A thoughtful look at marketing to Millennials [REPORT]

by Nigel Hollis

Regular readers of this blog will know that I question the hype surrounding marketing to Millennials. Are they really snake people or not? Given my skepticism it was refreshing to read Ola Mobolade’s Warc Best Practice paper on how to market effectively to Millennials.

In her paper, Mobolade very clearly makes a distinction between age-related insights and generation-related insights. She states,

“Today, Millennials are young adults, and as such, exhibit youthful attitudes and behaviors that are not unique to consumers in their generation. For example, their emphasized focus on career aspiration and starting families would ring as true for Generation X and Boomer cohorts, when those consumers were young adults, as they do for today’s Millennials.”

With this in mind, Mobolade offers five principles for effectively marketing to Millennials, while noting that primary research is necessary to ensure that the general principles do in fact apply within the context of a specific product or service category.

Principle number one is that brands need to communicate a higher purpose if they are to market to Millennials effectively. Mobolade suggests,

“More than other groups, [Millennials] believe they can make a difference in the world around them, and are drawn to brands that share that value.”

Never mind brands, this finding also helps explain why a recent Harvard Poll finds Senator Bernie Sanders remaining the most popular candidate for America’s 18- to 29-year-olds. A result which perhaps also speaks to Mobolade’s second principle for marketing to Millennials: be authentic and transparent.

Turning back to brands, Mobolade provides brief case studies to support her recommendations. She cites Tom’s Shoes as an example of a brand that has built strong appeal among Millennials by pursuing a higher purpose and the Domino’s Pizza ‘Our Pizza Sucks’ Campaign as one that worked because it pulled no punches in suggesting that the brand’s product was in need of a makeover.

To download report CLICK HERE.