NOTICE xiii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv
INTRODUCTION xvii
one
WHY CARE ABOUT GENERATION Y? 1
1. Who Is Gen Y? 1
2. Twenty-First Century Digital Boy 2
3. The Future Will Be More of the Same 3
4. The Trickle-up Effect 3
5. The Ones Pulling All the Strings 4
two
THE RISE AND FALL OF TRADITIONAL MARKETING 7
1. Billboards 8
2. Catalogs 8
3. Newspapers 9
CONTENTS
vi The Secrets of Advertising to Gen Y Consumers
4. Magazines 9
5. Dethroning Media Royalty 10
5.1 Radio 10
5.2 Television 11
three
KNOW THY ENEMY: INFILTRATING THE
THOUGHTS OF GEN Y 13
1. A Truly Interconnected World 14
2. Immune to Traditional Marketing 14
3. Doing a Common Thing Uncommonly Well 15
3.1 Gen Y loves to show off talent 16
3.2 Gen Y loves a sense of community 16
four
SELLING THE STEAK NOT THE SIZZLE:
WHY SENSATIONALIZED MARKETING
DOESN’T WORK WITH GEN Y 19
1. Sensational or Sensationalized 20
2. Brainy and Boastful 20
3. Gen Y Doesn’t Mind Doing the Research 21
4. Information at Our Fingertips 22
5. Growing up in a World Full of Choices 22
6. You Must Show Gen Y You Are the Best 23
fi ve
SMALL IS THE NEW BIG: GEN Y’S ROLE
IN THE RISE OF NICHE MARKETS 25
1. Why Gen Y Hates Big Companies 26
2. Big Companies Are Stuck in the Past 27
3. Profi ts over People 27
4. Quality over Quantity 28
5. Cookie-Cutter Companies 29
Contents vii
six
USING CUSTOMIZED MARKETING TO APPEAL
TO GEN Y’S EGO 31
1. The Role of Technology in Increasing Expectations 32
2. The Ultimate Technology That Has Increased
Customized Expectations 33
3. How Companies Can Use This Ego Boom to
Promote to Gen Y 33
3.1 Haunting movie trailers 34
3.2 The customized watch study 34
4. Why the iPhone Is Popular 35
seven
HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE A
GENERATION OF PEOPLE 37
1. The Importance of Being Perceived as a Good Company 37
2. The Lessons of Dale Carnegie That Are Applicable
to Businesses 38
2.1 The importance of a fi rst impression 38
2.2 You can’t win an argument 39
2.3 If you are wrong, admit it 40
2.4 Give a dog a good name 41
2.5 No one likes to take orders 42
eight
REBEL WITH A CAUSE: USING CAUSE-RELATED
MARKETING TO REACH GEN Y 43
1. If a Tree Falls in the Woods … 44
2. Ford Philanthropy 45
3. It’s Not Just about How Much Money You Spend 45
4. If It’s Going to Make Dollars It’s Got to Make Sense 46
4.1 It has to be newsworthy 47
5. Ongoing Involvement Is the Key to Success 47
6. Give Gen Y Results They Can See 48
viii The Secrets of Advertising to Gen Y Consumers
nine
USING THE INTERNET TO REACH GEN Y 51
1. Facebook 52
2. MySpace 53
3. Twitter 54
4. An Updated Blog 55
5. Surfi ng the Web without Wiping out 56
ten
USER-GENERATED ADVERTISING:
GETTING GEN Y TO ADVERTISE FOR YOU 57
1. The Root of the User-Generated Generation 58
2. Why Money Does Not Motivate User-Generated Content 59
3. What Makes a Successful User-Generated Campaign? 59
4. The Ultimate User-Generated Site: YouTube 60
5. What Makes a User-Generated Campaign Sink? 61
6. The Ultimate Key to User-Generated Success Is Longevity 61
eleven
USING VIDEO GAMES TO ADVERTISE TO GEN Y 63
1. Ad Placement in Video Games 64
2. Digital Product Placement 66
3. Designing a Video Game to Promote a Product 67
4. Sponsored Video Games 69
5. Money in Games 70
twelve
GO GREEN TO MAKE GREEN: THE IMPORTANCE
OF ECO-SUSTAINABILITY TO GEN Y 73
1. How to be Captain Planet and Not the Evil Villain 74
1.1 Recycling 74
1.2 Minding your carbon footprint 75
2. Show Your Support to Eco-Sustainability 77
3. Organics 78
Contents ix
4. Buy Local 79
5. Biodegradables 81
thirteen
HOW TO BE COOL, AND “NOT TRY TOO HARD” 83
1. Fundamental Laws of Cool 84
1.1 Shock and awe 84
1.2 Image is everything 86
1.3 Charisma 86
2. What Is Cool to Gen Y? 88
2.1 Giggity Giggity 89
2.2 Boring presidential candidate to movie star 90
fourteen
THE FUTURE IS RETRO:
UNDERSTANDING GEN Y’S OBSESSION
WITH ALL THINGS VINTAGE 93
1. Reasons Gen Y Loves Retro Items 94
1.1 Gen Ys are close with their parents 94
1.2 Retro is unique 95
1.3 Vintage feels classier 96
1.4 Owning vintage makes Gen Y feel smarter 97
1.5 Vintage = recycled 98
2. How Can Companies Use These Principles to Reach
Gen Y? 98
2.1 Packaging 98
2.2 Marketing 99
fi fteen
APPEALING TO GEN Y’S INTELLECTUAL SIDE 101
1. Why Brains Surpassed Brawn 102
1.1 Parents 102
1.2 Tougher economic times 103
2. How You Can Use Gen Y’s Need to Be Smart 103
2.1 Reinforcing Gen Y’s intellect 103
2.2 Not catering to the bottom 10 percent 104
2.3 Mind your wording 105
sixteen
SEX STILL SELLS 107
1. The Playboy Factor 108
2. Party Like a Rock Star 108
3. Hot for Teacher 109
4. Wanting the Unobtainable 110
seventeen
CONSIDER THE SOURCE:
USING ETHICAL PRACTICES TO ATTRACT GEN Y 113
1. Examples of the Injustices Fair Trade Seeks to Correct 114
1.1 Unethical labor practices 114
1.2 Unfair wages and pricing 114
1.3 Unfair hours of work 115
1.4 Poor health and safety standards 115
2. Making a Difference at Home 116
2.1 Profi t sharing with employees 116