- American cheese
- Bars of soap
- Applebee’s
- Top sheets
- Mayonnaise
- Straws
- CDs
- Shopping malls
- Network TV
- Gillette razors
- Phone conversations
- Hooters
- Diamonds
- Napkins
What do all of these things have in common? According to various media reports over the past few years, they’re all being killed by Millennials.
The audacity! The gall! How could this generation so casually and callously destroy all the brands, products and experiences that we non-Millennials love? Who do they think they are?!
We must stop these Millennials before they kill again!
Or maybe – and just hear me out here – maybe the Millennials aren’t to blame. Maybe it’s not their fault at all.
The aforementioned list is only a partial representation of the things Millennials have been accused of killing. Amazing, it’s almost as if this impudent generation wants to do its own thing and not walk the same path as the generations before. The nerve!
As I, a card-carrying member of Generation X, get older, I notice a phenomenon more and more among my peers and my elders. This feeling of our generation being “right” while the other generations are “wrong.” No one understands what our generation has gone through. No one gets it like we do. This generational bias clouds our ability to see what’s really happening. Namely, that every generation hits this point in their lives.
Brands face the same challenge. Not every brand is immune to generational shift. Just like every band, or every TV show, or every fashion style. Trends come, go, and come back around again. The only constant is change. Your brand must be willing, ready and able to adapt to the incoming audience.
Which brings us back to those murderous Millennials, ruthlessly killing brands with savage impunity. “It’s all their fault,” these brands bark with their last dying breath. So many brands see the buying potential of Millennials. All of them try to crack the Millennial code of how to turn this large buying pool – which now outnumbers Baby Boomers – into ongoing customers.
Here’s the thing about that. Brands are asking how to get Millennials to buy their products and experiences, when what they should be asking is this:
“Do Millennials want what I have to sell?”
If you don’t, your brand is at risk. It also reveals opportunity. Here are three ways you can keep Millennials from killing your brand:
1. Know your customer
Work to understand who Millennials really are, not just the caricature painted by too many media outlets. What are their needs? What are their challenges? Who are they?
2. Find relevance
Once you know who they are, see if your brand has what they want, or, better still, what they need. Millennials like experiences. They like technology. They want to be in control of the decision-making process. How can your brand help?
3. Be willing to change
If you don’t have something Millennials want, things get harder. Don’t blame them for not wanting your long-standing merchandise mix. Be willing to evolve your brand into one that will matter.
Of course, you don’t have to do any of those things. You can sit back and sip away at your refreshing glass of Crystal Pepsi, listen to your 8-tracks of Led Zeppelin, be kind and rewind your VHS copy of Weekend at Bernie’s 2, yell at kids to stay off your lawn, watch the world go by in front of your eyes, and curse Millennials for pushing your brand into oblivion.
Or, you can refuse to be a casualty of generational fatigue.
It’s much easier – and more fun – to play the blame game. Millennials are an easy target right now. You can blame them and go extinct. Or you can change and thrive. Refusal to adapt is our fault, no one else’s.
No, not even those Millennials.
Tags: brand marketing, Brand Message, customers, Generation X, Matt Fey, millennials