Jeff Fromm owns an independent marketing agency in Kansas City, Missouri, and he had a problem.
His clients kept coming to him with issues around how to reach the newest generation of customers. He could see it was a huge issue, but couldn’t find much in-depth data to guide his advice to clients. And so, Fromm partnered up with the Boston Consulting Group to conduct a major study on millennial attitudes towards marketing.
Between 2011 and 2012, the Boston Consulting Group interviewed more than 4000 millennials (also known as Generation Y), and another 1000 non-millennials for comparison. The results of that data went into a new book, Marketing to Millennials, authored by Fromm and journalist Christie Garton.
Garton spoke to SmartCompany from Missouri last week on what she and her co-author learnt about millennials.
Punching above their weight
The millennial generation, defined by Fromm and Garton as those aged 16-34, is responsible for $200 billion of spending annually in America.
They’re the largest generation since the baby boomers (comprising 25% of the American population), but account for far more spending than their size or earning power would suggest.
“Something like 60% of young millennials influence their parents when it comes to purchasing decisions,” Garton says.
“Kids are the chief tech officers in their households. Parents look to their children to provide those recommendations.
“And the recommendations they get aren’t just the result of kids talking to their friends. Young people have become extremely savvy about using online reviews, expert opinions, and teach their parents to be savvy too.”
Because of this influence, American millennials are believed to impact on $500 billion of annual spending in America – a sizeable and growing portion of the economy.
Millennials aren’t all the same, but one-size-fits-all solutions are on the way out anyway
The BCG survey found six major subgroups within the millennial generation (see the bottom of this piece). These groups differed in their attachment to technology, their spending habits, and their interactions with others.
This doesn’t make marketing to the group impossible, because marketing for the 21st century needs to change anyway.
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