The Millennials Conference

Wow! It's hard to believe that it's been a week since I was in Toronto at the Millennials conference and that I'm just not writing about it! It was an amazing experience and I had several immediate take-aways as well as some that are still brewing in my mind.

The first take-away is: There is some discretion about the bottom line birth year of the Millennial generation. I knew this before attending the event because each time I researched Millennials I would get a different span of dates. A psychology professor from Western University brought the issue up in the first presentation of the day. He showed a chart that outlined Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials. They all had definitive starting and ending dates. BUT between 1972 and 1982 there was a big gap. Since I was born between those years, I was curious as to which generation I was in so I approached the professor with my question. He said that the consensus is that people born between 1972 and 1982 either identify with Generation X or Millennials. I thought that was fascinating and true! And I'm definitely a Millennial.

The next take-away is: Consumer Marketers are completely stumped about how to capture Millennials as their loyal customers. They have some ideas as to what they need to do, but overall, they are mind-boggled!! I think that is pretty cool. Companies are having to experiment with different strategies to see what works and what doesn't. Sometimes the fail miserably and sometimes they become the next cool company.

The next take-away is: Millennials don't think you're cool just because you put up a MySpace and Facebook page. It seems as though many companies think that if they simply enter the world of Millennials that they will automatically capture them as consumers....WRONG! They will actually see right through your strategy and think you are very un-cool. Don't do this!!

My final take-away for right now is: Millennials don't know that they are Millennials!!! Most of them are unaware that they have been labeled as a generation, and for the most part, they don't like to be labeled at all. Each Millennial is just being his or herself in his or her world. The best way to work with or market to a Millennial is to be real, open-minded and optimistic.