Consumers' Memories

It is nearly the year-end with the traditional Holiday Break,

and the best time of the year to explore again our childhood’s memories.

Whether you are a Gen-Xer or a Gen-Yer,

it may be interesting taking time to reflect on what your references were as a kid

in terms of TV shows, brands, toys, films, cartoons, books, celebrities, aso,

and to compare those with your parents or friends.

source: http://dev.legoimages.com/gallery/classic.php?page=3

This is indeed an interesting process for marketers because they know that the consumers’ memories can have a pretty good influence on their buying decisions depending on what they can recall, and what they can recognize.

source: www.gamepolitics.com/2012/02/13/lucas-licensing-extends-licensing-deal-lego-ten-years#.UMXw94PoSLE

The extent to which our memories are reflected in the new products can greatly influence our buying decisions as well as our selection of seasonal gifts.

Read more: Gen-Y Memories by Jasmine Ryan on Pinterest - see http://pinterest.com/jazzyfresh10/gen-y-memories/

Responsible Youth: Gen Y

According to this article, it seems that Gen-Yers want “to make the world a better place”, 

and this global objective is reflected in the criteria retained by Gen-Yers in their products’ selection.

It is interesting to note that products characteristics like

“sustainable”, “eco-friendly”, “following ethical practices”, or “aligned with social causes”

have more importance for them today than they did five years ago.

Brands have been able to meet these new requirements, and as a matter of consequence, the power of influence of brands has increased today. 

As quoted by the article, “brands are seen as having as much or more power than influential people or organizations”.

source: www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/data-points-responsible-youth-144672

However the main challenge that Gen-Yers still face lies in how to

“make the most ethically responsible purchasing decisions”.

Read more: Data Points: Responsible Youth Gen Y is exercising its political activism at the cash register, published by Lucia Moses, on October 24 2012, in ADWEEK, Advertising and Branding - see www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/data-points-responsible-youth-144672

Gen Y and luxury products

The present article points out that "according to a study of Accenture, in 2013, 35% of the Generation Y plans to buy more luxury products".

As a matter of fact, Gen Y is becoming the target of the luxury brands.

Brands are now observing and studying Gen Yers' ways of life, social behaviors, what they like, what they want to be, or to buy.

It is fascinating to see how marketers have built their "Seduction Model" for addressing the present/future "Needs & Wants" of that generation.

This model is also predicting the future: "Gen Y will build the luxury products in the future". 

Source: M Publicité / Groupe Le Monde

non-official translations: "Etre de désirs" means "a Person who wants to be desired", "Nu-Renaissance" means "Naked-Renaissance", "Cabinet de Curiosités" means "a shop of curiosities", "Art de l'Autofiction" means "the Art to self-perform one's own role".

Read more: LUXE: 8 LEVIERS POUR SÉDUIRE LA GÉNÉRATION Y, 

comments collected by Virginie Achouch during a meeting with Elisabeth Cialdella, marketing director of MPublicité and Eric Briones, strategic planning director of Publicis & Nous, published on November 16 2012, see www.docnews.fr/actualites/media,luxe-8-leviers-pour-seduire-generation,31,15041.html

MobileFilmFestival

As the most technologically savvy generation, Gen Y are experts for creating new ways to 

utilize their smartphones, tabletts, aso.

***

Trend-setters have discovered these skills a long time ago, and have tried to promote them 

-including advertiser's skills- over social media

through "simple -at least in- appearance" challenges.

***

One of them, the "MobileFilmFestival" in Paris is organizing its 8th contest for short-films 

made with a mobile - specification : "1 Mobile, 1 Minute, 1 Film".

@Gen Y: are you ready to express your talents? if yeahh...then check the website, and the participation requirements.


Read more: www.docnews.fr/actualites/media,mobile-film-festival,31,15266.html

The Merging of Digital and Physical Space

With the help of augmented reality and mobile devices in general, we're being introduced to an age where the internet is being integrated into our physical space.  As David Prescovitz states in the video, "Now cyber space is an overlay on top of our existing reality."  With wifi on the go, no longer does a person need to be cumbered by logging into their desktop to access the internet.  With that and augmented reality, access to the web has almost become an extension of the human senses.  Thanks to this, media is able to reach people in public spaces where it wasn't able to before.

