Generational Marketing

(All 4 generations of my family!)

A person's age impacts on his or her identity, and often on spending patterns. This is why it is so important for marketers to clearly identify the effective ways of marketing to the different generations in order to get the maximum response they can. If every generation was targeted with the same marketing methods, not everyone would necessarily respond.

The different generations have been classified into a number of groups. These are:

Traditionalists - born between 1925 and 1946

Baby Boomers - Born between 1947 and 1963

Generation X - Born between 1964 and 1981

Generation Y - Born between 1982 and 2000

"The major events and historical conditions each of us experience as we grow up have a significant influence on both our attitudes and behaviors. Different generations typically share fads, historical events, music, technology, heroes and other cultural experiences". Bnet [online] 2007

This above statement can be taken and used by marketers who can research the experiences that the different generations will have shared in order to make their marketing more personal and effective to their target group.

Major historical events would have affected the different generations in different ways, therefore altering individual value and belief systems. For marketers, it is important to take this on board, if marketing methods dont relate to the target audience's values and beliefs, the response will more than likely be ineffective. If the target market cannot relate to the marketing they are being bombarded with, will they take any notice?

Because of how society is changing, marketers have had to continuously adapt their methods to suit their potential targets. Hovis have been producing bread for decades, here are some of their past and present adverts to show how much they have changed their advertising over the years to suit their potential targets.

1973:



1994:



2007:



At the moment, Hovis are showing an advert that takes the viewer from the WW1 through to the millenium, this may be a strategy that they have put into place in order to appeal across generations. For the older generations, a sense of nostalgia will be obtained, and for the younger, it tells a story about the history of how we got where we are today.




From talking to my Grandma, her values are based hugely around trust. If she has bought a brand and she is happy with it, she will stay with that brand for life. For example, her first ever oven was an Aga, it worked, so...her second cooker was another Aga! And now that her kitchen is being re-vamped, her third cooker is another Aga! For years she has also stuck with a certain perfume, Anais Anais - a brand that she knows and loves. There may be a new perfume out there that might prefer, but there is no need to look for a replacement as she already has a product that she is happy with. From reflecting on our chat, it seems that it is extremely hard for anyone or anything to make her change her mind about what products she already buys. For marketers, this may suggest that the older generation may not be the best target market for newer products, it appears that if a product satisfies the first time, there is no need to swap for something different...why would you want an alternative that may not be as good as what you already have was my grandma's attitude!

If we consider the Generation Y's and their values, there are a fair few differences in attitudes compared with the 'traditionalists'. The generation Y's makes up over 13% of the UK's population with opinions such as self expression is of higher importance than self control, and that respect can only be given once it has been received. When looking into favourite brands, names such as Apple and Adidas came up top; the new, fresh and 'cool' brands. This is obviously opposite to to the older generation like my Grandma who prefer to stay back with the names that they were familiar with in their younger days, not moving forward and keeping up with the latest and most desirable brands. Research has also shown that this Y generation respond best to humour in advertising rather than fact; this may be a reason that the Cadburys adverts are so well known - by being so abstract and unique and by using humour, their somewhat confusing messages are better remembered by other more factual adverts.

Some important fatcs about this generation that marketers need to be aware of are:

• 9 out of 10 Gen Y's own a computer, 82% also having a mobile phone
• The internet is more popular than television for Gen Y's, who spend more time online than watching TV.
• Generation Y's want to be entertained not informed

These bullets heavily suggest that trying to target this generation through TV media will not be very effective at all. If marketers want to have an impact on this generation, they need to be targeting them via the internet and through mobile technology.