The Millennials are affecting the way we sell products and market our businesses. Here a re a few ideas to help reach them.

1. connected
1980—2000
confident
practical
Who are the Millennials…
1980—2000 them?
…and how do you sell things to
1980—2000

2. A whole different way of life!
Mom—balances
checkbook, clips coupons
Millennial—online
banking, Groupon
Mom—calls and talks to
businesses
Millennial—online service
and mobile apps
Mom—reads newspapers
Millennial—reads
everything online

3. Where does everyone fit?
• The Greatest Generation (those born before
1928) “saved the world” when it was young, in
the memorable phrase of Ronald Reagan. It’s the
generation that fought and won World War II.
• The Silent Generation describes adults born from
1928 through 1945. Children of the Great
Depression and World War II, their “Silent” label
refers to their conformist and civic instincts. It
also makes for a nice contrast with the noisy ways
of the anti-establishment Boomers.

4. • The Baby Boomer label is drawn from the great
spike in fertility that began in 1946, right after the
end of World War II, and ended almost as
abruptly in 1964, around the time the birth
control pill went on the market.
• Generation X covers people born from 1965
through 1980. The label long ago overtook the
first name affixed to this generation, the Baby
Bust. GenXers are often depicted as savvy,
entrepreneurial loners.

5. And…
The Millennial generation refers
to the first generation to come
of age in the new millennium.
They’ve also been called Echo
Boomers; they’re the children of
Baby Boomers.
Born between about 1980 and
2000
About 75 million strong

6. They are digital
First generation of digital natives!
Their prime trait is increased use of and
familiarity with communications,
media, and digital technologies.
The Internet provides instant
gratification—and now they
expect that in other areas of
their lives, too.

7. They aren’t watching live TV!
That expensive 30-second spot in prime time won’t work…
26% of Millennials watch 20+ hours of TV a week vs. 49% of non-Millennials
On-demand
DVR Millennials
non-Millennials
Watch on laptop
0 10 20 30 40 50

8. They are confident
They were raised at the
most child-centric time in
our history.
Soccer moms were
invented especially for the
Millennials – we followed
them around and gave
them everything!

9. “I am the perfect
snowflake.”

10. They are connected
75% of Millennials have created a profile on a
social networking site, compared with half of
GenXers, 30% of Boomers and 6% of Silents
Millennials gather information on products and
services from more channels—more Millennials
than non-Millennials report using a mobile
device while shopping to research products
(50% vs. 21%) Barkley 2011

11. Who sleeps with their cell phones?
Silent 20
Boomer 50
Gen X 68
Millennials 83
All 57
0 20 40 60 80 100

12. They are social
70% of Millennials feel more
excited when their friends
agree with them about
where to shop, eat and play.
They band together in groups to date and
socialize, rather than pairing off.
Millennials are more likely to shop with family
and friends than other generational groups.

13. They are open to change
Not your mom’s brand!
They are optimistic, and willing to
give anything a chance.
They are loyal, as long as they have
a reason.
“Millennials are even more willing to participate
in loyalty and reward programs than their
parents, but they expect reward programs to be
free, easy and fast.”

14. Open to social change

15. So, how do we reach them?
“Millennials can sniff
the hard sell, and
they won’t buy it.”
(Mashable, Oct. 2011)

16. They want to be first
They need the latest and greatest!
Piggybacking off the notion that Millennials
crave finding things first, Mountain Dew created
an in-house record label, Green Label Sound, to
simultaneously market the drink and help up-
and-coming artists break through.

17. They want to support The Social Good
Greater awareness of cause marketing campaigns, such as
Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty (33% vs. 21%) or Gap
RED (26% vs. 9%)
The Pepsi Refresh Project, a $20 million social media
campaign that encourages people to submit ideas about
how to refresh their communities, got 61 million
responses.
Pepsi chose to focus on this rather than take part in the
Super Bowl!

18. Companies “have moved from a
broadcast model into an engagement
model” and they have to think of young
people “less as consumers and more as
advocates” because this group is
interested in what role companies can
play in addressing social needs.
Jack Leslie, chairman of Weber Shandwick, chairman
of the U.S. African Development Foundation
18-24% of young people recently surveyed said
that they would take pay cuts if they knew that
their company was advocating for social change.

19. “All I can say is that if you still haven’t
implemented a cohesive CSR (corporate social
responsibility) strategy, you’re 10 years behind
the game. And if you’re not starting to ramp up
in a meaningful way – to empower your
customers to have an impact on issues they care
about—the clock is ticking loudly. It may feel far
away, but the Millennial spending tsunami is
coming, and this generation is going to vote
with their dollars. You don’t want to be a lame
duck.”
Jason Rzepka, Vice President of Public Affairs at MTV

20. They want relationships
Talk WITH them, not AT them.
Ask what they want, don’t
assume it’s the same thing you want to sell.
Millennials don't want to be talked at by a brand
but instead want to be part of the conversation.
"Understanding their priorities helps us market to
them, so that we're giving a message that is
relevant to them.” Sheryl Connelly, Ford consumer trends and futuring manager

21. WITH, not AT
On Twitter, Ford says it has a chance to glimpse at the
Millennial mindset and figure out what this generation wants,
likes and needs from its products.
Ford recognized that the old marketing message—showing off
the engine, the speed, the car body itself—is not working for
the new generation. Millennials are
not as interested as baby boomers
were in a car as a status symbol. The
car for them is about basic transportation
—but adding technology to the car turns
the car into a “lifestyle enabler”
—Ad Age, August 2011

22. Traditional marketing is out!
We are wikified!
Don’t try to “position” yourself; build a strong,
genuine brand and they will decide where it fits.
Listen to the buzz—tap into the trending topics in
social media, pay attention to where Millennials
shop, eat and spend time.

23. Case Study of the Ideal
Millennial Marketing Strategy
TOMS
Online,
cause-oriented,
conversational
One-for-One
“Happiness
Guarantee”
Campus events