By Carol Phillips*

“Oh man, I’d make a career out of the Muppets if I could. That’s my real dream job…” — Jason Potteiger, comment on The Next Great Generation Blog

When the Founding Fathers wrote “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” I think they must have had Millennials in mind. For the framers, ‘happiness’ meant the freedom to pursue prosperity and wealth as each individual saw fit.  Millennials are turning the pursuit of happiness into their life goal. Their biggest fear is having to sell out or trade off their passions for an ordinary job, an ordinary life.

Millennials seek to be extraordinary, or to use their word for it, “awesome”, in every area of their lives, but especially their careers.

Of course, every generation strives to be great. What makes this generation different is the intensity of their commitment. Chip Walker describes their aspirations this way an article last year:

“In a world of almost infinite lifestyle choices, Gen-Y activism is about young people knowing their own inner priorities and making a vow to live by them — even in the face of adversity.” — Chip Walker, Head of Planning, Strawberry Frog

When the New York Times wrote about unemployed Millennial, Scott Nicholson, turning down a $40,000 a year job in insurance because it didn’t meet his idea of a fulfilling job, Gen Y’ers understood. They saw nothing wrong with having high standards and admired Nicholson’s willingness to wait for the right opportunity.

Nicholson’s choice, and those of many others, suggest Millennials are looking for more out of work than just a job. They are looking for a place they can grow, and where their work will have meaning. Little surprise that the Great Place to Work Institute Survey identified Google, EBay, Starbucks, Container Store, ScottTrade, UMPQUA Bank, and CarMax as among the top 25 companies that people under 25 give exceptionally high marks. (For more on what makes these companies “Millennial Magnets”, read Neil Howe’s article, “Models for Managing Millennials“).

MindValley is a publishing company with a Millennial heart.

The company describes its mission as “to bring together marketing and technology to help spread enlightened ideas. We work with authors, thinkers, teachers and leaders who have pioneered new ways of doing traditional things: parenting, entrepreneurship, spiritual growth, self-development and more.” Here’s how the web site describes their attitude toward work:

“J-O-B is a dirty word. Work—we believe—needs to be fun, educational and something that makes you so excited that you jump out of bed each morning. Screw the traditional 9-5 job. Instead, get paid to play, create, learn and grow. It’s like being a child again. But with a salary.” MindValley Career page

Employees come from 22 countries and show an impressive diversity of backgrounds. MindValley has an award winning culture and who wouldn’t love their policy of flying all employees and their families to a paradise setting each year? Last year it was Bali, this year Costa Rica. I was especially impressed by MindValley’s recruiting video, titled “Is Happiness the New Productivity?“. These are REALLY happy employees! (This video is worth watching if you want to see what happy Gen Y employees look and sound like.)

Alex Cattoni is one of MindValley’s 35 employees. On the TNGG blog, she describes herself as “Personal development junkie. Marketing diva. Thrill-seeker.” A 2007 business school grad, she was headed to law school when “… like a cold hard slap in the face, I woke up one morning completely and utterly terrified. I had finally listened to that voice in my head telling me law school was not for me. I then had to ask myself probably the scariest question of all “What do I REALLY want in life?””

For Cattoni the answer was a hard shift that brought her to a dream job that involves a lot of travel, managing four businesses and launching a fifth. When asked what is most inspiring about her job, she said it was the company’s drive to think big:

“I would have to say it’s been witnessing my team achieve some incredibly outrageous and scary goals. We like to think BIG. In fact, this is the top value on our “Code of Awesomeness.” In the past 1 year alone, we have grown an outrageous amount – all because we dare to dream big. I love being part of a team that believes we can achieve anything and pulls together to make it so.” – Alex Cattoni, MindValley employee

Not all companies are as Millennial-friendly as MindValley. Increasingly, Millennials are sensing that they will have a better chance of pursuing their passions by entrepreneuring or intrapreneuring their way to jobs they love.

An October 2010 Junior Achievement survey of high school students asked why they admired entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey. The top answer was their ability to make a difference in people’s lives (31%). Their reasons for wanting to be an entrepreneur, however, focused on independence – working for yourself and controlling your destiny.

