Millennial Steps

Know Who You Are Targeting

In a recent opinion piece at the Christian Science Monitor, the editorial asked the question, “Do You Know the Millennial Generation?”

Now instead of being an extrapolation of that article here (and in essence said that those of the Millennial set are not like their predecessors of Gen X – little surprise there – and that they are wanting to feel more connected to their world and the people in it than trying to escape it all through riotous partying as the youth did 20 years ago.) I want to be able to take you deeper into the Millennial mindset. To be able to be as hugely successful as companies were in the years past, with the Next Wave of the Future you are going to have to be real.

“Mean People Suck”… “Don’t Be Evil”… “Save the Planet”… are all very familiar phrases of the latest consumer base. In fact these mantras among many others of like idealism have been drilled into them from the media, the sources of information they use (Internet, music, others like them in their space), and by the instruction they have received in school and at home have gotten them past the “Rock and Roll all night and Party everyday,” mentality.

Oh there is no doubt that the Millennials aren’t leading monastic lifestyles by any stretch of the imagination, and they probably party as much as youth have ever done in generations past. However, it’s when they have sobered up, and get reflecting upon the whole time and space of their existence that they pop into the doing good in all comes to the forefront.

This is a generation of people who have spent more time around electronic devices than any other. This is a generation that has seen constant change and improvement in communications, in entertainment, in school instruction, etc. etc. They have per hour average spent less time with other flesh and blood human beings than with any other time in history, where the only competition is themselves and how high their “score” was the last go around. Where the idea of rebooting and resetting are the norm, where as they think a million synapses per second run through their brains with the myriads of things going through their minds.

With all information at their fingertips, and the experience of the world at the ready, a company must reflect and be what the Millennials expect, or they will be thrashed in the public forum. Gone are those days when a company could put on a fancy shell onto shoddy workmanship and sell it. These days, the Millennials take it all apart, find how it ticks and where it doesn’t hold up to its claims. Gone are those days when the crafty sales pitch was all that was substance to a product or service. Gone are those times when a company could count on the ignorance of their market.

You must be the real deal, and mean what you say AND back up what you sell or offer! If you aren’t, the Millennials are geared to sniff you out quickly, and will leave only the rotting carcass of what used to be your company on the roadside.

You must be up to snuff, and when you get it right; when you are able to get that product that itches the niches just in the right way… and is genuine in it’s manufacture, and usage; when you have the stars aligning just right to meet the expectations of the Millennial it is a beautiful thing!

The proper Marketing strategy make the difference, and although there must be substance in the product, the substance and the realization of the worth of the product can be communicated best by a carefully planned course of Marketing. Find out how you can best sequence that to your target market, and give me a ring at joe@averagejoecitizen.com

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In Case a Super Brand Happens Along

There are indeed a number of factors that play into the making of a Super Brand; some are as was detailed in the first Super Brand entry, a widespread need for it that was met by a timely production of the solution. There have been a few fads, and even more number of trends that matches… nearly all of them. It is a rare thing to have a Super Brand happen on accident. Let me repeat that, it is a very rare thing to have an accident Super Brand. Those who have reached a high visibility that were truly accidents hardly qualify even as a fad. Because as soon as they come into the public forum, the go from the public forum with hardly anything residual or long lasting about them.

We are all about Super Brands here, we all want to have the next product that will “revolutionize the industry” we are in, whether it be retail or industrial or narrow in its target market segment. So because we are all about the Super Brand, let’s get into the thick of it.

First the definition of a Super Brand; it is the product or product name that automatically carries with it recognize-ability, emits a positive attraction to it and engenders near instant loyalty of it. Just by the mention of the name, there are immediate positive images and reactions to it that happen in the mind of the hearer of it.

Can a Super Brand be a negative? Mmmm No… 3 Mile Island is definitely a brand but doesn’t conjure up the images that are profitable unless you are one of those crazy environmentalist whackjobs (no offense intended) or selling little miniatures of the cooling tower. Either way there isn’t much money in the negative connotations.

Can a Super Brand be perceived as bad for you? Depends, chewing tobacco is bad for you, can even kill you in the most horrible way, but the Brand Equity most tobacco companies have is that of the rugged-don’t-mess-with-Abilene images. This appeals to the certain type. Also the Harley Davidson Brand can be in the bad-for-you category, and the HUGE Brand Equity and appeal it now enjoys wasn’t always so (nearly going out of business in the early 80’s) The Harley brand has come to represent the ideal of America (open road, the wind through your hair etc.) I’m sure if Harley Davidson still signified lawlessness, murder and mayhem… well if it was still equated with criminality it wouldn’t have been so successful these last 15-18 years.

What altered the company’s perception in the market? What turned it into a Super Brand? Do I have to spell it out? M-A-R-K-E-T-I-N-G… and some very good Marketing at that! Yes it was done on purpose, and it was methodical and it was near brilliant to unhook it’s Brand from criminal activity to the Great American Ideal. Brilliant.

The gem is folks, and bring out your highlight pen and underline this: The right set of Marketing Strategies, with a clear and focused goal can move the mountain of unrecognized or even the bad to the product that everyone knows and trusts today. Campbell’s Soups, C&H Pure Cane Sugar, Apple Computers are all well crafted Marketing Persona’s that have once or are currently enjoying Super Brand status.

One of the best ways to be able to create loyalty to a brand is to be able to attach it to an emotion. Another is to make it a necessity of some sort. The Super Brand trifecta is to be able to link your product to a highly desirable emotion, make it a necessary part of the life experience and to have it an unending source that constantly needs to be renewed. Why do you think illegal drugs are still so prevalent in our society? Because people like the taste?

Unless you are an aspiring cartel, or growing pot in your basement your product may have other obstacles than the law. Moving off the icky and on to the nice, an honest assessment needs to be made of what you are currently offering in the marketplace fits or can fit this criteria. If it doesn’t and won’t even come close to those main 3 points above, don’t even try ‘fitting the square peg in a round hole’. All you will accomplish is a lot of wasted time and money that could have gone to a brand new offering that could. Most companies can retool, or revamp what they have to be able to have a landmark product that would be the flagship of the Super Brand.

Next time we’ll take the Making of a Super Brand from the ground floor… or from scratch so to speak.

For an analysis of your invention, or product is ready to be a Super Brand, give me a ring at joe@averagejoecitizen.com