Who's up NXT - A cross-generational view on NextGen marketing

JOERI VAN DEN BERGH

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ith more and more brands looking out for the post-Millennials

or Generation Z, we felt the time was right for a cross-generational reality check. In partnership with GMI, InSites Consulting set up a global research project in which we interviewed close to 10,000 people from 4 different generations in 8 different countries across Europe, but also in the US and Australia. We questioned Baby Boomers (aged 53 to 70, the parents of Millennials), Gen X (aged 37 to 52, the parents of Gen Z), Gen Y (or Millennials, currently the young adult generation of 21-36-year-olds) & Gen Z (aged 6-20 today) consumers, taking a closer look at what differentiates the new consumer generations in the market today from the post ones.

This cross-generational study resulted in the Who’s up NXT story uncovering 4 DNA characteristics of NextGen (a combination of Millennials and their successors Generation Z) and helped us identify 7 consumer trends to make your brand future proof. Read on and discover the most remarkable differences and similarities between and across these generations to make your marketing and branding future proof.

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I AM SNAPPY Snappy means, like Snapchat, quite direct, efficient and also witty, quite intelligent about using all quick types of media. But let’s start with a rhetorical question: who do you think is messaging the most with their friends, while they are watching TV content? Gen Z or Gen Y?

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The result in our study show that it’s actually Gen Z, the youngest ones. Gen Z is number one when it comes to messaging with friends while watching TV. The Millennials are using social media, surfing the internet, playing games or even answering e-mails, as they tend to fuse their private lives with their professional ones. Gen Z however is doing less of the latter as they are not professionally active yet.

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Top 5 activities done when watching television (based on an InSites Consulting survey among 9.650 respondents from 4 generations (Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and Generation Z) in 9 countries). Š InSites Consulting

AN EMOJIONAL GENERATION The most used word while texting or messaging with friends is not LOL, HAHA, SELFIE or FOMO; the most used word is not a word... it is the emoji. This young generation is an emojional generation, they communicate using emojis, emoticons or gifs, visual content. To them it’s the most efficient, snappiest way of communicating, the most direct way of storytelling. If I look at the type of emojinalized and filtered visuals and video my Gen Z daughters are sharing on Instagram or Snapchat, it’s clear that they are from another planet

. But how do

we as marketers handle this type of new communication style? The answer is of course that we should change our way of communicating.

It is clear that this visual language style is increasingly important to connect with the youngest generations.

Some examples: IKEA has launched their own emoticon library, so that people can communicate with each other about their IKEA visits; they simply select the corresponding emojis when they want to talk about the Swedish meat balls or some of the iconic furniture or even a shopping bag or the IKEA Family card. Other brands like McDonald’s also have their own emojis and Colette, the former hipster store in Paris, actually asked McDonald’s if they could use the hamburger emojis and print them on a limited-edition t-shirt and sell it in their store. The candy brand Mentos is also using this type of visual communication, having used the shape of their product to create their own library of ementicons.

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EPHEMERAL COMMUNICATION Another evolution related to being snappy as a generation is the usage of Ephemeral Media, which means using media that will disappear after a few seconds. Snapchat is a good example of course, most of the time it’s only there for less than 10 seconds, so if you really want to see the message, you have to focus on it. Research from Microsoft has shown that today’s attention span is a mere 8 seconds, which is actually shorter than that of a goldfish; so if you want to catch the attention, your 08

communication style may need adapting. Snapchat is all about having fun with friends, sending funny messages to the close circle of friends you select yourself without the unbearable pressure of likes.

The ultimate ephemeral medium is of course live streaming, because you are really enjoying something in the moment, which is quite important to NextGen. So if you want to make a big announcement, e.g. a product launch, you can use live streaming. Red Bull for instance used Periscope to livestream events they are sponsoring. Tweeting live videos will get the attention of people who want to see what is happening at that moment, otherwise they might miss the whole message and the whole point. Live streaming is also a good way of authentic product demonstrations. Landrover for instance did a live test-drive allowing viewers to interact and ask questions while the test pilot was demonstrating the vehicle’s capabilities on demanding tracks.

