DRAFTFCBlog - Thoughts, Insights and Opinions on the Ad Industry: Posts http://www.draftfcbblog.com/Lists/Posts/AllPosts.aspx RSS feed for the Posts list. Fri, 18 May 2012 17:58:42 GMT Microsoft SharePoint Foundation RSS Generator 60 en-US DRAFTFCBlog - Thoughts, Insights and Opinions on the Ad Industry: Posts http://www.draftfcbblog.com/_layouts/images/siteIcon.png http://www.draftfcbblog.com/Lists/Posts/AllPosts.aspx A Millennial's View on Marketing to Boomers Part 2 http://www.draftfcbblog.com/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=481 Body:
By Jillian Sorgini
Corporate Communications Associate
 
The Intelligence Session left us with much to discuss. In the New York City response group, Jeff Tarakajian, EVP, group management director at Draftfcb, and Ken Muench, SVP, director of strategic planning at Draftfcb, co-moderated the discussion. The panelists included:  Edd Griles, partner and art director at Senior Creative People; Jackie McDougall, student at Brown University; Mary Nittolo, president and COO at the Studio; Lisa Llewellyn, VP, group creative director at UniWorld Group.

Like the Washington, D.C. panel, the New York City panel began by discussing youth. “We are a youth-obsessed culture,” Lisa Llewellyn, VP, group creative director at UniWorld Group. said sparking the conversation.

It seems as if we are bombarded with images of youth everywhere we turn. Mary Nittolo, president and COO at the Studio, turned to women’s magazines as an example, saying that women over 35 are cast aside. “Things are more subliminal, but that doesn’t mean they are not there,” she said.
The debate on our youth-obsessed culture could have been its own panel. The panelists discussed various ad campaigns, but Ken Muench, SVP, director of strategic planning at Draftfcb eventually raised the point of Boomers not being impacted by advertising because the industry doesn’t know how to talk to them.

As we learned from the first panel, there are so many ways to reach Boomers. They still embrace the more traditional forms of advertising—newspapers, radio, television—so there is a multitude of options to reach them.

“Every generation has had different types of technology thrust in front of them and it has given us certain separation,” one of the New York City panelists pointed out.

Many would argue that the technology thrust in front of Millennials may make us socially savvy, but come at the cost of our social skills. For some of us, texting is tantamount to breathing. We are so hungry for information that we get the reputation of being a generation consumed with the desire for instant gratification.

When I thought about the dichotomy that exists between Boomers and Millennials, I was struck by the similarities that exist. We’re both driven by the idea that we can do better. We have the same idea of success, but see a different path to get there. Boomers have the wisdom of knowing the value of hard work and Millennials are constantly finding new ways to prove themselves.

The idea of youth is something that both generations are struggling to grasp. While Boomers are coming to terms with the reality of aging, Millennials are trying to find ways to use their youth to their advantage. It’s almost as if we eschew the idea of youth and are in a rush to grow up.

Unfortunately, my previous belief about Boomers being old and out-of-touch is one that is often falsely projected on them. In reality, we are two generations that could learn a lot from each other if we could put the stereotypes aside.

 

Category: Media
Published: 5/10/2012 11:36 AM
]]> admin Media Thu, 10 May 2012 15:31:51 GMT http://www.draftfcbblog.com/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=481 A Millennial's View on Marketing to Boomers Part 1 http://www.draftfcbblog.com/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=480 Body:
By Jillian Sorgini
Corporate Communications Associate
 
On Thursday, April 26, I attended the American Advertising Federation’s (AAF) latest Thought Leadership installment — Boomer’s Perspective on Multicultural Brand Messaging and Media Content.

I was sent to the panel so I could Live Tweet and blog, but initially I wondered if I would even understand any of it. How does the Boomer’s perspective pertain to me and why should I (or anyone for that matter) care about it? A typical Millennial reaction I suppose, but I knew next to nothing about Boomers. From the few articles I had read, it seemed that Boomers were slow to embrace technology and generally stubborn in their ways.

I confess I didn’t take the time to look up the actual definition of a Boomer until after the panel. A Boomer, I learned, is someone born between 1946-1965.

Armed with the real definition, I realized I knew more about Boomers than I once thought. I spent my life surrounded by them. My parents and all of my friends’ parents are Boomers. Essentially, I was attending a panel on my parent’s perspective — something I could easily relate to as my parents are always quick to share their opinions, whether welcome or not.

Moderated by Lorrain Cortés-Vásquez of the AARP, the Intelligence session was simulcast from Washington, D.C. and featured the following panelists: Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, chief strategy officer at Leo Burnett; Marta Insua, VP, strategic insights at Alma DDB; Jim Lucas, EVP, global retails insight and strategy at Draftfcb; Sharon Panelo, brand strategist of digital and social at McCann Erickson; Emilio Pardo, chief brand officer at AARP; Chuck Schroeder, partner and copywriter at Senior Creative People. Each of the panelists possessed a deep knowledge of Boomers and the ways to market to them, but not all of them were Boomers.

The panel wasted no time getting things starting and began by examining the attitudes that Boomers have of themselves. Youth was a dominant theme. As the panelists debated the definition for Boomers, one panelist chimed in saying “If you’re younger than Mick Jagger, you’re young.”

It seemed that this was something that everyone could agree upon. Curiously, I looked up Mick Jagger’s birthday. He was born in 1943, missing the Boomer group by three years, which makes him a fascinating barometer of youth.

With a grasp on youth, the panel went on to discuss social media. Sharon Panelo, brand strategist of digital and social at McCann Erickson, accurately summed it up when she said, “We know that younger generations are driving social media, but Boomers aren’t far behind.”

For Boomers, a lot of the hesitation to embrace social media stems from the fact that they are slow to trust. Boomers are incredibly concerned with privacy, particularly with social media. There is a distinct generational difference between the Boomers and the Millennials regarding what to keep private. Rather than putting it all out there, the Boomers are much more thoughtful in their social interactions.

Though they do keep their guard up, Boomers should not be excluded from the social media world. In the end, it’s all about the value exchange. If the Boomers deem something worthy, they are quick to get on board. “As Boomers start to understand, they will take on social media,” Jim Lucas, EVP, global retail insight and strategy of Draftfcb said. “That’s where the opportunity is for a two-way conversation.”

Everything came full circle as the panel wrapped up. From social media and two-way conversations, the discussion jumped to the importance of storytelling, our most basic way of sharing information. As Chuck Schroeder, partner and copywriter at Senior Creative People, put it, “We need focus on the value of storytelling. It’s how we share information and how we evolve. We need to re-appreciate the value of the story.”
Category: Media
Published: 5/8/2012 3:53 PM
]]> admin Media Tue, 08 May 2012 18:36:20 GMT http://www.draftfcbblog.com/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=480