Tips For Reaching Millennials

Since we are on a roll with celebrating the news that the Millennial Generation or Gen Y will pass the Boomers in  population figures when the Census is published in the U.S. in a few months I ran across an article by Thomas Pardee in Ad Age.   Mr. Pardee is one of Ad Age's regular writers and you can read his analysis of the generation here. 

The real key to the article is his wrap up

5 tips for marketing to millennials

Be fast
For millennials, there's nothing worth saying that can't be said in 140 characters or less. It's not that they can't handle long-form pitches, they just know you can do better. So do better.

Be clever
As Nick Shore, head of research for MTV, said, "Smart and funny is the new rock 'n' roll." Millennials are set to be the most-educated generation on record, with the largest social-media platform (Facebook) having been famously born on a college campus. "With their roots in college culture, it's no wonder eloquence and timing are more prized than ever for this generation. Err on the side of overestimating the millennial -- as the Old Spice campaign shows -- and sometimes they'll surprise you.

Be transparent
Millennials may be arrogant and entitled, but they're not stupid, and they know media exists to sell them things. So rather than pretending your branded beverage isn't conspicuously placed in a TV character's hand to entice them, look for new ways to make it funny. It will ring true with them, and they'll appreciate the honesty. (Need a cue? Look no further than the deliciously self-referential "30 Rock.")

Don't "technologize" everything
By their own definition, millennials are in part defined by their use of and reliance on technology. But marketers should resist the urge to attempt to "speak their language" -- Gen Yers can smell those ploys a mile away. Remember, millennials are digital natives -- they don't use technology; they live it, and they do so subconsciously.

Give them a reason to talk about you
Millennials don't like ads, but they don't mind marketing that's non-invasive, non-interruptive and that adds something to their experience, either online or off. Whether it's a fun and timely iPhone app, a targeted high-profile event or a personalized viral-video campaign, if you want your message to resonate with millennials, give them something to talk about. And if we know the first thing about millennials, talk they will.

Gen Y/Millennials - A Few Key Facts

 The last few blogs (below) have noted the size of the Gen Y/Millennials, which are now a bigger generation than the Boomers, and Radio Programmings struggle to reach this emerging force.   If we want to reach them we probably need to learn a lot more about them.  While there are plenty of articles in Ad Age and other sites on their consumer behavior one of the more in depth pieces on them came from the Pew Research Center in February 2010. Read the Pew Study here.

The Pew Study covers a lot of interesting traits for this generation in comparison to Gen X, Boomers, and the Silent Generation but a lot of the facts track their religious, political and family values sides.  While they are important traits they probably don't help us programmers get a handle on their entertainment desires.   

I pulled a few of charts that bring out some broad areas we may learn from: 

• They are more diverse:  

• They are less likely to be Married than the other generations in the 20s:

• What do THEY think makes them unique?:

This is a very interesting comparison.  While we would expect that they would have Technology Use at the top and in greater numbers than Gen X the #2 unique trait is Music Pop Culture.  None of the other generations cite this trait.  Radio could play a HUGE role if we chose to dive in with them.   

• And Just For FUN - How many of them have Tattoos:

There is a lot more to learn from the study.  For the most part they are more liberal and actually more family oriented in their values than their marriage stats would indicate - guess they are just being fussy with partners and that's probably due many of them coming from split households.

They are an interesting group that is clearly plugged into the new media and technology as a full fabric of their lives.  Their ability to communicate is very strong in their technology usage.  Communication is key to nearly all generations.   For the Boomers the 4 big communication factors were - Television, Telephones becoming commonplace in the 50s, the advent of world air travel, and radio providing a fairly common music backdrop.

Obviously radio will need to weave itself into their tech world and the new tools of communication.  But, we also have to learn who are are communicating with.    We have a ways to go here.

Edison Research's Youth Study 2010

The crack team at Edison Research just released a great study of 12-24s at the NAB and online (read it here).

The study showcases the differences from 2000 to 2010 in the younger audience on a number of fronts.  We can see that they still have an interest in radio, but the wealth of new media and the smart phone world are more and more appealing to our potential future audience every day.  It's killing a lot of TSL for terrestrial radio and you can also see that the lack of interest our industry seems to have for this younger audience is damaging the future.

In the last post on this blog we broke down the population numbers that will likely become fact when the census hits in a few months.  The 15-30 year old age group will be bigger than the boomers we've relied on for audience and revenue for 30 years will be a fading demo.

While the study points out a number of great suggestions on addressing the 12-24 side of the younger demo we also need to look at the 22-34s that were also included in the Edison study.  Perhaps Edison will release more data on this group but the 1 chart they included on the types of stations they listened to back in 2000 and what they claim to listen to now:

The growth of Top 40/Hits is pretty obvious given the strength of the format and the music for the last 18 months.  Country is also on the rise with the youth movement in the format.  Other gainers include Christian, Classic Rock and even Classical.  The big losers are all forms of Rock, Rap/Hip Hop and R&B.   Also note that there are 9 shares missing in the 2010 data - that is probably due to the lower listening numbers to all radio in the decade.

