millennial marketing

Written By Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais (posted with permission)

During his Twitter-fed Town Hall, President Obama admitted that the housing market has proven one of the “most stubborn” pieces of the economic recovery puzzle to try and fix. The President --- as well the Congress and the building industry --- should consider a new path to a solution for housing by tapping the potential of the very generation whose votes brought Barack Obama into the White House in the first place.

The Millennial Generation (born 1982-2003) represents not just the largest generation in American history but the largest potential market for both existing and new housing in the United States. There are over 95 million Millennials and over the next five years the first quarter of this cohort will enter their thirties, an age when people are most likely to buy their first home.

Despite what is often written about this generation, it is very much interested in owning a home. Sixty-four percent of Millennials say it is very important for them to have an opportunity to own their own home; twenty percent named it as one of their most important priorities in life, right behind being a good parent and having a successful marriage.

And, contrary to the usual claims of “new urbanists” (themselves largely members of the older X and Boomer Generations) most Millennials want to live in the suburbs where the current housing crisis is most acute. (PDF) According to a study by Frank N. Magid Associates, 43 percent of Millennials describe suburbs as their “ideal place to live,” compared to just 31 percent of older generations, most of whom still yearn for the smaller towns and rural settings of an earlier America. (PDF)

Most Millennials already live in suburbs and enjoyed growing up in suburban settings surrounded by family and friends that supported them. A certain portion, of course, enjoy living an urban life while young, but most tell researchers that they want to raise the families many are about to start in the same suburban settings they grew up in.

Furthermore, Americans between the ages of 25 and 34, both Millennials and those on the “cusp” of the generational change from X to Millennial, represent a greater proportion of the overall population in the South and West than elsewhere. These are the very regions that suffered the most from the collapse of housing prices that stemmed from the mortgage financing scandals of the last few years. Unleashing this potential demand for suburban housing in these hard-hit areas would bring two huge benefits. It would stabilize prices for existing homes while at the same time boosting the prospects for new housing construction.

The challenge is how to enable the Millennial Generation to achieve its desire to own homes without reigniting the speculation and unsustainable financial leverage that triggered the Great Recession. Clearly, in the immediate future at least, the current excess of supply in the housing market should mitigate the risk of too much demand chasing too few houses. As much as they are criticized by the financial industry and its Republican allies, the recently enacted financial regulatory reforms, might also provide an additional bulwark against allowing the market to misbehave a second time.

But the biggest factor may be the lessons learned from experience. Millennials have borne much of the brunt of the Great Recession and tend to be keenly aware about the importance of living within your means Wanting a suburban home does not mean, that Millennials want McMansions; like earlier generations, especially their GI Generation great grandparents, they are likely to be cautious and frugal home-buyers. However, this frugality and caution does not translate into a meek acceptance or desire for a future as apartment renters, as some suggest will be the case.

In the short run, Millennials will not be able to engineer a turnaround all by themselves; most Millennials can’t afford much beyond the next month’s rent, let alone the down payment on a mortgage. Many are still living with their parents to avoid having to pay rent and the cost of a college education at the same time.

To address this part of the challenge, the federal government needs to do what it did to revive the moribund housing market in the 1930’s. The New Deal created today’s commonly accepted 30 year mortgages with a 20 percent down payment by making them a financial instrument that the newly formed Federal Housing Administration would insure. Before that landmark legislation, home mortgages were rarely offered for more than half of the home’s value and normally had to be repaid in no more than five years.

As a result that era’s civic generation (the GI or Greatest Generation) was able to afford single family homes with a surrounding tract of land ; an offer returning World War II veterans seized with alacrity. These houses now make up much of the country’s inner suburb housing stock. Today’s housing crisis requires a similarly radical reinvention of the basic home mortgage to be offered to those buying their first home. Under this proposal the length of the mortgage could be extended up to as many as 50 years, reflecting the increased life expectancies --- and longer working careers --- that most Millennials can expect to enjoy. Since no market for such debt instruments currently exists, it would be up to the federal government to create one through the process of reinsurance, just as it did in 1934.

