1.    Email
In 2010, at the launch of Facebook’s then-new messaging service, Mark Zuckerberg predicted the decline of electronic mail, stating that “Email is too slow … email is too formal.” Time is proving Zuckerberg right.

“As a Gen Y’er myself, I use email only professionally and not to chat with friends. Email is easy to use and also to attach a document for further information but it’s not something world changing.”

2.    Beer
Light beer has become to the current generation of youth what regular beer
was just a few decades ago.

“As a Belgium Gen Y’er, I believe the light beer will never dominate the real stuff! How strong the marketing campaigns will be, they’ll never win sympathy. When somebody chooses not to drink alcohol, they will prefer to drink soft drinks instead of light beer.”

3.    Newspaper
While readership rates for print newspapers are dropping, in the US the younger generation has abandoned the medium the most. Gen Y also has among the highest rates of people reportedly receiving news through social networking sites or Twitter.

“The environmental awareness is high in these days also by Generation Y. As a Gen Y’er I prefer to read a newspaper on the internet or via an application on my tablet or smartphone.”

4.    Cars
As recently as 1998, 64.4% of potential drivers ages 19 and younger had drivers licenses, according to the Federal Highway Administration. As of 2008, that amount had dropped to 46.3%. Additionally, 46% of drivers aged 18 to 24 report that they would choose Internet access over owning a car, according to research firm Gartner.  Today, only 22% of drivers are under 30.

“As a gen Y’er I know more than ever how important freedom is and that is just what you can obtain with a license. Despite the high costs I could not miss it for a day.”

5.    Landline phones
Landline phones are losing popularity among Generation Y, who are becoming increasingly content with only having wireless phones.

“Landline phones appear to me as something prehistoric. I don’t use it, it is exactly useless and usually only used by my parents. We can almost say we hate a landline phone because they ring on the most irritating moments.”

6.    Cigarettes
Smoking rates among young people have historically exceeded those of the general population. Now that group is dropping the habit quicker than anyone.

“As a Gen Y’er I know that an opinion from a friend is very important but also the effect of the advertising campaigns matters, I guess. Now the advertising campaigns for tobacco are banned for a while, I think the popularity will decline slowly but cigarettes will disappear from the scene eventually.”

7.    Desktop computers
Millennials are the only generational group to be more likely to own a laptop computer than a desktop. Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, states in LAPTOP Magazine that those in Generation Y simply “are not buying PCs as their first, or necessarily main, device.”

“As a Gen Y’er myself, I know that convenience is an important factor when we buy a product. A desktop computer is large and difficult to move, two factors which are the opposite of a portable. A portable offers more opportunities, whether you’re at home or not.”

8.    Television
Adults aged 18 to 24 watch less traditional television than any other age group in the country, according to Nielsen’s most recent Cross Platform Report. That group, on average, watches just under 24 hours per week. The national average is approximately 32.5 hours. One of the leading reasons for this difference is Generation Y’s relationship with the Internet.

“It seems that the world of a gen Y’er is occupied by internet. In our childhood we were sitting hours for the television but now internet has taking over for sure!”

Parents recognize the value of social networks to their children and almost all trust their child to use them responsibly—but they’re also aware of the possible darkside(s), with 8 in 10 parents paying close attention to their tween’s social networking.

With many Gen Z kids immersed in their digital devices throughout the day, parents want their children to de-tech and get back engaged with the real world.

While most parents consider their child mature enough to understand e-commerce sites, around half worry about a kid making irresponsible purchases or spending too much online.

Influence on purchasing decisions

In many categories children effect parents’ purchasing decisions. For tech items especially, notably mobile phones, many parents will look to teens for input when choosing what to buy. The analysts state in the report:

“Gen Z is making a significant impact on household purchasing decisions. Since this highly brand-savvy generation may represent the most informed consumer in the household, time-constrained, stressed-out parents are turning to their kids when it comes to choosing products. For tech purchases, in particular, parents will ask their teen for information and suggestions (for instance, 70% of parents report that their teen influences their mobile phone purchase). With many families shopping online together, brands should find ways to integrate parent and child into the process. On- or offline, keeping children engaged, informed and excited about products will help to drive household purchases.”

More on this topic in the full research, available at JWT.

Check out Sticky who this month investigated the Millennial Working World. A combination of articles written by international Millennials and some brand new research from Be Viacom, this issue of Sticky provides diverse insight into young people’s attitudes towards entering the working world, the millennial career dream, young entrepreneurial spirit, the importance of mentoring in the workplace and loving their jobs.

