Friday, February 8, 2008

Ask the Millenials

With the explosion of digital communications and the arrival of a new purchasing generation (Millenials) comes a hybrid of worries for traditional communicators.

New generation thinking is not constrained by years of legacy thinking. Jim Heskett at Harvard Business School comments on Millenials and covers both:

1. Some of the benefits:
- they work well in teams & social environments
- they undertsand how to use technology productively

2. Some of the downsides:
- the are willing to seek alternatives (and this includes: employment, tastes, etc.)
- they have little fear of authority

Note:
This obviously makes them ideal users of online social networking tools, blogs etc. But they will readily change if there is a better product/solution available and are seemingly unrelenting in their passion.

However:
One good way to get an insight into what does work for Millenial is to make sure you at least consult some of this age when looking to communicate to a range of generations. I'm lucky enough to have someone to call upon like this and it has definately influenced the timing and toneof some recent messaging.

Better still is to identify this generation in your wider group of influencers or on your opinion panel and ask them to ensure your message works as intended.

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