As advertising continues to get more targeted and specific, it will soon be very scary and creepy to see ads. They will be a reflection of what marketers think of you. Ads will be served to you based on a general consumer profile, tweaked and customized based on your personal buying behaviour.

Check out this technology from …where else…Japan that allows advertisers to customize the content of billboards using cameras. The cameras use face-detection technology to analyze the person walking by, then tells the billboard to serve the appropriate ad (link)

On the surface, this is harmless. Quite innovative and novel, actually. But this could also go really really wrong, really really fast.

This is what Times Square looks like today (click):

Ideally, this would transform into:

Sufficiently targeted items for my interests and the interests of my demographics. This is the ideal situation, everything is relevant and the ads actually intrigue me. It would be depressing to see that the world thinks that all 20-something males need to survive is beer, condoms and slacker movies, but that’s a different post for another time.

However, that’s an ideal situation. What if I deviated a little from the average?

What if I’m walking around with my buddies? They’d find out instantly that I might want the special edition DVD of Hairspray, that I’m addicted to Gossip Girl, that I have erectile dysfunction and that I need butt cream.

Then again, Generation Y is so used to giving away their privacy that this might actually not a big deal…

Boomers had it pretty simple back in their youth. Want to connect with your friends? Write them a letter, give them a call or go and see them.

Gen X-ers had a little more fun. They could’ve emailed each other over 28.8 or used their pagers to send 1-sentence messages back and forth.

Here’s what Generation Y uses to stay in touch.

To an outsider, it can be a confusing to understand how Gen Y uses those channels just to talk to each other. After all, Boomers just had three channels and they made friends just fine.

To put things in context, here’s what my communication habits are like and how I use the above.

Looking at that chart makes me envy my father’s generation. They didn’t have to worry about drunk texts. Or having personal information all over the internet.

Honourable mentions for Blackberry PINs and Twitter.

Thinking back to my experience working on the sales floor of a consumer electronics retailer, I had the opportunity to see firsthand the effects of marketing and advertising. As a Marketing student, this was extremely exciting. Being exposed to consumer behaviour this close made me feel a bit like Jane Goodall, but with much much smarter gorillas who happened to have money.

This experience also confirmed that yes, Gen Y presents an interesting challenge to the marketing and sales teams of the future. There was a distinct difference in the way my transactions with Gen Y-ers went, as opposed to Gen X and Baby Boomers.

Selling to Boomers vs Gen Y

Here’s how a typical interaction with a Boomer would go, let’s say, for a printer.

Me:: “Hi! Welcome to ABC Electronics. How can I help?”
Boomer: “Hi. I need a printer.”
Me: “Alright, that’s something I can help you with. Let’s take a look at the printer aisle.”
Boomer: “You know what, I don’t know anything about printers. Just recommend me something.”
Me: “Sure, but first, let’s find out what you need from the printer. Do you have a printer now?”

This interaction would continue for a while as I probed for information to make an appropriate recommendation. It would take a lot of energy — I’d constantly be asking questions, gathering feedback and leading the interaction. If at any point there is an impasse between similar printers, I would inevitably get this question:

Boomer: “So which one would you buy?”

Depending on the day — sometimes we had certain goals, wanted to move particular units, or whether I just wanted to test my abilities — I would recommend different things. 99.9% of the printers we had could do everything the customer was looking for, so it didn’t really matter which one I recommended. However, a big part of how much they spent that day was dependent on me.

Let’s compare this to a typical experience with a Gen Y customer.

Me: “Hi! Welcome to ABC Electronics. Is there anything I can help you with?”
Gen Yer: “Hey there. Do you have the Canon Pixma 3000?”
Me: “Let’s check the printer aisle.”
Gen Yer: “Alright. And how much are your USB cables?”

Millennials had already done their homework, making their transactions much faster. In many cases, I couldn’t even engage the Gen Y customers, since they typically just walked in, grabbed the product they were after, then walked out before I could do my spiel.

Gen Y Customers: Smart but Unprofitable

As a salesperson, Boomer customers were great for the department. Since they often relinquished control of the interaction, I could persuade them to purchase my recommendations, as long as they were within a reasonable price. It was much easier to sell them high-margin accessories and services.

Gen Y-ers were also great customers, because they took very little time to serve and I didn’t have to spend half the conversation explaining what a gigabyte was. Generally, they knew their stuff and sometimes corrected me if I had my product info mixed up. They’ve looked at reviews online and know everything they need and what to buy, so it was hard to sell them accessories and services.

Google and Gen Y

Boomers can’t be faulted for their lack of preparedness. They don’t have what I call the “Google Reflex“. Gen Y instinctively looks something up online to get informed, where Boomers, in my experience, are much more comfortable hearing it from a “certified” person. This made them much more susceptible to upsells (which, by the way, aren’t always bad…just expensive) and pitches for accessories (which could be bought elsewhere for cheaper).

During a sale, it’s all about who has the information. Whoever has the information has the control. Whoever has the control wins the transaction.

I can’t recall the last time I went out of my way to watch boxing. The only people I know who are into boxing are people in my parents’ generation, or boxers themselves. Is boxing down for the count?

After watching the MMA event on CBS this weekend, it’s clear that Mixed Martial Arts — MMA — is kicking boxing’s ass. It’s doing a double-leg takedown, them submitting it via armbar. In the nineties, when someone asked if you saw “the fight” last night, that meant boxing or something involving Mike Tyson. Today, it means some kind of MMA fight, likely referring to an event by the UFC, the most popular MMA organization.

The UFC is popular because of two main reasons.

1. Accessibility

The UFC’s partnership with Spike TV has been a huge factor of its success. I was only a casual watcher a few years ago, but The Ultimate Fighter made me a fan. It made it easy to learn about fighters and gave me an appreciation that MMA is much more than human cockfighting.

Channel surfers bored on a Saturday afternoon can stumble on something UFC related, increasing the chances of people getting into the sport. When was the last time you saw a serial TV show about the lives of boxers?

With boxing, it’s all product, no personality. Their relationship with their target market has zero depth.

2. Dana White

MMA fans feel like they can have a beer with Dana. He’s radically different from other league heads like Bud Selig or David Stern. He projects authenticity and has a visible passion for the sport. Dana even posts on some MMA forums and websites.

Basically, Dana keeps it very real. No pre-written speeches or profanity-free interviews from this guy.

Generation Y and their short attention span

Mark Burnett’s The Contender tried to get people interested in boxing again, but failed miserably. It also didn’t help that the winners of the show are currently stagnating in mediocrity, while most winners from The Ultimate Fighter have gone on to compete for a UFC championship.

A huge problem that boxing has is that you only hear about it in spurts. The hype for the Mayweather-Hatton fight last December was massive — but we haven’t heard of anything noteworthy since then.

MMA events are happening monthly so it’s always around, accessible and easy to get into. With so many things competing for Millennials’ attention, you always need to be putting something out there. Maybe boxing should do like I did and get a Twitter account.

Thanks for the pic, John Griffin.