To further encourage home buying by Millennials, the federal government should also provide incentives to financial institutions to swap out the principle of the Millennials’ student loan in exchange for a new loan, whose principle would be collateralized by the value of the real estate the former student would be acquiring. The student loan would be paid off as part of the mortgage, making Millennials better able to afford a home and freeing up additional discretionary spending that current worries over student debt curtail. Today’s lower housing prices today might make this package both attractive to investors and financially viable.

Many economists today argue against the whole notion of encouraging home ownership by anyone, let alone young Millennials. Some point out that when looked upon strictly as an investment choice, the value of a home rarely appreciates faster than the overall stock market. This type of analysis, which forms the basis for arguing against any federal policy that would further encourage home ownership, ignores the proven benefits to the nation that derive from home owners committed to the success of their local community. Voting participation rates among home owners, for instance, traditionally run higher than rates among renters, and neighborhoods of owners tend to be more stable places to raise children.

More important still is what homeownership means to the nature of a property-owning Republic. Survey after survey shows that home ownership remains a central part of the American Dream and a central aspiration, particularly for immigrants and young people. A policy that works against this ideal presents a political risk that any politician should be wary of taking.

To restore this part of the American Dream, and to lift the worry of millions of Americans whose house is worth less than what they owe on their mortgage, the Obama administration must take bold steps to restore a vibrant residential housing market. President Obama, who built his winning margin in 2008 through an unprecedented mobilization of Millennial voters, is the ideal person to combine a plan for economic recovery efforts with meeting the aspirational goals of most Millennials to own their own home.

To save the housing market, and extend the recovery beyond the financial elites, America will need a new wave of home buyers. If the President works to tap this resource, he can begin to turn around the “stubborn problem” of the housing market and restore the middle class economy. If he does so, the whole country will soon be tweeting his success.

Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais are fellows of NDN and the New Policy Institute and co-authors of Millennial Momentum: How a New Generation is Remaking America to be published in September and Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics.

• Kind of a cool art story about a veteran with PTSD who healed by using his talents as a graffiti artist.

• Speaking of soldiers, I turned on the news this morning to a piece about soldiers with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries and the healing powers that animals can have on people. This program was started by a young soldier who served in Afghanistan and deferred studying at Harvard Med School to fight overseas and when he came back he decided to try and find solutions to these problems. He started Dog Bless You and now a philanthropist is giving away a free service animal to a soldier for every person who "likes" their facebook page.

NPR Did a story yesterday about the impact on the electorate changing demographics have. Teaser is that America is among one of the biggest and fastest demographic changes EVER. WOOT!

"It's not only a phenomenon of Phoenix and Dallas and Miami. Iowa, Utah, Nebraska are seeing substantial increases in their minority population, particularly their Hispanic population. And all of these changes are most concentrated and forceful among the young.

Today, the census tells us almost 47 percent of Americans under 18 are minority or non-white. Under 18, our youth population, will be majority minority by the end of this decade. And it kind of begs the question we're going to have to - we may have to come up with some new terminology once we are in that America."

• General Colin Powell spoke to the young people at the World Youth Peace Summit
  
• CNN does a story on concussion dangers for young athletes.
  