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THE AGE OF IMPATIENCE NextGen is living in the Age of Impatience. Our study showed that the Millennials and Generation Z tend to go online to watch OTT content, TV content online. They would hate to miss an episode of House of Cards or Game of Thrones, and if they can watch it even before it’s out in their own region, that is all the better.

There is also the phygital trend of combining physical stores with 10

digital preordering or preselecting, which is totally related to this age of impatience. Starbucks has a mobile app which you can use to order your coffee or your sandwich, you pay upfront and then you just pick it up in the store without having to queue. The same goes for Kentucky Fried Chicken, with its Xpress app: it is prepaid so you just pick up your chicken burger without queueing.

So when translating this impatience to marketing communications, we should think of our formats. Are we still creating 20-second videos, 30-second commercials and is that even a good idea, considering NextGen’s short attention span? They can even get bored within 5 seconds. So it is all about creating compelling content and creative ideas.

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© GEICO, the Unskippable Family ad

This one-minute-two-seconds video by GEICO, an insurance company, got 7.3 million views in 2 weeks. The key message is of course shown in the first 5 seconds as viewers can skip YouTube ads after that time frame but the brand remains on screen for the full 1 minute and 2 seconds.

People want to see what is happening with the dog throughout the entire commercial – and of course dogs and children still work in advertising – so if you have a creative idea, longer formats are still an option.

However, it is becoming clear that the age of impatience implies that NextGen wants an on-demand experience. Some brands like Uber are actually the market leader in on-demand experiences: they do not only provide you with a driver & car when you need one; if you’d like a fresh meal, there is Uber Eats, delivering fresh meals within 10 minutes; need any 7/11 items, the same 10-minute rule applies; they simply use the same network of drivers. Amazon is doing it differently: they have created actual physical dash buttons that you can stick where you want; if you need razors or washing detergent, you just physically push the button and your stuff is ordered automatically, without you even having to grab your phone or having to go online. The button is preprogrammed so that it orders the products and there is of course same-day delivery for Amazon Prime members.

So in short for the first DNA aspect: it’s all about being snappy, creating on-demand experiences and using ephemeral media.

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I AM DREAMING OF A BETTER WORLD This young generation is dreaming of creating a better society, a better planet. Let’s be honest: in today’s rapidly changing polarized political climate, we do hope that a new young generation of leaders will soon step up to decide which direction the world is heading in, before it’s too late.

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One of the questions we asked in our global cross-generational study was: “Are you in favor of gender equality?” When looking into the details, we notice it’s actually Gen Z, the youngest, aged 6 to 20, who are most in favor of gender equality.

Based on an InSites Consulting survey among 9.650 respondents from 4 generations in 9 countries. © InSites Consulting

16 Miley Cyrus protesting with Happy Hippie Foundation

BLURRING GENDERS

Today’s kids and teens are growing up in a society where blurring of genders is the new normal, even at a very young age. Think of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s first biological daughter, Shiloh. Her parents have decided to call her John because Shiloh has been feeling more like a boy than a girl since the early age of 3. Miley Cyrus is another good example of a popular Gen Z celebrity who disagrees with the binary predefinition of genders. She openly declares she doesn’t feel like either girl or boy. To her it’s a fluid mental state that can change every day. Miley actively endorses LGBT+ rights with her Happy Hippie Foundation.

If you look at fashion, one of the trends in the past years has been a type of jeans called the boyfriend jeans, which are male jeans worn by women, as a way to express their identity. Then hipster boys suddenly started imitating the way girls were wearing boyfriend jeans (with rolledup legs). So boys started imitating girls who were imitating boys, if you are still with me. It’s quite confusing, but in the end to me it was the

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ultimate proof of gender blurring in fashion. And indeed, many fashion brands, especially luxury brands like Gucci, Prada, Givenchy and Saint Laurent, have gender-neutral collections today. Selfridges launched a 3-storey pop-up store where they sell 40 different brands with mixed clothes collections for males and females. There is no male-only or female-only section or floor in the shop.

