Creating winning strategies for Generation Y

1. Creating winning strategies forGeneration Y Mike Smith Media Management Center Northwestern University __________________________ m-smith3@northwestern.edu

2. Presentation plan • Who is Gen Y • Data from a variety of sources • Comparisons to boomers • Media usage • Technology interests • Buying habits • Values and lifestyles

3. Who is Generation Y? • Born between 1977 and 1995 • In 2002, aged 7 to 25 • Coming of age now • Often called Echo Boomers, Millennials

4. Their impact • In each of the years from 1989 to 1993, U.S. births exceeded four million for the first time since the early 1960s. • Today there are roughly 57 million Americans under age 15 -- and more than 20 million in the peak years between four and eight. SOURCE: Census Bureau

5. Portrait of a tidal wave • More than 70 million Gen Y-ers make up more than 21 percent of current population. • Generation Y will exceed the number of baby boomers at their peak. • The size of Generation Y is expected to increase at twice the rate of the overall population until 2010. SOURCE: Census Bureau

6. Portrait of a tidal wave • Nearly 60% of children under the age of six have mothers who work outside the home, compared with just 18% in 1960. • Some 61% of U.S. children aged three to five are attending preschool, compared with 38% in 1970. SOURCE: Census Bureau

7. Portrait if a tidal wave • Nearly 60% of households with children aged seven or younger have personal computers. SOURCE: IDC/LINK Resources Corp., New York

8. Portait of a tidal wave • More than one-third of elementary-school students nationwide are black or Hispanic, compared with 22% in 1974. • If current trends continue, “minorities” will make up the majority of the U.S. population by 2050. SOURCE: Census Bureau

9. Portrait of a tidal wave • Approximately 15% of U.S. births in recent years were to foreign-born mothers. • Origins so diverse that more than 100 different languages are spoken in the school systems of New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Fairfax County, Va. SOURCE: United Nations Center for Population

10. Portrait of a tidal wave • Nearly one of three births in the early 1990s was to an unmarried woman. With approximately one in three marriages ending in divorce, that means a significant portion of this generation will spend at least part of childhood in a single-parent home. SOURCES: Various

11. Portrait of a tidal wave • One-quarter of children under age six are living in poverty -- that is, with cash income of less than $15,141 for a family of four. SOURCE: Department of Labor

12. Reading by generation SOURCE: Media Management Center

13. 18-year-olds are important SOURCE: Media Management Center

14. Audience pool and Gen Y SOURCE: Media Management Center

15. Population projection

16. Ethnic makeup Generation Y is an ethnically diverse generation. Minorities make up 34 percent of Generation Y, but only 24 percent of baby boomers. Baby boomers Generation Y

17. Ethnic projections • Ethnic diversity will continue to rise among Generation Y. • Hispanics will be the largest minority group in 10 years. • Hispanics will make up 17 percent in 2010 and 19 percent in 2020. SOURCE: Census Bureau Generation Y ethnic make-up projections

18. Media usage • Heavily concentrated in broadcast media, especially radio. • Newspapers are generally trusted as a good news source. • The Internet is used less frequently than all other forms of media. SOURCE: Media Management Center

19. Teens’ use of media SOURCES: NAA,NAB

20. Media choice for news* Percentage of teens SOURCES: NAA, NAB

21. Media use by topic*

22. Attributes of media*

23. A quick test How did you hear about the Atlanta office bombing? SOURCE: Media Management Center

24. A quick test How did you pursue the story? SOURCE: Media Management Center

25. Attributes of media*

26. What teens read

27. What teens want

28. Generation Y meets the Web “Technologically, this generation is going to make the Gen-Xers look like fuddy-duddies. They’re on fast forward.” Frank Gregorsky social historian at the Discovery Institute, a Seattle think tank

29. Technology trends • 56 percent of teens have a PC at home; 85 percent use a computer at school. • Two-thirds of children under 11 first used a computer before they were 5.

