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Thought Piece :

By Admin posted on July 11, 2014

The Fusion Generation

In a world where YOLO is part of everyday language and a # says more about your emotions than rankings, are marketers struggling to cut though and reach today’s post digital age consumers?

I can’t even count how many briefs I have seen in the last six months that ask the question of how to reach today’s Millennial consumers. The audience who are the future of growing brands, and the poison chalice of the icon brands of yesterday who suddenly see their brand failing with their next generation of customers.

The death of the traditional advertising model hasn’t helped. Budgets need to stretch further, personalised communication and always on strategies become key to unlocking the hearts and minds of this fusion generation.  The concept of selling not telling has never been truer, and brand are being built on behaviours not beliefs. We are scrutinized more than ever, and need to be open to interpretation rather than providing all the answers.

Music was once a key to making brand statements, and credible alliances, but today music tastes are wider. And fashion has never been less typecast, with this pick and mix culture driving every way in which our 18-24s behave.

The herd is now a herd of individuals, inked and pierced, any hair colour is acceptable, in most walks of life. They are more eclectic in every way. So the segments are smaller, and we need to understand what it is that keeps each herd together.

In fact it’s nothing new, this behaviour is as tribal as it gets. The tribe is held together by shared experiences, and stories. Moments of joy, and moments of sadness. Togetherness. Recording and sharing these moments, is no different from the recording of history, of religions, of news.

Once we understand this, the future is clear. Direct Marketing holds greater power than ever before. Now is it’s rennaissance. Yes the segments are smaller, yes the world is bigger, and yes we now have a glorious multitude of ways to reach individuals 24/7 – because the world doesn’t stop and wait for the postman.

The constant sharing, posting, updating, commenting and liking tell us more and more about individuals, and opens the door to a far more segmented approach to communication. Direct is the new broadcast. No longer because of it’s phenomenal ROI modeling capabilities, no longer because it drives loyalty and advocacy, but because there is an expectation that to reach this target, you need to understand them, and the way their tribe behaves.

Creatively it’s a superb brief. How to connect brands to tribes, how to wrap into their lives, their world, their hearts, and how to do this seamlessly. Innovation plays a role in every brief, to cut through, stand out, and ensure you don’t open yourself up to public (very public) criticism.

While most agencies throw the ‘youngsters’ on to these briefs – those who understand, empathise, even are the target – we know that years of experience in unlocking insights, and tapping into extraordinary talent will always build the big, brand thinking – but our model allows us to bring in the innovators, and team them up with the experts, meaning that those stories last longer and stretch further. We believe in the strong combination of old and new, yesterday and tomorrow, and we know it will set the path for the future. Now that’s #PodularThinking.

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