Reaching Millennial Consumers
The term Millennials (or Generation Y) refers to those born between 1980 and 2000, those who are today between 18 and 38 years old. Clearly, there are significant differences between the youngest and oldest Millennials. However, there are common patterns in lifestyle choices that can be shared with the majority of Millennials. There have been huge societal and cultural changes during the last few decades, and as a result Millennials are leading vastly different lifestyles compared to their parents at the same age. To begin with, almost 50% of Millennials are highly educated and tech savvy and they tend to be detached from traditional institutions such as political parties, religions and marriage. Millennials represent a diverse group of people – a vast variety of social groups and lifestyles. They want to be recognised as individuals with their own values and needs.
From a broader social point of view, a higher standard of living is available for more and more people and opportunities seem to be endless. Many things earlier generations had to work hard for, can today be taken for granted. Nonetheless, this generation faces its own challenges. Despite all the popular fitness tracking apps and health food trends, millennials are expected to become the fattest of all. It’s not only their physical health that is suffering, but also mental health issues are on the rise. The “on-the-go” lifestyle, constant competition and increased uncertainty combined with pressure from social media are clearly having consequences on Millennials.
Still, as a generation Millennials carry a lot of potential. They are more likely to be socially conscious and most willing (almost three out of four) to pay extra for sustainable offerings. Having observed the problems of over spending of older generations, millennials are more cost conscious than older generations: over half compare prices before making a purchase decision. Millennials are looking for products and services with convenience. Overall, they seem to be less attached to material things and traditional status symbols: they are more into the style of life than the stuff of life. Many are reluctant to buy homes, cars and luxury goods and instead they are more keen to a “sharing economy”, which is why they are loyal customers for services like Uber and AirBnB.
They have their real and virtual identities, and are highly influenced by social media. They want to be noticed, ‘liked’ and ‘followed’ and be part of the brand conversation, not just passive observers of ads. They prefer authentic advertising that is useful and entertaining, and brands as content creators, telling a story rather than advertising a product. They have high expectations and expect the message to be personalised and targeted for their specific individual needs.
This is a generation of multitasking: millennials are plugged and logged in to multiple devices and social media channels. For marketers this is great opportunity to reach potential customers from various angles if they are able to create an authentic, personalised and consistent message across platforms. Millennials express true brand loyalty as long as the brand resonates with their values, and thus they can become valuable brand ambassadors across social media for vast audiences.
Spirable is changing the way brands communicate with customers and offers innovative ways to target Millennials and other customer groups with highly relevant and personalised video content that can be easily distributed at scale across all social platforms.