The Adults of Generation Y in the U.S.

The most ethnically diverse and technologically savvy generation in U.S. history, the adults of Generation Y, born from 1979 to 1990, number about 40 million. Also known as Echo Boomers, Millennials and a host of other catchy titles, Gen Y adults tend to be self-confident, team-spirited, politically liberal and more digitally literate than their elders. They take for granted the quick convenience and seemingly infinite options afforded by cell phones, the Internet, indulgent parents and a marketplace eager to meet their mercurial tastes. Gen Y adults also stay single longer, remain more emotionally and financially attached to their parents, and delay their own parental responsibilities longer, while indulging their inner child more vigorously, than the generations before them. Despite their shaky finances and breezy approach to workplace demands, the cohort’s strong affinity for personal fame and wealth are likely to translate into serious financial clout over time, to the tune of some $3.5 trillion by middle age. A penchant for instant gratification and customizable products, along with demand for socially responsible corporate policies and a wariness of inauthentic advertising, means that marketers must launch ever more creative, multilayered and inclusive campaigns to reach their target Gen Y segment—a daunting task considering the constant trade-offs between Gen Y adults’ frequent homogeneity in mindset and wild diversity in individual preferences. Drawing on uniquely cross-tabulated Simmons Market Research Bureau -winter 2008 survey data, BIGresearch’s monthly Consumer Intentions & Actions surveys, and government and private sector data sources, Gen Y Report examines common attitudes and motivations among the Gen Y adult cohort, particularly their tendency to trust friends and celebrity endorsements in their purchasing choices, their insistence on influencing product offerings and advertising, and an accompanying blurring in their analytical boundaries between “retail” and “real life.” The report gives special attention to green and other social concerns within the cohort and their use of a wide range of social networking media to pursue their goals. Attitudes and spending trends of Gen Y adults introduce five lifestyle markers: • Demographics: Millennials are very ethnically and culturally diverse, with a multicultural outlook and a left-leaning political orientation. The younger cohort, age 18-24, account for 59% and Hispanics a powerful 22% of the adult Echo Boom. • Finances: Gen Y’s love-hate relationship with credit cards, education expenses and high APRs, combined with a desire for luxury products and a seeming inability to save money, means they tend to be cash-crunched. • Technology, Media and Marketing: Media saturated and digitally dependent for their sense of self, Millennials experience media, technology, socialization, advertising, community and personal consciousness as almost seamlessly integrated. • Eating In, Dining Out: With a developing preference for organic, functional and sustainably farmed produce, Gen Y adults embrace healthy, well-balanced meals as long as they come in snazzy recyclable containers, don’t require cooking and don’t interfere with snacking. • Wellness, Work and Leisure: Not so much about anti-aging and physical fitness, Gen Y wellness means that leisure and work should be personally fulfilling; that community and environmental health are a team effort, preferably supported by one’s employer; and that relationships are the key to personal well-being.

Advertising Gets a Boost From the Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court's loosening of restrictions on political ad spending by corporations and others will bring some joy to hard-hit local television stations and make it even more likely that 2010 will be a record year for political ad revenue. The court's ruling lets corporate America start advertising candidates much as they market products and tell viewers to vote for or against them. While it almost certainly will lead to a barrage of hard-hitting TV ads in the 2010 elections, its implications reach far beyond that. The ruling was a victory for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, the National Rifle Association and other interest groups most likely to run ads with money from their treasuries. It's unlikely major corporations would want their name on an ad, but they can avoid that by giving money to interest groups, who would then run ads and disclose the spending under the groups' names. The Republican National Committee is challenging one of the law's pillars, a ban on corporate and union donations to political parties. Ruling 5-4 in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, the court freed business, unions and nonprofits from some of 2002's McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law. The law had limited political spending by those groups within 30 days of a primary and 60 days of a general election. The case arose over "Hillary: The Movie," a 2008 film by Citizens United -- a conservative group led by veteran Republican campaign operative David Bossie -- that was severely critical of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The Federal Elections Committee restricted the film's advertising during the campaign, and a panel of judges agreed, calling the film an extended campaign ad. Conservative groups decried that decision as constraining freedom of speech, leading to Bossie's lawsuit. Thursday's ruling likely will mean hundreds of millions of dollars in ad spending, much of it just before Election Day, will flow to local broadcast TV. Projections for the 2010 elections by TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group say total ad spending could exceed the $2.6 million to $2.8 million spent the last two cycles. The decision means a new gusher of money for the TV industry, good news for them in economic hard times. The ruling could deposit as much as 20% more ad spending, roughly $500 million, into the mix. More than half of all ad spending goes to local TV. The Television Bureau of Advertising earlier predicted that $1.5 billion would go to broadcast TV stations for the 2010 election. Now that's going to be more like $1.8 billion. Recent elections in Virginia and New Jersey, and the out-of-nowhere win for the GOP in Massachusetts, have taught both parties that the 2010 midterms will be big. CMAG estimated that $10 million in advertising was spent in the last 10 days of the campaign in the Bay State. Thirty-seven gubernatorial races will be decided in November, including in such high-powered media markets as California, New York, Texas and Ohio. Twenty-one of those seats are open, meaning there will be competitive primaries in the spring. Add to that that one-third of the U.S. Senate and the entire House. In the middle of it all are voters, the people whose opinions the new spending will seek to influence. The court seemed to agree with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's contention that voters want more election ads and that they are craving the viewpoints and information that will be presented in them. But if the country's experience in the years before the McCain-Feingold law, when corporations and unions poured millions of dollars into election-time ads that targeted candidates but stopped short of calling for their election or defeat, is any indication, much of the new ad spending will likely be aimed at turning voters against a particular candidate, rather than urging them to vote for one. That may please voters who do not like the candidate anyway, but it could turn off some voters so much they tune out. Getting key voting blocs to stay home on Election Day can be as important as getting voters to turn out.

