LOOKING BACK

Mid-Term Review...

For the past few weeks I have been looking into millennials as part of my beat in this class. I know that this group of people who are rapidly taking center stage in every single industry spends millions of dollars every year. So, I wondered: How should brands and advertisers go about reaching millennials if they’re so powerful, but also so different, and so complex than other generations before them?

I am not a millennial because I was born before 1980. However, I do feel and act like a millennial. When I read something in the media that ends up being a stereotype about millennials, I can’t avoid jumping and defending them. There are a lot of exaggerated stereotypes, and broad stroking of this generation. Actually, I should correct myself here. I’m not interested in defending millennials, as much as sharpening the arguments. I’m fine with millennials being insulted (or praised) as long as it’s accurate. So please, if you insult them, insult them correctly.

During the past six weeks, I’ve discovered that millennials is an amazing generation, with high potential, and an impressive purchasing power. Those are the ones who transformed the way we communicate; they invented the concept “Social TV”, just because they can’t avoid being multi-tasked. I wrote that in terms of the workforce, millennials no longer value the traditional workplace rules of dress code, reprimands for being late, and the so-called “job-work balance”. They (we) love other intangible benefits such as a friendly work culture, freedom to listen to music. They prefer to work for 12 hours today and only 4 hours tomorrow. Millennials hate monotony. I do too.

When I read my posts, I feel I’m shaping my voice to talk about millennials in a way that is not common in traditional media. I don’t want to talk about them as a weird species controlling the world, but as the biggest age grouping in American history. Since we live in an interconnected world, millennials worldwide are more similar to one another than to older generations within their nations.

Marketing to millennials is both an enlightening look at this generation of consumers and a practical plan for earning their trust and loyalty. I think my blog will be a liaison between millennials and companies. I understand the marketing industry, and I perfectly know millennials. I know how they feel, what they want and how they want it. I also know what they like, dislike, and hate.

I want my blog to be the key to persuading the customers who will determine the bottom line for decades to come. Millennials are here to stay, and they’re not going anywhere. Their reign is just starting, just like my blog.