Marketing to Different Generations

In the last blog post I talked about marketing campaigns targeted towards specific demographics. In this blog post, I will be addressing something a little different: marketing campaigns targeting specific age groups. Targeting a certain age is a key part of defining a target market.
There are a few defined "generations" in America today. They are the Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, the Millenials, as well as the pre-Baby Boomers, which aren't defined in any specific terms.

The Baby Boomers are the part of the population that was born between 1946 and 1964. America after World War II was a busy time for baby makers. This is evident when you look at the 76 million Baby Boomers in America, which account for about 25% of the population. The boomers were knows for working, and working hard, and today they account for 50% of all consumer spending.

Generation X were those born between 1965 and 1976. This generation was also known as the baby bust, since birth rates were declining. They make up about 15% of the US population. This generation is more educated than the previous generation, but they also have less net worth than the previous generation. Generation Xers are self-reliant and more supportive of racial and ethnic diversity than the baby boomers.

Generation Y were those born between 1977 and 1994. Generation Y are the children of the Baby Boom, which is why their population is around 72 million, or 22 or 23% of the US population. Generation Y maintain a work-life balance, as opposed to their Baby Boomer parents who worked all the time. Generation Y is also on the cusp of the computer age, with many growing up as the computer became a household object.

The Millennials are the generation born after 1994. The Millennials are unique in the fact that they grew up using modern technology their entire lives. Therefore, this generation is particularly computer savvy, especially compared to the Baby Boomers or later generation. Late Generation Yers and the Millennials get blended together, as there is no specific definition for the millennial generation. The Millennials are said to be focused on work-life balance and are self-entitled.

Obviously, these different generations each have their own values and beliefs. Marketing seeks to discover the needs and wants of prospective customers and to satisfy them. Each generation also has unique needs and wants that need to be filled. What are some things that marketers have done to fill the needs and wants of different generations?

The generations before the Baby Boomers all have one thing in common: they are getting old. With old age comes health problems, and pharmaceutical companies are now doing more business than ever.

Commercials like this one play all the time, and usually involve an older individual doing an activity they used to do when they were younger. This appeals to their desire to feel like they did when they were young. A good place to see commercials like this one is by watching Jeopardy, a game show that old people love.

The Baby Boomer generation's targeted ads are a little different. Take for example this recent Viagra commercial:

This ad is clearly targeted towards the Baby Boomer generation. For one thing, not many generations younger than the boomers have a significant need for Viagra. For the Baby Boomer generation, sex is still an important part of their lives. This commercial in particular narrows their target market directly to men. Unlike other Viagra or Cialis commercials, there aren't any women in this ad. The ad shows a good looking and independent man solving his own problems. It is encapsulated with the slogan, "This is the age of knowing what needs to be done." The Baby Boomer generation doesn't like being reminded of their age, or the fact that pharmaceutical companies are targeting them in their ads. Viagra's slogan comes across as a Viagra user taking his problem into his own hands and solving it independently. At the end of the day, he goes home to his house, the bedroom light turns on, and the rest is history. I'm not even going into the amount of sexual innuendos that are in this ad and ads like it, but if you watch it I'm sure you'll be able to figure some out for yourself.

Generation X are now coming to be what the Baby Boomers were: the generation at their peak earning potential that are starting families. Certain industries, such as car companies, have started targeting Generation Xers as the up-and-comers in terms of family life.

This 2011 Volkswagen commercial is strongly targeted towards Generation X. First of all, the kid dressed as Darth Vader is a throwback to the eighties when the original Star Wars were released. That is a reference that not many Gen Xers are likely to miss. The parents in the commercial are 30 or 40 somethings with a young kid. There is an emphasis on family; they own a dog, and it can be assumed that the kid either has a sister or is a girl. Finally, the convenience and luxury of the Volkswagen car, complete with a self-starter, appeals to the Gen Xers who value material goods.

An example of an ad targeted towards Gen Yers or Millennials would be this Verizon ad.

The commercial features a Millennial-aged girl who is interested in Science. The Millennials believe in  doing work that is meaningful to themselves. They are also independent and more tolerant of social deviation than previous generations. This Verizon ad makes it a point to question these norms of society and let kids pursue what they want to pursue. The message this ad portrays is a common theme among Gen Yers / Millennials.

As a marketer, it is important to understand the differences that arise from ages and generations. Age is one of the key factors that alters a consumer's buying habits. Whether it is because of the amount of money they have or the different experiences they've had that have altered their values, generational differences in a society are important for a marketer to understand.