The classic Disney fairytale narrative with typical role patterns (a girl cleaning the house or preparing meals for little people until a prince comes along on a white horse, they kiss and marry‌) has been adapted completely to concurrent Gen Z desires. In 2009, Disney made The Princess and The Frog, with Tiana as a female lead character. In 2010 18

there was Rapunzel, again a female lead character. In 2013, the most successful Disney franchise and movie ever, Frozen, was launched, with 2 sisters Anna and Elsa, a story about sisterhood and female bonding. There was also Brave with Merida and there will be a Frozen II of course. So it’s clear that Disney understands that in today’s society, female empowerment and strong female characters are the new way of connecting with the youngest generation.

Mattel launched a new line of dolls using the theme of Super Hero Girls, together with DC Comics and Warner Brothers. And AdAge recently reported on how the toy industry is breaking gender barriers even with a transgender Jazz doll based on the popular TLC show of the 16-year-old transgender Jazz Jennings.

So how do we translate this to other industries?

It’s clear we should all consider using female empowerment in our branding and communication campaigns. Procter & Gamble is already doing so in their #likeagirl campaign. They started this campaign in 2014 and it was one of the best evaluated spots during that year’s Super Bowl, as well as one of the most trending Twitter topics back then. It got more than 100 million views. Its approach was of course largely inspired by what Unilever has been doing for over a decade of campaigning for real beauty with Dove. And we all know that Dove became Unilever’s first 5-billion-dollar brand. Let’s say P&G discovered that this is the right way to connect with the youngest generation. They are even applying this core message to other brands across their markets. Take a look at Pantene’s #shinestronger campaign in the UK for instance or the Ariel #sharetheload commercial in India.

© Unilever, Ariel Share the Load campaign

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In the meantime Unilever has also replaced the traditional babe magnet positioning of its 30-year-old Axe/Lynx male cosmetic brand with a campaign that encourages men to find their own magic. The Find Your Magic film has been viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube and since the campaign’s launch, the brand has seen its global sales growth triple.

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Š Axe, Find Your Magic campaign

Supporting LGBT+ rights is one step further. Handmade cosmetics brand Lush is helping to raise awareness with its Love Fund. In July 2015, the brand launched its #GayIsOk campaign together with All Out to raise awareness for the fact that in 76 countries around the world being gay is a crime. Together, they asked customers all over the world to take part in the biggest conversation ever to be held on social media, using #GayIsOk and invented the sparkling and beautiful Love Soap,

with the entire sum of each bar purchased going to the Love Fund.

Direct campaign messages about #GayIsOk had a social reach of 30 million. After the US Supreme Court ruled on marriage equality, the hashtag #GayIsOK reached a further 40 million. Next to that, 107,479 sparkly gold bars of Love Soap were sold, creating a Love Fund of £275,955. This Love Fund will now be donated in grants of £100 to £10,000 to grassroots groups, collectives, charities, communities and activists working on equality laws, acceptance and inclusion for LGBT+ individuals.

Or Diageo’s We’re Open positioning for its Smirnoff vodka brand. While sticking to the nightlife (music & dancing) DNA of Smirnoff, the brand successfully translated this core idea in an inclusive brand platform with several campaigns: deaf dancers, albino African deejays etc.

© Diageo, We’re Open campaign

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WORLD ISSUES What are the main issues that the next generation is concerned about?

Take a look at the results of our cross-generational study.

