From angsty X’s to optimistic M’s: What do generational shifts mean to marketers?

Posted October 25, 2011 by Elizabeth Taddonio | Permalink

In the last week, three writers from different generations have sounded off to better explain why and how they define themselves, especially in the midst of Occupy Wall Street and the biggest economic recession since the Great Depression.

Millenials feel betrayed by their parents, teachers, finger paints, summer camp, macaroni and cheese, Double Dare, Snick, and everything else that told them they were special snowflakes. They now listen to bearded white guys sing forest folk music and have to think about DIY crafts because they can’t afford to buy all the things.

New York Magazine author Noreen Malone writes about the sense of entitlement instilled in Millenials by their parents — something that now will not be delivered on as they learn that a liberal arts degree, it turns out, does not guarantee them a job anywhere. Or Healthcare. Or their dreams. But they remain optimistic because GCHAT and INTERNET and ETSY and who wouldn’t be optimistic in a world like that?

Generation X sees Millenials as whiney babies who don’t even know grunge so who cares? At this point they are so used to being kicked in the face that they expect everyone else to be kicked in the face, too, apparently, because that’s the way the world goes. Gizmodo writer Mat Honan writes about being tired, bored, and sick of everyone’s bullshit. In short? It seems like Generation X is full of angst.

Generation Catalano, or as I like to refer to them, “The Carter Babies”, feel like they’re somewhere in between Millenials and Gen X-ers. They are not quite as optimistic or forward-looking as Millenials, but also not as bitter or nostalgic as Gen X. As RollingStone online editor and Slate contributer Doree Shafrir writes:

“This urge to define generations is also about a yearning for a collective memory in an increasingly atomized world, at least where my generation is concerned. Indeed, where the Millennials tend to define themselves in terms of the way they live now, people in my cohort find fellowship more in what happened in the past, clinging to cultural totems as though our shared experiences will somehow lead us to better figure out who we are. …Generation Catalano is never fully comfortable with its place in the world; we wander away from the periphery and back again.”

So what does this mean to market researchers and advertisers? Well, for starters, it should mean that marketing toward young adults is going to be more nuanced than one could initially believe. Being aware of the differences in a generation’s collective experience — their cultural and rhetorical contexts — is incredibly important to messaging, branding, and even the media through which we design our advertisements, press releases, or consumer engagement.

What generation are you a part of? Do you ever resent being grouped together, or do you enjoy knowing you have a cohort to share the world with?

Posted in Just for fun | Bookmark Bar

Communiting, consumer participation, and will.i.am’s love of ellipsis

Posted October 18, 2011 by Elizabeth Taddonio | Permalink

Did you all see will.i.am’s op-ed in Ad Age yesterday? It involved a lot of ellipsis and not a lot of full sentences. It also involved a neo-logism and the phrase “the youth market.” In the most interesting and least meandering of the sections, he writes:

there is a whole new concept of brands and businesses that bring community together…

you don’t have to go about the traditional way of marketing and advertising…

today, you need to turn a moment into momentum and momentum into a movement…

that can’t be done with 30-second commercials…

you need to create conversations with your customers…

so I say, MAKE CONVERSATIONS NOT ADS…

And while I wish I could get my fragmented brainstorming published in Ad Age without having to worry about things like sentence or argument structure, and while it’s hard for me to really understand why will.i.am’s thoughts on advertising are relevant, and while no one is holding will.i.am accountable for all of the Black Eyed Peas’ incredibly intelligent messaging (like, how did this song HAPPEN?) I do think at least he brings up a point. Creating a conversation with your consumers is key. Using interactive platforms to engage consumers in a two-way exchange is the difference between showing and telling.

Reimagining where, how and why brands advertise could also mean less boring, banal messaging and more interesting consumer engagement. Throwing around ideas like “the youth are all on twitter and facebook” is ok, but I’m really interested in the evolution of brand management and market research. Take the wii commercials for Just Dance 2:

Those are real people having so much fun! I want to have fun with them. I want to play Just Dance! (for real I do, if you have it invite me over?).

Nintendo encourages user participation with the brand. They just edit user footage together. And while I guess it’s not exactly changing the world, it is giving people the chance to interact around a brand. Which is pretty rad. Right?