• In financial news, apparently the Millennial Generation is beginning to dive into the idea of the stock market. Those that are investing weren't investing before in stocks but that has doubled since 2003. We here at FM would also encourage some of those investments to be donated our way.
• Speaking of the changing market for the Millennial Generation - the rental market is taking a turn in the Twin Cities according to a report Saturday. Evidently a few years ago the majority of the rental market was made up by 30 and 40 year olds but that is changing now with Millennials taking over. Their findings, where were reported during the National Apartment Association Education Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas last month, were that wifi is critical, and renting provides a high end option to those who want fancy but can't yet afford or don't want to commit to a long-term mortgage.
• Another breaking news story about the tail end of the Millennial Generation (those born in the late 90's) it turns out the Vanity Fair cover with Justin Bieber sold the lowest ever. When asked about the cover the Vanity Fair spokesperson said "Who knew 12-year-olds didn’t buy magazines?" In the words of Perez Hilton "Umm, everyone!?!" I'd be interested to see if magazines are on their way out with Millennials and younger generations.
• In college affordability news: For Profit Colleges continue to be a train on tax dollars and run students into debt. Likely to run away and hit someone... I know it seems like I post at least a few stories like this a week but the higher ed lobby for for-profit schools is so strong that we have to do everything we can to bring to light those that are unfair and harming students.
• Student Loan means high flying career never materializes, but debt persists.
• Here's a story about how the minimum wage is boosting unemployment numbers. I expected this to be a right wing attack on the minimum wage saying we should cut it entirely because it doesn't help but this is actually starts off with a good argument for why it should be raised in New Hampshire who has legislation up to increase it to the federal standards.
  

  "New Hampshire officials may be thinking of young job seekers. Unemployment in the state averaged 18 percent for 16- to 19-year-olds in 2010. Horrible enough, though well below the national average of 25.9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the minimum wage affects youths disproportionately: About half of those paid the federal minimum or less are younger than 25.

  Do penny differences really count when it comes to employment? The case that they do is stronger than it used to be, especially when it comes to less-productive workers such as teens. Particularly problematic for teens is the federal minimum wage, an old fixture of the American workplace."

  The concern I have: when the piece continues saying that the FDR set a high minimum wage saying that with more people making enough to get by they could work less hours and provide more jobs for more people. This hit companies who, the article claims, are getting less for more. I would argue that the "worker harder for less" ideology disproportionately hurts people and accounts for the significant increase in stress, anxiety, obesity, and other health problems we have in the US. When we say a 40 hour work week we're living in a disillusion. Because realistically, Americans work more like a 50+ hour work week, for 40hr pay. When you compare our work culture with those working 30-35 hour work weeks for the same pay they are much healthier than we are.

• Here's another probably Baby Boomer talking about how young people don't really know anything and that Democrats are stupid for listening/recruiting young people. Look for a full response to this later today.
• According to a new study in the UK, video games can help young people who have learning disabilities. Basically, using games that involve physical activities like the Wii and Kinect can help with motion tasks that can sometimes be difficult for those with disabilities. "Participants in the study were aged between 16 and 24 and had disabilities ranging from Down's Syndrome to autism spectrum disorders." Interesting study and a great idea for ways to help young people to be more independent despite challenges.
• DoSomething.org makes news with a new piece in Non-Profit Quarterly that details orgs that are making a difference through text messaging.
• Here's a good idea. A UK piece talks about apprenticeships for young musicians who want to get into the biz.

Have a great 4 day work week!

There's a lot going on today - and some columnist Hollywood type is being disparaging to young people... ug... not again!?

• Undecided - is a new book by Barbara Kelley and retails for $16.95 at your online bookseller of choice.

  "is a breezy, stimulating read, a career book for young women that focuses on the particular problems in making critical life and job choices that affect those born between 1977 and 1994."

• FM writer Kevin Bondelli posts a new It Gets Better video done by members of the US Senate. I love this project - warms my heart.
• Creating demand and jobs by reducing student debt burdens. Genius idea! Yesterday a friend of mine - a young elected official - proposed debt forgiveness for young people who are elected to office since its a public service. It would be another way of encouraging more young people they can run and not worry about the financial hardship.
• Public Servants must have a strategy for social networking (yeah no kidding). At the federal level I know the caucuses have pushed members to get on board the train of online media before they get run over by it - and new GOP members came in having used it in their campaigns so this is starting to change. But at the state level sometimes its hard to convince local elected officials that transparency through online media is a good thing... Especially lawyers because they're afraid of everything.
• Stat of the Day: 68% of Millennials ask their friends before choosing a restaurant
• Social Media gets respect from C-Suite asks if CEO's are exploiting SM for work ... um... who isn't?
• Does Tech in the classroom offer shortcut or solution?
• Young voters can turn Baltimore politics on its head. SWEET! Go young voters of Baltimore!
• Karl Rove's How the GOP Can Blow it in 2012
  

  "The first such mistake would be forgetting that the target voters are those ready to swing away from Mr. Obama (independents, Hispanics, college educated and young voters) and those whose opposition to Mr. Obama has deepened since 2008 (seniors and working-class voters)."

