When do we turn over the reins of advertising to the echo boomers?? Many demographers and social scientists have declared that this scrappy, wide-eyed generation is everything from cynical to naive to self-assured and techie. Are these the rascals who should be creating web-based advertising? Afterall, consumer generated messages have been all over ad-space for a long time.
So, consider these tips for marketing to Generation Y (gathered from Sara Malarchy at Associated Content)...."Echo boomers are...cynical, politically savvy, and opinionated, but their opinions are extremely diversified." She argues that Gen Y likes tech stuff, so "anything digital makes your product or company more appealing." Don't use mystery or curiosity, they want information. Their moms were in the workplace, not home with the kids all day, so nostalgia doesn't work. They trust online marketers, but can get taken easily because they trust too much. Answer their questions. Involve them. "...anything that seems new, advanced, and computerized."
So, aren't social media sites the best nesting spaces for such messages? Well, site members avoid them on some sites (MySpace, Facebook) as much as they can. They don't like many listservs that carry banners or other flashing connections. So what about blogs? Hey! Blogs!
Business Week just published a great piece on the realities of blogs....(and although I read BW often, thanks as well to the person who provided a copy of this great piece in yonder mailbox. Hats off to reporters Stephen Baker and Heather Green--who say:
"Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business--including yours. It doesn't matter whether you're shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They're a prerequisite."
Assuming that Baker and Green are correct, how can we reach Gen Y readers/viewers through advertising messages. Blogvertising perhaps? What will it look like? How will it sound?
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3 comments:
I don't think that anyone has to worry about reaching Gen Y with advertisements and information. Blogs are a good way for people to read about issues that are happening in media and other issues around the world and to respond to them after they read them. Advertisements are all over: on television, previews at the beginning of movies, billboards, Internet, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc. The average person gets bombarded with over 3,000 advertisements a day.
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Jessica Brown
I have had this problem myself. Gen Y is a group that takes in massive amounts of information a day and processes most of it. They are smart and able to multi-task.
How do you advertise to them? You keep fresh. Gen y lives on the internet where everything is to the second, so you must be 2 seconds ahead of them. Interactivity is going to be the key if we can touch it and play with it we are more likely to look at it.
Brad Irving
snillitAdvertisements are everywhere. Like the air we breath, it is like second nature and often ignored. Gen Y takes in advertising like air most of the time. I do, however, believe that advertising on sites like Facebook is a newer, fresher way to advertise that might catch their attention. But eventually like other forms of advertising it will exhaust itself and become second-nature.
Megan Moran MCCNM 101 9:30
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