Find out more about young people’s attitude to the new F word – failure, how they are ‘ignoring the crisis’ and their drive to achieve their dream job. Sticky is Be Viacom’s youth culture, trends and insight online magazine that shares knowledge, information and understanding of young people from around the world.  The new research was conducted with Be Viacom’s ‘My MTV’ panel, and sampled 600 young 15-34yr olds from six European markets on what they thought about jobs, careers, money and the economy.

Facebook as a fact of life
For most teens, the study concludes, Facebook is already a fact of life. A few other social networks factor in as well—more than a third of teens are on Twitter— with only a tiny percentage opting out of these digital networks alltogether. Facebook and most other social networks require members to be at least 13 years old, but tweens want in as well, and almost half say they are using Facebook.

Methodology
JWT’s “Gen Z: Digital in their DNA” is the result of quantitative, qualitative and desk research conducted by JWTIntelligence throughout the year. Specifically for this report, they’ve conducted a quantitative study in the U.S. and the U.K. using SONAR, JWT’s proprietary online tool, from March 1-3. They surveyed 400 adults, 200 children aged 8-12 and 200 teenagers aged 13-17 (data are weighted by age and gender).

Top three activities of children between six and eleven years

1. Playing outside (52,7%)
2. Gathering with friends (41,2%)
3. Gaming (35%)

Top three activities of children between twelve and fourteen years

1. Gathering with friends (55,4%)
2. Internet (42,8%)
3. Sports (34,4%) and gaming (34,0%)

Twitter and Hyves most popular social networks
Internet is as tap water for children. They’re surprised if it isn’t there. Internet is mostly used for games (77,8%) by children between six and eleven years old. Teenagers between twelve and fourteen year mostly use internet for social media (71,1%). Watching movies on YouTube is popular amongst the whole age group.

Although twelve to fourteen year olds indicate with 86,9% that they have accounts on Hyves (Dutch social network), Twitter is the most popular with 37,2%. And 60,4% of the teenagers have an account on Twitter. Teenagers use Twitter as a substitute for texting and chatting, it’s free, fast and goes on all day long. They follow a small group of friends and family.

The Dutch social network Hyves is still popular amongst younger children between six and eleven year. It’s with 38,1% the most popular social network. And 58,4% has an account on Hyves. 25,1% of these younger children don’t use any social network at all. In talks they mostly they say they use Hyves mainly for playing games.

Kids hardly ever watch television on internet
Watching television is still popular amongst children. Average children between six and fifteen year watch between one or two ours television per day. Mostly they watch in weekends. Nickelodeon and Disney XD is most popular by six to eleven year olds. Teenagers watch mostly MTV and RTL 4.

In talks with teenagers they told the researchers that sometimes they watch television on a mobile device, such as their smartphone, iPod, laptop or tablet. They told the researchers that they use their mobile device mostly for watching YouTube movies. Some teenagers use Uitzending Gemist (television play back website) or use a website where they can watch Dutch soccer (Eredivisie Live) for free.

Almost all children have a mobile phone
97,7% of the twelve to fourteen years have a mobile phone in contrast to 54,4% of the six to eleven years. Most popular is the iPhone, but a lot of kids can’t afford them. Blackberry, Samsung and Nokia are mobile phone brands the own. Parents are responsible of the purchase and the use of a mobile phone. They want that their children are available by phone. In practice a lot of kids forget their phone or don’t answer it. Ping and whatsapp are used most, dialing or texting are used sometimes. Younger kids mostly use their phone for playing games.

These are the most important findings of the Dutch research ‘Samen doen, samen zijn’. Read the report for more outcomes in other areas such as family life, education, brands, heroes and products. You can download the report for free http://www.nowitsourtime.nl/downloads. If you have any questions about the research, ideas for further projects, remarks or feedback: drop me a line in the comments or contact me via Twitter.

“I will flirt, kiss, date and dump. I will wake up on your couch, and have no clue who you are.”

Video ad

Joeri Van den Bergh about the implications of this ad from a Millennial- Generation Y DNA perspective:

“The strength of this offer and campaign is the combination of pulling a strong emotional string: once 18 a life full of opportunities is waiting for you and an exclusive offer for this specific age group. Exclusivity and scarcity makes brands and products more cool, just think of the limited edition capsule collections used by any fashion retailer. And of course Millennials ARE a very emotional generation and many life changing events take place when you become 18: you graduate, you get a driver’s license, students move out of home to a dorm room… It’s quite clever to endorse these specific and unforgettable unique moments in the lives of a young adult with a lifestyle brand and offer.”