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World issues people are most concerned about (based on an InSites Consulting survey among 9.650 respondents from 4 generations in 9 countries). Š InSites Consulting

The top 2 concerns are terrorism and the economic crisis. The latter is less of a concern to Gen Z than to other generations as most of them are not confronted with employment issues yet. But Gen Z does really stand out when it comes to health issues, racism and underdevelopment in Third World countries. Just think of Boyan Slat, a 17-year-old Dutch guy who, on one of his holidays, came up with an idea to clean up the ocean, by means of 2 giant arms that collect the plastic waste using the ocean tide. He got an interview with John Kerry and, by 2020, 40% of the world’s oceans will be cleaned thanks to this GenZer.

This is just an example of how this young generation is concerned about the planet. We see some brands connecting with youth in this “we help you create a better world” theme.

For instance, G-Star Raw, a denim brand, created a pair of jeans made from recycled ocean plastic. They are using Pharrell, also a known advocate for this good cause, to promote the collection. Adidas released a limited edition of 7,000 pairs of cool sneakers made from recycled plastic fishing nets. They sold out in a snap. Earlier this month, H&M’s Conscious Exclusive Collections launched the Bionic Yarn, a fabric made from recovered plastic from waterways and shorelines.

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© G-Star, RAW For The Ocean campaign

The company made a clear statement by not choosing a basic t-shirt or skirt, but opted for a ravishing evening gown to show the potential of upcycling. And this is not just a one-off. In an interview with Vogue, Ann-Sofie Johansson, H&M’s Head of Design, declared that its Conscious Exclusive Collections are a great example of how they can I N S I T E S C O N S U LT I N G

try out new, innovative materials and later on scale them in its normal collections. Sister brand &Other Stories is known for its emphasis on recycling clothes and packaging offering clients a standard 10% discount when they return used items.

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In the IT industry even, Dell recently announced their Ocean Plastics packaging (100% recycled plastics, 25% from oceans), together with Social Good Advocate, actor and activist Adrian Grenier. They are creating the first commercial-scale global ocean plastics supply chain, processing plastics collected from beaches, waterways and coastal areas and using them globally as part of a new packaging system for the XPS 13 2-in-1 laptop. This initial pilot project will start by recycling 16,000 pounds of plastics from the ocean.

When it comes to fair trade and the Third World problems, there is this new ‘141’ business model, “buy one and donate one”, which works really well with the youngest generation. Blake Mycoskie, CEO of TOMS

Shoes, was one of the pioneering engineers of the model. TOMS have already donated more than 70 million pairs of shoes to poor children based on the guilt-free consumption of NextGen and then copied the concept to coffee and eyewear as well. Mycoskie’s ideas have inspired many other companies and initiatives including Warby Parker, the Munchery meal deliveries and many more.

Better Shelter is the result of a partnership between the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the IKEA Foundation and Better Shelter, designed by and for refugees, to improve the living conditions of people displaced by natural disasters and conflicts. Since 2015, the partnership has provided 15,000 Better Shelter units in seven countries. There’s nothing more natural for parents than the desire to give their children a safe home. But how do families who flee war zones begin to rebuild their kids’ sense of security? The Better Shelter team met a Syrian family that fled from Syria, survived the journey across the Mediterranean Sea and is now staying in a Better Shelter on the island of Lesvos, Greece.

Check out the full story via BetterShelter.org. In 2017, Better Shelter was awarded with the Beazley Design of the Year award.

© Better Shelter

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ENOUGHISM A last trend related to this dreaming of a better world is enoughism.

NextGen, who feels they have enough material stuff and are fed up with consuming all the time, are clearly sensitive to sharing economy initiatives such as Airbnb. Every binge behavior, such as binge drinking,

Š Daybreaker, sober rave party

sporting, texting, watching… will at some point lead to an enoughism attitude and de-toxing, de-teching, de-binging. After the launch of Sober, a nightclub in Stockholm that was not selling any alcohol, breakfast and lunch Daybreaker raves were popping up in New York and other cool cities across the globe. Millennials were suddenly enjoying a healthy breakfast and partying together, without any drugs nor alcohol. Apart from Drynuary, Facebook today is loaded with all kinds of health challenges: 40 days without meat, 30 days without using my car, 40 days without using shampoo…

And it all seems very challenging for some of the affected industries, unless you understand how to deal with them and even support them actively. The French retailer Intermarché is even helping its customers to detox from sugar, promoting the Sugar Detox chocolate dessert that has 10% less sugar in every single serving.

