Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Read between the lines: More and better ways to deliver the news
Take a look at any teen Web site and you’ll see that it takes a lot of bells and whistles to attract Generation Y—the age group that has always known the Internet, and the immediacy and interactivity that it has brought to publishing and the rest of our lives.
Print publishers are already lagging in mindshare with this group. According to the Mediamark Research Spring 2008 report, just 38 of the 255 titles studied can claim their readers’ median age is within the advertiser-coveted 18-to-34-year-old demographic.
In addition, the latest Pew report states that 34 percent of the people surveyed under the age of 25 get no news on any typical day.
But publishers are (finally) coming up with new and innovative ways to tap into this lucrative demographic. As a former newspaper editor, I am well aware of this issue, which has haunted publications for the past decade or two, as they observed the rapid decline in readership among younger generations. For far too long, publishers pushed the print publication and ignored the technology component. At long last, they are realizing the two can co-exist.
Print publishers are already lagging in mindshare with this group. According to the Mediamark Research Spring 2008 report, just 38 of the 255 titles studied can claim their readers’ median age is within the advertiser-coveted 18-to-34-year-old demographic.
In addition, the latest Pew report states that 34 percent of the people surveyed under the age of 25 get no news on any typical day.
But publishers are (finally) coming up with new and innovative ways to tap into this lucrative demographic. As a former newspaper editor, I am well aware of this issue, which has haunted publications for the past decade or two, as they observed the rapid decline in readership among younger generations. For far too long, publishers pushed the print publication and ignored the technology component. At long last, they are realizing the two can co-exist.
- Time Inc. relaunched its mobile content and it’s thinking about more broadband video and video-on-demand content, too.
- Seventeen, whose average reader is a 16-year-old girl, has managed to secure the positions of top teen magazine and online site for teen girls and continues to try everything it can to reach new readers, including SeventeenTV and sponsorships with MySpace. Every single thing the magazine does points to the Web site and everything on the Web points to the magazine to continually serve the reader in the best possible way.
- SportsIllustrated launched Fan Nation, a Web destination that aggregates, filters, and customizes player and team content in real time on the Internet. This summer, it launched the first full Fantasy Football League on Facebook, giving younger generations the opportunity to interact with SportsIllustrated. As a result, the magazine has moved well beyond looking at 3 million magazine subscribers to thinking about engaging 59 million avid sports fans.
Labels: Generation Y, Mediamark Research, Pew report, print publishers, Seventeen, Sports Illustrated, Time Inc.
JC Penney and The Breakfast Club: Unlikely to make the grade with students
JC Penney has made a unique - perhaps bold - move in its latest back-to-school commercial, which targets parents instead of students.
The commercial aired on TV and in theaters beginning in June 2008 and pays homage to the film, The Breakfast Club. Several scenes are reenacted by the commercial's actors to the tune of a cover of "Don't You" by New Found Glory.
The Breakfast Club is a 1985 teen film. The storyline follows five teenagers, each representing a different clique in high school as they spend a Saturday in detention together.
The students pass the hours in a variety of ways: they dance, harass each other, tell stories, fight, smoke marijuana, and discuss a variety of subjects. Gradually they open up to each other and reveal their inner secrets. They discover that they all have strained relationships with their parents and are afraid of making the same mistakes as the adults around them. (Very Gen X traits.) However, despite these developing friendships, the students are afraid that once the detention is over, they will return to their very different cliques and never speak to each other again.
In any case, I'm surprised that JC Penney would choose a 23-year-old film to be the centerpiece of a back-to-school commercial. A 1985 film will certainly resonate with Generation X, but not with younger generations. I asked my 12-year-old niece about the commercial. She said that she and her friends had talked about it, and most of them didn't understand it or know it featured scenese from a movie.
Furthermore, the commercial features clothing for teens. But most Xers waited until later in life to have children, so few Xers have children that have reached the teen years.
Retailers everywhere are struggling to reach the elusive Xer demographic and gain their marketshare, so I'm guessing JC Penney thought nostalgia marketing would be a good start.
But I'm skeptical this tactic is going to work, simply because -- no matter what generation you're from -- it's never been cool to shop where your parents want to shop.
The commercial aired on TV and in theaters beginning in June 2008 and pays homage to the film, The Breakfast Club. Several scenes are reenacted by the commercial's actors to the tune of a cover of "Don't You" by New Found Glory.
The Breakfast Club is a 1985 teen film. The storyline follows five teenagers, each representing a different clique in high school as they spend a Saturday in detention together.
