Categories: Articles

Marketers Meet The Millennials

A couple of weeks back I saw a segment on 60 Minutes entitled, The Millennials Are Coming! (now available online). This is the new Generation Y (or Gen X). It’s people born between 1980 – 1995 (currently aged 12 – 27) and as they enter the workforce, their demands are quite different from the "business as usual" attitude most organizations have held so near and dear.

The implications on Marketing are being felt already as this age group leads the way in online social networks, mobile connectivity, Blogging, Podcasting, the gaming industry, music, and more.

So, who are these people? The 60 Minutes segment does have a certain, "kids these days" vibe. It’s all about how wired and connected they are while they don’t understand basic dining etiquette, but forgoing the tele-journalist spin they spun, they are some key messages that act like indicators into where we are now with Digital Marketing.

The key learning from this segment (and I do recommend that everyone checks out the ten minute piece) is the WRAM issue (World Revolves Around Me). The Millennials are connected, educated and passionate. They care about their own self-actualization and are not driven by money, status or benefits. They expect companies to provide them with the latest access to technology. The expect to be working in a participatory culture and mass collaborating with their peers. They seem driven by their own desires and passions… and the general message of not trusting anyone over thirty still prevails.

At least some things do stay the same.

You can view the clip here: 60 Minutes – The Millennials Are Coming!

There’s also a great article on this segment over here: USA Today – The ‘Millennials’ Come Of Age.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.