cycle and learn to communicate with Gen Y, and discover how to reach them in a way that they will appreciate.
You must learn to fill Gen Y’s needs and discover what they want. Much like the actual dating world, this can be a tedious process, but it is a necessary process if you want your company to actually be in a solid relationship with Gen Y and not be the creepy stalker calling them over and over again as they’re out dating other companies and ignoring your calls. Albert Einstein said it best when he said insanity is the act of “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
4
Selling the Steak Not the Sizzle: Why Sensationalized Marketing Doesn’t Work with Gen Y
An old marketing adage once said, “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.” Which is to say, focus on the intangibles of a product over the product itself. A good example would be car commercials that sell the lifestyle and image of a car instead of focusing on the actual car. A car company will show a vehicle full of supermodels, which is to imply that if you buy this overpriced gas guzzler, supermodels will want to ride with you. I am not sure if this tactic ever really worked on anyone; part of me hopes no one could be that naive and gullible.
To Gen Y these commercials have the opposite effect. Instead of persuading them to buy, the ads feel patronizing and silly especially when the product the car companies are pitching quite obviously does not render the lifestyle they suggest. If the ad showed a guy buying a Ferrari and gallivanting about town with young, attractive golddiggers, I would admit the commercial could have a point. However, when they show a guy buying a Hyundai Accent and now all the hot girls want him, it leaves me thinking, “What kind of idiot does the advertiser take me for?” A new $5,000 car might garnish a few looks from attractive girls in a poorer country where the prospect of a guy owning any car is impressive. However, in North America, having an inexpensive entry-level car is only slightly more impressive then having an unlimited-use bus pass!
1. Sensational or Sensationalized
The practice of trying to sell the glamorized image of a product is called sensationalized marketing. This has been the standard way advertisers have tried to communicate their products to consumers throughout Gen Y’s life. The advertisers try to sell the sexiness of a product, or how much better your life will be with the product.
When it comes to trying to reach Gen Y, over-the-top marketing claims will have the opposite of the desired effect.
I always have to laugh when I see commercials for Valtrex, which is a prescription medication for genital herpes. The TV commercials show people kayaking, going for hikes in scenic wilderness surroundings, or riding a double-seated bicycle down a beach boardwalk. I would joke with my friends and say, “If only we could all be so lucky as to be living with genital herpes; I mean when was the last time we took a double-seated bike out for a spin down the boardwalk?”
Another classic offender is late night infomercials. The infomercials often take the most mundane of items and then proceed to explain how this piece of kitchenware will change my life. Even before they make their outrageous claims I consider all the items I currently have in my kitchen, none of which have ever even managed to impact my life in any significant way, much less change it completely.
It is hard for me to say for sure if any of the older generations ever really appreciated these kinds of sensationalized ads that offend logic and spit in the face of common sense. I do know that when it comes to trying to reach Gen Y, over-the-top marketing claims will have the opposite of the desired effect.
2. Brainy and Boastful
The fundamental flaw in the sensationalized method of marketing is it fails to address the fact that Gen Y prides themselves on being smart and informed consumers. Any purchasing decision is preceded by enough research and analysis to make even Thomas Edison blush. We read reviews, ask questions on online forums, we consult our friends, even cross-reference prices and features on manufacturers’ websites. In fact, it is interesting to see when one of my Gen Y friends, myself included, finally resolve to make a purchase. We are so inordinately proud of what a good job we did that we end up taking an undeserved sense of pride in the product.
Recently my Gen Y friend, Sara, bought a new mountain bike. Directly after ordering the bike from a local store, she came home and showed all of us online which bike she was getting. Sara then went into a rather long and boring dissertation on why this was the right bike for her needs. “You see, the bike has extra shocks, because you know how I like to go biking in the mountains, and it has a special memory foam seat because you know how sensitive my tailbone has been since that snowboarding accident … ” and so on ad nauseam. If you were to listen to her excessively enthusiastic diatribe, you would swear she had designed the bike herself, or at the very least was deeply involved in the manufacturing process. In reality, Sara did nothing but make the decision to buy the bike, but her enthusiasm for her purchase articulates a distinct difference in the Gen Y mind-set that most advertisers fail to address.
3. Gen Y Doesn’t Mind Doing the Research
Gen Y doesn’t find the process of researching products tedious or exhausting, in fact, I think we can’t help but be this way. I have made snap decisions before when I was at a shop and I felt pressured to buy a product immediately by either a one-day sale, or perhaps it was the last in stock. However, the first thing I do when I get home is begin my normal research process, even after I have already made my purchase, just to make sure it was a good decision. More to the point, I want to make sure it was the “best” decision. For example, I recently bought a digital camera to replace the one that had been stolen on my travels. I had not yet done any research but I was in the mall and the siren’s call of the display Guitar Hero video game was beckoning me in to Best Buy. After a rousing round of “Free Bird,” I decided to take a gander at thecameras.
Now I had been quite happy with my previous camera and had it not been for a sticky-fingered thief, I would have been more than content to use it for another year or so. However, since I was going to have to make a new purchase, why not try to find something even better, and a super slim Casio seemed to be the perfect candidate. As luck would have it, the camera was on sale and it was the last one in the manly black finish. Were I not to buy it now I could be stuck with the red model, which bordered too closely to pink for my taste. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I could purchase this camera that seemingly filled all my purposes, or I could go home and research it to make sure it was the best choice and potentially go back to the store later only to be stuck with the camera color that would test the security of my masculinity. The prospect of being stuck with a fuchsia-colored camera proved too terrifying to risk, so I bought the last black one.
The first thing I did when I got home was consult the online reviews and guides. I was gutted by what I discovered. Although the camera fit all my needs, and the highly reduced price made it a compelling deal, it was not, in fact, the “best” camera I could have bought. Perhaps most insulting was that it was not quite as good as the camera it was replacing. I still find myself looking at pictures that were taken by my old camera with a certain longing that one usually reserves for lost loves. Even though the camera adequately filled all my purposes, which are pretty minimal, I still had buyer’s remorse because I could have bought an even better camera had I taken the time to research ahead of time like I normally would.
Gen Y consumers view information gathering and analyzing as an essential part of the purchasing process.
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