5 key points to keep in Mind when Marketing to Centennials

I remember this time, when I had won the 1st prize in a painting competition at school, I reached home excitedly and hugged my Mom proudly flaunting that silver little cup. Mom beamed. There was a neighbour Aunty at home that time. She Congratulated. I glowed happily. Mom proudly placed that cup in our showcase. I have no memory of what happened to that cup later.

Come 2017, my nephew wins a prize. He comes home, hugs his Mom. Mom is so proud of the little boy that she immediately asks him to pose with the cup. Bam! Goes messages to various Whastapp groups and FB / Instagram updates. The little 7 year boy reminds his Mom that she forgot to send the update to a certain “Building Moms” group. Mom obliges and reads out the congratulatory messages to the boy. Boy beams.

Gen Z is officially here to dominate the World post Gen X. While some of them are too young to even study their behaviour (Gen Z is 1999 – 2015), there is definitely a pattern and insights to how this Generation behaves. Some experts say, that this is the most responsible generation world has ever seen and there is already a drop in smoking, drinking and teen pregnancy ratios of Gen Zers. This being the case, there are also some more behaviour changes that we observe in Gen Zers, which marketers must take a note of.

 Here we go:

• Shortest Attention Span ever : We have seen Gen Z overloaded with information from all sides. Whether it is about their families or friends through social networking sites or through the internet for World related news and information, there is no dearth of information for Gen Z. This technically means that their minds are all over the place, making them have the shortest attention span of about 8 seconds, compared to 12 seconds for Gen X. Therefore, marketing to centennials will mean having crisp, sharp updates that immediately grab attention. This Gen does not have time to waste on you, they have 100 other places to pay attention to. You must be meaningful, useful and relevant to them.
• Receptive to Change : It would be your Dads and Grand Dads worrying about robots taking up your job. This generation knows, that machines and AI are to help people and not for causing them discomfort. With the digital world evolving every single day, this generation is most receptive to change, whether it is for preparing themselves for Future of Jobs, having an entrepreneurial mindset or even or ecen adapting to the new technology, this generation is all up for it. For Marketers, it means to be on their toes always and adapt themselves according to changing trends more often than not.
•  Less of Routine & More of Creativity : When I was a kid, I proudly used to flaunt how many phone numbers I remembered. This generation has no time for routine stuff. They know phones, computers and other machines are available to do the regular / mundane / routine work. Instead, they are far more opinionated, adapt more creative skills and like to deal with challenges. Marketers must make their strategies around challenging their intellect rather than basic memory or calculation skills. More creativity to be flaunted, more they will be interested in your brand.
• Realists : This generation also happens to be way more practical than previous generations. They know how Marketing sells big dreams and they know the big dreams don’t come true. This is also the reason they tend to be more independent than previous generations. To get their buy in, marketers need to project the real image of brands (like Behind the Scenes, history of formation etc) than making tall promises.
• More Responsible : Having access to so much information, this generation also tends to be far more sensitive to social, environmental and other issues. Not only being aware, Gen Z wants to actively participate and bring the change for a better World. Responsible Marketing will make way to hearts of Gen Z.

Like I said earlier, while its too early to predict the overall behavioural pattern of Gen Z, there are cues which we can take to ensure that we remain relevant in the market. Do share your views on how do you see this generation evolving behaviorally.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Team Pumpkin has consulted various brands for their Marketing Strategies catering to different Target Groups. Their clientele includes brands like Axis Bank, fbb, Pizza Hut, Big Bazaar, Mamy Poko Pants, Aditya Birla Finance and many others. To get a quick understanding of what strategy is best suited for your brand, write to [email protected]