Radio commercial

At JWT they’ve analyzed:

“48 sets itself up as a club that understands your specific state of mind at this specific time, and it wants to help you go conquer, explore, exploit before facing the seriousness of life. And when that becomes inevitable, O2 will surely give 48 customers plenty of incentives to transition to the company’s other offerings. So 02 is not only capturing a specific market share but striking up a relationship that can evolve as the customers’ needs change.”

What do you think? Is this a smart way to target an exclusive group of consumers, leading them as they grow older in their client journey with other propositions?

Millennials reported in the study that not as much thought goes into liking as brands probably would want them to. Generally, the more Millennials engaged with the organizations offline, the closer they felt to the organization. They reported their likes were stronger for these organizations than others, especially corporations. Others were not invested at all in the organization even though they had liked the organization’s page. Organizations should focus more on the reason behind of the like rather than the like itself. The opinion about the facebook like is divided and strongly depends on the individual.

So tell me, what’s your opinion? When and how do you like a brand on facebook? Ever disliked a brand or organization? The results of the study are represented in the infographics you can find below (click to enlarge!)

Activity on facebook

Liking organizations

Interaction

Most talked about brands

SPARX is an interactive 3D fantasy game where a single user undertakes a series of challenges to restore balance in a virtual world dominated by GNATs (yes, this becomes medical, it means: Gloomy Negative Automatic Thoughts). It contains seven modules designed to be completed over a four to seven week period. Usual care mostly involved face-to-face counselling by trained clinicians. The research team carried out a randomised controlled trial in 24 primary healthcare sites across New Zealand. All 187 participants were between the ages of 12 and 19, and seeking help for mild to moderate depression and were deemed in need of treatment by primary healthcare clinicians. One group underwent face-to-face treatment as usual and the other took part in SPARX. Participants were followed up for three months and results were based on several widely used mental health and quality of life scales.

Satisfaction and recommendation
When questioned on satisfaction, 76/80 (95%) of SPARX users who replied said they believed it would appeal to other teenagers with 64/80 (81%) recommending it to friends. Satisfaction was, however, equally high in the group that had treatment as usual. But of course, one-on-one therapy sessions are far more expensive than a selfhelp computer game.

The authors conclude about the programme that it is an “effective resource for help seeking adolescents with depression at primary healthcare sites. Use of the program resulted in a clinically significant reduction in depression, anxiety, and hopelessness and an improvement in quality of life.”

Using technology to battle depression
Generation Y tends to be a technology savvy generation, so the success of the 3D video game to battle a mild depression can also be explained by GenY’s DNA: they are very comfortable with the use of technology in their day to day lives and they are not reluctant to use technology and games to battle depression. Tina Wells described it in a great way in her Generation Y Trends for 2012 blogpost.

Some of the key findings as found in the recent pressrelease:

• Millennials and non-Millennials spend roughly the same amount of time online, but millennials are more likely to use the Internet as a platform to broadcast their thoughts and experiences and to contribute user-generated content.
• Millennials are far more engaged in activities such as rating products and services (60 percent versus 46 percent of non-Millennials) and uploading videos, images, and blog entries to the Web (60 percent versus 29 percent).
• Millennials put a premium on speed, ease, efficiency, and convenience in all their transactions. For example, they shop for groceries at convenience stores twice as often as non-Millennials.
• They are receptive to cause marketing and are more likely to choose products whose purchase supports a cause (37 percent versus 30 percent).
• Of Millennials who make direct donations (34 percent), almost half donate through their mobile devices (15 percent), compared with only 5 percent of non-Millennials.
• When it comes to making purchases, Millennials are far more likely to favor brands that have Facebook pages and mobile websites (33 percent versus 17 percent). They overwhelmingly agree (47 percent versus 28 percent) that their lives feel richer when they’re connected to people through social media.
• Millennials are far more likely than non-Millennials to be the very first or among the first to try a new technology, and they tend to own multiple devices such as smartphones, tablets, and gaming systems.
• More U.S. Millennials than non-Millennials reported using MP3 players (72 percent versus 44 percent), gaming platforms (67 percent versus 41 percent), and smartphones (59 percent versus 33 percent), while more non-Millennials reported using desktop computers at home (80 percent versus 63 percent) and basic cellphones (66 percent versus 46 percent).
• As a result, U.S. Millennials are also much more likely to multitask while online, constantly moving across platforms — mobile, social, PC, and gaming.
• More Millennials than non-Millennials reported using a mobile device  to read user reviews and to research products while shopping (50 percent versus 21 percent).
• “Crowd sourcing” — tapping into the collective intelligence of the public or one’s peer group — has become particularly popular among Millennials.
• Millennials are much more likely than non-Millennials to explore brands on social networks (53 percent versus 37 percent).

