I Have An Idea… Stop Talking About Millennials

“The fact is that people are good. Give people affection and security and they will give affection and be secure in their feelings and their behavior.” – Abraham Maslow

Can we please stop talking about the millennial generation like it’s some new form of human? We’re not. Yes, I said ‘we.’ Full disclosure; apparently I’m a millennial. Barely. I was born in 1981, the year some seem to think this ‘new breed’ was created. But guess what, I’m no different than you. Just because I have more experience handling today’s technologies than my parents and their parents, doesn’t mean I’m any less human or any less predictable. We’re all people at the end of the day and we all respond to the same triggers, often in similarly expected ways. It’s the ‘where’ that’s different today, not the why.

Because of that, as a marketer, I tend not to react to trends in the same way some do. To be honest, all of this talk around millennials sounds like someone’s attempt to make a name for themselves. Marketers want to feel important, so we come up with new models and reasons why yesterday’s philosophy is no longer relevant. But the reality is, all we’re doing is re-packaging much of what has already been discovered, in an effort to sound smart and build our own brands. Don’t believe the hype.

I’ve worked in three industries that I had very little knowledge or interest in: mid-level department stores, craft beer and video games. Yet, in each case I was fortunate to experience record-breaking success. Why? I worked with incredible people who taught me that, more than anything, a strong marketing philosophy transcends industry, consumers and generations.  

I’ve purposely avoided delving into a number of trends over the years, as to avoid getting caught in the weeds. As a brand marketer, it’s my job to think at the macro level. I’m perpetually at thirty thousand feet.  The best marketers I’ve come across are those who can see red threads that connect all people, building stories that trigger responses on mass levels; stories that, because of their inherent relevance to the human psyche, sustain.

But, the greatest marketer of all may not have even considered himself a marketer; that is Abraham Maslow, author of the “Hierarchy of Needs” theory. I reference Maslow and his theory, through my work, at least once or twice a month. He got it right. We have needs. Needs that can be satisfied by particular brands. Brands like Volvo, who for years built their name by manufacturing the safest cars in the industry; a simple, but extremely powerful and relevant idea. I don’t care if you’re a millennial or in the so-called ‘generation x,’ each and every one of us is concerned about our own safety and the safety of our family.  The second level of Maslow’s hierarchy just so happened to be safety. He wrote his theory in the 1940’s, yet over sixty years later, it’s being utilized today to build positioning statements for some of our most successful brands.

I’ve purposely avoided referencing sports in this passage for a reason. Reason being that philosophy is about clearing your mind of assumption and trusting that no matter the industry, your philosophy or the borrowed philosophy of a great mind like Maslow, will work. In the same way that trusting your theory clears your mind of generational oversimplifications. You work in sports. Your target market spans from high school athletes, to fans, to high-powered boosters. Each consumes content in different ways, no doubt about it. Each has different motives for engaging with your program, absolutely. However, the story you tell each can and should be the same, because at the end of the day, they’re all people who want to belong to something bigger than themselves. Millenillial or not.

“I Have An Idea…” is a series written for College AD by the author of Brands Win Championships, Jeremy Darlow.