Talking About Their Generation (I)
It started out innocently enough.
Last month, Jeff Radcliffe (our Director of Client Services) shared a presentation with the rest of our staff, a presentation he had seen while attending a marketing research conference in October. The presentation, developed by the research firm Sachs Insights, focused on a consumer segment Sachs has labeled MillenniAdults -- 22- to 28-year-olds, the "first wave of Millennials . . . coming into their own as adults."
The purpose of the Sachs project: to paint a picture of that generational segment -- to demonstrate what makes MillenniAdults tick, what they value. And, by implication, what the marketing world needs to know about these consumers to most effectively reach them.
The presentation was, among other things, technologically impressive. It consisted of 24 short video clips of MAs discussing their lives, desires, hopes, and frustrations. The 24 clips were arranged as thumbnails on a "video wall" -- click on a thumbnail, and the video comes to life. It was a compelling, eye-appealing approach to presenting research results.
After playing a healthy sampling of the video clips, Jeff opened the meeting for reactions and discussion. Several staff members commented on the coolness of the interface. But then, in what proved to be a portentous comment (for me at least), Sarah Floyd -- a MillenniAdult herself -- said (I'm paraphrasing here):
"I just don't feel like I can relate to any of those people. They don't sound anything like me."
With that floodgate opened, many of the other MAs in the room chimed in with similar comments -- essentially, "I don't see myself in any of these people." What was especially interesting was the seemingly raw emotion underlying these comments. Our MillenniAdults seemed insulted, maybe even a bit angry, at what they had seen.
So what happened here? It was clear that the Sachs people had put a lot of thought and effort into the project and its ultra-high-production-value presentation. With all of that intellectual and technological clout, how was it possible that members of the very generational segment profiled in the study could react so negatively? And with an emotional edge? Were Sachs's points about MAs simply wrong? Did Sachs miss an entire subsegment of this population? Were our staff members reacting defensively? Are Taylor MillenniAdults special in some way -- well, we like to think so, but I mean out of the ordinary, not representative of the typical MA?
In the end, what began as a helpful FYI initiative on Jeff's part turned into a somewhat unsettling conundrum, one I've been thinking about quite a bit ever since. Tune in to my next entry, where I'll offer some thoughts on what may be going on.
http://www.thetaylorgroup.com/blog/trackback.cfm?184B989D-1422-22E7-23536CFC58CA83A1
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
SOCRATES by Plato
Maybe this will be my unique discovery of odd human behavior that I’ve always dreamed about. My theory is that disparaging youth creates group cohesiveness among adults, a kind of ingroup/outgroup social categorization. I think this pattern speaks more to adults social needs than to actual characteristics of youth (and young adults).
However, I wonder what my reaction would be if most of what was said about Millennials was good. What if reports said that Millennials were particularly good problem solvers with creative thinking strategies? Or that we are great leaders? Would I have nodded my head excitedly during Jeff's presentation? Or is the idea of being generalized, no matter WHAT the generalizations are, off putting?
Either way, I'm interested to see next week's installment. But then again, Millennials are more likely to read blogs than other generations...