If you look up Generation Y in Wikipedia, you'll find it referred to as 'Generation We' — a generation "generally marked by an increased use of communications, media, and digital technologies". So what are the implications of this generational shift for today's marketer? To stay relevant, it means we need to re-write the entire playbook.The best marketers are taking this phenomenon to the bank by using a powerful combination of social, mobile, and digital technology to tap into and connect with this new generation.
The integrated marketing campaign that fueled The Hunger Games phenomenon is a case book example of effectively igniting a 'Gen We' fan base. The campaign initially incentivized 'nodes' with special perks to build sensation around the movie. Broader engagement was built by extending the early buzz with rich content including interactive games, contests, and user generated shares. Check out the Hunger Games Facebook for an example of an experiential Brand page. The recent launch of The Dark Night Rises built on the success of this campaign strategy. These campaigns are a great model to successfully tap 'Generation We' featuring a compelling mix of social, mobile, video and gaming tie-ins.
Another great 'Generation We' campaign is Pepsi’s LIVE campaign – “Live for Now” The landing experience for the campaign curates and ranks pop culture experiences, capturing the excitement of ‘now’. The campaign pushes through new barriers with its use of mobile & geo-location. In addition to an impressive line up of radio & television advertising, Pepsi is able to target specific regions with localized advertising messages derived from location data in Facebook. With 8 million fans to date, another great example of a fan base ignited by social.
Now I realize we're not all in the business of entertainment, but in scanning the universe for innovative new campaigns to tap this digital generation, I suggest we use these examples as a primer and i propose some key takeaways:
- Lead with Social. Make it the anchor of your campaign versus the icing
- Tap nodes to drive early influence and build the seeds for your campaign
- Build in geo-location data to localize your campaign
- Moderate the conversation with a stream of user generated content
- Make it personal, make it relevant, find the emotional tie in
How are you engaging with the ‘Generation We”?
Great post Tami. Really love the "Generation We" tag… it is all about community, sharing, and engaging with great content that is relevat and lends itself to engagement.
Thanks Ted for your comment! Let’s deem ourselves gen we!
Thanks, Tami! This has been a great summer for Green Ink to throw out past traditional sales approaches and take advantage of some interns for a social media blitz that has the young ones teaching the old dogs some new tricks. It's been tough for some of us to put aside hard-held 'control' of the messaging, but we're finding ourselves in discussions with prospective clients and partners we just weren't having otherwise. So the 'Generation We' concept certainly can play with a smaller B-to-B. Doing it does it! I personally have been trying to find the right social-business blend with LinkedIn.
BTW, I thought immediatly of 'Generation wii' – not sure why. 😀
Thanks for your comment! I agree with you on staying current and being willing to take new ideas from the younger generation. Also like your play on Gen Wii:)
[…] Lesson learned: more than ever, we have to be discerning. But I’ve had another train of thought: is there a place for the media-skeptical, socially old-fashioned person in the new mobile-enabled world? It’s obvious that there needs to be a mix. Generation We is a fantastic concept and I embrace it: Rewriting the playbook for “Generation We” – Digital Age of Marketing […]
Thanks for your comment! I’m afraid it’s evolve or go extinct in my book;)
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