© Intermarché, Sugar Detox

NextGen is expecting brands and marketers to help them live better and healthier lives with less waste and a more balanced lifestyle. 7 out of 10 Millennials expect brands and companies to help them to do something back for society according to our cross-generational research..

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I AM MAKING IT In other words: personalization. One of the questions we asked in our global cross-generational study to four different generations was “What brand characteristics do you find most important?�. A long list of thirty-two randomized brand items was shown, including being socially engaged and hyper-personalization.

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What are important characteristics for a brand or product?

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Based on an InSites Consulting survey among 9.650 respondents from 4 generations in 9 countries. Š InSites Consulting

As a result, we concluded that personalization is very important for Gen Z. Social engagement of brands is less important to them than to Millennials. For the latter, giving something back to society is equally important as customization. Thinking back to Gen X, my generation, marketing and branding were all about prestige and status, showing you made it, having a good career, earning money and showing off. We were the yuppie generation and wanted to buy our coolness with global, strong prestige image brands. For Millennials, the focus switched to connecting with friends, the power of the collective, the “together-wecan-make-it� feeling. So think of we-selfies and flash-mobs at wedding parties. They want brands that are open to collaborate with them, and co-creation campaigns certainly catered to their need for involvement.

And then there is Gen Z, the youngest generation. They are the children of Gen X and seem to have copied the more individual thinking of their parents, especially when compared to Baby Boomers and Gen Y’s collective thinking. To them, it’s all about leaving your own mark in society, having an individual impact on society, which means that personal skills become more important. They highly value having their own identity and standing out from the crowd. This is something Nike is using in the Nike Academy: they look for young soccer players who want to improve their skills by competing with other young soccer players, and in the end be able to play a match and train together with the big stars, the celebrities that Nike is sponsoring. Over 50 alumni of the Academy are currently working in Europe as Premier League pros.

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Š Nike, Nike Academy

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MECONOMY Gen Z-ers are content creators. They are drawn to opportunities that allow them to actively participate and express themselves. They want to show their creativity and skills. They want to make and create it themselves.

We know the we-conomy, or share-conomy, as typically a shortcut strategy from Millennials, who value access and experiences over ownership.

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The youngest (Gen Z), however, evolve towards the me-conomy.

Individualizing their products is much more important to them. In the past, Lay’s has done co-creation campaigns that were perfect to connect with Gen Y: co-create a new flavor and then produce it for the entire market. But PepsiCo also understood that teens of today want something personal. In a Lay’s summer promotion, you could create your own crisp packaging and the first 10,000 that made a nice design received a box with their own personalized bags of crisps. The me-conomy is clearly rising with Mondelez earning over US$2.6 billion with direct-to-consumer sales of personalized Oreo Cookies. © Mondelez, personalized Oreo cookie wrapping

IT’S ALL ABOUT (IM)PERFECTION

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Minecraft sold over 121 million copies and is currently the second-best video game of all-time, after Tetris. The game is all about enabling players to create their own universe, by constructing houses, nature, even animals. Minecraft was sold in September 2014 to Microsoft for US$2.5 billion, even though the graphics look really poor, as if they were made in the 1980s. The game was developed in just one week by Millennial Markus Personn. His idea was to quickly earn a bit of money before developing a real game. Minecraft immediately was a hit with Gen Z and the example shows us that, to the youngest generation, imperfection is the new perfection. If it looks perfect, it’s dull and boring. So imperfections are good, as they are human and more interesting and authentic than their perfect counterparts.

