12 May 2015
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3 Essential Tips for Marketing to Millennials
Millennials -- young adults who are currently between ages 18 and 34 -- wield $1.3 trillion in annual buying power. That’s certainly enough to make any marketer sit up and take notice. But despite common misconceptions of the group as a single, narcissistic entity, U.S. millennials are diverse. Nearly 43 percent are non-white and roughly 25 percent speak a language other than English at home.
With such a diverse group -- and such preconceived notions about its personality and interests -- it can be hard to know how to approach marketing to this generation. However, there are certain characteristics that are shared between nearly all millennials, and those that aren’t can be targeted through niche marketing.
1. Rock your mobile marketing.
2. Target social groups, instead of life stages.
3. Be relevant and engaging.
Read the details of all three here
Discuss WHY the three tips are effective.
Select a business and discuss ways they could implement the three tips.
Brainstorm other recommendations for marketing to millennials.
In Sea of T-Shirts, N.B.A. Hits All of Its Marketing Notes
It was 30 minutes before the start of the Golden State Warriors’ latest home playoff game, and fans were beginning to fill Oracle Arena, where each of the nearly 20,000 seats was draped with a gold T-shirt.
Six rows from the court, a man named Sundance Burrough took off his blue replica jersey (cost: $109.95), wadded it up and wriggled into one of the free T-shirts.
“I don’t want to be on the big screen,” he said, nodding to the enormous video board hanging above center court. “And it looks better when everyone wears yellow.”
Overhead, the screen was frozen on some fans elsewhere in the arena who had yet to don the shirts.
“Put your shirt on!” the screen read. Within moments, the fans saw themselves on camera, grabbed their shirts and pulled them over their heads.
“Thank you!!” the screen silently replied, and the cameras moved on.
Sartorial conformity has struck professional sports, and nowhere is it as contagious as in the N.B.A. playoffs. Combining American culture’s love of T-shirts, its affinity for free things and an innate desire to belong, fans across the league this spring are willfully forgoing individual expression and dressing exactly alike in team colors.
Read the entire article here.
Why do you think t-shirts are such a successful give-a-way?
Why do you think some teams chose not to give out free T-shirts?
From Starbucks to 16-year-old Shawn Mendes: Vine marketing hits of 2015
For a brief week, Canadian high school student Shawn Mendes had the number one album in the U.S., according to Billboard. (It’s now down to 47.) He’s the youngest person to hit the top since May 2010, when fellow Canadian Justin Bieber did.
Never heard of Mendes? Ask a kid with a smartphone. Mendes made his name on Twitter’s Vine service, which runs six-second video loops. A music industry impressed with his online popularity courted him and the musician signed with Island Records. He’s not the only one who has received a professional boost:
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Michael and Carissa Alvarado, performing as Us the Duo, signed with Republic Records.
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Another artist and producer, Dawin, signed with Casablanca Records.
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Major talent agency William Morris Endeavor signedcomedian and Viner Ryan Doon.
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Comedian Brittany Furlan has a sketch comedy show development deal produced by Seth Green.
But it’s not just fame and potential careers awaiting those with millions of millennial followers on Vine. There’s also cold, hard cash as companies have tried to piggy back on the social network. Some pay between $5,000 and $50,000 for a single six-second video, according to Laura Chavoen, director of social media at marketing agency GREY. “The most frequent and the largest audience on the channel right now is millennials — anywhere from 13 to 25,” she said. And reaching that demographic is an itch that many marketers have to scratch, even if it’s pricey.
Read the entire article here.
What are the strengths of Vine as a social media platform? What are the challenges?
What types of companies/products are well-suited to use Vine?
What do you believe will be the next frontier for Vine?
Should we teach trends?
I get it. It's almost impossible to cover everything in our curriculum as it is. Who needs even more things to cover?
A couple of thoughts. I am sure there are topics we can spend less time on or eliminate. For instance: visual merchandising, traditional advertising media, advertising layout and design, some merchandising math, etc.
Equally important--we don't need to teach a unit on "trends." Rather, we need to be familiar with them so we can integrate them into all aspects of our teaching. Throw in a little here and a little there.
To do that--we need to make sure we expose ourselves to the trends and technology that are influencing marketing and business. It can be a daunting process.
Above all--make the process fun!
As always, email me with ideas, suggestions, concerns or complaints!
"Much of what's in the realm of the awesome but experimental today inevitably will become mainstream and essential in the very near-term future. One of the marketing universe's leading futurists revealed the trends and technologies that CMOs will need to master—imminently—to keep their companies on the cutting edge. Covered is everything from Google Glass to digital wallets to the next generation of social media sites and mobile devices."