The students pass the hours in a variety of ways: they dance, harass each other, tell stories, fight, smoke marijuana, and discuss a variety of subjects. Gradually they open up to each other and reveal their inner secrets. They discover that they all have strained relationships with their parents and are afraid of making the same mistakes as the adults around them. (Very Gen X traits.) However, despite these developing friendships, the students are afraid that once the detention is over, they will return to their very different cliques and never speak to each other again.
In any case, I'm surprised that JC Penney would choose a 23-year-old film to be the centerpiece of a back-to-school commercial. A 1985 film will certainly resonate with Generation X, but not with younger generations. I asked my 12-year-old niece about the commercial. She said that she and her friends had talked about it, and most of them didn't understand it or know it featured scenese from a movie.
Furthermore, the commercial features clothing for teens. But most Xers waited until later in life to have children, so few Xers have children that have reached the teen years.
Retailers everywhere are struggling to reach the elusive Xer demographic and gain their marketshare, so I'm guessing JC Penney thought nostalgia marketing would be a good start.
But I'm skeptical this tactic is going to work, simply because -- no matter what generation you're from -- it's never been cool to shop where your parents want to shop.
Labels: Generation X, JC Penney, nostalgia marketing, The Breakfast Club
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
No time for fear: Change to retain X and Y
When Best Buy launched an employee social-networking site, the company hoped to glean marketing ideas by connecting with store employees. Instead, they got higher employee engagement and lower employee turnover.
BlueShirtNation.com, named for the polo shirts worn by store staff, is gaining attention nationally as a way to use social networking to build a sense of community among employees. Not surprising, the concept has become a successful recruitment and retention tool for its young workforce; workers who may otherwise feel their voices are not heard and their personal interests are not regarded as valuable in a large corporate environment.
The social networking site now has 22,000 users and turnover rates among the employees who use it has declined. Clearly, the site has been advantageous for Best Buy. But Best Buy was also willing to take risks and listened to the feedback of its employees.
Originally created to generate dialogue among employees about employment and customer service-related issues, the site got off to a slow start. A group of employees were then invited in to share feedback on the site.
Now, employees can forums on topics of their choosing – from politics to NASCAR to issues surrounding store operations. This opportunity for employees to freely discuss whatever they want led to the site’s popularity and has been a boon to the company’s operations in more ways than one.
The fear of giving too much freedom to young employees is what holds most organizations from reaching their full potential.
The Boomer-centric organization (as I like to refer to those organizations that are heavily managed by Boomers and either fear change or refuse to change) would shudder at the idea of encouraging employees to openly discuss any topic of their choosing or post photos of their pets on a company site and during company time.
But during a time when Boomers will soon be the minority in the workforce, organizations need to be preparing for their future majority – and the majority values those employers that respect their opinions and take an interest in their personal lives as well as their professional development.
When the Urban Land Institute decided to focus their recruitment and retention efforts on professionals under the age of 35, the association’s older members feared the association would no longer be able to offer services of value to them.
This is a common fear of association leaders and members. For some reason, they fear that if they are inclusive of younger generations, those darn kids will run amuck and ruin everything. The opposite is true.
As with the case of the Urban Land Institute, the association shifted its focus on growing its younger membership and the association flourished – recruiting several thousand members within just a few years. Interesting enough, the association attracted more young professionals, but also observed increases within its older membership as well. The association gained a valuable reputation as being the ‘go-to’ organization in its field, benefiting from increased visibility and credibility from such a tremendous membership boost in such a short period of time.
Younger generations have a lot to offer an organization. When your organization makes the choice to ignore or neglect Generations X and Y, it is ignoring the future majority and neglecting to succession plan. Either way, there is nothing to gain.
Your organization must change if it wants to recruit and retain the next generation. The only thing to fear is fear itself.
BlueShirtNation.com, named for the polo shirts worn by store staff, is gaining attention nationally as a way to use social networking to build a sense of community among employees. Not surprising, the concept has become a successful recruitment and retention tool for its young workforce; workers who may otherwise feel their voices are not heard and their personal interests are not regarded as valuable in a large corporate environment.
The social networking site now has 22,000 users and turnover rates among the employees who use it has declined. Clearly, the site has been advantageous for Best Buy. But Best Buy was also willing to take risks and listened to the feedback of its employees.
Originally created to generate dialogue among employees about employment and customer service-related issues, the site got off to a slow start. A group of employees were then invited in to share feedback on the site.
Now, employees can forums on topics of their choosing – from politics to NASCAR to issues surrounding store operations. This opportunity for employees to freely discuss whatever they want led to the site’s popularity and has been a boon to the company’s operations in more ways than one.
The fear of giving too much freedom to young employees is what holds most organizations from reaching their full potential.