If you are a Millennial looking for entrepreneurial inspiration, check out Shatterbox.com. The site features dozens of video stories of “innovative young people who love what they do.”  The common thread in each of these videos is a profound desire to do something that reflects their individual passions. Here’s just a sample:

“So I decided to start my own company to deal with it… and it just became my passion.”– Emily Doubilet, Oberlin graduate, founder Sustainable Party

“It was extremely exciting because it was so interactive. That was something I really fell in love with. I got really excited about bringing a craft that seemed so dusty to new life.”   — Nora Abousteit, Harvard graduate,  founder of social network sewing site, Burdastyle.com

In the last year, I have had the pleasure of working with many young people who have a vision for a new company. They include Matt Cheuvront (Proof Branding), Mark Sawyier (Off Campus Media), Sam Davidson (Cool People Care), and Jon Levin (ClearPoint Communications).

Mark Sawyier started Off Campus Media and its sister company, Moving Off Campus,  in the noble tradition of the ‘dorm room start up’ while studying at Washington University. Today, OCM has 5 full-time employees, an admirable client list, a network of campus ambassadors on 18 college campuses and is looking for office space in New York City. The company does great work helping local and national businesses connect with college students. Starting this month, my firm, Brand Amplitude, is partnering with OCM on a project for one of our clients.

Are they happy? I would venture the Founding Founders would approve.

More research on Gen Y and Job Expectations

Meet the Millennials: Our Most Educated Generation Faces a Most Challenging Time Seattle Times article profiles 11 Millennials who are looking for work as well as provides statistics on Millennial (un)employment

Seeing Eye to Eye… or Not? Research by Citrix on how Gen Y Views work meetings.

Millennials Have Their Own Take on Ethics in the Workplace Research by ERC Shows Millennials Share Interest in Fairness and Respect With Older Co-Workers; Concerns on Privacy and Calling in Sick? Not So Much.

*Carol Phillips is the president and founder of the brand strategy consulting firm “Brand Amplitude.” She is also a Professor at the prestigious University of Notre Dame. Carol began her career as a market researcher and strategic planner at Leo Burnett. Later, as an Account Director, she led agency teams at four different agencies – Y&R, Leo Burnett, Mullen and JWT – for a variety of clients including Sprint, Nextel, Ameritech, Heinz, 7UP, and Philip Morris. She blogs at www.millennialmarketing.com.

By Sarah Newton

I found this great post written by Josip Petrusa which was aimed at marketers, but I thought it would be also useful to share here with my thoughts.

Quick Ways to think like a Millennial

1. If it’s slower than a text message, it’s too slow.

Youth want quick feedback, not a long drawn out process. So instant feedback on the spot is better than a long meeting in the office.

2. We’re highly optimistic, seemingly regardless of the situation. Don’t deceive us, but do give us something to be optimistic about.

Let them know where their prospects are and where they could be heading without over exaggerating or lying. Also, tell them the truth as much as you can, they really value honesty. Make the work environment an enjoyable place as much as you can and have a Make Their Day policy; do something every day to make someone’s day.

3. We sleep with our smart phones. We eat with our smart phones. We go to the washroom with our smart phones. Well, you get the point.

Don’t ban mobiles unless you absolutely need to and don’t moan when they text all day, unless it really is interfering. Leave them to it or replace the old smoking breaks with phone breaks

4. There’s some great and cool technology out there. Use it.

Ask for their opinions; ask how you could do something quicker or better with technology. Use this experience; it is a valuable resource that is often untapped.

5. Any situation we’re in could possibly warrant us to tell someone else about it. Give us something good to talk about. And don’t worry; we’ll make sure to tell everyone about the bad.

Don’t expect them to be quiet about their day at work. If you are a good employee they will tell everyone and will get behind you and your company 100%. However, if the opposite is true, don’t expect them to hold back. See every moment with them as an exercise.

By Sarah Newton

It seems long gone are the days when as employers we can forget social media and how we can use it to connect with potential or new employees. However many employers are concerned about the information their employees are sharing on social media sites and there have been cases of employees been sacked for letting off steam about their job on Facebook. But is that really fair? Can we expect this digital generation not to share information and should we judge them for it?

A recent Pew research stated that Gen Y is set to continue to share information.

It looks like this is to become a very hot topic.

