Generation Gaps: Do you consider them in your business and marketing?
First of all, this post is NOT about the store in the mall (although they have broken The GAP stores up into generations these days with GAP, Baby GAP, Infant GAP, Premature Baby GAP, GAP Body, GAP Light and Senior Gap).
But there's another gap.
I'm fascinated by demographics. It's an important part of marketing, and I love to learn about the attributes that make up the characteristics of groups. And nothing is more fascinating right now than the demographics of generations (OK, there are probably thousands of things more interesting, but this is still pretty good).
That may sound complicated and boring, but I promise -- it is. Actually, it's pretty simple and very applicable. First of all, there are basically five living generations in the United States (and mercifully, one of them is NOT Star Trek-The Next Generation. I just don't get the appeal):
Pre-WW II:
Anyone born before 1945 falls into this class. Today, this group is 70 years old plus, and represents approximately 12% of the population. This group is affectionately referred to as "blue-hairs," "cotton-heads," "geezers," and "Florida." They enjoy saying things like "In my day, we didn't have computers, we had to count on our fingers. And we didn't even get fingers until I was in the third grade."
Have you ever asked yourself who in the world watches those re-runs of the Lawrence Welk Show on PBS? This generation does.
Baby Boomers 1945 - 1964:
This 25% of the population is my parents, and likely your parents. It's the generation from the 60s who wanted free love, cheap drugs, and rallied against "The man."
Now, they are "The Man," and are fighting hard to keep their kids away from free love and drugs. This is the generation that was born, if not before TVs, certainly before cable. They said things like "swell," and later, "groovy," and "keep on truckin'.'" I'm pretty sure there's still nobody who really knows what that means.
This group is expected to cause economic disaster by retiring and draining the Social Security coffers (more likely, they won't be able to retire and will end up working until the day they die because of poor saving and strong spending habits, which they taught well to the next generation, Gen X.)
Generation X 1965 - 1979:
This generation, also known as "The Breakfast Club" generation, makes up 18% of the present population. It's much smaller than the generations before and after it, owing to the fact that while the Baby Boomers were into "free love," the rampant drug use made them seemingly unable to produce offspring at the same pace as their parents.
This group is to blame for that horrible decade we affectionately call "The '80s." As teenagers, this group loved to have this stuff called "angst." I thought it was an energy drink, but as it turns out, it's a tendency to be discouraged and disconcerted with the world around them, despite a quality of living and wealth unseen by any other generation.
This led to many unfortunate fads such as rampant piercings, "Charles in Charge," and grunge music. Today, these guys are now reaching their *gasp* 40s. They now find themselves leaders in business and community, and supporting a rapidly growing tattoo-removal industry.
I technically fall into the very tail end of this generation, but I tend to act more like the next generation: The Millenials.
Generation Y (Millenials) 1980 - 1999:
25% of the population is from this generation, which is mostly still very young. They call this group the Baby Boomers Part 2, because of its large size. This group was born with an innate ability to move their thumbs at a rapid pace over a phone keypad to send "text messages," which allow Millenials to communicate in a mode and language which cannot be understood by their Baby Boomer parents.
The Internet is part of Gen Ys DNA.
So what to make of them?
So those are the generations. And there is always talk of the "Generation Gap." A generation gap refers to an older generation's inability to understand a younger generation (and vice versa), as a result of the worlds they grew up in being so different. Parents say things about "kids these days," while their children say Mom and Dad "don't get it."
So what does this have to do with anything? Well, in terms of product targeting, database marketing, segmentation strategy and agile marketing EVERYTHING. And the Generation Gap is wider than it's ever been.
Think about it like this: In the dark ages, what differences existed from one generation to the next? You pretty much woke up, worked in the field for your Lord, hoped you didn't get beat, flogged or decapitated, and went to bed. That was pretty much all that went on for almost 1,000 years, until people started the Renaissance, and then get on boats for three month journeys to the New World (What was wrong with Florence?).
Then technology was invented (har har), and things were developed that changed the world. At first the advancements were slow, and only changed the generations moderately. Then, in the 1900s, things started changing rapidly. The car changed the world. The television changed the world. The Internet changed the world. Each generation was very different from the one previous, because these technological advancements came around and altered the environment people were brought up in.
So has technology changed the world so rapidly in the last 20 years that Gen X and Gen Y are WAY more different from their parents (the Baby Boomers) than the Baby Boomers were from theirs?
Is it hard to relate to your grandparents? How about your parents? I truly believe the Generation Gap is wider than ever. There are things I do every day that I can't even begin to explain to my parents. I can't even explain to my Grandparents what I really do for a living, because it's so entrenched in technology they don't have any knowledge of.
These demographic chasms will continue to make marketing more and more difficult to navigate cost-effectively and the advent of social media as a preferred marketing medium leaves most baby-boomers and pre-WW2 folks pretty much out of the loop.
