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 

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