My two cents on the subject for the young guns in marketing 

This is not just another post on the ‘secrets’ of  Gen Z behaviour or about what marketers can do to woo the millennials.  We already have enough ‘eye -opening’ research findings and ample literature doing the rounds on the internet. As a marketeer, we rely on studies done by the Big4 or similar other research firms and our clients somewhat believe in what the reports say. However, not everything that you read about these generations is true and valid from a marketing perspective. I know folks who build entire campaign strategies based on gen z: millennial paradox. Recently, I came across a strategy deck built on this very assumption and presented to a QSR goliath who wanted to go digital-first! Chalking out comms or media strategy basis generational cohorts and presenting it to a client who is looking for a digital-first approach!! Really? Why would a marketer want to target the mass when it’s possible to  identify cohorts and  reach out to specific segments through customized communication quite conveniently on digital?

Making assumptions about the audience solely based on the year they were born is nothing but a stupid and lazy hypothesis. There is too much variance within these ‘segments’ for them to be meaningful for any digital marketing campaign. Ask any millennial or a Gen Z who has nothing to do with the advertising business. Most likely, they won’t agree to most of these findings that have been attributed to these generations.

Our country has more than 400mn millennials.  Do they all share the same traits, lifestyle, preferences and behave in a similar fashion? Nahi na? While there may be some commonalities among individuals of the same generation because of shared experiences, similar backgrounds or cultural influences; these generational labels oversimplify the complexity and diversity of individuals within a generation.

These generational labels just indicate some of the basic traits but it cannot capture finer nuances when it comes to understanding the audience mindset, persona, interest and affinity, brand-product preference, media-content consumption habit, web-app usage and so on and so forth. Which is why,  framing generations monolithically by simply bifurcating the audience into Get Z and millennials can’t  do justice to any brand in this day and age.

You can’t put a 26 year old with someone who’s approaching 40 in the same bucket and label them as ‘millennials.’

Given the definition, a millennial is someone who’s roughly born between 1981 to 1996. Fifteen years is a huge time period, isn’t it? You can’t put a 26 year old with someone who’s approaching 40 in the same bucket and label them as ‘millennials.’ For, these two consumers are not at all alike but exhibit a hell lot of differences that marketers must realize if they really want to woo them. 

Credit: https://marketoonist.com/  #TomFishburne

One size doesn’t fit all millennials. Or even Gen Z for that matter. In a multicultural nation like India where we have several diverse and distinct markets, such a vanilla approach will never work. A delhiite millennial behaves way too differently from a Dimarpur one. Similarly, content preference of a late teen student is not the same as that of a 24 year old early jobber, despite both being bucketed under Gen Z.

Don’t you think these  generational labels are arbitrary, illogical, insignificant and even counterproductive at times?  While examining generational trends can provide some insights and understanding of societal shifts, it is important to avoid making sweeping generalizations or assuming that every individual within a generation adheres to these stereotypes.  You will find more differences than commonalities if you start slicing and dicing with the given demographics to understand your target audience better.  Which is why, astute marketers and agency folks never rely on demographics alone to define the audience.

Slicing further through multiple variables encompassing cultural, socio-economical, profession, mindset, passion/interest, lifestage etc does that more effectively.  A gearhead and a guitarist, an epicurean and an environmentalist, an early jobber and a first-time parent. They exhibit more differences than commonalities.

What’s your take? Partially agree or strongly disagree? 

Bouquets and brickbats are welcome : )