By David Wiszniowski
Yesterday, (Thursday, October 3rd) I had the opportunity to go to an event put on by the MRIA (Marketing Research and Intelligence Association) here in Toronto where I’m based. The event focused on marketing to millennials and keeping them engaged in research. The main presenter was David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, a millennial himself, who delivered an interesting talk entitiled “Unlocking the Mystery of Millennials”. The talk was well received, and, being that I am also a millennial, pretty interesting.
Coletto introduced his presentation by telling the room who millennials are. Millennials consist of anyone born between 1980 and 2000 (ages 13 to 33). Millennials make up 23.8% of the Canadian population, being the largest generation since the baby boomers (a total of 7.96 million people). By 2020, it was stipulated that 41% of the workforce will be made up of millennials. Millennials face problems that no generation has had to face before them, and are the most technologically connected population segment.
But what makes millennials so different from other generations? Coletto states that millennials have been the most institutionalized generation to date. From kindergarten, after school programs, organized sports/clubs, high school, post-secondary, post graduate, etc., it’s not hard to see his point. All of this institutionalization has millennials believing that when they finish their education, there will be an ample amount of opportunity for them to enter the workforce, which is not really the case.
Compared to other generations, millennials are more likely to:
- – Live with their parents.
- – Less likely to have a drivers license.
- – More likely to have a post-secondary degree.
- – More likely to have travelled outside of Canada.
Millennials are sometimes also referred to as the ‘lost’ generation, in that they feel ostracized by older generations or as Coletto phrased it “a generation under siege”. 57% of Canadian millennials are most concerned with the availability of jobs, with 75% stating that it’s tougher to get ahead today than it was in the past. 62% of millennials surveyed agreed that they are not understood by older generations. Personally, it’s easy for me to find resonance within these statistics. I do often feel misunderstood and under attack and feel like I have to work at least twice as hard to be successful than any previous generation has. Add to that the cost of rent and student loan debt, of course we’re more likely to live at home and unable to afford a car. There was an interesting question during the presentation in which a non-millennial was attempting to prove that because he’s technologically connected he can relate to millennial segmentation. But, I found that by simply phrasing a question that way, it was easy to see that this individual was not facing millennial issues. I wanted to ask him if he was able to get a job directly out of university, what did he take in university which allowed him to get into market research, how long he has looked for work over the course of his lifetime. Millennials are facing issues which are much more complex than what to change our Facebook statuses too, which I believe is the point Coletto was trying to reinforce throughout his presentation.
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To wrap up the presentation, David stressed the notion that millennials are not all the same, and broke the generation in to groups based on psychographic segmentation. Six main segments were discussed.
- Fireflies – which are essentially party girls These girls live downtown, are active on social media and live a pretty carefree lifestyle.
- Stampeders – a male only segment concerned with being active, athletic and emulating a Jersey Shore lifestyle.
- Achievers – are the go getters of the generation who work hard for what they want.
- Sparks – are made up of the most socially conscious millennials.
- Simple lifers – consist of millennials who wear functional clothes and desire to develop their families in the suburbs.
- Pacers – who are less concerned with what they wear, and more interested in what’s happening within their network.
While I was uncertain which segment I fit into, I wasn’t exactly hard pressed to classify my friends and acquaintances into the different segments.
I think the most relatable aspect about my generation which was touched on throughout the presentation, was our need for transparency. Coletto answered a question by stating that millennials have a unique ability to filter content that no generation before them possesses. We don’t answer our phones, and we only receive news which is delivered to us through our personal networks. This ability makes it easy for us to identify bullshit marketing ploys and simply ignore them. Thus, making it harder for researchers to maintain our engagement using traditional methodologies.
Where at this point in the event I want to stand on my chair and tell everyone how awesome engagement for that age group has proven to be here at Research Through Gaming, I thought it best not to make a scene. But I totally agree. I believe that millennials will put the nail in the coffin where telephone surveys are concerned, and that different measures must be taken to involve in research and keep them engaged.