Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

Millennials. Both the baby boomers and Gen Xers will one day be passing the reins to the Millennials (also called Generation Y or the echo boomers). Born between 1977 and 2000, these children of the baby boomers number 83 million, dwarfing the Gen Xers and larger even than the baby boomer segment. This group includes several age cohorts: tweens (aged 9–12), teens (13–18), and young adults (19–32). With total purchasing power of more than $733 billion, the Millennials make up a huge and attractive market.¹⁷

One thing that all of the Millennials have in common is their utter fluency and comfort with digital technology. They don’t just embrace technology, it’s a way of life. The Millennials were the first generation to grow up in a world filled with computers, cellphones, satellite TV, iPods, and online social networks. A recent study found that 91 percent of Millennials are on the Web, making up 32 percent of all U.S. Internet users. According to another study, 77 percent of Millennials frequent social networking sites and 71 percent use instant messaging. “All generations are comfortable with technology, but this is the generation that’s been formed by technology,” says a Yahoo! executive. For them, “it’s not something separate. It’s just something they do.”¹⁸

Marketers of all kinds now target the Millennials segment, from automakers to political campaigns. However, the Millennials are bombarded with marketing messages coming at them from all directions. And rather than having mass marketing messages pushed at them, they prefer to seek out information and engage in two-way brand conversations. Thus, reaching these message-saturated consumers effectively requires creative marketing approaches. Consider how the Barack Obama presidential campaign succeeded in reaching this group:

I definitely would have to agree about the technology. Ever since I can remember, I've been using a computer. In elementary school, I recall taking a computer class; it was about once a week, and the computers were huge and bulky, but it was still a computer class. I probably didn't use computers as much as kids use them today though. I don't think I owned my first computer until sometime in middle school, school hardly ever required typed papers, or the internet. My first computer didn't have internet at first, I just liked to mess with all the programs and the games that were installed. I remember in middle school, my friend and I were talking about a movie and she mentioned that she had it on DVD, I thought to myself, "What the heck is a DVD?" Soon after that we converted from VHS to DVD players, and never used a VHS again. When I was in high school, my dad had one of those old Nokia cell phones, and at some point he let me have it. I was so excited to have a cell phone, I don't think I made too many phone calls on it at that point, I mostly used it for that snake game. After my Nokia, my sister and I bought some new ones on a joint plan. We bought the same phone, it was about as long as the Nokia, but a little thinner and it was silver and there was like a blue backlight to the buttons; I thought it was so cool. I used that phone for a while and we eventually stopped paying for it. My first two phones were on and off like that, I didn't use them much, so they normally wouldn't last long. I officially got my own account with T-mobile, that I had to pay all on my own, this was later on in high school, and I've always had a cell phone since. I remember getting bored with my phones all the time, every few months, I'd want to trade it for a new one, I loved going through all the features and learning how to use it. When I learned about Craigslist, I was in heaven, I was finally able to get a new phone as I pleased, without having to pay those ridiculous fees at the phone company. When the iPhone came out, I just had to have it, I went out and bought it during the first week it was out and paid about $500 for it. After 2 months, I decided that I hated the iPhone,  I couldn't send picture or video messages, it always prompted me to email instead, I just hated it. I sold my iPhone on Craigslist for $400. When the iPhone 3 was out, I heard that they fixed all those things I had hated about it, and I decided to give it another try, I fell in love and I haven't used a different phone since. I am currently on the iPhone 5 and I don't go anywhere without it. I began social networking in high school with that whole Myspace phase, then I upgraded to Facebook, and I've always hated twitter. I don't use my Facebook as much as I used to, I check it all the time to see what everyone is up to, and I occasionally post things on it. I still have an iPod, but it stays at home on and iPod player, I guess you could call it my stereo.