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If you look at the celebrities who are connecting the best with the young, there is Jennifer Lawrence, who often shows herself to be less than perfect at public events. Another example is Lena Dunham who, in her autobiography, is talking very openly about her medical problems and her weird past sex life, but is also very successful. Her own HBO series, Girls, is all about the imperfections of people and relationships. Dunham is definitely one of the spokespersons of the young generation.

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Jennifer Lawrence

Lena Dunham

© Our/Vodka

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Perhaps many of the products we are selling to NextGens are too perfect.

This craft trend is something several food producers have already understood. Kraft for instance has spent 2 years in an R&D lab to be able to produce carving-board-sliced turkey breast, so that it would look like you sliced it yourself at home. It doesn’t look like it was manufactured in a big company. Pernod Ricard (parent company of Absolut Vodka) has responded to the need for authentic crafted experiences by introducing Our/Vodka. The brand has built small distilleries in 6 cities in the US and 3 in Europe, together with local entrepreneurs. The owners (who earn a substantial portion of the profits) could start with Pernod Ricard’s global recipe and distilling knowledge, but can add their own specific herbs and local flavours.

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FAILOSOPHY Nike is using these types of imperfections in its “Better For it” campaign.

The video is full of “I can’t”, which is quite surprising for the brand behind “Just do it“, and which has always been stressing the competence of world star athletes. Nike adapted its tone-of-voice in this much more human and imperfect approach to working out.

Gen Z embraces a failosophy: failing is cool. We saw the rise of events like F*ck-up nights and Fail conferences, where young entrepreneurs talk about the mistakes they made, the way they f*cked up their own business and what they learned from it all. Failure is an option for the youngest. Gen X, on the contrary, would never have talked about their failures, only about the good things they have done. Failing is like the new achievement, because the youngest generation feels “It is better to be absolutely ridiculous than to be absolutely boring”.

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® Nike, I can’t commercial

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I AM READY TO LEVEL UP In this fourth chapter, we focus on the last NextGen DNA aspect: ”I am ready to level up”. In InSites Consulting’s Who’s Up NXT survey, we asked questions like “Would you like to have a career abroad, earn a lot of money, start your own business?” to 4 different generations: Z, Y, X and Baby Boomers. Through the results below, you will notice that it is clearly Gen Z that is most career- and money-making-minded while welcoming an own start-up, working abroad and being on the road. NextGen is highly ambitious.

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Millennials (Gen Y) still want to combine having a good time with friends and family (the famous work/life balance). But the younger Generation Z seems to be more eager to sacrifice fun for money. Working or studying abroad is considered as a crucial self-development tool, with Gen Z even more inclined to participate in school exchange projects and internships in other regions. Of course, GenZers today are only just entering the job market, so we’ll have to see how their opinion will evolve once they are really confronted with a professional life.

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Based on an InSites Consulting survey among 9.650 respondents from 4 generations in 9 countries. © InSites Consulting

NextGen definitely feels responsible for their own successes. In an increasingly more competitive and insecure job market, improving skills is high on the agenda of this ambitious youth generation. They acknowledge only hard work and creative skills will help them make it. Energy drink brand Red Bull certainly understands NextGen’s need for fuel and power to help them through the many obstacles of their young life. It is just one example of how brands can connect with NextGen by offering them products and services that help them level up or facilitate doing so.

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American reality TV program Shark Tank, the successor of Dragon’s Den, can be considered as the Pop Idols or X-Factor for young entrepreneurs.

In the show – that was broadcast for 6 successful seasons in a row and won a primetime Emmy Award – a panel of investors decides on business plans: which plan would they invest in? One of the great examples of Gen Z’s born ready attitude is Mikaila Ulmer, a 10-yearold girl that came up with the idea of making a lemonade based on her grandmother’s recipe with honey. Her purpose behind making this lemonade was to support bees. As you know, there are fewer bees in the environment and part of the profits of Mikaila’s lemonade sales would go to the Saving the bees foundation. Ulmer was one of Shark

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Tank’s winners: she received $60,000 to start up her own business and meanwhile managed to rake in a big million-dollar distribution deal with Wholefoods, the US food retailer.

