Do we know generation ?
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2025 9:55 am
For Identify11, the customer day of MTV Networks Netherlands , InSites Consulting conducted a survey at the end of the summer among over 600 Dutch Millennials (born in the eighties and the first part of the nineties – in other words, young people between 13-29 years old). With this study, MTV wanted to test the local relevance of their new global brand brief . This repositioning came about after Mattias Behrer , the General Manager and SVP of MTV North, wrote the book ' Maak Je Merk Cool , branding naar de nieuwegeneratie' together with me.
Because everyone is crazy about games and challenges, we also invited Dutch marketers costa rica phone number list to test their knowledge of the Gen Y consumer. In total, 75 marketing professionals took up the challenge. Only 4 out of 10 of them claimed to know how to build a strong brand for the Millennial target group, while about 7 out of 10 admitted to simply following their intuition and their own behavior. In itself, quite a dangerous approach, because only 17% saw a great similarity between them and the young generation, which the entire study was about.
“Without constant social contact I die a little”
The study covered four themes. The first was given the resounding title 'socially connected'. Because yes, young people today are always in touch with each other and always up-to-date thanks to the media and technologies they use. For our new generation, their mobile phone or Facebook account is the umbilical cord that gives them oxygen and life. They cannot imagine life without it and would rather not have sex for a month than have to go without their mobile phone. The five main reasons why they are so addicted to social contact are (in order):
to fill the time and just have fun
to stay up to date with family and friends
to keep in touch with family and friends in another country
to learn new things
to meet new people
A striking reason that was overlooked by almost all marketers in the test is number 4: learning new things. Millennials are a 'triumph generation'. A quarter of them want to be remembered as 'someone who has achieved something in life'. This ambition was instilled in them from an early age by their equally ambitious Baby Boomer parents. It is not for nothing that they are called the "echo boomers". For marketers, this eagerness to learn actually creates quite a few new and untapped opportunities .
Because everyone is crazy about games and challenges, we also invited Dutch marketers costa rica phone number list to test their knowledge of the Gen Y consumer. In total, 75 marketing professionals took up the challenge. Only 4 out of 10 of them claimed to know how to build a strong brand for the Millennial target group, while about 7 out of 10 admitted to simply following their intuition and their own behavior. In itself, quite a dangerous approach, because only 17% saw a great similarity between them and the young generation, which the entire study was about.
“Without constant social contact I die a little”
The study covered four themes. The first was given the resounding title 'socially connected'. Because yes, young people today are always in touch with each other and always up-to-date thanks to the media and technologies they use. For our new generation, their mobile phone or Facebook account is the umbilical cord that gives them oxygen and life. They cannot imagine life without it and would rather not have sex for a month than have to go without their mobile phone. The five main reasons why they are so addicted to social contact are (in order):
to fill the time and just have fun
to stay up to date with family and friends
to keep in touch with family and friends in another country
to learn new things
to meet new people
A striking reason that was overlooked by almost all marketers in the test is number 4: learning new things. Millennials are a 'triumph generation'. A quarter of them want to be remembered as 'someone who has achieved something in life'. This ambition was instilled in them from an early age by their equally ambitious Baby Boomer parents. It is not for nothing that they are called the "echo boomers". For marketers, this eagerness to learn actually creates quite a few new and untapped opportunities .