If you need to ask why the youth of today roll their eyes so much, the answer is simple: Theyre smarter than we are! Or maybe smarter than we were. At least thats what Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, concluded after completing a study to better understand what impact digital media has had on Generation Y. The results concluded that most of the 78 million youths born between 1977 and today that make up the Y category are confident, savvy and utterly plugged in.
Brands like Surge, Mountain Dew and Tommy Hilfiger, among others, are constantly faced with the daunting task of keeping teens interested in a way that doesnt insult their intelligence. In order to maximize its understanding of the Gen Y psyche, Saatchi & Saatchis Kid Connection group in collaboration with Saatchis department of Knowledge Management and Consumer Insights, spent six months last year finding out what makes people between the ages of 6 and 20 tick.
Saatchi used two proprietary techniques, the Psychological Probe and Anthropological Search, to complete the study. Clinical psychologists conducted in-depth interviews with 84 youths between the ages of 6 and 20 from cities across the country, while cultural anthropologists were employed to complete over 500 hours of in-home observational research.
The results pointed to a few key findings: That the defining value of this generation is connexity, or the importance of staying connected in order to grow; that this is a generation of prosumers, who produce as well as consume; and that todays kids think knowledge is poweraand cool.
Kids today have the ability to pay attention to more things at once, explained Ann Adriance, executive VP/group planning director for Saatchi & Saatchi Kid Connection who helped spearhead the study.
What ultimately sets Gen Y apart from its so-called disillusioned big brother Gen X is that its the first generation to be exposed to digital media since they were born. According to Adriance, at any given moment a young person can be on the Internet with the television on while listening to a CD, and theyre not missing any of it. As a result, Adriance sees Gen Y kids being extremely comfortable as receivers of advertising simp-
ly because theyre used to it. They like advertising but they are more demanding and they can see right through a marketing ploy, said Adriance.
Computer generated animation films like Toy Story, A Bugs Life and Antz have upped the ante in terms of what kids expect visually. If a kid is used to seeing computer animated stuff, to kids, visually, anything is possible, said Johann Wachs, Kid Connection VP/strategic planner. It was different when we were growing up, because we could always spot a trick sequence. For them, they have these entirely synthetic cyber worlds, continued Wachs. This is not to mention the effect the Internet has had.
Children of this generation have been surfing the Net since they could point and click, creating a number of implications. For one, the study contends that digital media have created a pathway to kids identity. The Internet, personal computers and CD-ROMS represent tools which have empowered this generation, the report states. With access to so much information and choices, this generation is seen as extremely marketing savvy and much less brand loyal. Saatchi attached the resultant term prosumer to this group, contending that marketers shouldnt build a brand for them, but rather with them.
Gen Yers cognitive development is also seen to grow in a nonlinear way. If you see how a kid surfs the net, it is not so much a narrative linear approach like a story, its more like a tree that branches out all at the same time, explained Wachs, who cited music videos as an example of nonlinear storytelling. This method has trickled down into advertising, where quick-cut images are shown out of sequence, conveying an overall impression, much like a music clip does.
One example Saatchi provided as a melding of todays digital sensibilities was a spot created in-house by Thomas & Perkins, Denver, for the Denver Zoo titled Animals Are Fun. It opens on a Tamagotchi, a virtual animal toy. The copy, Animals are fun. Especially real ones, flashes on the screen in fragments, interspersed between clips of real animals. The spot is set to music that has a fun yodeling-techno sound. The end of the spot tagged: Denver Zoo. Interactive by Nature appears in a Windows format, getting even more mileage out of the already inherently digital play on words.
What all these findings mean for advertisers is that it is essential to not only look carefully at style, but also at content. Saatchi contends that marketers must do what it calls advertise up, which means challenging kids by skewing humor, style, messages and scenarios to an older, more sophisticated young audience. Basically theyre saying, Dont worry, theyll get it.
