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Marketers Ignore Generational Technology Trends at Their Peril
August 30, 2007

I came across some data on eMarketer that is worth sharing and commenting on, as it ties into one of my ongoing mantras about media and marketing—and the generational changes we are gradually beginning to see vis-à-vis media.

The question was posed to about 1,300 young people aged 13 to 24: “What media and technologies could you not live without?” I would have immediately gone for something like vaccinations against disease, clean water, or medical technology, but perhaps they weren’t choices on the questionnaire. Anyway, the top five responses were:

• the Internet, selected by 54% of respondents
• computers (51%)
• cellphone (49%)
• TV (47%)
• microwave (35%)

On the plus side, newspapers were selected by 13%, higher than I would have expected.

Why is this important from a marketing standpoint?

Because of generational changes in media preference, marketers and advertisers need to rethink their media strategies if they hope to reach potential customers. Naturally, of course, not all marketers target young people, but with technology there is often a “trickle-up” effect as older people adopt new media. For example, several studies have shown that Internet use among senior citizens is much higher than conventional wisdom would have it. And in the workplace, younger workers and managers bring their media/technology preferences wit them, which is why we have begun to see a growing incorporation of things like Instant Messaging into business communications—and even some otherwise sensible adults now text message while driving, not a happy trend.

Some questions marketers will need to ask themselves:

• Who—that is, what age group—is my target market?
• Where do people in my target market prefer to get their information? Where do they prefer to get their entertainment?
• Would an ad in a magazine be the most likely to reach my target market? Or would a banner ad on a Web site?
• Would print direct mail be likely to reach, or be responded to by, these folks, or would e-mail be a better option? (College students and those just out of school tend to physically move around a lot and direct mail isn’t the first thing that is forwarded to them; on the other hand, e-mail addresses often remain more static.)
• Would a display ad in the local mall be more or less effective than an ad on a social networking site—which is, after all, the 21st-century equivalent of the local mall?

Here’s an example of the generational divide. Last week, I was on holiday overseas and, as it turned out, my BlackBerry didn’t function (no service), so I was unable to get cellphone calls or check e-mail. Meanwhile, I had brought my computer, but playing a movie on the flight drained the battery and by the time I got to London, had no power—nor an adapter with which to plug it in to UK power outlets and recharge. Thus, the hallmark of today’s technology—constant contact—was lost to me. How did I feel about that? Well, does the phrase “heaven on Earth” ring a bell?

But I am decidedly the exception—as this article from the Wall Street Journal points out. Even not-so-young people have embraced gadgets and seem to have an utter fear of being out of contact, even for a moment. While I could function quite happily for a week without a mobile phone or e-mail access, given how many tourists I came across who were surgically attached to mobile phones, not everyone can. I would expect this trend to only become more prominent.

These trends must of necessity play into any marketer’s promotional strategy.
 

Posted by Richard Romano on August 30, 2007 | Comments (0)