Rick Bailey and Sam Waterson gave a presentation at the American Marketing Association (Indianapolis chapter) today on best practices in marketing for not-for-profit corporations. Before I get into some of the detail I was intrigued by Sam’s title. He is the “corporate ethnographer” at Richard Harrison Bailey – the agency. I was impressed and needed to look up what an ethnographer did.
eth·nog·ra·phy (ěth-nŏg'rə-fē) Pronunciation Key n. The branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures.
It seems Sam studies various sub populations particularly the generation X (32-43 year olds), generation Y (21-31) and millennials (under 21) and observes how they receive and perceive information.
He discussed ‘how do you speak to a millennial?” My ears perked up – I need a few lessons on how to speak to my 17 and 13 year old sons. The typical dinner conversation is
(Dad) “What did you do today in school? “
(Son – either one) “Stuff”
(Dad) “What do you know now that you didn’t know this morning?”
(Son) “Nothing”
It seems, according to Sam, that millennials are much more “cause” driven than their parents or generation X and generation Y that preceded them. He suggested that marketers are selling products (such as jeans in Gap stores) by wrapping their products in a cause. Millennials will feel they are helping starving people in (name a country here) by buying specific products from that area of the world. He said that companies with products helping a distinct cause and a popular spokesperson (i.e. Bono) can do well with this group.
Now how can I turn cleaning the bathroom into a cause? I don’t think this will help much with my teenagers.
A major nugget I did take away is that marketers must really understand their target audience. A private college trying to recruit students actually has several different audiences with many different concerns. Therefore messages need to be targeted and segmented to each group. Students (time rich and money poor) may be looking for a place to spread their wings and try new things. Parents (time poor and money richer) are looking for a safe place for their children that they can afford.
Know your market, segment the message and make it easy for your key customers to communicate with you.
If this were easy everyone would do it. Ask your ethnographer.
Until next time – all the best!
RolandB
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2 comments:
It was great to meet you, Roland. I'm glad that you enjoyed the presentation. We certainly appreciate the invitation. For your reference, I've posted the Keynote to www.rhbinformed.com.
For a more in-depth look at ethnography as it relates to design, take a look here: http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/ethnography-primer
I know exactly what you mean, Roland. We have a couple "millennials" (an '81 model and an '85) who are now recent adults. It's been an adventure. They are both awesome and they have taught me so much about this incredible generation who will soon lead the world. Best of luck. Thanks for inviting us to be part of the AMA luncheon.
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