We are living in a different time. Constantly connected, my generation (Generation Y, N-Gen, whatever you call it) lives on the computer through social networking, instant messaging, and email. With the explosion of Web 2.0, we are now able to interact online and socialize in a virtual world.
I was listening to the radio last night and heard something interesting about our generation. In the past, kids would come home from school and receive maybe 1 or 2 phone calls from their friends. Aside from that, they were disconnected from their friends and classmates; you hung out with your family once you came home. Now, kids are constantly connected to their peers and external communities other than their parents and siblings. From a marketing perspective, it's really important to understand that our generation functions this way. Instead of coming home and plopping on the couch, we're coming home to plant ourselves in front of a smaller, more interactive device - the computer.
If I were to characterize my generation, the word “digital” comes to mind. Everything that we do is done with the help of technology, including this homework assignment. I spend a good 1/3 of my waking hours on the computer and I'd argue that my peers do the same. Whether it’s spent emailing, shopping online, watching YouTube, scanning Facebook, or doing homework, my generation is using the computer like we never thought imaginable. From a marketing perspective, the fact that we spend so much time on the computer makes the internet an extremely valuable medium to reach our audience. Television is becoming less effective as a marketing tool and the internet is becoming a more popular, more effective medium. As a member of Gen Y, I think that many companies are still experimenting with the best way to use technology to reach us. After all, this revolution is relatively fresh and it is constantly changing, making it extremely difficult for marketers to keep up with our morphing demands and expectations.
We’ve seen marketers attempt to reach us through blogs or through viral marketing techniques, only to find out that they were too late to jump on the bandwagon or were just interpreting our generation incorrectly. For example, the “Myspace Generation” podcast talks about how Secret deodorant launched a marketing campaign to target Gen-Y females through a blog. In this blog, a fictional character that represented the product posted about herself online, but it was largely unsuccessful and there were very few readers. Secret got it right that blogs were in – everyone in their target market had one (Xanga, MySpace, Blogspot, etc.), but they misunderstood the usage of one, leading to their failure to reach their target market. Blogs are written by real people about real things, and these fictional characters did not. Secret just assumed that readership would be high like any other blog, but they did not capture the true essence and purpose of a blog.
But we’ve also seen marketers reach us and really capture our attention as well. With technology, our generation has grown accustomed to the ability to have options and customize our products before we buy them. My generation seeks uniqueness, and many companies have fully grasped this need and desire. Dell, for example, allows their customers to fully customize their products through the web, making it appealing to many college students. No longer just a uniform looking laptop, we can now change the color or our laptop shells and virtually view it before we place our order. Instead of having to imagine what we would be receiving in the mail a week later, we can get the closest representation possible through our internet browsers.
Companies like Nike are doing something similar with their NikeID line. Consumers can go through the web and fully customize the look of their shoe to express their individuality. They even have the ability to “tattoo” the shoe with their name or nickname if they prefer. The Gen Y article that we read for class argues that Nike is no longer a brand of my generation, but I disagree with that. I’d say that Nike still holds a substantial market share of my generation. After all, they are still recognized as a quality athletic brand. These two companies are just some examples of how companies are really understanding the N-Generation and catering to our needs.It’s really interesting to see how companies have to modify their marketing strategies to reach a specific segment. What works today is only going to work for so long, so it’s really important for marketers to stay on their feet. Our generation is so adaptive and quick to change that we are easily unpredictable. But for the most part, I think marketers have demonstrated an understanding of our generation, or else the consumer market would have collapsed. In summary, I think that marketers should continue to focus on technology to ensure that they reach us and keep us intrigued by their products.
