Peter Sheahan - Generation Y Blog

Google gets it!

www.google.com have added an additional feature to their US based site. Now you can simply enter your postcode and it will tell you all the movie times for cinemas in your area.

Rock on google.

www.petersheahan.com

Hotels are shifting their focus to younger travelers

In an attempt to appeal to Generation X and generation Y travelers, both the Marriott and the Hilton Hotel chains are beginning to introduce in room gym equipment.

Demand is only going to grow, said Jenny Botero, who helped develop Marriott's new program.

"Our demographics and our customers are changing. Although the boomers still stay with us, we're really watching the X'ers and some of Generation Y. Fitness is really important to these demographic groups," said Botero.

Marriott offers resistance tubes and a weighted device that comes with an accompanying video for aerobic exercise and strength training.

Hilton's in-room equipment includes a yoga mat, elastic exercise bands, resistance tubing, and 3- and 5-pound hand weights.

Given that the initiatives have just been launched it is too early to determine whether they have been successful, but I believe they are moving in the right direction.

The Westin both in the US and in Asia and Australia have not invested in in room equipment but in upgrading their in house gyms.

http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw111754_20050215.htm

www.petersheahan.com

Mobile Marketing to Generation Y

It appears even BMW are struggling to get their youth marketing mix right. They have gone to mobile marketing (good idea) but reports say hey have made a meal of it. Who is advising these companies? Check out the full article:

http://www.clickz.com/experts/brand/buzz/article.php/3462321

Here is Pamela Parker's ideas to make it work:

Key things to think about as you launch your first mobile marketing effort:

Capitalize on the impulse. Think about occasions or locations at which you'd like to engage a consumer when they're unlikely to have PC access. Do you want to put a short code on your cereal box and invite consumers to enter a contest? Do you want to invite people to get more information when they see a billboard?

Make it interactive. There's a good reason why games are popular mobile phone applications -- they're fun. Your marketing should be fun, too. What better way to inform people about your product than to engage them in a trivia quiz? (Warner Brothers and Yahoo! did something like this recently for "Oceans 12".)

Make it unique to mobile. Elements like ringtones and phone wallpaper are conducive to carrying brand messaging. They fulfill people's need to change their phones' look and sound every once in a while. If they do and express a preference for your brand, so much the better.

There is very good reason for Marketers to go mobile.  The first is that few businesses are using. According to a JupiterResearch survey conducted in December, only 6 percent of online adults have received an SMS from a business. More promising, are figures from the same survey showing 38 percent of online adults have sent or received SMS messages from friends. And secondly, Gen Y are a prime target with 75 percent using SMS.

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Toyota go WAY below the radar - and it is working

Talk about bold. I love it. Toyota have begun to Market there Scion brand by sponsoring DJ's. This and other below the line marketing techniques are clearly working for them in attracting Generation Y car buyers. They sold just under 100,000 units in 2004 (US Only), depsite what industry experts considered a over shot when they estimated 75,000.

According to one of the DJ's the reason the marketing is effective is because they do not stand up and take over the mike in an attempt to tell Gen Y'ers about the product. A clear sign of respect if you ask me.

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=7187

www.petersheahan.com

Apple Get IT!

I have been quoted her saying that I think Apple are supremely competent at Marketing to Generation Y. And it is barely through wacky and way out marketing. It is through three things I believe:
1 - Wicked design.
2 - Strategic distribution channels
3 - Anti mainstream/corporate Brand. There brand has emotion and energy that no other computer company has

As you can tell I love Apple. As the following quote from Technology News indicates, I am not alone:

"Consider the news that Apple posted a net income for its first quarter ending December 31 of US$295 million -- that's up 74 percent from the year-ago quarter -- and projects sales of $2.9 billion in the current quarter, which ends in March."

Driven mostly by a 525% increase in Ipod sales from a year prior, Apple are not only selling to Generation Y but to a much broader market. But it is their appeal to the younger generation that is fueling the resurgence in their popularity.

Possibly most telling is that they did not use some corny "we think we are so hip" ad campaign to do it. I have always said that if you have to say you are cool, you're not. Apple are cool. Dell are not. Consider Dell's latest attempt to lure the Gen Y market with the tag line "Dude you should have bought a DELL" using some spaced out Surfer. Talk about showing no respect for the generation. Don't insult my intelligence.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/39666.html

www.petersheahan.com

Experiential Marketing the Key to capturing Generation Y

Research by Jack Moreton Worldwide found that 40% percent of Gen Y respondents say experiential marketing is most likely to prompt them to purchase; 31% say it's their preferred method of marketing communication.

Jack Morton found that a combination of entertainment and product sampling is the most effective format for all consumer groups.

See the full Promo article here.

http://promomagazine.com/news/breakingnews/expo_event_mktg_women/

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Buzz Marketing Article

Here is a New York Times article on Buzz Marketing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/magazine/05BUZZ.html?ex=1259989200&en=db87e6e46659a643&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt

www.petersheahan.com

Generation Y want experiences

Use experiences in your marketing. If you can not turn the actual product into an experience. Turn using the product into an experience. If you can't do that, be sure the process of buying and delivering the product is a memorable experience. Some of the world's biggest brands like Sony are using non sell experiences (they are calling the kiosks) to give consumers a chance to live and feel and connect with the "experience" of using their products BEFORE they buy them. Retailers and marketers take note here. Gen Y want these experiences and it is on of the most powerful ways to create a connection with the consumer.

Read this Brand Week article to learn more.

http://www.brandweek.com/brandweek/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000731370

www.petersheahan.com

Motorola Get IT!!!

Motorola have teamed up with Burton (a very well respected Brand among snowboarders) to make snow gear with built in wireless speakers. I love this. I know as a snowsports person that this will be really useful invention providing of course that the product quality, both from the clothing and speaker point if view is maintained. And they do not stop there. The speakers will work via blurtooth with MP3 players like Apple Ipod. And they dp not stop there. Motorola and Apple are working together on a new phone that will do it all. So now a boarder can put on his helmet, with beannie liner and built in speakers, that deliver sound wirelessly from his or her phone with a built in MP3 player. The all in one and no wires are both helpful to a boarder who needs to carry as little as possible as they hurtle themselves doen the slopes. Now this is collaboration.

The jacket version by the way has speaker and sleave call ID display so it can interact with the telephone allowing the skier or boarder to take a phone call without the hassle of taking their gloves off, digging deep into their pockets to get the phone and then take off the hood to put the phone to their ear. Again, BRILLIANT!

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-fin-moto05.html

www.petersheahan.com

Extreme Marketing techniques used to woo Generation Y Energy Drink Consumers

According to a recent Business Week article, producers of Energy Drinks such as Go Fast and Red Bull are sponsoring extreme activities in an attempt to appear "authentic" to the Gen Y Market. Examples include Bridge Jumping (Red Bull and Go Fast) and even funding the development of a winged sky diving suit that allows jumpers to skydive without a parachute.

It is hard to judge whether it is these diverse marketing and PR activities that have mad Red Bull popular, or its mainstream advertising because they do both. However, I will say as a Manager in one of Sydney's busiest pubs in the late 90's Red Bull was already going crazy, way before I ever saw an ad on television for the drink.

I think the Energy Drink producers know that they need to appeal to the young Gen Y males sense of identity and that traditional advertising is clearly not the way to do this.

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jan2005/sb2005015_8196_sb017.htm

www.petersheahan.com