Life Blog #3
If you ask me who the king in the north is, I would say that its Jon Snow. But if you ask me which ad I saw in today's Newspaper, you will find me making a funny face because the last time I read the paper was,.... well,... so long ago that I can't even remember.
The word Millennials does not just stand for an age group. Rather, its a state of mind that affects consumer behavior across generations. Yet, others popularly describe them as those between the age groups of 18 and 35. The millennials fall in two age group categories, in different life stages. The college going youth up to the age of 24 and the responsible job seekers with a new family between age of 25 and 35.
Marketing or to put it plainly even speaking to them requires an understanding of their characteristics and the fact remains that, they are very different from the generations before and generations after. They would understand High Valyrian better than the British English of yesteryear's that The Hindu prints.
Having given a fair introduction, lets try to decipher the characteristics of a typical millennial. In the usual stereotyped marketing terms, these folks are more used to "Wants" than "Needs". Which means that they have been fortunate enough to not face any adversity, difficulty or scarcity as the previous generations. They are highly optimistic than their predecessors and are most likely not to save much for the generations to come. They are reluctant to wait and usually take the leap of faith with whatever situations that may come their way. I know a friend of mine who caught hold of the recent GOT season 7 script from somewhere because he could not wait for it to air in HBO. However, they are not blind.They need reasons and rationale to go along with their work hard - play harder kind of attitude. Like my colleagues Mr. MVM and Mr. Sarcasm, they love to binge watch their favorite shows, like for example the Stranger Things Season 2 that was released in Netflix last week. Millennials as a generations long for social acceptance. They have a very strong need... oops sorry, a very strong want to be acknowledged, recognized and accepted not just by peers but by all. The stories in Snapchats, Instagrams etc are proof for this. (I have left out Facebook knowingly because its not just hip anymore for the millennials, but they do occasionally glance through it). They don't give a crap about hierarchy and would rather work horizontally, cross-platforming resources and experiences rather than blindly following the management.
So how can marketers get them to Binge Consume brands? Hmm, sounds like a challenge doesn't it? Well to be honest, its one really tough challenge. For one, its hard to capture the attention of millennials. Retail does not interest them because all they would see is a shade of your brand in the 1000 shades of other brands. Their buying decisions are likely to be influenced by Social Media. Maybe a skip-able ad upfront of their favorite YouTube video or a 10 seconder story in the Instagram feed might capture their imagination. This generation which is very strong in multitasking sees very little or no television, so whatever communication that the advertiser may put would have to communicate in under 5 seconds.
Millennials are very sharp when it comes to identifying what is in an ad for them.To make things worse, since millennials take advertisements for granted, its both difficult and easy at the same time to market to them. Hence, rather than mumbling what your product is all about through elaborate ad messages and celebrity endorsements, marketers should think about crafting experiences which is content driven. Further, millennials find comfort in technology. They are not the kind who are likely to go and purchase a product from Lulu Mall just by seeing an ad in Mathrubhumi (making an assumption that the millennial in question read that days paper, which is quite the contrary). But, they might purchase it online with a few swipes while watching Samwell Tarly send ravens in GOT. Yes, in fact, millennials feel superior due to technology that enables them to purchase stuff online. Online makes a big difference for all brands because if the brands products/ services are available to be consumed online, you are at least in the choice set when it comes to purchase. Doomed are the brands that are offline I would say and doomed are the brands that still stick to the traditional advertisement.
Well, being in the digital space and advertising regularly will still not cut it. Millennials are impatient. They are not going to sit around and wait for your ad to load in the Facebook feed/ Instagram feed and see the whole 3 minutes of it. They would rather see 3 seconds and if it appeals to them, they might see another 3. This is where it gets tricky. How do you communicate effectively to millennials withing this 3 dreaded seconds? A communication traditionalist would have given up by now seeing what I've been writing so far. This is quite natural, I'm sure its not making any sense to you. But read on, it may save your job and the brands that you handle in the years to come.
Some tips here would be to use contextual targeting. Which is showing ads to those who matter and not to all at once (typical newspapers). Using influencer's might help. They are the so called celebrities of the future. But not your typical celebrity like Mohanlal. For example, Filip from Everythingapplepro. This particular influencer has given iPhone X rave reviews almost an year before its launch. Such influencers render their impressions on your brand but at the same time keep the core product intact. The target consumers might believe Filip more than Tim Cook when it comes to an important iPhone discovery.
Marketing to millennials is tough indeed. They have wandering attention and live in a world of their own. They love to be engaged and would kick you out the minute you babble about your brand. They love experiences that are real. Not even for a second you can afford to think of them as your customers. Don't ask them to be a part of your brand family or your word of mouth army because they will burn your brand down with trolls and insane tweets. Just ask them to be your fans, well don't ask-ask them but rather...... well you know what I am saying right.
So if I were you, and you were someone into marketing, and wanted to talk to millennials then I would suggest that you try to figure out who Ser Jorah of Mormont is rather than spoon feeding yourself what's written in the ol' Kotler books.
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