The Boomer-centric organization (as I like to refer to those organizations that are heavily managed by Boomers and either fear change or refuse to change) would shudder at the idea of encouraging employees to openly discuss any topic of their choosing or post photos of their pets on a company site and during company time.
But during a time when Boomers will soon be the minority in the workforce, organizations need to be preparing for their future majority – and the majority values those employers that respect their opinions and take an interest in their personal lives as well as their professional development.
When the Urban Land Institute decided to focus their recruitment and retention efforts on professionals under the age of 35, the association’s older members feared the association would no longer be able to offer services of value to them.
This is a common fear of association leaders and members. For some reason, they fear that if they are inclusive of younger generations, those darn kids will run amuck and ruin everything. The opposite is true.
As with the case of the Urban Land Institute, the association shifted its focus on growing its younger membership and the association flourished – recruiting several thousand members within just a few years. Interesting enough, the association attracted more young professionals, but also observed increases within its older membership as well. The association gained a valuable reputation as being the ‘go-to’ organization in its field, benefiting from increased visibility and credibility from such a tremendous membership boost in such a short period of time.
Younger generations have a lot to offer an organization. When your organization makes the choice to ignore or neglect Generations X and Y, it is ignoring the future majority and neglecting to succession plan. Either way, there is nothing to gain.
Your organization must change if it wants to recruit and retain the next generation. The only thing to fear is fear itself.
Labels: Best Buy, BlueShirtNation.com, recruiting Generation X and Y, Urban Land Institute
Monday, August 11, 2008
A global challenge: Engaging Generation Y
The United States is bracing for a shortage of a whopping 10 million workers within the next 10 years. Employers from every industry are frustrated by the passage of the dedicated Boomer workforce and the arrival of the non-committal, job-hopping graduates of Generation Y.
In any case, I often get asked why this is such a prevalent issue for the United States. How is it possible that Americans raised a generation of young adults that turned out so drastically different from their workaholic parents?
It's fascinating to discover that this isn't an issue confined by U.S. borders. In fact, a report by BlessingWhite suggests that at least a quarter of Generation Y employees are disengaged across the globe, with the problem at its most acute in Southeast Asia, where around the figure rises to around a third.
The report features surveys with more than 7,500 individuals and 40 senior human resource and line managers, and reveals that the more senior level young employees are, the more engaged they are.
All over the world, Gen Y employees have been perceived as a bunch of demanding, greedy and unmotivated slackers. The fact is, they are desperately seeking ways to engage, and will disengage when they are treated like the young whipper-snappers that need to be managed, or bump into glass ceilings and corporate ladders.
In any case, I often get asked why this is such a prevalent issue for the United States. How is it possible that Americans raised a generation of young adults that turned out so drastically different from their workaholic parents?
It's fascinating to discover that this isn't an issue confined by U.S. borders. In fact, a report by BlessingWhite suggests that at least a quarter of Generation Y employees are disengaged across the globe, with the problem at its most acute in Southeast Asia, where around the figure rises to around a third.
The report features surveys with more than 7,500 individuals and 40 senior human resource and line managers, and reveals that the more senior level young employees are, the more engaged they are.
All over the world, Gen Y employees have been perceived as a bunch of demanding, greedy and unmotivated slackers. The fact is, they are desperately seeking ways to engage, and will disengage when they are treated like the young whipper-snappers that need to be managed, or bump into glass ceilings and corporate ladders.
Perhaps we need to take a lesson from India, where Gen Y engagement levels are the highest. That's not surprising considering that in India all generations – including younger employees - have higher levels of engagement compared to other regions, most likely as a result of its young, fast-paced, knowledge-based economy.
In the United States, as well as other regions worldwide, Baby Boomers (or the oldest, most senior-level staff) traditionally hold all the leadership roles. So why should it be any different now? Because Gen Y has been raised to be high-achievers in a world where instant gratification (from credit cards to technology) is customary. As a result, Gen Y is the most open-minded, multi-tasking, tech-savvy, media-savvy, globally-minded, diverse, college-educated generation in history.
When you put that into perspective, it's really not that shocking that Ys will disengage when they see little opportunity for advancement or increased responsibility or struggle to get respect.
Why ask Y to lead and take on more responsibility? Because employers stand a lot to gain from their young, brillant minds and unique worldviews. Because it is proven that the more engaged and enthused the Ys are at work, the more productive a company is, which is critical particularly in times of economic downturn and uncertainty.
In every industry, the world over, the more responsibility an employer gives to a Gen Y, the more engaged and enthused they are about their jobs. And the earlier, the better.
Labels: BlessingWhite, employee engagement, Generation Y, India
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