Lecture Sixteen: Marketing to the Generations

Now moving away from groups and there influences we start to look at how Marketers also have to think about the generation a consumer comes from and how to market to them. Know as Generational Marketing; it is essentially targeting a specific generation to market to. Brands will use generational marketing techniques when they want to shed their old view that consumers have of them. For example the way Jaguar has changed its own image in the last decade is an attempt a marketing to a new generation.




The 2 commercials above see Jaguar as the type of car that has all the class and comfort you need with the power and speed if you want it. This has been the long-term theme that most people still associate with the Jaguar company and is and is allot to do with "the art of performance" slogan they have had. However with potential customers being put off buying one because they are seen as cars for the older generations, retired etc; Jaguar has undergone a transformation of it's brand identity.

I am now going to show you a commercial for the new Jaguar CXF and you will be able to see within the first few seconds that they are appealing to the younger generations. Using more up beat music and flashing lights with the new aggressive styling of the car itself and the new tagline ..."The Future is now!" ENJOY!!



Now that you have seen some examples of how companies think about the different types of generations out there you need to know the actual categories marketers currently use to classify the different generations. You have....

• Pre-School: This generation will be targeted by using parents and making then think their "baby" needs this to make then better or safer etc.


• Children: Probably one of the most lucrative of all the generations and will be covered in Lecture Eighteen marketers target children making them nag and persuade their parents into buying products.


• Tweens: As children grow up younger again the tween generation is now too old for children focused ads and marketers will advertise products in a way that makes tweens feel grown up as they are not yet old enough to teen ads but want to be just like them. Below I am showing an advert for Mylie Cyrus's (Tween Queen) show 'Hannah Montana' ... You will now probably be very well know to the Hannah Montana/Mylie Cyrus craze but this ad was when the show was first being launched and the reason I chose this ad is the fact they used the very famous cast of HSM - High School Musical to promote the show... another Tween sensation.
  
  

• Teens: Just like the Tweens, Teens are too old for Hannah Montana and HSM and want to be and act older. It is from the Tween to the Teen stage when all of the major self esteem issues come out, especially in girls as they mature quicker, and marketers/advertisers use these insecurities as hooks to hang new products off that they will buy in the hope they will look something like the girl in the magazine. Solomon et al. (2006) suggests that the needs that teens have consist of:
  
  
  - Experimentation
  - Belonging
  - Independence
  - Approval from others
  
  
  No wonder teens are always so hard to please :P. Solomon then goes onto highlight the fact that products are a way for teens to express these needs. With most prducts being purchased as a 'feel good' purchase like make-up and clothes, posters etc; coupled with the fact they have allot of disposable income it makes it a very wealthy market to enter.


• Generation Y (Millennials): Seen as my generation which mainly consists of young adults is people born in or above the 1980's, me being born in 1989 I would in the middle of the Generation Y family. Now all I can tell you from my experiences is that as a "Generation Y'er" I am now in the middle of a struggle between growing up and becoming a full adult whilst still wanting to hold onto the freedoms and carefree nature of the Teen generation. I have also included a Times Article which talks about 'How to connect with Generation Y' which I found an interesting read. It also remembers to point out how we are very educated with the fact that a very high percentage of Gen Y people attend University. Another good point Solomon points out is that we are 'Consumers-in-Training' as we adopt many of our brand loyalties at this age, which is true for me. For example I will only ever buy Dolmio pasta sauce and when my mom changed to Tesco I had to make her change back.
  
  
• Generation X (Baby Busters): This generation is generally mid 60's to end 70's and is the generation allot of our parents are in.... If you cant work it out the first of the "Generation X'ers" would be around 42-43. This was the first generation that was showing an end to the 'Baby Boomer's' after the WWII and were know by marketers as the 'Baby Buster's'.
  
  
• Baby Boomers: Dubbed the Baby Boomer's they are the generation post WWII and the boom was down to the fact that when the war ended people settled down, got stable jobs and had families which saw a surge in the population. In 2003 there were 74,000,000 baby boomer's compared with 38,000,000 in the 1960's in the EU-25 countries shows that our population is ageing and if you look at the graph bellow from the governments own statistics taken in 2006 you can see this more easily.
  
  
  
  It also found out that within the UK resident population of 60,587,000, of which 50,763,000 lived in England, 1 in 5 of them were under 16 and 1 in 6 were over 65 with an average age of 34.
  
  These Boomer's can be split into 2 sub-categories know as Baby Boomer (young) and Baby Boomer (old) which also gives you an idea into just how big this group. They are also one of the most influential generations often affecting the markets with big changes. Most boomer's will be coming to or at their professional working peak, often earning the top income cap in their sector and it is because of this that they hold the power. They also have a built up resistance to advertising and is almost a contrast to how the younger generations react. The younger generation are very savvy and know allot about the product already so they make decisions based of that information but as I said above the Boomer's have built this resistance to advertising over the years, as they have experienced many campaigns. Also coming post was they never bought anything that they didn't really need and as they got older they felt no need to buy into fads etc.
  
  
• The Grey Generation: Rapidly becoming the soon to be largest generation with the BBC predicting that by 2020:
  
  
  - The amount of people aged 85+ will increase by a third.
  - There will be as many 60+ as 20's and 30's
  - People will progressively live longer
  
  
  Scary isn't it. Even our own government is worrying how to begin to care for all of the new Grey Generation when they enter retirement. These people are probably hardest to advertise to as they typically experienced rationing etc and don't considers stuff outside of their day to day routine. However this is due to have a massive shift as the Baby Boomer's finish their careers and have paid of all their mortgages etc, they will enter the Grey Generation with more disposable income than never seen before... if you link this with the fact that the life expectancy has risen from 81 in woman and 75 in men to 84 in women and 75 in men marketers are going to have themselves a very large and long running generation to market to. This is only set to increase as well because most elderly people nowadays lead allot more active lives looking after themselves more. Because of the sheer size of this group the Grey Generation is further split into 5 sub-categories:
  
  
  
  • The over 55's: either at the end of their careers or coming to the end. All commitments like mortgages etc will be paid off soon leaving more disposable income.
  
  
  
  • Young Olds: Usually under 70, both partners are still alive meaning quite a large sum of disposable income. Difficult to reach though.
  
  
  
  • Old Olds: Now over 70 and often on there own, mainly elderly women. Not alot of money to spend.
  
  
  
  • Silver Surfers: Reaching maximum or exceeding life expectancy. More than likely alone and even less money. Silver Surfers say net is vital!
  
  
  
  • Skiers: For the lucky people who make it to the last category in the Generation Grey age they will most certainly have the successful winnings of their children.
  
  
  
  Im finally going to leave you with an ad aimed at..... well who do you think??