“Generation Y Millennials will continue their current habit of sharing large amounts of personal information online as they age, according to the recent “Future of the Internet” study from the Centre’s Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Centre.

Sixty-seven percent of technology experts and 69% of total survey respondents agreed with a statement that said in part, “By 2020, members of Generation Y will continue to be ambient broadcasters who disclose a great deal of personal information in order to stay connected and take advantage of social, economic, and political opportunities.”

And knowing youth the way I do, I have to agree the trend will continue. Generation Z are at an early age showing more openness and willingness to share much more information than we ever have before. Where will it end? Well I have to say it won’t. I don’t think so and while I think users may get much more choosy about who they share with and what and think.

With Facebook recently reaching the grand total of 500 million and Mark Zuckerberg halting any please make certain things more private due to his belief that we all have one identity and we should be able to just be that, where does this leave us older generations. Well confused mostly.
Most employers are at a total loss to understand this need for sharing especially if it may get them into trouble at work or heaven forbid they say something bad about them as a employer. And with a mindset not brought up in a digital world we can’t. Aleks Krotoski (presenter of The Virtual Revolution) was recently asked on a programme should we be concerned about the digital imprint youth are leaving and what that may say to a potential employer. Alex said no, as an employer we should be more concerned if we can’t find a digital imprint. I hope I got this right Alex, I am paraphrasing.

In essence what she was saying was that it is now normal for us to see pictures of our employees having a good time dressed up for the last fancy dress party and to see a few status updates of how bad their job went today. This is not going away and we need to get used to it and find strategies to deal with it.

As employers we should ask how fair it is to delve into the private lives of our employees, even if they have invited us and as employees, we need to ask if it is a good idea to be friends with our boss.

I do think these are areas that need to be looked at and people need to give serious consideration to. As an employer you either friend none of your employees or you friend all of them under the proviso that anything you see, read etc. will not affect their work.

And as employees we need to decide what we want to do. Do we never friend our boss/work colleagues or do we friend them and know we may need to edit or moderate some of our posts?

I’m not sure what the answer is, I just know there has to be one. What do you think?

“Millennials Won’t Change Work; Work Will Change Millennials” is the title of a recent article of Andrew McAfee in Harvard Business Review. This started a lively discussion and I want to share our command to this issue.

Last 10 years our PhD and complementary research was focused on the impact of new generations on the organizational culture in Dutch companies. Desk research – studies of generation literature of the last two centuries – taught us that we create generations for one survival reason only: to stimulate the evolution of social systems, such as companies.

Research in approximately one hundred Dutch companies found that the Pragmatic Generation (1970-1985) lost working energy and enthusiasm when they were ‘forced’, by the older generations, to cope with ways of working which they instinctively considered to be old-fashioned. The focus of this specific generation is on speeding up learning processes while working, and restyling other conducts such as decision-making.

However, during the last decennium the Pragmatics adapted almost entirely to old-fashioned and ‘slow’ processes. Against their will. But …. also against the will of the older generations. The reason for this phenomenon is still indeterminate. We are on our way to unravel this mystery.

Will the Dutch Generation Y (1985-2000), also called Generation Einstein or Screenagers, adapt to ongoing organizational habits, which they consider to be out-of-date, swift and smarmy as well? This is still a big uncertainty. Anyhow, we don’t think they will. There are three reasons for this belief. First: not one new generation in history has ever received so much attention as this one. Therefore the older generations know relatively much about them. Second: we experienced, while working with some groups belonging to this generation, that they are open towards other generations even though they have a strong tendency to stay authentic in everything that they do. Third: in many companies there is a growing awareness and need to innovate, especially through social innovation. They are curious for ‘generation stuff’ and are willing to explore its possibilities.

But … innovating organizational processes and culture can only happen when the older generations open up for this movement and actively support these youngsters.

If Andrew McFee meets companies where the impact of Generation Y is minimal, we advise him to ring the alarm. We advise him to ring it very loudly, since these companies are getting exceptionally outdated. Doesn’t this seem to be obtuse and even suicidal in these times of crisis?!

*Aart Bontekoning is an organizational psychologist: he supports the process during strategic, policy and organizational (cultural) development. He is the supervisor of workshops on management methodology and is also an investigator of organizational culture. At about 2000 he started promotion research on generation influences and development of organizations. Marieke Grondstra is a Junior Advisor at Berckeley Square, also studying about generations with Bontekoning.

