[Marketing Mantra] The Raise and Fall of Millenials

[Loganathan Arumugam]

At last, I found some time to pen down an article here, I do not claim that the topic discussed is a brand new subject, for many of you guys, it would have been a familiar topic already. The attempt here is to map some of my thoughts about a specific demographic age group in an Urbanized version of Indian context. This age group forms a major chunk of India's population and are seen as a very potential crowd in the economy, they are called as 'Millennial', what's special about them?

To define it technically, Millennial community, they are people who are currently in the age group of 18-34 years, approx people who are born in the years of 1980 to 2000, approximately 1/3rd in India, 1/5th in USA and likewise in many of the growing economies of the World.

This is a potential group that every other marketer is targeting to sell their goods, (be it anything..) Why marketers are curious about this group, why are they keeping a buzz around them and what makes the Millennial community excited and How long this would go, who's gonna take them in the future..

Being a larger chunk in the economy, Millennial community's contribution in GDP is very high & significant, in a Market like India, they earn the most, they pay tax most & regularly and also they disburse the money back in to the economy at a high rate compared to any other groups.

Their concern for the society and their active participation is seen vital in maintaining political and social stability.

They are the people who are spending considerable time in accessing and sharing information through traditional & digital media; they are keeping a watch on every other happening around the World and spread the news at light speed.

They keep their lifestyle and fashion up-to-date (they feel it’s really important),

They don't mind sharing the view points on any sensitive subjects even, boldly, at the same time they also mind reviewing the others' opinion in the areas where they seek it.

They are the people who had fairly grown along with the phase of Globalization, they had seen traditional practices in the Economy and the transformation in the modern days of the digital era,

If you are one among those who are falling in this age group, then,

You are the one, who would have tuned back and forth between two TV channels till the early 90's and now fallen crazy with a massive list of satellite TV channels,

You are the one, who would have used a normal tape recorder to a CD player, an portable MP3 player and now with the iPods,

You are the who can completely understand the differences between a CRT TV, LCD, Plasma, K4, LED, O-LED etc.,

You are one who knows what is Internet, a mobile phone and the mix of both.

You are the one to whom the concept of Mobile App was introduced

You know how painful is to make a bank transaction offline at the bank premises and now how luxury is the ebanking services,

You are the one, who would have by and large accessed an unorganized Kirana store and now accessing the modern outlets too, You also know how different is the Brick & Mortar retail Vs online shopping,

You are the one, who would have seen the roads with basic Two wheeler and four wheeler models as a luxury and now stuck in between BMWs Audis of the World on your roads..

You are the one, who are adopting any new technology introduced in the market and taking it to your seniors and your juniors to get adapt. Your role is important for everyone around, in transforming the World a better place,

Most of the new consumer good categories that are being introduced in the market are just targeting you as the potential TG, you know how a hair conditioner is different from a hair shampoo, you know what Green tea does for your health, you also know the benefits of consuming cereals in the place of any typical Indian breakfast,

If marketers can convince you then, they can win your entire family at ease because, you are the opinion leader in your space; your suggestions are well heard.

Millennial community is very responsive to every other market happenings, they live their way with a big generation gap and explore every other options around.

Any new thing excites them, any new color catches their attention, any new products or features make them to attempt an ownership or at least explore it.

Why are they so excited?

It is all happening because, Millennial community had seen a dry version of everything (technology, lifestyle and economy) in the first half and suddenly got a chance to enjoy the advanced technologies and its utilities thereafter, for them it is all new, they were not longing for all these, but seeing it as a new opportunities to betterment their life. 

When PCs and internet services were introduced, most of us never understood what it is and how it can be utilized, by the time we got its utility we were overwhelmed by the concept of Social networking, we all enrolled in it. With the introduction advanced spectrum bands, we are now carrying our network everywhere, does it had a need? No, it is just that we created a need for it, smart phones holds your entire life with it, we are wide open to accept it instantly, because for us (Millennial community) it is new, we know how we were and what is available for us now,

Having said this, Millennial's interest in new technologies will fadeout soon the moment they realize the complete functional utilities, the time when the smart phone or a tablet device gets commoditized, like the way it happened to Laptop and PC categories, they will soon leave no room for excitements for the tech products like Smart Phone and Tablets that are currently grabbing their attention. They even may reduce the Social Networking involvement and also the online shopping

What is gonna be more challenging for Marketers..? 

The Generation-Z, those who are kids (born after the year 2000) or the predecessors of Millennial community, have landed in a luxurious space, equipped with all the advanced technologies, no one can try any kind of magical attempts with them, you cannot make them excite like the way Millennials are, they cannot distinguish a world of old and new/advanced technologies, the colors to which they were introduced are new and brighter already. 

They had already seen the touch screens and mobile internet facilities, which were actually seen as a boon by Millennial community. Gen-Z expectation start points are actually the lavish end points for any Millennial, this is where every other marketing managers going to find the challenge, the new packages for Gen-Z community are not ready yet, they can easily fed-up with the current technologies that they already have now in the early stages of their life, if marketers doesn't show anything new for them, they will lose the game terribly.

The Raise of  yet another Generation will keep the Marketers Challenged and forever...! 

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Posted By Loganathan Arumugam to Marketing Mantra at 11/11/2014 09:38:00 AM