  I couldn't agree more. The GOP should go after young voters just as the Democratic Party should go after young voters. I have faith that the message of the GOP won't resonate with the GOP but if you have the GOP going after youth in a hard way my hope is that the Dems will freak out and do it more.

• Connecting with Gen Y on Facebook - lots of social media news today it seems. While everyone is on Facebook these days - young people still dominate the general pool of users and consistent users. And here's how they're using it.
  
• Are Young People in their 20's Too Stupid to Realize They're being Ripped Off?. Name calling - now that's mature. Writer Rob Long basically copy and paste's Ted Nugents ideas and makes them his own. So here's Kevin Bondelli's response to Ted and we invite you to get a clue. And this isn't his first time to smack-talk young people. But what can you expect from an old Hollywood hasbeen. I mean... here's a good idea - learn who the marketing "power demographic" is and maybe you can get something on the WB. Just sayin'. What a Jackass......
• Young people would rather be Einstein than Jordan. New survey suggests that the instant fame of reality TV is no longer attractive. Was it ever? To whom was it attractive - because the only attractive reality TV is the kind where you can win stuff and money. Getting famous off of reality TV is kind of like Rob Long trying to be a real political commentator in the LA Times.... (see what I did there? full circle my friends)
• Industry urged to welcome young
  

  "The Government has urged companies to throw open their doors to young people in a drive to break the “bottleneck” of a lack of skilled workers and make industry more attractive to new recruits."

  If its a job its attractive. Someone on a Reddit post I did yesterday said that the best Millennial Marketing strategy is to post a job opening to trick young people to clicking on it.

• I'm sure we already know this but evidently - Kids sure have it tough these days. This writer is a parent who has seen his kids struggle in the summer job market.
• Going along with the sad summer job prospects a new Study reveals young people are worried about future debt problems.
  

  "The research, which was commissioned by the Personal Finance Education Group (PFEG) to coincide with My Money Week, questioned a total of 1,000 young people on the subjects of money and debt management.

  It was found that over half (57 per cent) of youths aged 12 to 16 expected to find it difficult to manage their finances when they were older. 62 per cent admitted that they had concerns about not having enough money, whilst 30 per cent said they were worried about racking up debt problems in the future."

  How the economy is impacting a generation. We're going to end up like our grandparents hoarding seeds and bottled water for the depression.

• And the job news just keeps getting happier - Brain Drain: Young Teachers Have Dreary Outlook for Job Prospects.
• But - there's hope if you've been to prison because there is a Job Training grant to assist young ex-cons
• California Tea Party hoping for conservative success
  

  "More footwork will be involved, as activists walk to precincts. In addition, state tea party groups have been working to win over young voters, and Deniston has seen an increase in support."

  Good for them! I wish them luck with that. In yesterday's response from Cryn Johannsen on Spark Action we learned

  When it comes to their take on abortion and other social issues, Tea Party folks generally have more conservative views. That does not tend to be true for Millennials, however. For example, a recent study suggests why Millennials do not identify with the values of the Tea Party:

  • Overall, they have a more progressive view on politics.
  • They are also quite diverse. That diversity lends itself to more progressive politics.
  • Those Millennials who are white are even more progressive than their minority counterparts.

And that's it - now go take on the day!

Yesterday I wrote about the new research being done by marketing firms Barkley, the Boston Consulting Group and Service Management Group on the attitudes and purchase habits of the Millennial Generation.