By Carol Phillips*

At over 80 million strong, Millennials are a consumer market force today and will be even more important in the future. According to Alloy Media, the college market alone is made up of a record 16 million young adults with collective economic power of over $300 billion, $69 billion of which is discretionary. Yet economic clout is only the most rudimentary reason marketers should be paying attention to this cohort.  Young adults today have greater influence on consumer behavior than their enormous spending power even suggests.

The main reason Millennials matter to marketers is that they indicate future trends to a greater degree than young adults in the past. Here are a few reasons why:

• Technology proficiency has empowered Millennials to weild a disproportionate influence on the culture and on the buying decisions of other generations.
• Millennials are the first to put new technologies to use to make the most of their media time.
• Gen Y’ers are less impulsive shoppers. They place a priority on experiences rather than possessions, and are more likely to make every purchase a considered one.
• Gen Y’ers also display a distinct generational “personality” when it comes to responding to marketing programs and messages. Consequently, push marketing is on its way out, the new marketing is all about engagement, and much of the shift is due to Millennials.
• Finally, Gen Y cares more about the company behind the products they buy and the places they work. Corporate branding and brand architecture are more important than they have been in the past.

Here are a few of the Millennials trends I have been seeing lately.  I wonder how many will move mainstream?

1. TV is escaping the home. Many Millennials are talking about cancelling their cable subscription in favor of seeing shows via their Internet connection or on their mobile devices.

2. Nostalgia is Cool. Maybe it started with Toy Story 3 but Millennials are reconnecting with their childhoods.

3. Facebook Fatigue. Facebook fatigue has begun, or perhaps there are just better options now for connecting with friends. Long live text! (Until something better comes along).

4. Byte Sized: Posts are shorter. Texts are shorter. No one reads to the end.

5. Who Needs a Car? Many are forgoing a car in favor of less expensive and more environmentally conscious transportation.

6. Let’s Be Spontaneous! Last minute travel. Last minute dining. Who needs to plan? Text me!

What are you seeing? What trends are hot? What else is about to jump the shark?

*Carol Phillips is the president and founder of the brand strategy consulting firm “Brand Amplitude.” She is also a Professor at the prestigious University of Notre Dame. Carol began her career as a market researcher and strategic planner at Leo Burnett. Later, as an Account Director, she led agency teams at four different agencies – Y&R, Leo Burnett, Mullen and JWT – for a variety of clients including Sprint, Nextel, Ameritech, Heinz, 7UP, and Philip Morris. She blogs at www.millennialmarketing.com.

By Sarah Newton

I do think when it comes to managing Gen Y we are missing a trick.

We talk a lot about how Generation Y are good at asking for what they want and fantastic and speaking up, putting their work-life balance at the centre of what they do, all of which I think are great attributes.  However we don’t take enough advantage I think of their fairness attitude. Most employers find them very difficult to manage, purely due to their inability to get Gen Y to sometimes share another point of view, which I think is a youth thing rather than a Gen Y thing.

But I think the key could lie in something I learnt in police training. When doing my sergeant’s exam we had to do some hideous practical exams, where we had to deal with six role play situations, one after the other, while been assessed. I did so much training for these exams and passed really well, but the best piece of advice I got was, think in threes. That was when we were trying to get our point across to a PC, we were disciplined to think how it reflected on them, us and the organization as a whole.

This stuck with me and in my earlier worked with families in conflict, I would always ask people to think of what they wanted, what the other person wanted and then what the family wanted. It was always so successful at getting people to realize the complex relationships involved.

Recently, I have begun to use this in my work with young employees.  Since most of my experience lies in the catering industry, that is where I started. For example, time off in the catering industry is a real challenge due to the antisocial hours you have to work. The old pattern was, ask for time off, get refused and get mad. We simply changed this to having every conversation include another person and that third part was “the business”. So when an employee asked for time off the manager would say, “I would love to give you the time off, let’s look at what the business needs that day”. They would then sit down and just go through the business needs for that day, balancing that with what they both needed as individuals and come to a conclusion which, more often than not, was not favourable for the employee. What we found though was that suddenly, employees started to find their own solutions to ensure the business needs got meet, they stopped blaming the managers and feeling liked they were been picked on. By clearly stating the facts and appealing to Gen Y’s need for things to be fair, we solved a very contentious issue.

