Making Your Mark With The Millennials

Generation Y--The second-largest crop of young people in America's history, offspring of the Boomers-80 million of them, nearly 27 percent of the U.S. population-are in their late teens and 20s, and already a market force to be reckoned with.

The Millennials are here big time! "They're demanding their own music, defining their own trends and starting to matter to advertisers, to retailers, to politicians," chirped a recent Chicago Tribune editorial. What's more, they are (or soon will be) buying cars and homes, getting married, starting families--and are going to matter very much to American business.

Neo-traditionalist in many ways, the Millennials are not cynical about marriage and having families. These young people value such intangibles as personal fulfillment, family well-being, freedom, security-lives on track. As a result, count on the Millennials to step up to the issues and needs most of us have no matter which generational cohort, market segment, or stage of life we're in. "They don't want to make the mistakes of either Generation X or the Boomers, to wait until the panic stage to have babies," writes columnist, Suzanne Fields.

A High Dose of Reality

But no matter how great their marketing potential, Millennials with ground-floor incomes may be struggling to negotiate rent and other living expenses on top of college loans that the Christian Science Monitor estimates average $17,000. Or they may still be living with Mom and Dad!

So all is not a bed of roses, and even the most astute members of this (or any) generation will find the choices marketers ask them to make confusing. Or (worse) they may think they know it all or imagine they can get everything they need online, and don't need help.

With so much at stake, indecision, inaction or mistakes born of misplaced self-confidence ("It can't happen to me") can be expensive--especially in periods of economic uncertainty. Yet this generation, which has known nothing but prosperity, is not used to doing without. Handed the choice of paying health insurance premiums or maintaining their savings and other financial security plans--and forgoing their cell phones or hanging up their social lives, many of these young people make the wrong call.

Setting priorities can be critical and shouldn't be ignored no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, That's one reason why realistic expectations should be communicated to consumers in this or any other age group. A difficult pill to swallow, but exactly the advice young families in that difficult position should hear.

How to Reach The Millennials

Generation Y is generally more comfortable using the Internet as a research tool to aid in making saving and investment decisions, rather than as a means for on-line banking or trading. "To effectively reach the youngest generation of adult Americans, whose lives are being shaped by digital media, marketers must deliver smarter, more sophisticated messages and build brands with them rather than for them," a study by advertising firm, Saatchi & Saatchi suggests.

As described by Jane Levere in "Generation Shaped by Digital Media Presents Fresh Marketing Challenges," in the The New York Times: "Saatchi & Saatchi, a unit of Saatchi & Saatchi PLC, based its study on interviews by child psychologists with 84 people ages 6 to 20 across the United States. They were asked what they thought about digital media like personal computers, the Internet, CD-ROMs, video games and cellular phones and other communication devices, and how these media affected their lives. Cultural anthropologists also observed 10 families at home for 50 hours each.

According to the agency, the digital media have several functions for the 80 million Americans born since 1977, the largest generation in the nation's history. "The media serve as toys for these young people but also provide developmental challenges. Digital media also function as a virtual hearth at home," the study said. It found that "most families have their digital media set up in a public room of the house; consequently, a lot of digital activities are shared by the family, making these media a center of family life.

"In addition, the study learned that the new media could function as a 'cool library' for the new generation."Generation Y uses digital media as an extension of self socially, intellectually and emotionally," the study said. 'By extending the self in these ways, the new media help young people find their identity.' It concluded that digital media act as "power tools" for the Millennials, giving them tremendous access to knowledge.

Generation Y is generally more comfortable using the Internet as a research tool to aid in making saving and investment decisions, rather than as a means for on-line banking or trading. "To effectively reach the youngest generation of Americans, whose lives are being shaped by digital media, marketers must deliver smarter, more sophisticated messages and build brands with them rather than for them," a study by advertising firm, Saatchi & Saatchi suggests.

Social Security Reality Check

Despite Democrat and MSM protestations, many young adults are pushing for a privatized or partially privatized Social Security program, which would maximize their two greatest wealth accumulation assets -- time and compounding returns.

Prediction: Petulently refusing any mention of privatizing Social Security won't cut it for long. Washington must find the stones either to a) call time-out and switch over to a privatized Social Security system for everyone over a certain age, b) permit wage earners to invest x-percentage of their payroll tax into personal accounts, or c) come up with some other fiscally feasible, politically palatable version of Social Security reform.

Failing that, the discontent of Millennials and Generation Xers will become the political time bomb for future presidents and Congresses that Social Security had been until George Bush's bold 2005 initiative.

Want More? Send questions and comments to w.willard3@knology.net.

Bill Willard has also been writing high-impact marketing and sales training primarily for the financial services industry for 30 years. Through interactive, Web-based "Do-While-Learning?" programs, enewsletters and straight-talking articles, Bill helps small-business owners and independent professionals get the job done: profitably improving performance, helping grow your business, skipping expensive mistakes, making the journey to small-business success faster, smoother, easier. And fun!

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