5 minute read

Deconstructing the Millennial Generation

from Casino Life Vol 16 Issue 139, page 35

Article from: Casino Life Vol 16 Issue 139

Revised Dates for G2E Asia

illennials are the generation born between 1981 and 1996. Gaming companies today are learning that if we want a sustainable growth, we’d better pay attention to the millennials. They make up 31.5% of the global population and that amounts to some serious purchasing power…they already spend about $200 billion a year on goods and services, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. M

Clearly, understanding them is very important for our business and here are some basic common facts we know for the millennials:

• a strong understanding of self, expression and morality; and • are comparatively more focused on connecting and engaging with those who share their personal and ethical values like people, band, or celebrities. • they have huge buying power! • The way they learn about products and services is radically different from the advertising-focused marketing of earlier generations. • The group overall is tech-savvy and social media-driven.

Raymond Chan, Managing Partner, Alphaslot

How to connect millennial market with Gaming? We know millennials derive pleasure from engaging with like-minded people. We know they derive more value from experiences than objects. But what are these experiences? What is the means through which they achieve this? We are trying to give the answer here.

Peer Influence In one survey, a mere 1% of Millennials said their trust in a brand is increased by its advertising. They’re actually turning to friends, family members, and online reviews for reference. For decades, major brands spent money on TV and print ads to get the more market share. Now we should think different, to spend more effort and investment on IP and KOL (key opinion leader) influence.

Community Building Because of Millennials’ affinity for social media, we must build a deeper, two-way relationship with their peers. Learning a couple examples from the consumer industry: Coca-Cola Co. has rolled out its personalized-name soda cans and invited customers to share their own photos and comments using the hashtag #shareacoke on Twitter and received a big success. Johnson & Johnson also launched a campaign in which Millennials could take to YouTube and share their experiences dealing with acne. It tapped into the sense of real-people experiences in the community that so they can see real value out of it directly. It is time for us to re-think how our loyalty programs are structured today and make the modifications accordingly with a closer linkage to the social media like IG and Twitter.

Going Mobile According to one report, the average Millennial reaches for his or her smartphone as often as 45 times a day. The trend is putting pressure for us to create mobile-friendly websites and apps where consumers can more easily research products or conduct a transaction, even the product are physically located on the traditional casino floors.

The prevalence of mobile devices is even affecting the millennials spending behavior. Millennials are also using their smartphones to compare prices and look for coupons as they roam around the shopping mall. We can expect that they are doing the same when walking around the casinos (and the shopping mall attached to most of them). Even local regulations may restrict the use of ads for gaming activities, other entertainment events are not in the restricted list which the casino operators have invested billions into already. Get the right messages onto the millennials phone screen will definitely help the foot traffic on the casino floor and help in brand building with their peers.

Greater Diversity Millennials are the most diverse generation according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The number of people in this age group who classify themselves as “non-Hispanic white” is just 60%. Furthermore, those in millennials group have varied family backgrounds. As a result, the one-size-fitsall approach to marketing and product offering is not going to work as before. To stay competitive, business should segment the market and related product based on the demographics, lifestyle choices and values of the gamer tastes, and adopting different campaigns and product targeted to those different groups.

The Bottom Line With more than 73 million members, targeting new business on the Millennial generation can’t go too wrong. As a result, gaming companies should be busy by now figuring out the incentive to earn the trust of Millennial consumers: As they mature and advance, their purchasing power are the one keeping the industry sustainable in the long run.

About Raymond Chan Raymond Chan has 25 years of experience building award-winning teams and products with global technology companies. He joined Alphamirai and co-founded Alphaslot in 2018, played a key role in developing long-term strategic relationships with Fortune 500’s senior leaders for the company over his career. He also co-founded two other technology companies, TGG Interactive and G3 Asia Ltd. Earlier in his career he spent 10 years R&D in Silicon Valley and was part of the founding team that established the E*TRADE Business Intelligence Data Center in North America.

Mr. Chan holds an engineering and management science degree from the University of Waterloo and earned his Sir Isaac Newton physic scholar in Canada.

SPORTS BETTING OPERATOR

Sports Betting Operator provides new product and technology features and the latest Sports Betting News, keeping Online gambling companies up to date with the fastest growing Gambling Sector in the world.

www.sportsbettingoperator.com

Upcoming Virtual Classrooms from Totally Gaming Academy & iGaming Academy

For more information, visit our website

www.TotallyGamingAcademy.com

Date

4 & 5 May 5 & 7 May 6, 13 & 22 May

Event

iGaming Academy Online Gaming Academy Compliance Academy

7 May

Affiliate Management Academy

8 May Slot Academy

11 & 12 May 12, 14, 19 & 21 May 13, 14, 20 & 21 May 18 & 19 May 18, 20 & 25 May 22, 28 May & 4 June 27, 28 May, 3 & 4 June 1 & 2 June iGaming Academy Lottery Academy iGaming Academy iGaming Academy Slot Academy Affiliate Management Academy iGaming Academy iGaming Academy