I continue to use this technique in other situations, but my sense is that it will work just as well, begging the question of whether Gen Y really are difficult or are we just not dealing with them in the best possible way?

By Carol Phillips*

Financial services are waking up to the potential of Gen Y consumers. Millennials may not have a lot of money now, but they are determined to pay down their debt and conserve resources for the future.  Coming of age in an era of massive financial uncertainty, they may even come to be known as “Gen Frugal”.

That’s good news for community banks and credit unions which are all about helping moderate income people responsibly manage their own money.

Last week I was interviewed by Myriam DiGiovanni of the Credit Union Times.  She wrote an article titled “Forget the Cool Factor, Focus on Millennials’ Needs” based on our talk. Here the full article (bold face mine):

Looking to engage meaningfully with younger consumers? Then stop assuming and start connecting through a common interest rather than trying to sell credit unions. “I think the main difference in marketing to Millennials and other generations is that they have great filters–they only see what they want to see. If you want to engage them, the message can’t be about brand but rather something they care about,” said Carol Phillips, president of consulting firm, Brand Amplitude, LLC. “It’s not about being hip but providing services they find useful now, like finding a job, figuring out how to finance their education or new business. They are starting out their lives at a difficult time and credit unions should credibly speak to that.”

She added that credit unions shouldn’t fall for the stereotypical myths surrounding this group such as they are all tech savvy–they are in fact tech dependent. Another myth is that they have money–many don’t and those that do are in saving mode or paying down debt said Phillips.

Forget about making the luxury appeal. When pricier purchases are made they tend to rationalize it based on whether it’s a good investment. According to Philips, for example, moving in with their parents is not viewed as an admission of defeat. Rather they see it as a strategy for saving.

Don’t look to the exclusive use of social media as a guaranteed in either. While they are very social, Millennials have close bonds with their parents, often consulting them regarding financial matters or major life decisions. Phillips said it’s yet another challenge because typically you’d market to the buying group, which in this case would include their trusted board of advisors consisting of parents, family members and friends. The key is for credit union to reach out and be a part of their world, and Phillips said initiating a conversation is a good start. Given the age span of the group is from 16 to 30 years old, she also advised credit unions to segment by interests. From there, credit unions can figure out how to connect in interesting ways whether around careers, music, causes or even sponsoring events that matter to them rather than talking about the latest checking product.

“Meaningful connecting requires recognizing that they are not the same as their parents. They do not respond to marketing, and that is the definition of different,” said Phillips. “Take time to understand who they are as people and introduce your services in context of what is relevant to them. Social media is about a humanization of the brand but is still just a tool [and] not a strategy. So be interesting, have a conversation.”

She added their values are no different than previous generations-they care about family, leading a good life, finding a fulfilling job and they want to give back.

One bank that seems to be getting it right with young adults is UMPQUA, a fast growing regional community bank in California, Oregon and Washington.

Their web site looks more like an ecommerce site than a traditional bank and they call their branches ‘stores’.  The language is plain English and yet stylish. The checking account featured on the home page is called HIP( for High Interest Paperless Checking) and offers 2% APR on  deposits and returns ATM fees. Nothing tricky about that!  News is broken out locally and is called ‘murmurs’. There are quick links to ‘deals and steals’, ‘reorder checks and supplies’ and ‘attend a neighborhood event’.  The navigation is straightforward as well and feels like you could do everything you need to do from opening an account to managing it to taking a loan, right from the web. There are spam alerts and interesting discussions. The site is very sticky and feels quite local, despite being spread across three states.

The short, awareness-oriented TV spots featured on the home page are cheerful, and perky, and not very ‘bank-like’ — “Bank on the Bright Side“, “Optimists Unite“, “Pursue Hopefulness“,  ”You deposit your check in the Northwest economy, like a gentle rain in a garden of courage“, “Optimists are just realists ahead of their time“.  The graphics and the voice over work together to create a hopeful feeling. I feel better just listening to them!