The Four P's

Marketing is "the activity for creating, communicating, delivering, & exchanging offerings that benefit its customers, the organization, its stakeholders, & society at large."
In our day and age, products reign supreme. If you need something, chances are you can walk into a store and buy it. If it's not in a store, you can go on Amazon and buy it. If it's not on Amazon, then it probably doesn't exist. We live in a world of products. According to the definition, there is more to marketing than just products. Products are one of the four "P's" of marketing, along with price, promotion, and place. Since marketing is so commonplace it is easy to become desensitized to it. For this blog post, I give a few examples of the four P's that might be relevant.
If you've ever been to college (which is a product), you'll know that it is a time for experimenting. "Experimenting with what?", you might ask. Well, for one, mind-altering substances like alcohol. College students love altering their mind states, and they aren't the only ones. Alcoholic drinks date back to 8,000 BC and have been used ever since.

Even though modern day studies have shed light on some of the health risks of drinking, people still do it, and it doesn't seem like a thing that people are going to stop doing. Alcohol is a product. There is a consumer need for it, and, lucky enough for alcohol companies, there will always be consumer demand.

1) Products
An example I will give for an alcohol product is the infamous 40 oz of Malt Liquor. You may have drank one in your heyday, or they might be your drink of choice to this day. You'd be hard pressed to find a college student who hasn't heard of an Old English, a Colt 45, or simply a "40". If you're above the age of 80 then I will describe them for you. a "40" is 40 fluid ounces of "malt liquor". A forty of Malt Liquor is similar to beer and brewed with malted barley, and it usually has a higher alcohol content and comes in a big bottle. They are notoriously cheap, and get you notoriously drunk. 

2) Price
You know how I said 40's are notoriously cheap? When they began heavily promoting them in the 1980's, in some places they were as cheap as $1.50. Now a days, they cost anywhere from $2.50 to $5, depending on where you buy them and what brand you buy. Talk about bang for your buck. The price goes hand-in-hand with the promotional strategy, which I will go over next.

3) Promotion
The promotional strategy of the 40oz has been controversial since it began in the 1980's. The product is alcohol, something that is popular with all income-levels. The 40, however, is cheap and strong. Naturally, this appeals to those who like to get more alcohol for less money; lower-income individuals. This is evidently clear with their marketing campaign.
This is an early Schlitz Malt Liquor ad that clearly targets the black demographic. This is one of the many malt liquor ads at the time that were defining their target demographic as inner-city African-Americans. Article: Marketing of Malt Liquor Fuels Debate
Throughout the eighties and nineties malt liquor companies began narrowing their target market, specifically to the hip-hop culture. If you weren't aware of hip-hop culture in the US, hip-hop started as early as the 1970's in inner-cities, but exploded into the mainstream in the 1980's. Hip-hop is rooted in the culture of black (and Latino) urban youth, expressing themselves in a way that defied the American mainstream of the time. Today, it is the mainstream. In the eighties and nineties, however, it was more exclusively black than it is today.
Check out some of the TV commercials for the malt liquor brand St. Ides, also known as the "Crooked I".
Notorious B.I.G.
Snoop Dogg
Wu-Tang Clan
These ads ran through the 90's and gained St. Ides a lot of attention. They even released a tape of all the songs that played in their commercials. Talk about defining a target market. But, by setting their target market so strictly, St. Ides and other malt liquor companies were isolating themselves from the market segment that doesn't like hip-hop culture. They gave their product a reputation, and that reputation appealed to urban youth. They chose to target a segment that wasn't the mainstream at the time. This was a bold advertising move, along with the fact that many people complained that the ads were promoting underage drinking. In the end, however, they made the right choice. Malt liquor was wildly successful, especially within the inner-city. It's not hard to hear evidence of this; there are hundreds of 90's "gangster rap" songs that mention malt-liquor. Whether it's the Dainey (St. Ides, according to Mobb Deep), or the Beastie Boy's Brass Monkey (a 40 mixed with Orange Juice), the 40 has been engrained in our culture as a "ghetto" drink.

4) Place

Place goes along with price and promotion with the fact that it's usually sold wherever liquor is sold, although there used to be promotional deals in inner-cities. I don't know where you would find 2Pac's promotional "Thug Passion" flavored Crooked I, but I know its not in the Simon's in Colchester (shucks).

The promotional campaigns for malt liquor in the 80's and 90's were definitely controversial, and they were definitely successful. The marketing campaign did exactly what is was supposed to do; turn inner-city youth onto drinking cheap malt-liquor. It achieved it's goal by ingraining itself into hip-hop culture. Since then, the 40 has been associated with urban culture, a reputation that's destined to stick with it for a long time. So the next time you're looking for some cheap beer, remember that the 40 became one of the most popular drink choices by using an effective marketing campaign.