As I mentioned yesterday, what makes this survey unique is that most of the research done on Millennials whether its about the generation as a whole or young voters etc... it tends to contain merely about 1000 surveyed young people - most are more around 500. This research has 4,000 millennials being surveyed and has a control group of 1,400 Boomer respondents to compare which is a great sample size.

The toplines of the survey are in and internally Barkley is presenting it to their office this week, but the end all be all research will appear at their conference in San Francisco in September "American Millennials: Deciphering the Enigma Generation." (I think someone should pay for me to attend....) The conference is titled Share, Like, Buy and features speakers from many of the folks FM readers will know well like the CEO of DoSomething.org and Millennial Marketing expert and blogger Carol Phillips.

I talked yesterday about shopping habits and restaurant tendencies of Millennials but three other categories that you'll find interesting are travel and tourism, causes, and social media.

When Millennials think about traveling they rely very strongly on social media for planning purposes. This goes beyond online information, reports, ratings, and extends to photos and videos on Facebook which the research shows are "key sources of information to guide decisions on where to go." Mobile phones are also big tools for young people who use them to book or research travel contrasting with 7 in 10 Boomers who won't use mobile phones for this purpose. Online travel sites are frequent uses of over half of Millennials when it comes to booking more affordable hotels, air, or car rental where its more like a third among Boomers.

Travel in general, however, is seen as a luxury among Millennials who tend

"to think more frequently about about saving money for specific investments such as additional education, housing, and cars, older generations often think more broadly about wealth preservation and what the state of the economy may mean to them."

This last one doesn't surprise me. When you think about the affect of the economy on young people, the high cost of education, low wages, cuts in benefits, predatory lending, and the litany of economic issues facing our generation now and in the future I can understand why young people tend to trend more toward cheaper more immediate gratification purchase such as shopping and dining out rather than large purchases like vacations. Younger people are probably more into large purchases that help them with their future because their future is much more vast (no offense) where Boomers are closer to retirement so "wealth preservation" is more on their mind for the long term because they're closer to retirement. This might give a nod to travel and tourism agencies to market affordable trips and affordable family fun to young people and young families to show them that travel and recreation doesn't have to break the bank. It's probably for this reason that Millennials are "significantly more likely (nearly 30% of respondents)" than Boomers (13%) to "travel ONLY out of necessity." It's about the cost I'm sure.

When it comes to non-profits and causes we know that young people are extraordinarily caring and more likely to be involved through volunteering and community service. The research shows that young people are less likely to give money and more likely to give help. This is consistent with again the economic climate for young people and embraces the "volunteerism" trend we've seen before. Boomers write a check and young people can't afford to do that, but they can contribute to causes via word of mouth when older generations are less likely to do that. When giving is done 1/3 of youth do it via texting vs. one in ten among older people. I bet this number goes up as it becomes more accessible and acceptable and as Millennials begin to make more money in their jobs.

What is striking about purchases as it pertains to causes is that Milleninals are more likely to purchase something that supports a cause they believe in. So last week when Our Time launched their Buy Young campaign and focused on youth run businesses that have a sustainability focus they were tapping into a world that allows young people to better maximize on helping out a fellow young person while also supporting an issue with your purchase. This is going to become bigger and bigger as we move forward. We've seen it with The Gap's Red campaign and even American Eagle had Declare Yourself VOTE t-shirts during the 2008 election. Then there's TOM's shoes that give a pair when you buy a pair. I expect we'll see lingerie stores like Victoria's Secret and Fredricks offering products that contribute to breast cancer research and this will explode even more in the future. Products manufactures should think about ways they can be more honest and help more people with their products in general, but Millennials are proving and will continue to prove that being good and doing good will end well for a business, but BS attempts at a marketing ploy will backfire.

"Millennials are significantly less likely to place trust in corporations to adequately address social problems and issues. In fact, when it comes to corporations raising money for causes, Millennials agree—significantly more than older generations—these efforts are mere ploys to stimulate sales."