The part of the website I like best is under the tab heading ‘UMPQUA Life”. The sub categories speak directly to Millennial lives – Support, Belong, Discover, Inspire. The sub-subcategories  further emphasize local charitable and volunteer opportunities, neighborhood events and community responsibility. There are links to social media like Twitter, but they are discreet. The site itself  already feels like a social media site.  Even the history page is fun, with just the right information about the banks’ origins with emphasis on what it is doing in the community with music, eco-friendly programs and being included in Fortune’s Best companies to work for.

It should be noted that UMPQUA’s products are not all that special.  But, they are presented in a relevant and very accessible way that speaks directly to the Millennial mindset.

I suspect UMPQUA has been successful in attracting a higher than usual percentage of young adults and people who want banking to be less stuffy and more a seamless part of their lives. Other banks and credit unions could learn from their example.

*Carol Phillips is the president and founder of the brand strategy consulting firm “Brand Amplitude.” She is also a Professor at the prestigious University of Notre Dame. Carol began her career as a market researcher and strategic planner at Leo Burnett. Later, as an Account Director, she led agency teams at four different agencies – Y&R, Leo Burnett, Mullen and JWT – for a variety of clients including Sprint, Nextel, Ameritech, Heinz, 7UP, and Philip Morris. She blogs at www.millennialmarketing.com.

This is a post that I have wanted to write for so long and no, I haven’t been procrastinating, I just needed to get an inside ticket, so to speak.

In the UK there are a few amazing companies that have been started by Gen X ( of Gen Jones for those of you who are into generations in a big way) that are walking and living examples of how to run companies that Generation Y want to work for. However, there is no company that has done it better then the guys at Innocent Drinks. I have already talked about this company before. They are living, breathing examples of building a business based on real values through and through and Gen Y fall over themselves to get a slice of the Innocent pie. Richard Reed, Adam Balloon, Jon Wright, now 36, started their business in 1998 with a clear goal to get fresh healthy drinks out to the public, and they did it in a very quirky way.

I have always had a sneaky suspicion that these wonderful, rebellious, middle class Gen Xs, determined to do everything a different way, had built a company that not only appealed to but valued Generation Y’s qualities and that they had managed to build something quite unique, a company that values above all else its young employees. However, this was all just hearsay; I needed to see for myself, so after a few years of trying I finally managed to get a ticket to their AGM (a grown up meeting) where I, along with loads of other people, spent the day with the crew at Innocent.

Among what I can tell you is that this company has got it when it comes to Gen Y, but what is the IT? Well simply, a culture that allows their Gen Y employees to thrive. Their employees are passionate, committed, loyal and very efficient, going totally against the grain of how we think of Gen Y employees. So what have they done?

Well, walk into Fruit Towers and you know this place is different, from being greeted by a town crier to seeing the astro turf vans to the bean bags that adorned the floor and the bunting all around the office. This is a Gen Y’s dream and mine too!

Employees of Innocent do not sit in departments, they are all mixed around and there are no offices with shut doors. Most meetings take place in the very large communal area that resembles more of a 5th year common room, while looking at a screen adorned with grass and daisies. Their board of directors are actually called the “bored” by the staff and they meet in the “bored room”, which has “blah” written all over the walls. They give employees grants to do things that they really want to do, which they all vote on, the most recent being a remake of Thriller aptly called Chiller. You just get the impression that this is a great place to work.

They don’t stick Gen Y in a box with a list of tasks, they instil in them vision and then expect the results. They care about their staff, having pictures of them all as babies on the wall. They have sports clubs for the staff, a gym masseur, breakfast for everyone, Fridays evenings out, all giving a valuable message to their employees that they care about them as people. They appeal to Gen Y’s need for balance and they haven’t missed out the families too, giving employees an extra 5 days off if they get married and extra tax free money towards childcare. It is a Gen Y dream.

However, ask them how they created this culture and they will clearly state that it is all down to their amazing staff, even turning down TV opportunities to talk about the Innocent culture because it is not their job to tell others what to do . To them, it’s all about the people and they choose their people based on whether they fit with the values of the company and have the capacity to do well before they even look at their experience.

