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Ready for the new generation?

Extract from the article published by Shirley Curtat-Cadet on the emarketing.fr website. Link to the article: https: //bit.ly/2Kk0i4U


We all know the adage that knowledge is transmitted "from generation to generation" ... And if for once, we stop reheating thoughts that, today, can no longer be applied.

Let's face it, we are at the dawn of a societal change that is profoundly transforming our institutions, our companies and our ways of operating. The human being, through the new generations (Millennials, Generation Y, Z, Alpha... we give them more names than we really know) is taking power over the brands, and freeing itself from what it was taught in the past! Representing, by 2020, half of the active population, and 75% of it by 2030, the Millennials generation has something to worry about, scare and disarm... while being one of the greatest sources of inspiration of this millennium!

After years of omnipotent marketing and abundant advertising, it's time to lay our cards on the table and consider an agile, collective but personalized redistribution of our game!

Admitting the generational break: a major challenge for understanding change

Let's be honest and admit that for once, many companies feel lost when it comes to their customer knowledge when it comes to dealing with these Millennials. The very concept of loyalty is waning in the face of a population that is increasingly versatile and demanding in terms of the marketing approaches taken towards them.

With the new generations, the customer journey is a real Chinese puzzle.

Customer centricity has never made as much sense as it does today, even though it refers to a concept as old as time: know your customer! So why is it so difficult today to seduce these customers compared to the "old" generations? Because the new generations are unpredictable and have a speed of action that beats us to the punch. The digital transformation has obviously changed their consumption behaviors, but above all it has changed the human being they are! They are constantly reinventing their purchasing mode, their type of consumption, their information channels... With them, the customer journey is a real Chinese puzzle. There are so many personas to consider that the brand has to be tailor-made while ensuring increased volume and visibility.

Segment, reinvent and customize to better govern!

Where it was easy to draw a typical portrait of the baby-boom generations, putting our "Millennials and co." in boxes is simply impossible. We need to segment further and take into consideration new criteria: the emotional and the quest for meaning. More than ever focused on their hedonistic needs and personal fulfillment, this generation has upset our achievements because it creates new ones! They want EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, while privileging a PERSONALIZED experience, to exist and assert themselves as individuals.

In their quest for meaning, Millennials are asking the same of brands; unsurprisingly, 75% of them believe that brands have so little meaning that they will eventually disappear [1]. This is enough to make us react to our businesses and quickly instill a need for innovation, both in the activation levers of experiential marketing and in the messages transmitted.

Fortunately, they are still open to direct, personalized contact, to a customer relationship that will help them on a daily basis, and to constructive, even creative, exchanges to improve their relationship with the brand. A spirit of openness and a willingness to act that perfectly characterize this generation, which has become a media in itself.

Brands will therefore be able to find their salvation by being agile, innovative, more customer-focused and by creating value to facilitate their engagement.

Brand content, inbound marketing, collaborative marketing, UX... marketing is already showing agility but will have to take into account the specific sociological aspects of this target and the new trends it is generating!

It remains to be seen how to reinforce transparency and control over the use of data to improve the image it sends out, as it does indeed put all generations in agreement: 67% of French people say they do not trust brands to apply the famous RGPD that came into force on May 25 [2]!

[1] Kantar Vision - 01/17
[2] Odoxa poll for Emakina and BFM Business - 05/18.

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