When you look at the movement over the last decade in both Alternative and Hard/Active Rock to a lot more older songs in the mix and a lot less current music you probably have answered the 'why' question.   Rock formats clearly have a big challenge ahead with the under 34 audience.  It may be harder to find new music with the record companies struggling, but it's out there and somehow rock programmers need to find it.

The New Reality of The Demos

You've probably either seen the Census crew or filled out a form by now here in the U.S. as we review our House Districts and population characteristics.  This count will bring out some realities in marketing and demographics that will likely change a lot of the strategies many products have been using for the last 30 years.

While the final results won't be out for another 6 months or so we can see what the likely picture will be from the 2009 estimates.  

Look at the 3 circled groups that roughly represent the Older Boomers born before 1964 with 63.6 million, Generation X  born from 65 to 79 with 61.4 million in the middle and the new Millennial Generation born between 1980 and 1994 at 64.8 million on the younger side.


The real key here is that now we have hit a time when the new Millennial's actually outnumber the Baby Boomers.   Much of the entire product strategy and marketing targets for most products has been built around  the Boomers since they first came of age in the 60s.   That's why we still place so much importance on the 25-54 demos even though you can see that now that audience is mostly built from the Generation X group with the lowest population numbers of the 3 groups.


We can already see the shift in many products in what they are selling and how they are using media to market their wares.  Obviously the younger Millennial's are much more adapted to all the new media options.  They also have vastly different desires and needs when it comes to products.  Look at the car industry, which seems more interested in the compact and even sub-compact models like the Ford Fiesta or the Kia Soul than keeping the Mercury brand name alive.


The problem we face in radio - we've been obsessed with 25-54 for the last 20+ years and haven't worked a lot on the younger demos.  Now that the Millennial's are centered in their 20s they are a huge marketing target and with the revelation in the upcoming Census news that now they outnumber the old champion demo of the Boomers radio has a lot of catching up to do.

There are Some Things Apps Can't Do!!!

What Are Men Thinking??

Esquire Magazine has a fresh article out reviewing their survey of Men and their values/views on a number of very interesting questions.   If your target audience is Men it's clearly worth a close review.

The premise of the survey and article is based on a unique demographic view.  The 2 spikes in the U.S. population are now at 20 year old Men and 50 year old Men.  The older group are the baby boomers born around 1960 and the younger group was born as the 90s hit.  Obviously they both grew up in very different worlds for values, technology, world events, and lifestyle.

The survey covers a wide range of topics including:
Overall Happiness - Both groups are pretty close here and overall fairly happy
Role Models - Both think Obama is a good one.  But, they are not happy with his performance.
Coolest Men - Clint Eastwood wins for both?
Sources for News - Both groups get it from TV?
Favorite Spectator Sport - The young guys most favorite is Ultimate Fighting?
Favorite Decade for Music - 49% of the 50 year olds point to the 70s while 56% of the 20 year olds lean on the 90s and 2000+ - The music you grow up with is YOUR music.

There's a ton more questions that have very interesting parallels and contrasts.
 Read it here

The Boring APP

So you have your I-Phone/Pod-Touch, Android, and Blackberry apps all up and running and now your stream can go anywhere.  You've entered the new mobile digital age and are all set for the future.  While your audio is streaming along -- what's happening on that little 3.5 inch screen?   Chances are your logo is just sitting there - perhaps we can see the title of the song, perhaps a tag link to buy the song with a pic of the CD and maybe a note on the station, but little else.

There is a lot more you could do with that screen I bet.   Maybe some pics of recent promotions, a shot of the morning show with a big guest, or a visual plug for an upcoming concert or promotion.  You might also be able to add weather or other info that's worth tuning in for.  There is a lot more that we could and should be doing with these apps.  Just getting in the App Store is not enough.

Streaming Stats

Looking over the Ando Media ranker for the On-Line Radio Streaming world take a look at the Average Time Spent Listening per session for the players.  Pandora is the big leader with nearly a half a million people tuned in from 6a to 8p but the session starts (cume) is over 150 million during the daypart and then look at the time spent listening at less than 1 hour.  

Looking at the other providers here CBS is 2nd with the help of AOL Radio but, it's a long way from Pandora and doesn't have much more TSL.  Clear Channel, Cox, Citadel, Cumulus, Bonneville, Greater Media and Entercom are better at TSL and much of their offerings are terrestrial station streams.  AccuRadio's big line up of stations and their attention to upscale Jazz/Classical formats and other unique offerings has better TSL, Salem's religious streams are also strong.   


As we look at the listening habits here we can see that just being a juke box with a big list of songs pretty much on shuffle doesn't make for a lot of TSL.  There is a lot of cume here and not a ton of long listening spans.  Is the audience trying it out and getting bored?  Are they tuning around because there is so much to pick from?  How is the emerging mobile (I Pod/Blackberry/Android) apps world different from the this view which is pretty much computer based?  


We have a lot to learn about the new world of streaming.