CPG Matters
December 9, 2014
Much has been written in marketing circles about the diminishing importance of the baby boomer generation and the rise of the new
target – millennials, those born between about 1980 and 1995. Each day we are bombarded with the latest in research and insider tips
for reaching millennials. This group is the largest generation yet, numbering nearly 80 million in the U.S. alone. Naturally, marketers
are drooling at the concept of this fresh batch of targets, ripe for inundation and indoctrination into the world of advertising.
We're told by the reams of data gathered that millennials are techsavvy, brand-agnostic, health-conscious and ultracynical.So any marketing and advertising directed to them needs to be "real" or "authentic," or some other aspect that doesn't scream "you're being sold to!"
Here is the problem with that: there is no possible way that 80 million people, born across a span of 15 years, can consistently be anything. I can think of many people who fit the attributes outlined above, but many of them are aging boomers, including me. The single attribute that millennials have in common is their age, by definition. But age isn't a strong indicator of much these days/ Technology has narrowed the generation gap to the point of irrelevance.
Grouping an entire generation – as we have with boomers – and expecting it to behave in a singular fashion is foolhardy at best. It didn't work for boomers, who started out as counterculture, generation gap kids, who were intent on overturning the establishment and all it stood for. Forty years ago there was a driving zeitgeist with the boomers to push back at the things theyblamed their parents for: Vietnam, the Cold War, pollution, etc. That time has passed, the boomers got older, and there is no longer a high level of generational discontent to bind the group together. Today, boomers are the establishment. But they are also in many ways techsavvy, brand-agnostic, health-conscious and ultracynical, the very things being attributed to millennials.
The problem with generalizing about generations is that it discounts much more impactful differences like gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, education, and so on. It frankly demeans the market by taking away a big part of what really makes it special; that is, the simple fact of its diversity across all fronts.
Technology has changed the world in many ways and one is allowing the spread of information in forms and at a speed never before seen. The plethora of platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. that drive today's connected lifestyles make individual data points widely available. That means there is no good reason to market to millennials – or any other demographic – as a group. Facebook knows things about you that your parents don't know. From that data and knowledge comes insight, which advertisers use to fashion relevant marketing messages based, not on one's age, but more on one's actual behaviors and interests.
Marketing to millennials is just plain lazy marketing. More importantly, it won't work, particularly not in a world of targeted, datadriven messaging that is more on point than targeting by age group. We need to stop thinking about millennials as a group, and start addressing their needs as diverse and unpredictable consumers who will spend the next 40 years defying our characterizations.
Jeff Weidauer is vice president of marketing at Vestcom, the leading provider of customized shelf-edge communication for the retail industry, driving sales and reducing costs for the nation's top retailers and their suppliers. Mr. Weidauer can be reached at jweidauer@vestcom.com or 501.663.0100.