In my book How Cool Brands Stay Hot, one of InSites Consulting’s founders, Niels Schillewaert, is interviewing Jordan Casey, a 15-yearold Irish GenZer who started his own game and app development company at the age of 12. YouTube is also the proud sponsor of young talented vloggers. 14-year-old celebrity vlogger Amber Kelley, for instance, was bullied about her healthy home-packed lunches in second grade and decided to change children’s perception of healthy food. After winning a White House challenge and TV channel Food Network’s kids 42

star contest, Amber’s vlogs got endorsed by Jamie Oliver’s Foodtube channel. Gen Z is not afraid to fail. It’s better to fail than to be boring.

They learn from mistakes and move on to the next challenge.

© YouTube, Cook with Amber

YOLO VS YOLT

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We often think of young people as the YOLO “you only live once” generation. They all want to experience amazing, awesome & extraordinary things. And yes, that is true. When you are young, you still have your bucket list full of want-to-experience things. NextGen surely has more ways to fulfill more crazy experiences than ever before. But YOLO does not equal YOLT, “you only live once” does not equal “you only live today”. In the heads of young people, there also is tomorrow. So having guts or being bold is not just about having balls and doing things like bungee-jumping, threesomes or other thrills in the short term. It’s more about having longer-term goals. Young people are not just concerned about short-term experiences; we know from our interviews that they do have long-term goals in life.

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Nike supports your football career Nike is one of the brands that understands how young people are ready to level up and want to go for the long-term dimension. Since 2009, Nike has the Nike Academy, a football academy in England where they train young football players. So they start with a competition, called Nike’s Most Wanted, in more than 30 countries in the world, where Nike is looking for young talent in every young football team. Any team can nominate any of their young players, boy or girl, that they consider their star player.

In the next phase, these star players will compete with other star players, within their own country and then of course also internationally. In the end, Nike organizes a summer school for 10 pupils, every year, where these young football talents are trained by a professional coach. The pupils 44

also receive some career coaching and also get to play matches with the stars and athletes that Nike is sponsoring. And this great idea has also brought some results. In total, the Nike Academy currently has more than 50 alumni who competed in the Most Wanted contest, followed the training at the Nike academy and today are playing professional football in First-League teams across Europe. Š A/D/O

Š Converse, Rubber Tracks studios

Other examples of brands that help NextGen

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to achieve small or bigger successes H&M Poland organized free cross-fit training and boxing classes.

During the classes, you earned points for every calorie burned; points which could then be redeemed in every H&M store. Converse has the Rubber Tracks studios: a global family of community-based professional recording studios. Emerging musicians of all genres can apply for free studio time. If selected, artists record at no cost while maintaining the rights to their own music. Red Bull is offering music workshops around the world and also created the Red Bull Basement in Sao Paolo and Istanbul as a way to bring young creative talents together. MINI created A/D/O (named after the initial design team of the car) in Brooklyn, a creative work space and restaurant open to all creative designers as a co-working space.

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READY TO LEVEL UP ON THE WORK FLOOR

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Talking about co-working, this ready-to-level-up DNA characteristic of NextGen is also something that is quite useful in a broader HR perspective. The following example is about Mondelēz, but I know that companies like PepsiCo and other multinationals are also involved in this way of allowing young Millennials on the work floor to cooperate with older generations within the company and with start-ups outside of the company. Mondelēz has its Futures program. In 2012 they started up the Mobile Futures program, where they allow young people to work together with mobile start-ups to find new ways of connecting with the consumers through their mobiles. One of the business ideas that originated from

Mobile Futures was Betabox, a company based on the idea of mobile loyalty cards. It has been sold by Mondelēz in the meantime.