In that, there're opportunity, and challenges. Sorry, no solutions in this piece, but plenty to think about.
But there's another gap.
I'm fascinated by demographics. It's an important part of marketing, and I love to learn about the attributes that make up the characteristics of groups. And nothing is more fascinating right now than the demographics of generations (OK, there are probably thousands of things more interesting, but this is still pretty good).
That may sound complicated and boring, but I promise -- it is. Actually, it's pretty simple and very applicable. First of all, there are basically five living generations in the United States (and mercifully, one of them is NOT Star Trek-The Next Generation. I just don't get the appeal):
Pre-WW II:
Anyone born before 1945 falls into this class. Today, this group is 70 years old plus, and represents approximately 12% of the population. This group is affectionately referred to as "blue-hairs," "cotton-heads," "geezers," and "Florida." They enjoy saying things like "In my day, we didn't have computers, we had to count on our fingers. And we didn't even get fingers until I was in the third grade."
Have you ever asked yourself who in the world watches those re-runs of the Lawrence Welk Show on PBS? This generation does.
Baby Boomers 1945 - 1964:
This 25% of the population is my parents, and likely your parents. It's the generation from the 60s who wanted free love, cheap drugs, and rallied against "The man."
Now, they are "The Man," and are fighting hard to keep their kids away from free love and drugs. This is the generation that was born, if not before TVs, certainly before cable. They said things like "swell," and later, "groovy," and "keep on truckin'.'" I'm pretty sure there's still nobody who really knows what that means.
This group is expected to cause economic disaster by retiring and draining the Social Security coffers (more likely, they won't be able to retire and will end up working until the day they die because of poor saving and strong spending habits, which they taught well to the next generation, Gen X.)
Generation X 1965 - 1979:
This generation, also known as "The Breakfast Club" generation, makes up 18% of the present population. It's much smaller than the generations before and after it, owing to the fact that while the Baby Boomers were into "free love," the rampant drug use made them seemingly unable to produce offspring at the same pace as their parents.
This group is to blame for that horrible decade we affectionately call "The '80s." As teenagers, this group loved to have this stuff called "angst." I thought it was an energy drink, but as it turns out, it's a tendency to be discouraged and disconcerted with the world around them, despite a quality of living and wealth unseen by any other generation.
This led to many unfortunate fads such as rampant piercings, "Charles in Charge," and grunge music. Today, these guys are now reaching their *gasp* 40s. They now find themselves leaders in business and community, and supporting a rapidly growing tattoo-removal industry.
I technically fall into the very tail end of this generation, but I tend to act more like the next generation: The Millenials.
Generation Y (Millenials) 1980 - 1999:
25% of the population is from this generation, which is mostly still very young. They call this group the Baby Boomers Part 2, because of its large size. This group was born with an innate ability to move their thumbs at a rapid pace over a phone keypad to send "text messages," which allow Millenials to communicate in a mode and language which cannot be understood by their Baby Boomer parents.
The Internet is part of Gen Ys DNA.
So what to make of them?
So those are the generations. And there is always talk of the "Generation Gap." A generation gap refers to an older generation's inability to understand a younger generation (and vice versa), as a result of the worlds they grew up in being so different. Parents say things about "kids these days," while their children say Mom and Dad "don't get it."
So what does this have to do with anything? Well, in terms of product targeting, database marketing, segmentation strategy and agile marketing EVERYTHING. And the Generation Gap is wider than it's ever been.
Think about it like this: In the dark ages, what differences existed from one generation to the next? You pretty much woke up, worked in the field for your Lord, hoped you didn't get beat, flogged or decapitated, and went to bed. That was pretty much all that went on for almost 1,000 years, until people started the Renaissance, and then get on boats for three month journeys to the New World (What was wrong with Florence?).
Then technology was invented (har har), and things were developed that changed the world. At first the advancements were slow, and only changed the generations moderately. Then, in the 1900s, things started changing rapidly. The car changed the world. The television changed the world. The Internet changed the world. Each generation was very different from the one previous, because these technological advancements came around and altered the environment people were brought up in.
So has technology changed the world so rapidly in the last 20 years that Gen X and Gen Y are WAY more different from their parents (the Baby Boomers) than the Baby Boomers were from theirs?
Is it hard to relate to your grandparents? How about your parents? I truly believe the Generation Gap is wider than ever. There are things I do every day that I can't even begin to explain to my parents. I can't even explain to my Grandparents what I really do for a living, because it's so entrenched in technology they don't have any knowledge of.
These demographic chasms will continue to make marketing more and more difficult to navigate cost-effectively and the advent of social media as a preferred marketing medium leaves most baby-boomers and pre-WW2 folks pretty much out of the loop.
In that, there're opportunity, and challenges. Sorry, no solutions in this piece, but plenty to think about.