It’s pretty obvious that with every year, technology and
trends continually change. This means
that new advertisements have to try to keep up with what is hip or cool and try
to reach their target audience in different ways. 20 year olds this year are extremely
different than 20 year olds 30 years ago.
There is actually a website on Reddit that is devoted to the
mocking of companies’ ads that try to appeal to the younger generation. At /r/FellowKids, many different
advertisements and brands are posted to be criticized for trying too hard to be
cool and reach millennials.
One of the most popular posts is a tweet from Hillary
Clinton saying, “How does your student loan debt make you feel? Tell us in
three emojis or less.” This cringe
inducing tweet sparked thousands of comments and scorn from the followers for
Clinton trying to relate to kids and failing miserably.
Another popular post is BP Oil’s attempt at relating to
kids. They ran a campaign of a “chatty,
interactive gas pump”. The friendly gas
pumps talk to customers while they are being used and have said things like
“lit” and “fam”. (Words that I had to Google to even know what they
meant.) Many commenters were outraged
that this is what BP chose to spend their money on. One person even went as far to say, “Ah, yes,
the reason millennials aren’t buying gas in general and BP gas in particular is
that the pumps aren’t friendly enough.
Not because we have lower rates of car ownership or BP cause one of the
greatest ecological disasters ever.”
So the question than needs to be asked, how do we approach
the younger generation in a way that they like, without trying to hard? It’s a very delicate balance and has rarely
been executed and received positively.
For example, Netflix is one of the only brands known for their awesome
millennial marketing. They link their
accounts with Facebook and offer to let you share what you are currently
watching. They have awesome social media
accounts that reach out to young adults and keep millennials interested in their
company.
Another great brand is PBR beer. It’s well liked by hipsters and young adults
because of how trendy it is. They run a
simple advertising campaign and putting it on channels and mediums that they
know young adults will see. They are
super interactive on Instagram, and constantly have contests to see who can
draw their label the best or create a new one.
It’s things like this that kids love.
Millennials are a huge target audience and incredibly
important. It’s a challenge to reach
them, keep them interested and have them continuously coming back to the same
brand. Running advertisement campaigns
are risky when they are targeted, but a necessary evil.
Citations:
@BuzzSumo. "7 Brands That Win At
Millennial Content Strategy Marketing." BuzzSumo. N.p., 2015. Web.
24 Nov. 2016.
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