One of my favorites - and perhaps one of the biggest oppositions to that one guy... who is he? Ted Nugent something... who said Millennials should join the Tea Party... yeah - NEVER Going to happen. Research shows that

When it comes to big government, Millennials are true believers. Millennials are significantly more likely to favor larger government in comparison to their older counterparts who find larger government to be a hindrance.

So when progressives think about how conservative and awful things are some times. That gay rights aren't happening fast enough, that legalization of pot isn't ever going to be a thing, and the litany of other things that Millennials support... don't worry. We'll be in power soon and it will be Republicans that have to become more moderate.

If you're a thrill seeker or marketing products that can be branded through excitment and danger you'll get a response from Millennials. The research shows that if something is dangers, exciting, "and maybe even a little dangerous, it’s a good bet that a Millennial will be attracted to it." Half of young people are into it vs. 1/3 of Boomers are into danger.

When looking at technology and online media the evidence is what you think it is. Millennials are quick to adopt new tech, they have laptops not desk tops, not to mention online media tools. In fact young people are twice as likely believe that they'd be missing something if they weren't on Facebook. Which is probably why my Boomer mother constantly wants to know why people are on there all the time. Millennials also view the web as a means to connect with cultural and social activities. And while both generations have Facebook accounts Millennials are more likely to spend higher amounts of time on Facebook than older generations. In fact, millennials are more likely to trust a brand when they can connect with that brand on social networking and social media sites. So if you're company isn't active online and never gets active online - your user base is going to die off and your company will suffer.

When it comes to television usage the research suggests that young people are less likely than older generations to watch television. As a result

Millennials are much more impacted by brands and their advertising through social media sites. In fact, Millennials are significantly more likely than non-Millennials to regularly and frequently visit, follow, check-in, and interact with brands through Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Gowalla.

Take-Aways:

When I meet with businesses or with non-profits that either don't do online outreach or allocate online media to a communications director instead of a professional online media person I shake my head because I think, and this evidence shows, you don't have much longer before that's going to change or it'll begin to affect your bottom line.

For businesses you're looking at building a long-term relationship with a purchaser. You don't just want to have a young person who sees a facebook ad and and says - ok... I'll buy that t-shirt its pretty cool. You want to be a business that an entire generation thinks of when it thinks of toothpaste, a good hamburger, the place they turn to for a new laptop, where they get their news, do their banking, and more.

If you're a non-profit viewing social networking as a communications tool is ill-informed and reckless for your organization. The top three things a non-profit organization does are 1. Communicate, 2. Mobilize, and 3. Fundraise. If you're using online media for communication only and talking AT people then you're missing the boat entirely. Like the boat's nose is sticking out of the water and that's all you've got. Your non-profit should be about building a brand loyalty and that doesn't happen over night with a thousand dollar Facebook ad buy every day. It's a long-term investment with constant engagement and adjustments based on analytics - because no one's membership is the same.

Regardless of whether you're doing it wrong or you're a believer, you're talking about an entire generation that is the largest in history and they have a long future ahead of them. The next largest generation - Boomers - is on the way out and marketing to older people is going to die out with them leaving your business with its impact in 10 years or less that will be difficult to make up if you've not diversified your advertising and outreach. Those who preemptively use new and innovative tools in their outreach - for now it will pay for itself if not turn a profit, but it will be a long-term investment in building your brand with a generation that considers brand loyalty to be critical in their purchase habits.

A few weeks ago I spotted a piece in the Kansas City Star about Barkley - a KC Marketing firm that had partnered with the Boston Consulting Group and Service Management Group to do an extensive study on attitudes of the purchase habits of the Millennial Generation.

You expect this kind of research from coastal groups who see the importance and impact but I was excited to see central state marketing firms beginning to dive into this - so I sent them an email and scheduled a meeting while I was in KC.

I've been fascinated and following Millennial Marketing since the early days of my writing at Future Majority always wondering how such a large generation could be so consistently capitalized on by the private sector but so considerably ignored by the public sector.

What is unique about the research being done by Barkley et al is the massive sample size. Most times when I look at research involving young voters or the millennial generation at most it contains about 1000 surveyed young people - most are more around 500. This has 4,000 millennials being surveyed and has a control group of 1,400 Boomer respondents to compare. I mean... holy cow!