After this success, Mondelēz started up the Shoppers Futures program.

The idea is that young marketing people working for the US and Canadian divisions of multiple Mondelez brands start working together with retail clients and start-ups to find new business ideas that are related to the shopping journey, like digital displays in shops or any other idea. The program stimulates young people to work with other people from other generations, so it’s cross-generational and it also connects NextGen with the start-up entrepreneurs. The core idea is not necessarily to make money by creating and selling start-up ventures like they did with the Mobile Futures program, but it’s all about helping young people to be intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs within a large corporate such as Mondelēz.

To find more ways to build a future-proof HR strategy, download our free Millennials at Work bookzine. insites-consulting.com/millennialsatwork

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CONCLUSION When studying NextGens (Millennials and Z) around the world, we found DNA similarities in their expectations towards companies, brands and media. We have summarized them in this Who’s up NXT bookzine and illustrated them with some brand examples from different markets.

Clearly apart from the common needs and desires, there are cultural differences across different regions. As authenticity and self-identification are key aspects in connecting with NextGen, brands should strive to get as close to youth as possible through immersion and co-creation.

It is only by truly understanding the motivation and culture of this generation of marketing-savvy consumers, that brands make a difference today in a cluttered environment.

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I N S I T E S C O N S U LT I N G

Joeri Van den Bergh Co-founder, Managing Partner & NextGen expert at InSites Consulting Marketing Professor at Vlerick Business School AMA-awarded marketing author & Master Marketer

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Joeri is an awarded global thought leader and marketing author on the impact of Millennials and Generation Z on marketing and business. He has extensive experience of all aspects of branding, marketing and advertising to kids, teens and young adults and is a frequently booked speaker around the world. His best-selling marketing book How Cool Brands Stay Hot: Branding to Generation Y and Z has been awarded several times (a.o. The American Marketing Association Berry-AMA Book Prize).

+32 496 23 29 19 @joeri_insites http://www.linkedin.com/in/joerivandenbergh/ joeri@insites-consulting.com

howcoolbrandsstayhot.com

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HOW COOL BRANDS STAY HOT Branding to Generations Y & Z

How Cool Brands Stay Hot analyzes Generations Y and Z, the most marketing-savvy and advertising-critical generations yet. It reveals how they think, feel and behave, offering applicable, proven strategies to market more effectively to these age groups and remain a relevant, appealing brand. Featuring interviews with global marketing executives of successful brands such as Converse, Tomorrowland and DIESEL along with case studies from companies including LEGO, Always, MTV and TOMS, it guides you in developing the right strategies to reach these critical age groups and leave a lasting impact on your business.

Previous editions of the book have won the prestigious 2012 Berry-AMA Book Prize for the best book in marketing and the 2012 Expert Marketing Magazine’s Marketing Book of the Year award.

To book a workshop or speech, interact with the authors or be updated with the latest NextGen news, visit the companion blog www.howcoolbrandsstayhot.com.

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W

ith more and more brands looking out for the post-Millennials

or Generation Z, we felt the time was right for a cross-generational reality check. So in partnership with GMI, InSites Consulting set up a global research project in which we interviewed close to 10,000 people from 4 different generations in 8 different countries across Europe, but also in the US and Australia. We questioned Baby Boomers (aged 53 to 70, the parents of Millennials), Gen X (aged 37 to 52, the parents of Gen Z), Gen Y (or Millennials, currently the young adult generation of 21-36-year-olds) & Gen Z (aged 6-20 today) consumers, taking a closer look at what differentiates the new consumer generations in the market today from the post ones.

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ABOUT INSITES CONSULTING From the start of InSites Consulting in 1997 until today, there has been only one constant: we are continuously pushing the boundaries of marketing research. With a team of academic visionaries, passionate marketers and research innovators, we empower people to create the future of brands. As one of the top 3 most innovative market research agencies in the world (GRIT), we help our clients connect with consumers all over the world.

www.insites-consulting.com