The research also found that allthough Millennials’ perceptions of themselves are generally favorable, non-Millennials tend to view them more negatively. These perceptions may be coloring how executives view the Millennial consumer, preventing companies from understanding and fully addressing the product and service needs of this generation, and establishing strong brand relationships.

Six Distinct Consumer Millenial segments
The research identified six distinct segments of U.S. Millennials that could help companies improve the ways they develop their marketing, brands, and business models to reach this increasingly important audience.

1. Hip-ennials (29 percent) -”I can make the world a better place.”
2. Millennial Moms (22 percent) – “I love to work out, travel, and pamper my baby.
3. Anti-Millennials (16 percent) – “I’m too busy taking care of my business and my family to worry about much else.”
4. Gadget Gurus (13 percent) – “It’s a great day to be me.”
5. Clean and Green Millennials (10 percent) – “I take care of myself and the world around me.”
6. Old School Millennials (10 percent) – “Connecting on Facebook is too impersonal, let’s meet up for coffee instead!”

So what does all this mean to companies and their brands? According to BCG, it’s this:

“For some, a fundamental reinvention may be in order. For instance, brands that target teenagers, college students, or young adults may have to be rethought for each successive generation. In other cases, companies may need to figure out how to introduce their brands to Millennials at the appropriate life stage. And for others still, reaching Millennials may simply require more relevant and resonant marketing messages. Some brands — such as Nike and Sony — are favorites among U.S. Millennials and non-Millennials alike, and must try to remain so. Others, such as Target and Apple, appear to have an edge with Millennials.”

Joeri Van den Bergh, reflecting on the research findings:

“These recent results of the BCG Millennials study confirm many of the points I have described in our book How Cool Brands Stay Hot. Millennials are more individually empowered to voice their opinion as a combined result of a school system putting more emphasis on extravert behavior as well as parents supporting their children in defending their own thoughts since the days they were able to voice them. Parents of Millennials involved their children more into the family (purchase) decisions and this has affected the way they are dealing with brands and marketing today. It is a generation of stimulation junkies, eager for instant gratification with a documented lower span of attention. Millennials have seen it all. They have been bombarded with commercial messages since childhood and are hard to ‘wow’, which also means more demand on the quality and services aspects of brands. Millennials are fond of their tools. It’s a technology generation: they have many more chats with friends (offline and through social media) about devices such as tablets, smart phones and gaming tools. And they are of course often the first to adapt innovations. Many societal evolutions or consumer trends were born in this Millennial generation: think of mobile texting, green behavior, sharing music, files/flats/cars/…,  iTunes, social media, watching TV content online et cetera. When looking closely to evolutions among Millennials, you will discover the consumer trends of the next 10 years. Not just because they ARE the most influential consumer target group for the next 3 decades bit also because they INFLUENCE their parents, the large cohort of Baby Boomers. Together with their  Millennials, the latter are good for more than 50% of the total demographics. Time to make your brand Gen Y proof! Friends and the immediate social circle (including mom and dad) are the most important role models to them which explains why social media became popular thanks to the Millennial generation. It’s the perfect tool to stay 24/24 7/7 in touch with many more friends. They have a stronger belief in peers’ opinions than in institutions or corporates. Millennials are a very positive and optimist generation, especially when compared to the previous X generation. Brands should emphasize their role in creating happiness.”

More about this last reflection by Joeri about happiness, brands and millennials and generation Y can be found in a recent research project he’s done, check out the presentation on SlideShare here: “Don’t worry be happy“.

Christine Barton, a partner at the Boston Consulting Group in Dallas and an author this recent report about the study:

“Don’t believe the hype that Millennials consume less than previous generations. On average, U.S. Millennials already shell out and influence the spending of hundreds of billions of dollars annually — an amount that will only increase as they mature into their peak earning and spending years. Those companies that truly ‘get’ this generation will have an opportunity to differentiate themselves and forge profitable long-term relationships with Millennial consumers.”