The toplines of the survey are in and internally Barkley is presenting it to their office this week, but the end all be all research will appear at their conference in San Francisco in September "American Millennials: Deciphering the Enigma Generation." (I think someone should pay for me to attend....) The conference is titled Share, Like, Buy and features speakers from many of the folks FM readers will know well like the CEO of DoSomething.org and Millennial Marketing expert and blogger Carol Phillips.

Some of the released toplines aren't surprising to followers of Millennial politics such as: the need "to have things at their fingertips," the openness to "exotic products" and things that are different and more "experimental," the need to have technology to help in accomplish simple every day tasks, and more likely to eat healthy organic products.... except on the weekends when they indulge.

Young people are more likely to dine out than Boomers, being some place to hang out with friends and family is critical and they see restaurants as paces to do that. My favorite and seemingly stereotypical:

"Millennials demand variety—exotic, interesting, and healthy food offerings served in a fun environment. Older generations are less about uniqueness and more about the basics—correct food temperatures, getting orders right, and being tidy."

Interestingly in shopping habits the right background music in retail stores is one of the most important things while older generations prefer a store's layout or the merchandise selection. Millennials like to be trend setters and look for truly unique products that captivate and capture them. They're also more likely to see the act of "shopping" as a way to relax and men in general go shopping two to three times per month.

These are just a few of the interesting findings from the report - look back tomorrow for more information when it comes to connecting with Millennials on travel and causes and social media and social marketing.

There's a great BIG piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education this week that talks about how SO many people have made money off of BSing companies on how to "deal" with young people. All these OLD aging Baby Boomers that can't seem to get to know their own children enough to know how to manage them. So corporations call these people in to help them understand their new hires because we're so foreign.

I've written about this before after a WaPo piece annoyed me by giving these people any kind of cred when I believe they're the most skillful con artists of all time.

This is a pretty long piece because the Chronicle is written by them academics that like to say the same thing over and over again... I'll shorten it... because in politics it has to fit into 30 seconds. But we'll still have a few 30 second clips...

It begins with the idea that "Millennials talk is contagious." This is true because there are so many of us and we tend to set trends for two reasons. One, sheer number of us creates a solid purchase power, second is that we tend to have strong relationships with our parents. And because of those relationships with our parents they tend to ask us what they should buy when it comes to things they don't understand ... like technology, electronics, the latest in hip apparel.. So we're deciding marketing for our generation (the largest generation in history) and to some extent our parents generation (Baby Boomers are the 2nd largest generation in history). That's a lot of people, so companies talk about Millennials because its the biggest target demographic to communicate to.

They continue that all of these "consultants" are different.

"But just for fun, let's stereotype them as smart, successful, and full of unshakeable opinions. Although they have described one another's work as "wrong," "unempirical," and "wildly mistaken," these experts have something in common: They are products of their time. In an era when the wants of young consumers have become a fixation for colleges and businesses alike, these unlikely entrepreneurs have fed a world with a bottomless craving for labels."

See... I told ya... I would modify this by saying that for fun we should just all admit that they're a waste of money, particularly in an unstable market.

The piece goes on to outline the history of youth bashing which apparently goes back to Socrates. "Criticizing the young is inevitable," they say, "but so, too, is change." This is why we should just agree on criticizing everyone all the time. Lets be inclusive. Or lets make fun of academics, cause its something we can all get behind.

Blah blah blah... something about how people say we are a generation of heroes like the GI Generation. I love us, but we're not heroes. We're just us. Blah blah blah. Another academic

"Generational images are stereotypes," says Arthur E. Levine [some academic from some college place], now president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. "There are some differences that stand out, but there are more similarities between students of the past and the present. But if you wrote a book saying that, how interesting would that book be?"

There's other stuff but I got lost in the text and I've tweeted a search party. Part 2 tomorrow.

h/t to Ian who came up with the headline