Generation Y

As a member of Generation Y, I do feel that there are some truths to what the articles and podcast were saying about people in this generation. I am definitely an avid facebooker and have been on other social networking sites as well. I agree that your social networking site is sort of like your dorm room in the way that you post pictures, “have your friends over,” and post comments about each others messages, etc. In the podcast, they said that MySpace is way cooler to hang out at than the mall and I think this is very true. If I want to feel “in the loop” or feel that I have connected with my classmates, the first place I turn is facebook. Especially at a school as large as UT, I think the social networking sites help you feel more connected to your classmates. They also said that it is typical for your virtual friends to match your physical friends. I agree with this because most of my virtual friends are my friends in real life but I use the Internet as a tool to connect with them.

It is no doubt that we are an online generation. We post our homework online, do research for class online, read the news online, get fashion advice online, relationship advice online, shop online, talk to our friends online, and even write in online diaries. With everything being online, it is easier and harder for marketers to capture us. We are exposed to thousands of ads everyday as we check our email and walk to class. The Internet is a great tool to advertise to young consumers in unconventional ways so that sometimes they are not even aware they are being marketed to.

However, we click through so many indirect ads on YouTube, MySpace, etc. that we become immune to them and could possibly lose their effectiveness. Traditional marketing methods become obsolete with technology like TiVo. Another characteristic of our generation is that we are constantly using several types of media at a time. Earlier today I was watching TV on TiVo while checking my facebook with my laptop and texting my friend on my Blackberry all while flipping through a magazine. How are marketers supposed to reach someone that has so many conflicting ideas clouding their brain and thought process?

One thing that is popular for marketers these days to do is use viral marketing that Generation Yers regard as funny or clever. Several companies have been able to do this through YouTube videos, interactive online games, and music. Something that I think has been ineffective is the attempt to use celebrity endorsements, glitz and glam, and the “cool factor” to try and sell a product. Gen Yers are sophisticated consumers and do not want to be sold to. They do not want to be told what is cool, but they want to discover it through a combination of rebelling from their peers and following their peers at the same time. It is a tough job for marketers to figure out how to appeal to a generation that is so different from generations of the past.

Although there seems to be a definite trend to all things hip, trendy, and virtual, the more traditional members of Gen Y should not be forgotten. There is definitely a population of preppy dressing, face to face talking, risk averse teens and young adults. Some kids are too cool for facebook, too straight laced for skateboarding, or too boring for video games. Companies with niche market type products can still succeed if they find the correct market and give their customers something worth buying. It is a tough marketplace out there and it is up to shrewd marketers to figure out how to appeal to someone.