Millennials Are The Best of The Worst

THE PROBLEM

When we analyze the big data of the Valuegraphics Database, we see that millennials agree with each other just 15% of the time about more than 40 core human values and as many as 340 questions about life. For some context, boomers agree just 13% of the time and Generation X lags behind at 11%. So while still shockingly low, we have to admit the millennials do have the best results. They are less horribly aligned than other age cohorts are.

But looked at another way, millennials disagree on everything it means to be human 85% of the time. That's not good. Especially if you think targetting millennials for your product, service or brand makes any kind of sense. Because it doesn't.

All those stories you’ve been reading about how we have to change the world for millennials? You can ignore them. Millennials are not a thing. They don’t agree with each other. How can we make a decision about changing our policies, or our companies or anything, really, for a group of people who are not even a group of people? It doesn’t make any sense.

Some smart people have recognized this for a while. I’m not the first to point it out. But, as far as I can tell, this is the first time there’s been data to back it up.

THE SOLUTION

Using the same aforementioned Valuegraphics Database we can, for the first time (as far as I can tell) profile the shared values of a target audience. This is very cool because what we value determines what we do. Ergo, if you know the shared values of the people you are trying to influence, you will be able to influence them far better than by using age-based stereotypes that just don't work anymore. If they ever did at all.

We've made it really easy. There are 10 Valuegraphics Archetypes that can be thought of as replacements for age categories like boomers, millennials and etc. These ten new target audiences agree with each other as much as 89% of the time. That's a big difference.

It turns out that what we believe, what we value, is a far more unifying force than how old we are. Frankly, I'm not terribly surprised. But I am very excited to be able to share this new data with the world.

#Valuegraphics #WeAreAllTheSameAgeNow

David Allison is the Principal Advisor at DAVID ALLISON INC, a boutique global advisory helping clients in multiple sectors motivate audiences. He’s a frequent keynote speaker, represented by the National Speakers Bureau and the Global Speakers Agency. His fourth book, We Are All The Same Age Now is about Valuegraphics: big data audience profiling that motivates more people more often.