Why? Oh ‘Y’?

Blogs are, by their very nature, supposed to be informative and to some extent opinionated. If this is true then what follows lives up to the criteria well, and I make no apologies for my controversial approach to what may be considered ‘generation warfare’. I make my case because marketers are required to subject themselves to the truth, for without a truthful understanding of people we cannot hope to communicate successfully.

This is one marketer’s opinion of a generation which has had it far too easy and renders itself vulnerable to marketing, while viewing the future with rose coloured glasses. A generation on the border of getting serious but just thinking about it. If this seems harsh consider this. In what other generation have we idolised and worshiped a women who does nothing useful; operating as a celebrity only on the premise of her Father’s hotel; acquired wealth and a porn movie. What other generation can applaud a 70 year old rocker whose sex appeal must have vanished long ago, unable to find a musical talent of its own. What sense of value can a market segment which openly admires a female diva who wears meat as a dress.

Shallow? Yes! Painfully predictable? Absolutely! Sad? Very!

From a marketing viewpoint it’s a no-brainer, so transparently unsophisticated is this generation that selling them anything, and I mean anything, is a piece of cake. It doesn’t take a micro surgeon to figure out this lot.

Tell them it’s a new fashion, appeal to the lowest common denominator and you’re on a winner. Don’t confuse the product or service with complicated intellect, they can create their own drama without our help, and you’ll create record sales. We’ve sold this generation on buying water for God’s sake. Do the numbers and you’ll find a bottle of water is dearer than a litre of fuel. And it was they who coined the phrase, “Dah!”

Like most sectors of the market, selling to any group is simply a matter of understanding them, and yes I’ll be accused of being a grumpy, old baby boomer, who’s living off their good nature and their money. Yet while things are so good for Gen ‘Y’, we really do have to be empathetic with them.

Gone are the days when one goes out to enjoy good food and a civilised glass of wine returning at 11pm to a quiet night of music and romance. Now, we marketers can sell them much more. More grog, all night entertainment, all sorts of side orders from chips to chocolates, water, exorbitant mobile costs, a taxi fare home and maybe a Lamb Sandwich at twice the price in the shape of a kebab. Best of all they think they’re winning!

Yes Gen ‘Y’ is without doubt a marketer’s dream, just add the word ‘chocolate’ and you can sell anything from a dress to a bike. They’ve got the money – easy money, everything’s quicker and apart from terrorism and climate change there’s not much to worry about; in fact some of these crazy people visit the very places terrorism is likely to occur, for ‘a holiday’ do you mind. As for climate change well, it’s not their problem so let’s just spend up and party on in a state of denial.

There will now be some who will be duly aggravated; Gen ‘Y’ doesn’t take criticism well. So let me close with an example which perhaps best highlights my case. Next Monday is Australia Day, I recently asked a Gen ‘Y’ what it meant to her? Her answer, Triple J’s 100 countdown – I rest my case!