*GEN-Y IS MUCH MORE TECH SAVVY, CONFIDENT AND CULTURALLY DIVERSE
*THEY WANT TO BE TREATED WITH RESPECT AND NOT CONDESCENDED TO
AS KNOW-NOTHING KIDS
*GEN-Y RESPOND TO HUMOR, IRONY, AND THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH
*THESE DAYS, A WELL-DESIGNED WEBSITE IS CRUCIAL FOR ANY COMPANY
HOPING TO REACH UNDER 18 CONSUMERS
Born during a baby bulge that demographers locate between 1979 and 1994, they are as young as five and as old as 20, with the largest slice still a decade away from adolescence. And at 60 million strong, more than three times the size of Generation X, they're the biggest thing to hit the American scene since the 72 million baby boomers. Still too young to have forged a name for themselves, they go by a host of taglines: Generation Y, Echo Boomers, or Millennium Generation.
The huge image-building campaigns that led to boomer crazes in everything from designer vodka to sport-utility vehicles are less effective with Gen Y. ''The old-style advertising that works very well with boomers, ads that push a slogan and an image and a feeling, the younger consumer is not going to go for,'' says James R. Palczynski, retail analyst for Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. and author of YouthQuake, a study of youth consumer trends.
Instead, Gen Yers respond to humor, irony, and the (apparently) unvarnished truth. Sprite has scored with ads that parody celebrity endorsers and carry the tagline ''Image is nothing. Obey your thirst.'' J.C. Penney & Co.'s (JCP) hugely successful Arizona Jeans brand has a new campaign showing teens mocking ads that attempt to speak their language. The tagline? ''Just show me the jeans.''
It is the Gen Y medium of choice, just as network TV was for boomers. ''Television drives homogeneity,'' says Mary Slayton, global director for consumer insights for Nike. ''The Internet drives diversity.''
