria for brand essence. Retrieved August 30, 2011   
    from http://www.brandstoke.com/index.php/2009/02/09/9-criteria-for-brand-essence/

What Millennials Want

Earlier this summer, McCann Worldgroup completed a global survey entitled “The Truth About Youth.” One of the major findings in the survey concluded that the millennial generation lives in a “new ‘social economy’ in which the power of sharing and recommending brands cannot be overstated.”

No longer is the latest generation to come of age satisfied with having the brand speak to or for them – they speak with and about the brands they love. The study characterizes them as a group that “lives out loud, emphasizing public self-definition, life narration, and broadcasting via blogging platforms, digital cameras, and cheap editing and design software.” Consider millennials a living, breathing ‘Show Me State.’

With the 24/7 nature of the internet and the social media revolution, long gone are the days when brands can deliver carefully crafted messages promoted solely via specific channels. Common sense will dictate that this proves to be even more true for millennials who have grown up relying on this technology and quickly adapting to new innovations along the way.

Ever since I received ‘the internet’ in the form of a dial-up modem for Christmas in 8^th grade, I’ve learned that information will be available to me on my terms.  Fast forward fourteen years, and now I feel empowered to provide that information myself. Personal opinions, favorable and unfavorable, can be sent across the country in an instant. Brand devotees  ‘like’ favorite brands on Facebook, follow them on Tumblr, and tweet and retweet with and about them via Twitter. The ability to quickly spread information via word-of-mouth has the potential to be invaluable, if a brand communicates correctly with their legions of fans.

What are millennials looking for in brands? More personality. According to the McCann study, they are interested in many of the same traits they look for in friends: truthful, genuine, sociable, mature and humble.

In order to embody these traits, it’s important to connect with millennials on a personal level in environments they are comfortable in while also staying true to your brand image. This is easier said than done, of course. Share too much and you risk being banished to the blocked list of a Facebook news feed, too little and you will not hold attention. In a new world when you can end a ‘friendship’ with the click of a mouse, keeping your interaction relevant is key. 

The Kate Spade Tumblr website is a great reflection of some of these must-have traits. Interspersing information about new products with images that capture the essence of the brand while not being ‘branded’ feels genuine because the site is not all about Kate.  It's a Tumblr my best friend could have created. The company has a presence in other social media, but this page extends the essence of the brand in a way that feels organic and personable – not forced.

Keep in mind – your online presence should be an extension of your brand and creative strategy, not simply an addition in effort to connect with the millennial demographic.

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McCann Worldgroup. (May 2011). The Truth About Youth. Retrieved September 9, 2011,
     from http://www.scribd.com/doc/56263899/McCann-Worldgroup-Truth-About-Youth

Wild and crazy kids

Kids these days... they are young, wild and crazy, but aren't they always? 
 

Initially referred to as Generation Y, the Millennial generation is made up of nearly 80 million young adults (Leung, 2009, para. 3) born between the early 1980s and mid-to-late 1990s (depending on who is doing the counting.) They are the largest generation to come of age since their parents, the Baby Boomers, in the 1960s (Leung, 2009, para. 2).

The oldest millennials have just begun to reach their 30s while the youngest are still in high school. They have proven they can make and break a laundry list of trends, fads and brands: slap bracelets, Vanilla Ice, pogs, Starter jackets, Beanie Babies, grunge, goth, boy bands from the New Kids on the Block to the Backstreet Boys (and back again), AIM, Sketchers, JNCO jeans, Airwalk shoes, Swatch watches, MySpace, and the list goes on.

Millennials have the power to change the way things are  sold (Leung, 2009, pg. 2, para. 6), and to reach them, it's critical to understand them. The infographic above (right click and open in a new tab to enlarge) was created using Pew Research, and offers some foundational knowledge about millennials and their use of technology and news media (Bloch, 2010).

As a millennial myself, I have been captivated by the way brands are reaching out to me and my peers. Throughout the course of this blog, I'll use research findings, strategic insights and campaign case studies to explore the most effective ways to capture the attention of millennials.
 

Welcome!

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 Bloch, E. (2010, July 16). Who are the millennials?. Flowtown. Retrieved on September 

   7, 2011 from http://www.flowtown.com/blog/who-are-the-millennials

Leung, R. (2009, February 11). The echo boomers. 60 Minutes. Retrieved on   

   September 7, 2011 from http://www.cbsnews.com 

   /2100-18560_162-646890.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody