>Matt Britton
YouthNation
YOUTHNATION
BUILDING REMARKABLE BRANDS IN A YOUTH-DRIVEN CULTURE
MATT BRITTON
Cover image: ® Andrew Rich/Getty Images
Cover design: Christopher Ayres
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2015 by MRY US, LLC. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available
ISBN 978-1-118-85356-6 (Hardback)
ISBN 978-1-118-98252-5 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-1-118-98253-2 (ePub)
This book is dedicated to my family. Without each and every one of you pieces of me would not exist and my thoughts and words would have less meaning. I love you all dearly.
To my parents, Robert and Marsha and my brothers, Evan and Joey
To my wife Elyse, son Cameron, and daughter Ella
Foreword
The most important leadership characteristic to thrive in this ever-changing world is resilience. Resilience is the ability to fall, pick ourselves up from the floor quickly, learn, and continue with our journey. Behind resilience there is an inherent positive outlook on life based on unwavering faith in our purpose, our abilities, and the capability of the teams around us.
As global chief marketing and communications officer at Visa, I have been at the center of YouthNation's massive disruption to business and culture. Despite the fact that Visa, a brand of enormous scale, processes over 96 billion transactions in 200 countries during the past year, in many ways we are now forced to think and act like a nimble startup to ensure our long-term vitality.
I was deeply honored when Matt asked me to write the foreword for his first book. Matt has been an important thought partner and a key driver of change in our global organization. His electric passion for driving cultural change through social media and his deep knowledge of youth were key elements in Visa's marketing evolution.
The drivers of change below are not specific to the payments industry but have implications for businesses of all types in every corner around the world.
1. The over 2 billion smartphone users1 around the world have forever changed the way our world communicates and consumers transact.
2. The over 3 billion Internet users around the world now have real-time access to data, tools, and content on a 24-hour news cycle, forever impacting the ways we reach and influence them.
3. The pace of innovation in the marketplace has spawned a wave of millennial-inspired startups, which have reimagined our industry.
For Visa, as for all businesses today, the way in which we manage change will determine whether we will be future leaders in our industry, or another case study of a company that has been left in the dust.
I believe that digital natives will rule the world. Whether you are a global organization with thousands of employees like Visa or a local, family-owned business, your ability to understand the principals of YouthNation is now mission critical. There is simply no way you can replace the experience of being hardwired in the new reality we live in, as today's youth are.
It is imperative, therefore, for business leaders today to empower YouthNation to directly drive change within our organizations. Only by tearing down walls and challenging legacy systems can we truly disrupt ourselves before we become disrupted into obsolescence. At Visa, we are working hard to deploy the principles of YouthNation in our brand, our products, and all of our marketing efforts – principles which you will learn about in this timely book:
1. Put consumers at the center. No longer can we rely on talking at consumers, but rather, we need to engage them in a conversation. We need to fully understand the needs of our various consumer segments and interact with them in ways that add value to their lives.
2. Embrace social-at-the core. We must design our communications with shareability in mind at every touch point. We want the consumer to feel a sense of ownership in our brand so advocacy must be earned and authentic.
3. Everything is marketing. Whether its the way consumers interact with our products, the way we activate global events like the World Cup or the Olympics, or the way we interact with our great merchant and banking partners, they are all reflections of Visa and must be consistent and continually deliver excellence.
I am excited to be part of this book because even as the CMO of a Fortune 500 organization, my challenges are not unique. Anyone who is looking to navigate their way to success through today's white water of change must meet the demands of disruption with the principles of YouthNation.
These are indeed challenging