While I was there, someone asked if the innocent culture could be adapted to another business, which was a great question. I began to wonder if it could and came up with the conclusion that it would take a grounded, egoless, innovative person who did not feel it was their job to control how and what others did. To portray a culture that Gen Y love and admire, I even heard one employee say that they would have gone back to New Zealand ages ago, but just couldn’t leave Innocent. You have to be a very special person who cares as much about making relationships as you do about making a successful business and above all, thinks work is fun. I don’t know about you, but most people just are not brave enough.

By Carol Phillips*

The Internet is a modern day three ring circus: there’s something cool going on everywhere you look. According to Comscore, 45% of all page transitions are ‘link following’. Every web page offers multiple enticements to move on. To create interest, you must say something worth staying with, in other words ‘relevant’.

Keeping Gen Y’s attention in an environment defined by distraction requires being ‘interesting’.

Gen Y blogger, Meg Roberts, wrote an article titled “How I would market to myself’ in which she offers this advice:

“Focus on adding value rather than overloading on content. The best way to ensure we’re listening to your messages is to make them relevant to us.  Learn why we’re in a given community, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter or an iPhone app, and speak to us without severely interrupting what we’re doing .”

Note the words “without severely interrupting”. When creating messages for Millennials, it’s important to ask whether or not the message meet the test of whether it’s worth interrupting.

If a friend wouldn’t interrupt than a marketer shouldn’t either.

For Millennials, interruptions are the height of rudeness. There is a hierarchy of communications. A phone call is highly interruptive – and it’s little wonder that Millennials make very few phone calls. Phone calls are reserved for very important conversations, like telling your parents you need money or will be traveling to Puerto Rico rather than home for spring break. For less moments communications, which is to say most communications, they rely on texts.  A teen sends hundreds of texts a day. Texts are less intrusive than phone calls and yet still has urgency. Email is even less intrusive than texts. Email is used when a message is not time sensitive or does not require an immediate response.

Is it Relevant, Cool or Exciting?

Another test for relevance is whether a communication is ‘status update worthy’. As Gen y marketer and community member, Josip Petrusa, puts it this way:

“One thing we love to do is tell the world when something cool, great or exciting is happening to us. In a sense, we love to brag for attention. You’ll always hear about the vacation we’re going on, the sports event we’re going to, the movie we’re seeing, the concert we were at and I could go on and on. Make it something that will give me a reason to tell everyone else about it. A funny and ridiculous video-clip, a great experience or something that even seems exclusive, would all be status update worthy.” You have to reinvent cool, great and exciting.”

What’s In It for Me?

There is a myth that Millennials don’t like advertising. Actually this isn’t true. They like ads that are entertaining or funny, especially for brands they already love. They love the iPad, Axe and current Kindle ads.  These are ads that give back something in return for attention.

The Associated Press (AP), a group with a vested interest in Millennials’ interest in news and ads, released a study in March that looked at ‘news ad fatigue’.  The study took an in-depth, ethnographic approach that focused especially on people 18-34. The research concluded that consumers are “tired, even annoyed, by the current experience of advertising,” and that, as a result, “they don’t trust very much of it“.

Younger consumers, ages 18-34, want to be in the know, and two thirds think it’s important to be among the first to hear news compared with just 10 % of older people. Millennial consumption of news is actually increasing. According to  McKinsey the average person consumes 72 minutes of news a day, compared with just 60 minutes in 2006 and the increase was driven almost entirely by people under the age of 35.

Young adults have adopted ways of getting their news that are much different from those of past generations. Younger consumers are not only less reliant on the newspaper to get their news; they also consume news across a multitude of platforms and sources, all day, constantly. They also think of each other as their main news source.

Here’s a description of how “Mark”, a 28-year old manager of an online travel agency consumes media.

“Mark’s news cycle was continuous and he spent up to six hours a day searching for and receiving information. Mark was on the Internet most of the day and used that time to keep up to date on news coverage and sports-related information. Mark liked his news to be “punchy” and pointfocused. He read the headlines followed up online to “find out what’s happening” with stories that he wanted to track. Mark’s news consumption was related to other activities that he was engaged in and although he was actively consuming the news, it was almost always in tandem with other activities such as driving or working…

You may be surprised to learn,  that brands do not do all that well in social media among Millennials. Only 12% have ‘friended ‘ a brand on Facebook. Only four brands on Facebook have more than five million ‘liking’ – only 16 have more than 1.5 million.  22% of Millennial use Twitter, a small number to begin with, but of those, only 29% follow companies.  Friending a brand is a high hurdle. In terms of Facebook fans, the numbers are even lower. Just 2 brands have more than 5 million fans on Facebook, Starbucks and Coca-cola.

