We attended the ad:tech conference in NYC earlier this week, and through all of the buzz words and new innovations, one interesting Keynote presentation resonates…. “Obama, Apple and Ice Cream — Building Brand Passion Among Millennials”. (presentation description)
If any of you have attended any conference, you’re probably used to the standard Keynote presentations where the “industry leaders” give their opinion on the state of the union. This was structured in a very different manner…
6 Panelists — Aged 18-24 — 3 Men, 3 Women — Varied backgrounds, ethnicities and values.
The panelists were questioned about specific brands, their favorite brands, what the brands mean to them, if they look for a specific brand, and most importantly, if they BUY the brands they see as valuable.
A few of the points that came out of the presentation:
They value entertaining or artful ads
Value relevance in ads that are presented to them
Like that Facebook ads are targeted
Like deals and offers, if its relevant to them
View Mobile Ads as an Invasion of Privacy and slight Nuisance (But would be open to targeted ads with value to them)
Privacy concerns with Facebook, personal images, etc.
Don’t really read Privacy Statements
Will provide personal info and opinions for cash, but not for free
Want authenticity in Social Responsibility and “Green” claims
Don’t necessarily place Social Responsibility above convenience
Value relevance in ads that are presented to them
Have purchased as a direct result of an ad mainly when: it’s targeted, specific to a prior purchase, they already have brand knowledge, and contains an online-only special offerAlthough, I’m sure they were fed some of the answers, and the “must mention” material… it was pretty insightful. This 12-24 “Millennial” age group contains almost 54 million people, and their buying power is growing… knowing what they want, and how they want it, will be essential to growing and adapting your brand for the new age.
