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The Millennial Mindset®


Published on Wednesday, 06 April 2016 by Shantel Morgan in Marketing

Shantel Morgan, Insight Strategist at The MediaShop shares her perspective on being part of the Millennial generation, an age group she says stands out from the rest.

It seems like everyone is obsessed with my generation, the Millennials, and the more opinion pieces I read on the subject, the more it convinces me that this generation is often misunderstood.

I found many articles telling me why my generation is the worst and that we're not doing enough to succeed. Millennials or Generation Y – people born between (roughly) 1980 and 2003 - represent the biggest demographic in living history. The reality is that we are the future.

The boomer mentality goes like this: "You must get a good education, a well-paying full-time job, find a stable partner, buy a house and a car and preferably, have a child. Failing any stage of this process [in the eyes of the boomer generation] is a reflection of your self-worth and indicates a lack of moral fibre." With this in mind, Millennials have begun to embrace the contrarian mind-set of 'what makes me happy?' Sports cars and mansions are slowly becoming a thing of the past and materiality in general seems to be taking a back seat.

It would seem that in the boomer mentality, success is measured by the ability to follow a strict guidebook but millennials are struggling with issues that didn't even exist during the boomer prime. We're operating under a huge amount of societal pressure and debt, so much so that affording the platonic family lifestyle is no longer practical in some cases.

Millennials came of age during a global financial crisis, massive technological change, globalisation and economic disruption. That's given us a different set of behaviours and experiences than our parents, However we're about to move into our prime spending years and have given a new meaning to the word 'consumption'. We consume like no other consumer has before – data, trends, social media, innovation. We have high expectations and short attention spans.

What makes us attractive is that we have a massive expendable income - the type of income that marketers love to target for their clients.

This misunderstood generation is quite unique in that it is far more than the culture of cut jeans, very short shorts, the slang we use or the music we listen to. We are the technological creation of our generation, growing up wired to the web, inhabiting new worlds, both online and at work, almost as if we are putting ourselves almost out of reach of any traditional way of doing things, certainly in marketing.

I don't think media is distracting us from "the real world," I think it's giving us a new lens to look through. Millennials are becoming more informed than ever, and while it doesn't all have to do with online, these forms of media are introducing more relevant issues to viewers and allowing us to take on our world in a new way, with a new perspective.

The truth is that Millennials are thought to be radically different from any generation that's preceded them. Millennials, including myself, have grown up in a technological age that has advanced at a breakneck pace. Because of that, we have the unique privilege to be nostalgic as well as the ability to appreciate and understand current technology and media.

Humans are not fond of change. But with technology changing so quickly and frequently, we don't have much of a choice other than to roll with the punches. Or rather, scroll with them.

Millennials are poised to reshape the economy; their unique experiences will change the way in which we buy and sell, forcing companies to examine how they do business for decades to come. We expect brands to share our values when many brands are only just learning what those values are.

In closing: I've heard many say that young people are lazy or financially reckless, but the facts just don't bear that out. We're simply trying our best to respond to a rapidly changing economic landscape. If there's anything that defines a Millennial, it's maintaining optimism about the future despite being asked to do more with less.

So sure, we might communicate via text and Snapchat more than you're used to, and maybe we're ambitious and overeager, but I'm proud to call myself a Millennial. We are the first generation of digital natives and our affinity for this technology helps shape how we shop. We are used to instant access to price comparisons, product information and, importantly, peer reviews. Finally, we are dedicated to wellness, devoting time and money to exercising and eating right and this active lifestyle influences trends in everything from food and drink to fashion.

Last modified onThursday, 15 June 2017 15:45