So what do they find relevant?

It will probably come as no surprise that the main reason to join a fan group on Twitter or Facebook is to get news or discounts. Here according to a Pace University study are the top reasons to fan a brand on Facebook:

• Getting news or product updates (67%)
• Having access to promotions (64%)
• Viewing or downloading music or videos (41%)
• Submitting opinions (36%)
• Connecting with other consumers (33%)

Meg Roberts concurs. Her blog post, “How I would Market to Myself”, goes on to offer this advice about  ’free stuff’ and interacting with her favorite brands.

“We’re just out of college.  Loan payments are becoming a harsh reality.  If you want us to try out your brand, give us some free samples or coupon codes.  Plus, if a company could build an entire online community based on the loyalty rewards system, I’d probably check it out to see what other users are saying about new products/sales/coupons/etc.”

“Don’t use social media as a billboard but as a telephone. Social media should be an interactive tool, and when your consumers speak, listen and respond. In my experience, the most successful Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages are those that go beyond simple @replies and wall posts. Ask questions, get our feedback, and implement changes. Everyone likes to have their ego stroked, right? Brand consumers, especially Gen Y ones, are no different. What feels better than having a company listen to reasonable, quality recommendations we’ve made?”

*Carol Phillips is the president and founder of the brand strategy consulting firm “Brand Amplitude.” She is also a Professor at the prestigious University of Notre Dame. Carol began her career as a market researcher and strategic planner at Leo Burnett. Later, as an Account Director, she led agency teams at four different agencies – Y&R, Leo Burnett, Mullen and JWT – for a variety of clients including Sprint, Nextel, Ameritech, Heinz, 7UP, and Philip Morris. She blogs at www.millennialmarketing.com.

By Sarah Newton

Generation Y employees are always being discussed and yet again, more research has the papers saying yes, they do have a sense of entitlement.

There is a post that says:

“Gen Y workers get a bad rap in the workplace, with many a geezer complaining that their work ethic is less developed than their sense of entitlement.” But is that really fair?

Yes, according to new research that has yielded actual data to back up that notion.

In a series of studies using surveys that measure psychological entitlement and narcissism, University of New Hampshire management professor Paul Harvey found that Gen Y respondents scored 25 percent higher than respondents ages 40 to 60 and a whopping 50 percent higher than those over 61.

In addition, Gen Y’s were twice as likely to rank in the top 20 percent in their level of entitlement – the “highly entitled range” – as someone between 40 and 60, and four times more likely than a golden-ager.

And if you think the Gen Yers in your workplace are oversensitive as well as entitled, Harvey’s findings back that up, too. Today’s 20-somethings have an “automatic, knee-jerk reaction to criticism,” he says, and tend to dismiss it. ”

I do think however that the entitled label can send a very negative vibe to potential employees. I like to think of them as expecting the best and wanting more, which I think is a good thing for business and organisations, who so often get away with treating graduates very badly. I was talking to my Dad the other day, who used to train graduates at a top US company and the stories of how they used to make their youth work all the hours that God sent were painful to the ears!

I don’t think Gen Y are entitled, I just think they care about their free time and value themselves, which cannot be a bad thing.

However I think that what can seem an entitled attitude can be a challenge for most employees.

So how do you handle it? Well first, as I have mentioned before, I think you need youth-friendly places but I also think handling this problem can be as simple as using their strengths, for example, their spirit of collaboration.

If you present something as a problem that you need to solve as a team and ask them the best way to meet the objective, you are more likely to get their buy-in. So a “Right, this project needs to be completed for tomorrow, so we are all in for an all-nighter!” would become, “Right, we have an extremely tight deadline on this one, tomorrow morning. How can we work together to sort this out?”

If we focus on what is bad about Gen Y, then that is what we will get, but if we focus on their strengths of collaboration, innovation and creativity, we may just get the very best out of them.