Millennials: Love them or loathe them, you’re marketing in their domain now

How to build conscious brand loyalty with millennial consumers

BY CARA MCDONALD, 5 MIN READ, 799 WORDS

Millennials. The word itself, at times is used as an insult. The so-called snowflake generation is often snubbed as self-entitled, lazy, phone obsessed, job-hoppers who aren’t in it for the long haul. If you don’t know who millennials are, they are classed as anyone born between 1981-1996 or currently aged 25-40 (Dimock 2019).

So why do we care about millennials as marketers and business professionals? It’s because millennials make up the fastest growing force in the marketplace (Rudominer 2020). Even if your target market is purely Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation, you’ll also need to market to millennials as they move into their peak buying power and hold influence over their parents purchasing decisions. Love them or loathe them, you’re marketing in their domain now. 

Many brands are struggling to retain millennial consumers and the common consensus is that this is because they aren’t loyal like previous generations. Not only are millennials bombarded by advertisements via every channel, but they are also overwhelmed by choice and can literally switch products in minutes and make most purchasing decisions via their mobile phone. 

Instead of blaming the contemporary issue of consumer retention on the generation itself, brands need to adapt in order to be relevant in the modern world and it’s going to take more than a good marketing strategy. To build brand loyalty and retain millennial consumers, you must do more than put a product on a shelf. Millennials are demanding that companies practice corporate social responsibility and have a greater purpose than just increasing market share or their profit margins (Jen 2020). 

In the 2018 Sustainment Shoppers survey, 85 percent of millennials found it extremely or very important that companies implement programs to improve the environment. While 75 per cent said they would alter their purchasing habits to reduce their impact on the environment. Bucic et al. (2012) suggest that the behaviour and motivation of consumers is a function of their stage of ethical awareness. The desire for millennials to be a more socially responsible consumer stems from the fact that they are the first generation born into a world that features international independence and global engagement. As a result they tend to be more respectful of diversity, the environment, and more ethically aware (Ordun 2015).  

It’s also not enough to just have a good product and a marketing campaign that claims your brand is environmentally conscious. Millennials can see right through unethical marketing and such a move might actually turn consumers against you (Deloitte 2020). H&Mrecently found themselves in hot water after the release of their new conscious collection which claimed to be made from recycled, donated garments and sustainably sourced materials. The new collection resulted in an influx of clarification questions from consumers asking for evidence to back-up their claims, and H&M were unable to do so. H&M were accused as greenwashing (disseminating false or incomplete information to present an environmentally responsible public image), which ultimately put them at the forefront of the cancel culture craze that saw H&M fighting to stay relevant. Millennials questioned how H&M were allowed to refer to themselves as environmentally conscious when they had only released one un-substantiated conscious clothing collection.  Gone are the days of puffery and misguided marketing. Being authentic and truthful with your marketing is imperative to retaining millennial consumers.

A good example of where a company has constructed their entire business around a purpose, can back up their claims for positive global impact and has successfully penetrated a variety of highly competitive markets is Australian brand, Thankyou. Thankyou spent years developing their new personal care range, but their products were rejected by large supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths. Millennials who had watched the Thankyou journey online, got behind the brand and the support turned into a co-created advertising campaign. Eventually both supermarkets approved the product range. Thankyou handwash is now the number 1 selling product in its category and Thankyou is also the number 1 Australian-owned personal care brand in Coles and Woolworths supermarkets. Not only has Thankyou had great success, they also donated $17 million in the last eight years to charities working to end extreme poverty and reduce pollution. Companies like Lush, TOMS and Who Gives a Crap, are other great examples in which millennials are getting behind.

Millennials are more likely to become loyal to brands that are socially responsible and are legitimately making a positive impact to the world beyond their products. To ensure you retain millennial consumers it’s imperative that your brand:

1.     Creates value for your millennial consumers by ensuring your business also contributes to the greater good.

2.     Is transparent and truthful, with the ability to back-up any marketing campaigns with facts.

On the contrary to popular belief, millennials aren’t really asking for much when you break it down.