Augmented Reality

With all the advances of these devices, internet consumer habits have also carried over through their cyber space.  If people thought that social media was considered their "personal space," the same would be more so true with their mobile device.    A marketer would be hard pressed to try to advertise to a consumer using the blunt approach.  Imagine being spammed by ads that know where you are, or know exactly what you are doing.  Yes, it is exactly as creepy and annoying as it sounds.  These ads are within their own devices within their own personal space.  They can be avoided by them at any time.  Instead, marketers need to learn to learn how to creatively find a mutual benefit between their consumers.  Just keep in mind that augmented reality is meant to be  an extension of a user's senses, not a hindrance.

• How do we make our brand become a part of the consumer?
• How can we lead  the consumer to our brand through his every day activities?
• What does this particular consumer respond to?
• How can we convenience the customer even more through augmented reality?
• Are we overstaying our welcome?

Some of the questions a marketer might ask with augmented  reality in mind.

Watch the interview with David Prescovitz: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/27671.asp

Engaging with the new generations / an example applicable to marketing

Australia is experiencing a rapid ageing of the population, and this evolution impacts directly the qualities that a good coach must have to manage effectively the relationships in a team of younger players.

Moreover, the swift change of the players’ expectations requires today that coaches receive more often update trainings and education.

As a matter of fact, coaches must be able to understand and address the generational gaps in sports, to get the best of teams of Baby Boomers or Generations X, Y and Z.

As reported by the article “…An effective understanding of the different values and perspectives of our younger generations will better facilitate communication between coaches and their players as well as decrease the capacity for conflict. In order to achieve this, we must first acknowledge the issues that the emerging generation has brought to the fore.”

The coach's role in multigenerations' sport teams can be very useful  from a marketing perspective.

We encourage that you, marketers or advertisers read this article to learn more about who is, and what wants Gen Y. However this should not be limited to understand Gen Y only: each generation should do her best to understand the needs and wants of every other generation of consumers.

With this mindset, the learning it provides could find a rich application in the marketing sphere!

Read more:

Engaging with the new generations, published by Mark McCrindle, BSC (Psychology), MA, QPMR, Social Researcher,

Issue: Volume 30 Number 1,

see -  www.ausport.gov.au/sportscoachmag/role/understanding_and_engaging_with_the_new_generations

Image - www.facebook.com/pages/Generation-Y-Sports/135216339860043

The Future of Advertising

I truly am fortunate to be a marketing major at this time of my life.  With the internet and social networking already having such a huge impact on brand-consumer relationships when it is still restively new, we are currently living in the first stepping stone for what will be the future of marketing.

With traditional media advertising, the central goal was straight forward.  That would be find a target, find an outlet to target these people, and relay a message that is memorable.  It was limited in that a message was constricted to limited ad space and commercial times.  Even if you had that ad space and time which was required to get off every singe detail on the message, people's attention span is not that long.  Traditional media is also limited in that the message only goes one way.  Now, information can travel both ways where a company can produce a message, and viewers can upload response messages as well.  Never was there ever so much interactivity between consumer and company EVAR!

The reason why I'm excited is not because it's something new and companies would be looking for younger marketers and companies will probably be looking for marketers of my age group to compete with this new, but competitive market.  Not entirely at least.  What I am most excited about is the new found interaction with all of  these different platforms.

With traditional media, sought out content and advertising were two clear and distinctive things.  In television, one part were called programs, while the others were called commercials.  Now with more interactions between brand and consumer, they do not have to be like this.

 I'm not just talking about just having an internet/social media version of a product or service just to have one.  The real creativity from this kind of marketing is to seamlessly integrate the connectivity between the brand, social media and hardware devices     

dont mind the crude Photoshop skillz

What we start to see from companies is creating  a relationship with it's consumers like never before.  A good example of this what live television programs do with twitter.  Now viewers can participate in the show itself #straightfromtheirhome.  Not only does this create buzz from the those people's follow list, but also creates a relationship with each viewer which gets them more interested in the product.  If you really think about it, the possibilities are endless on what you can mix and match social medias with brand message, and interactivity with consumers.


With evolution of selective media, the term "marketing" will be redefined.  I am very excited


read more about the limitations of mobile marketing at: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/33098.asp and http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/30997.asp