Who else do you think does a good job of creating conversation?

Posted in Advertising, Just for fun, Social Media | Bookmark Bar

Let’s not forget Dennis Ritchie

Posted October 13, 2011 by Scott | Permalink

As Mashable reported today, Dennis Ritchie — the innovator behind Unix and C, passed away today at 70.

I guess I’m out of sync with the world – I think Steve Jobs did a great job building Apple up and the products are fine (though I am likely the only person in the world who owns exactly zero Apple products) but when it comes to true technical innovation the world lost a giant today. Dennis Ritchie, one of the creators of the Unix operating system, along with the C programming language died today. I can look up and see my “K&R” (for Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie) C programming book and remember the excitement I had learning to program with it on an AT&T 3B5 sitting in the back of the computer lab. Yes, I am that old.

As you’re likely aware Unix is the basis of Linux, OS/X, iOS, and Android (along with countless embedded devices). Apple would have had to create their O/S from scratch (which they did and then abandoned) without the foundation that Dennis Ritchie and his partner Ken Thompson put down. Who knows what Linus Torvalds would be doing now.

If you use computers, from the desktop to the web to a smartphone, then the work that Dennis Ritchie did has benefited you. Long before fashion was more important than function in computing Dennis Ritchie was a pioneer in the creation of a different type of elegance that is forgotten in today’s world. An elegance of simplicity and power that embodies the philosophy Ritchie had when he helped build the Unix operating system.

Rest well Mr. Ritchie – you will be missed.

Posted in Technology News | Bookmark Bar

Our September power user: Jake Taylor

Posted October 12, 2011 by Elizabeth Taddonio | Permalink

Though many of GutCheck’s users tend to be larger companies with more than one employee, we also see start ups and entrepreneurs use the tool quite often. Jake Taylor is in the latter group, and he’s one of our favorite users. Jake tweets about his use, which we really appreciate seeing, but he also let us know some more details about the kind of work he was doing, and it was pretty interesting.

A graphic and web designer, Jake actually found out about gutcheck from a co-worker that had used it before. He began using the tool back in July, mainly “to vet out logo ideas for a new company’s branding and also to test alternatives for taglines to accompany the logo.” In addition, Jake has used the tool to test consumer adoption campaigns, narrowing down his respondents to the specific area that the campaign was going to be used in.

Jake said one of the benefits to using GutCheck was the discussion guide — because “having a list of questions in the same order every time kept the user feedback easy to track and made sure every user interview was conducted the same way.” Also, obviously the ability to push his logo and other media made the project do-able.

When we see the same users coming back for multiple projects, we notice! We love our loyal users and are always curious about their projects. Want to be a power user? Let us know how you’re using GutCheck or how can we make GutCheck work better for you. Leave us a comment below, let us know on Twitter, or drop us a message on our community page!

Posted in Branding, Checkin' It Out, power users | Bookmark Bar

Yoplait gets it: Dads buy snacks too!

Posted by Elizabeth Taddonio | Permalink

I grew up with a single dad, and that always made me hate JIF. You know what I’m talking about:

“LOLwut? Only moms buy peanut butter? My mom hasn’t bought me peanut butter in years. Why don’t they think dads buy peanut butter? I don’t understand!” – was pretty much my train of thought.

I was home visiting my dad and family last week and I got the chance to watch some cable TV, which brought my attention to the latest Yoplait ad for GoGurt, which features the tagline “Dads who get it — get GoGurt.” I nearly cried. Watch the spot here.

Now, granted, it’s still promoting good parenting through buying your kids stuff the stuff that they beg for, which, you know, amen to advertising. And 8BitDad does a wonderful job here of talking about advertising and targeting gender — he brings up the Jif commercials, too (which apparently were still being made in 2009?). He also gives a lot of better examples of agencies and brands who targeted dads without reducing their message to stereotyping.

I still have to give credit where credit is due: The Yoplait spot at least acknowledges that Dads have buying power, too. We’ll see if that means any shift in how market researchers target their audiences — or if we start to see some more DADVERTISING (nailed it!) in the future.

Does marketing by gender or parental roles bother you? Do you think it makes more sense to continue to call moms out in food, laundry and other domestic product commercials?

Posted in Advertising | Bookmark Bar