30. Web use highest with young adults SOURCE: Jupiter Communications 43% 28% 12% 21% 5%

31. Gen Y and the Web • More than 80 percent of teens have Internet access. • 44 percent of teens used the Internet in the previous week • 79 percent of children say they would like to spend more time online Where teens access the Internet

32. Online shopping • 67 percent of teens and 37 percent of children who have Internet access use it to research or buy products online What teens buy online

33. Spending trends • The average teenage boy spends $84 a week • THE average teenage girl spends $83 a week

34. Income • Teens had a combined income of $121 billion in 1998, a 9 percent increase from 1997. • 49 percent of teens have a part-time job. Where teens get their money

35. Shopping as sport • The average teen visits a mall 54 times a year, compared to 39 times for all other shoppers. • 87 percent of teens say they go to the mall to shop, 73 percent say they go to hang out.

36. E-commerce wants Y • Teen e-commerce sites soar • The success of these sites based on teen buying.

37. Cyber allowance • Cyber allowance is at the heart of three sites: • I Can Buy • RocketCash • DoughNet

38. Cyber allowance sites • Parents set up pre-approved accounts. • Digital cash works at only pre-selected vendors and Online malls. • Teens will account for $1.2 billion of electronic commerce dollars in 2002. • 5- to 12-year-olds will be responsible for $100 million in spending Online in 2002. SOURCE: Jupiter Communications

39. Web Y strategies • Some Gen Y Web sites go straight for the e-commerce payoff, while others attempt to build community using an e-commerce engine.

40. Web Y strategies • Commerce THEN community: • The Delias clothing catalog site buries in small type at the bottom of the home page a survey question asking readers whether they “Dig or Diss” the new Austin Powers movie. • Main focus is stuff for sale.

41. Web Y strategies • Community then commerce: • Bolt, which boasts 800,000 members, hits you right off the home page with a picture and profile of its Member of the Day and a rolling headline feed of Gen Y topics such as "Student suspended for blue hair." • OTHER FEATURES: • Favorite Memories of the Prom • Electronic greeting cards ready to send for various occasions such as "I Have a Crush on You."

42. Web Y strategies • Commerce AND community: • Alloy Online's home page is more of a mix of content and commerce. • Content-heavy sections include: • An advice column ("How do I get rid of hickeys?"), sports, music, and even a poetry section • There's also a link to Alloy member home pages and a tool to create your own, using technology from Homestead.com

43. Products that sell • Interactivity • Anything having to do with education • Educational playthings sold as stores like Noodle Kidoodle and Zainy Brainy. • Such stores tend to shun violent or licensed products and stress multimedia learning.

44. Interactive education “The motivation for the company was quite frankly, the belief that consumers can't spend enough time with their children, and when they do, they want it to be something that will help them go to Harvard.” Brian Lynch, vice president of operations at the Learningsmith, a chain of 36 stores based in Cambridge, Mass.

45. Products that sell • Books • This generation is reading and being read to • Publishers have responded with an outpouring of titles and series for young readers • Annual sales of juvenile books have more than doubled, to $1.4 billion, since 1987

46. Reading “We have babies in here, and one-, two- and three-year-olds coming to our story hours.” Maureen Golden, vice president of merchandising for Barnes & Noble Inc.

47. Products that sell • Clothes! • Apparel manufacturers from Ralph Lauren to Gap Inc. are also targeting the Gen Y crowd • Preferences: • Jeans • Sports jerseys • Baseball caps Around the corner: Dress-up clothes

48. Products that sell • Family time • Auto makers are courting their parents with minivans and sport-utility vehicles, many with built-in child seats. • Hotels and cruise lines are offering kids' programs. • Some malls, furniture stores and even supermarkets provide on-site baby-sitting. • Restaurants are setting out crayons, putting changing tables in restrooms.

49. Brands are big • Generation Y is the most brand-conscious generation ever. • 90 percent of product requests made to parents by children 4 to12 years old are by brand name.

50. 11. FUBU 12. Coca-Cola 13. Calvin Klein 14. Cover Girl 15. Pepsi 16. Ralph Lauren 17. Clinique 18. Mudd Jeans 19. Nautica 20. Reebok 1. Nike 2. Adidas 3. Tommy Hilfiger 4. Sony 5. Nintendo 6. The GAP 7. Old Navy 8. Abercrombie & Fitch 9. JNCO clothing 10. Levi’s 20 coolest brands*