Wednesday, January 18, 2017

We are obsessed with imaginary generational differences but ignore the most obvious and certain one

Every generation has its own 'gurus' who profess some mystical understanding about the secrets of their generation's psyche, what makes them tick, most importantly, what makes them buy.

Doesn't matter if it is Boomers or Gen Z, there are consultants and journalists who like you to believe they know the marketing secrets of making the generation love your brand or buy your product.

Unfortunately, this Alice in Wonderland world occasionally bumps into reality and its deficiencies are are for all to see.

Kantar Millward Brown recently completed a large study of the attitudes of the generations to advertising and discovered that there are significant similarities in their views and how they respond.

Having surveyed 23,000 consumers across 39 different countries, the research monitored advertising perceptions among Generation X; Baby Boomers, Generation Y and Generation Z.

When asked which ad formats they respond best to, each generation voted in a higher proportion for traditional formats over online ad formats. This clearly surprised the researchers - heavens knows why.

You can read about the research in Marketing Week. 

Generational marketing is a bit like astrology - good fun but you be daft to use it for planning your life.

The crazy thing is that there is a huge difference between the generations, well some of them, that results from the physical. sensory and cognitive ageing. This is not some theory it is 100% certain - yet most marketers ignore the fact. Much more fun to waffle on about the secrets of Millennial Marketing than to get to grips with what age related issues determine the quality of customer touchpoints

Those bright ones of you who want to know about this subject look here. Dick Stroud











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