A com­pelling new report ‘Debunk­ing the Mil­len­ni­al Myth’ pub­lished by media com­mu­ni­ca­tions agency, Ini­tia­tive, has helped to define mood, opin­ions, and out­look of the so-called ‘Mil­len­ni­al’ gen­er­a­tion. It makes for fas­ci­nat­ing read­ing, espe­cial­ly so for brands and mar­keters look­ing to under­stand their audi­ences bet­ter. As the first gen­er­a­tional cohort defined by a dig­i­tal, con­nect­ed world, the mil­lion dol­lar ques­tion for mar­keters has to be: how can mil­len­ni­al insights inform us about the future of dig­i­tal mar­ket­ing?

Introducing Millennials

As the only gen­er­a­tion to have grown up in an age of rapid dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion, mil­len­ni­als, or those born in the 1980s and ’90s, are a unique prospect for brands and mar­keters. A gen­er­a­tion defined by val­ues that are con­stant­ly chal­lenged, Ini­tia­tive terms them “reset gen­er­a­tion,” or more specif­i­cal­ly, “a group who had to con­tin­u­al­ly reset their expec­ta­tions and refo­cus their lives, acknowl­edg­ing that their oppor­tu­ni­ties dif­fered to those of pre­vi­ous gen­er­a­tions.” In a sense, it has required mar­keters to reset too, in order to con­nect with them.

Amongst Ini­tia­tive’s find­ings, which sur­veyed 10,000 mil­len­ni­als across 19 coun­tries, were a num­ber of clear, and high­ly dis­cernible trends. Mil­len­ni­als, Ini­tia­tive states, are the most “self-aware, brand-aware gen­er­a­tion to date”, with 30 per­cent “cyn­i­cal about the way brands mar­ket to them.” In the UK and U.S., this fig­ure ris­es to 40 per­cent.

But it isn’t all neg­a­tiv­i­ty. Ini­tia­tive iden­ti­fied three com­mon themes that define mil­len­ni­als:

1. Adapt­abil­i­ty.
2. Col­lab­o­ra­tion.
3. Cre­ativ­i­ty.

A prod­uct of an extreme­ly volatile glob­al econ­o­my, the growth of dig­i­tal star­tups as a result of tech­no­log­i­cal change, and an empow­er­ing sense of free­dom and choice greater than any of the pre­vi­ous gen­er­a­tions, has result­ed in “the most cre­ative gen­er­a­tion yet, defined by its adapt­abil­i­ty and resilience.”

(Source: ‘Debunk­ing the Mil­len­ni­al Myth’ Report, ini­tia­tive)

Hard facts about mil­len­ni­als:

• 30 per­cent are cyn­i­cal about the way brands mar­ket to them.
• That fig­ure is even high­er in the UK and US at 40 per­cent.
• 72 per­cent have suf­fered per­son­al­ly as a result of the reces­sion.
• 65 per­cent are employed full time.
• 36 per­cent have expe­ri­enced a cut in their income.
• 28 per­cent have expe­ri­enced job loss.
• The lev­el of severe or high anx­i­ety about the econ­o­my has increased 64 per­cent.
• 59 per­cent wor­ry about not hav­ing enough mon­ey to retire.
• 32 per­cent are sin­gle.
• 59 per­cent don’t have chil­dren.
• 35 per­cent are liv­ing with their par­ents.
• 54 per­cent would be more loy­al to brands that help improve eco­log­i­cal or soci­etal issues.
• 59 per­cent believe brands should active­ly par­tic­i­pate to improve caus­es.
• Mil­len­ni­als wor­ry about their finances — price is impor­tant.
• Mil­len­ni­als val­ue brands that build on emo­tion­al con­nec­tions and that are use­ful to them — they prize hon­esty and authen­tic­i­ty.
• Mil­len­ni­als love brands that are pre­pared to take risks, make mis­takes and, impor­tant­ly, acknowl­edge when they make mis­takes.
• Mil­len­ni­als like to be involved in a brand’s cre­ative process.
• Online reviews are the “most pow­er­ful” source of infor­ma­tion for mil­len­ni­als.

(Source: ‘Debunk­ing the Mil­len­ni­al Myth’ Report, ini­tia­tive)

What Millennials Expect From Brands

As a result, Ini­tia­tive puts forth, mil­len­ni­als “want brands to take risks, under­stand their finan­cial con­cerns and do more to address today’s soci­etal and eco­log­i­cal issues.”

Defined by exter­nal cir­cum­stances, mil­len­ni­als val­ue and relate to brands that are use­ful to them, and with which they can build emo­tion­al con­nec­tions. Above all “they prize truth and authen­tic­i­ty in brands”.

Fur­ther­more, mil­len­ni­als are aware of how much pow­er they have as cus­tomers, and expect brands to val­ue their con­cerns and treat them with respect. As a final key point, pric­ing is very impor­tant for mil­len­ni­als (the result of nigh on a decade of eco­nom­ic uncer­tain­ty).

How Do Millennials Make Their Choices?

Ini­tia­tive’s study revealed that online research was both the most pow­er­ful, and the most influ­en­tial, source of infor­ma­tion for mil­len­ni­als.

A large major­i­ty, 68 per­cent, of mil­len­ni­als have made prod­uct com­ments online. As one indi­vid­ual (Eliza from Chica­go) sur­veyed by Ini­tia­tive stat­ed:

“There’s no way that my neigh­bor knows more than thou­sands of online reviews, so why should I trust them more? Plus, if they had an opin­ion, they should have shared it online.”

(Source: ‘Debunk­ing the Mil­len­ni­al Myth’ Report, ini­tia­tive)

How Can Brands Target Millennials?

The val­ue and empha­sis mil­len­ni­als place on online research and col­lab­o­ra­tive opin­ions, has rein­forced the val­ue of social media as a mar­ket­ing instru­ment for brands look­ing to tar­get mil­len­ni­als.

The report includ­ed a list of top take­aways for brands look­ing to tar­get mil­len­ni­als:

• If you’re tar­get­ing mil­len­ni­als, build your strat­e­gy from the smart­phone out.
• Be where they are: make your brand more visu­al — take your lead from their social media behav­ior.
• Remem­ber to view brand reviews through a glob­al lens.
• Brands can learn a huge amount from the ener­gy and enthu­si­asm with which mil­len­ni­als share opin­ion and advice online for no obvi­ous reward. Tra­di­tion­al­ly, brands and busi­ness­es have seen the shar­ing of infor­ma­tion as a sign of “weak­ness” or com­pet­i­tive risk. Brands that give to receive in the short term run a heavy risk of alien­at­ing a smart mil­len­ni­al audi­ence.
• No slo­gans or sto­ry­boards are tru­ly new; what makes one brand bet­ter than anoth­er is how rel­e­vant it is to you.

Mil­len­ni­als are a defin­ing gen­er­a­tion of the dig­i­tal age. Brands and mar­keters should right­ly play close atten­tion to their con­cerns as a sig­nal for the future direc­tion of con­sumer-cen­tric brand mar­ket­ing.

You can down­load Ini­tia­tive’s full report here.

Does your brand tar­get mil­len­ni­als? Will you adjust your mil­len­ni­al mar­ket­ing strate­gies based on these find­ings?