Generation Y has never had to “suck it up”. There are answers for everything these days. Can’t focus in class? Pop these pills. Mommy and Daddy yelled at you? Call this number to get them in trouble.
Our childhood knew no communist threats, gas shortages or military drafts. We were raised by hippie baby boomers who hated their rigid childhood (from great-depression-era parents), so we got off easy in the discipline department.
Here are two more things that compound the situation.
You can do anything, you are special!
This “you are awesome” mantra we heard in childhood has clearly manifested in the workplace. There is no shortage of reports from managers saying that Gen Y workers feel entitled to the corner office on their first day. They come in with guns blazing with 1001 ideas on how to improve your operations. apparently, all the old folks got it wrong.
The Internet
Thanks to the internet, we’ve gotten used to getting things our way. Everything is customizable. Everything is instant. Information is consumed at a frightening pace, but it’s our pace and that’s the way we like it.
Marketing implications
What kind of marketing efforts would resonate with an ‘entitled’ Generation Y?
- Empowering: Your product must fulfill my high need for uniqueness.
- Instant gratification: It’s an ASAP world these days. Look at PVR and YouTube. If you’re selling something, tell me why it’ll work faster than Brand X. Show me that it will always be there when I want it.
- Customizability: In addition to your product — your marketing should be tailored to me. Be at venues I attend, be in places conventional marketing isn’t. Mentos embraced the Coke/Mentos fountain YouTube phenomenon and got an estimated $10m in free advertising.
The iPod is a shining example of the synergistic power of the above efforts. Ditto with MySpace. All our lives, we’ve been told that we are special. Brands that recognize this will be well rewarded.
