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I got a couple of emails this week from my readers encamped at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that makes me think this may just be the best school for advertising in the whole damn country. Both of these students had bounced over to Gasp to take a look at some of the AB pilot projects we've been working on. One of them had no idea what the hell we were talking about but wanted to intern next year to find out and the other said we hadn't taken AB far enough by folding generational differences into the mix. Props to both of these undergrads. As for the comment on generational issues, we are even now building a generational component into the Adaptive Branding Platform in preparation to introducing it into our computational model. These considerations present some of the most intriguing theoretical and practical challenges confronting the social sciences, let alone the practice of marketing and post-advertising theory. If you have been following the genesis of Adaptive Branding you know that we believe the audience is immune to branding as usual. Advertising is meaningless to them. The only thing that counts is new. If your message doesn't fit into one of these four categories-- 1) family well-being, 2) financial growth, 3) personal development or 4) fun and escape--then the audience won't care. Your so-called "competitive advantages" and "product differentiators" are just another "whatever" to those who have elevated the avoidance of marketing to an art form. We see Adaptive Branding as an anecdote to those who have built up an immunity to advertising. Most certainly those groups can be categorized along the traditional lines of Boomers (born 1943-1960), Gen X (born 1961-1981) Millennials (born 1982-2005) and Homelanders (born 2005-2025). Of course Gen Xers learned early on to mistrust every institution society could shackle them with, starting with their own family and by no means ending with the megabrands of the Global 1000. These were the latchkey kids that grew up on TV and the web to become hard-nosed pragmatists. Obviously not the candidate for the gold watch at 50 years of service, they elevated job-hoping to iconic status and considered themselves "Masters of the Universe." The Xers have lead the slide from network television into interactive media and embraced TiVO technology for what television they do watch. Any brand that was built on a franchise of Boomer sensibilities, traditions and values has certainly had their hands full adapting their strategies, value propositions and messaging to resonate with Gen X. Some, like Toyoda have done so by introducing entire product lines to appeal to Xer sensibilities ( Scion and Prius). Others, like Target have retooled their entire organization to bridge the generational gap, while not losing sight of the core values that Boomers hold dear. But the big challenge for generational adaptation will come with the Millennials. They are shaping up to be nothing like their older siblings or in some cases their youthful parents. Millennials are a reflection of the "Baby Bust" years of Gen X and research is indicating that they represent one of the largest by-products of "wanted" pregnancies. Millennials represent one of the most protected and sheltered generations since the pre-war years. As they begin to graduate into the workforce in record numbers they are becoming a significant challenge to Gen X middle managers because of their idealistic team spiritedness and their aversion to risk. As opposed to the anti-brand ethic of the Xers, the Millennials are less edgy, more upbeat and focused on big brands and close relationships with their families and friends. Of course this is a 360 from the Matrix-inspired anti-hero stance of most Gen X oriented lifestyle brands. Opps. the times they are a-changing once again. As for the generational component of Adaptive Branding we are looking at adding "friends" into the "Family well-being" quadrant as we go forward in time. But then that is the entire point of the practice of Adaptive Branding. We learn as we go. And if there are any more of you "Fighting Illini" Millennials out there, drop us a note to give us your perspective. Until then, Hail to the Chief.
Stay tuned.
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