Before i start, i want to make it crystal clear that i am in no way trying to incite a generational war between Gen X and Gen Y within the marketing world....i think (in general) Gen X'ers are lovely, educated & experienced people from whom we can all learn some valuable lessons....
Now that's covered.....what is it with Gen X'ers!!!
Today i stood up and presented a view of the future of the communications landscape.
I showed them the change in the online ecosystem, the change in media consumption overall and then the change in how we, as a world, are communicating...
Over 200m Facebook profiles, 65,000 new videos uploaded to Youtube per day, 4,000,000 wikipedia articles etc....and these numbers are from 2008!
I showed them the 14% (of people trust advertising) versus 78% (trust their peers) study from Nielsen.
I showed them the Dominos scandal video and the impact that it had on sales - 30% decrease in North Carolina alone...
I showed them the bad examples (pimp my kettle) and i showed them the good (starbucks)....
I showed them the king of online grassroots communication - Barack Obama - who built a community of 6m profiles on Mybarackobama, 13m email addresses, 3m facebook friends....and 88% of total funds raised from individual contributions...
PRETTY COMPELLING STUFF RIGHT??
So what happened?
.....I got heckled by the Gen X'ers.
Yep....heckled.
What did they say? Below i have outlined a choice selection of verbatims:
"Why is the internet not regulated"
"i will never join facebook"
"user generated content is not credible"
"the internet is not credible"
"i can't show my client what people are saying about them online, i would be embarresed"
"Why shouldn't we just ignore it?"
"why are idiots online allowed to upload videos?"
I was pretty much personally blamed for the downfall of Dominos pizza, it was almost like i had put the cheese up my own nose!
And when i (sarcastically) suggested we censor the internet like China they actually agreed!
They just don't get it, probably never will.
They still believe reach & frequency are key, i think Kevin Kellys concept of 1,000 fans should be our new mantra...
All i have done today in my presentation is highlight the gap between Gen X and Gen Y - but if i was telling you that all you had done for 20 years was no longer valid, you'd be pissed too...
I'd like to leave you with one parting thought
Marketings Gen X vs Gen Y: Broadcast vs Digital....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (RSS)
7 Responses to "Marketings Gen X vs Gen Y: Broadcast vs Digital...." (Leave A Comment)
April 27, 2009 at 9:21 PM
we interviewed some 14-16 year olds recently and they do not watch TV...TV is for Xbox and they do not read papers. Move on 5 years and if the above is the norm then traditional media is in trouble. I'm in online but you still can;t beat a good magazine / paper...or is that my age showing?
April 27, 2009 at 11:02 PM
yeah...that sux...and sounds familiar. They say its all about R&F, then completely ignore you when you tell them you can reach 2m users on a major portal homepage in a day, for about 10% of the cost to reach the same number of people on TV...
April 28, 2009 at 12:09 AM
Check out this Podcast from the FT, useful insights into how the two generations think!
http://blogs.ft.com/management/2009/01/14/podcast-how-to-keep-generation-y-motivated/
April 28, 2009 at 4:32 AM
I saw you with that pizza topping, biaach!
April 28, 2009 at 3:28 PM
Ah Celestial One (Mr Dale) - How i love your commentary :-)
April 30, 2009 at 6:51 AM
yes it can get frustrating but a lot of the questions the doubters ask are being asked (still) because we haven't answered them yet.
a tough preso can be difficult but ultimately it's rewarding as it gives you insight into the wider job that needs to be done.
May 1, 2009 at 7:48 PM
I love the disclaimer you start with regarding Gen X's.
Unwillingness to change will be the death of them, or at least their usefullness. =P
Post a Comment