Personal Branding 101: How to Discover and Create Your Brand

From the corporate brand (BMW), to the product brand (BMW M3 Coupe) and down to the personal brand (car salesman), branding is a critical component to a customer’s purchasing decision, according to Dan Schawbel, writer of the Personal Branding Blog. These days, customer complaints and opinions are online and viewable through a simple search, on either Google or through social networks. There is no hiding anymore and transparency and authenticity are the only means to survive and thrive in this new digital kingdom. Many people think that personal branding is just for celebrities such as Paris Hilton or Britney Spears, yet each and every one of us is a brand. Personal branding, by definition, is the process by which we market ourselves to others. As a brand, we can leverage the same strategies that make these celebrities or corporate brands appeal to others. We can build brand equity just like them. We can also have just as much presence as most startups and mid-size companies and products. Social media tools have leveled the playing ground and have enabled us to reach incredible heights, at the cost of our time. Here is the personal branding process, so you can start to think about what face you want to show to the world and how you want to position yourself for success: ________________________________________ 1. Discover your brand ________________________________________ The single biggest mistake people make is that they either brand themselves just for the sake of doing it or that they fail to invest time in learning about what’s in their best interests. The key to success, and this isn’t revolutionary, is to be compensated based on your passion. In order to find your passion, you need a lot of time to think, some luck and you need to do some research online to figure out what’s out there. Brand discovery is about figuring out what you want to do for the rest of your life, setting goals, writing down a mission, vision and personal brand statement (what you do and who you serve), as well as creating a development plan. Have you ever been called intelligent or humorous by your peers or coworkers? That description is part of your brand, especially if you feel those attributed pertain to you. To know if you’ve discovered your brand, you need to make this equation equal: Your self-impression = How people perceive you Before you enter the next step in the personal branding process, you’ll want to select a niche, whereby you can be the master of your domain. For example, Joel Comm has mastered the Google Adsense niche and brands himself using his name, and Brian Solis owns the social media PR niche with his PR 2.0 blog (under his name). A domain means an area where there aren’t many competitors and literally, your online domain name. Once you sort this all out, now it’s time to create your brand. ________________________________________ 2. Create your brand ________________________________________ Now that you know what you want to do and have claimed a niche, at least in your mind, it’s time to get it on paper and online. The sum of all the marketing material you should develop for your brand is called a Personal Branding Toolkit. This kit consists of the following elements that you can use to highlight your brand and allow people to easily view what you’re about: 1. Business card: It doesn’t matter if you’re a college student, CEO, or a consultant, everyone should have their own business card. The card should contain your picture, your personal brand statement (such as Boston Financial Expert), as well as your preferred contact information and corporate logo if necessary. You can create your own business card and share it through your mobile phone using mydropcard.com or rmbrme.com. On the web, BusinessCard2.com is a great social network for creating and distributing your person business card. 2. Resume/cover letter/references document: These are typical documents that you need for applying for jobs and when you go on interviews (something over 2 million job seekers will be doing as we speak). Be sure to prioritize each document with information custom to the target position. Take your resume online and add social features to it to make the ultimate social media resume, promoting your personal brand to the world and making it shareable. 3. Portfolio: Whether you use a CD, web or print portfolio, it’s a great way to showcase the work you’ve done in the past, which can convince someone of your ability to accomplish the same results for the future. Figdig.com and carbonmade.com are social networks for people who want to show off their creative skills to the world. 4. Blog/website: You need to own yourname.com or a website that aligns with your name in some fashion. Depending on who you are, how much time you have on your hands and if you can accept criticism, you should either start a blog or stick with a static homepage. Those who blog will have a stronger asset than those who don’t because blogs rank higher in search engines and lend more to your expertise and interest areas over time. 5. LinkedIn profile: A LinkedIn profile is a combination of a resume, cover letter, references document and a moving and living database of your network. Use it to create your own personal advertising, to search for jobs or meet new people. 6. Facebook profile: Over 160 million people have profiles, but almost none of them have branded themselves properly using this medium. Be sure to include a Facebook picture of just you, without any obscene gestures or unnecessary vodka bottles. Also, input your work experience and fill out your profile, while turning on the privacy options that disable the ability for people to tag you in pictures and videos (allowing people to see the ones tagged of you). 7. Twitter profile: Your Twitter profile should have an avatar that is carved out of your Facebook picture and used in your LinkedIn profile. You need to use a distinct background, fill out your profile and include a link to either your blog or LinkedIn profile. Twitterbacks.com, developed by internet mogul Jim Kukral, has templates you can use to sculpt your very own Twitter background (Photoshop skills not included). Twitbacks.com is another solution that also lets you promote your Twitter profile. 8. Video resume: A video resume is a short video of you talking about why you are the best for a specific job opportunity. You get about a minute or so to communicate your brand and are able to send the link, once you upload it to YouTube, to hiring managers. 9. Wardrobe: Your personal style is tangible and is extremely important for standing out from the crowd. Select clothing that best represents you because it will be viewable through your pictures/avatars online, as well as when you meet people in reality. 10. Email address: Don’t overlook your email address as not being a significant part of your toolkit. Most people use email over all social networks and when you connect with someone on a social network, you are notified via email, so get used to it. Your email address poses a great opportunity for your brand. Using gmail is highly recommended because of the acceptance of Google and since GTalk allows you to form tighter relationships with others. For your address, use “firstname.lastname@gmail.com.” After you spend the time on these parts of your personal branding toolkit, it’s time to showcase it to the world, especially your target audience. Don’t be fooled by the myth that if you build it, they will come. Unless you’re the luckiest person on earth, you’ll have to actually communicate everything you’ve created to others.