Secrets of Advertising to Gen Y Consumers. Aiden Livingston
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the early part of the twentieth century, the first freeway billboard ads began to appear. Billboard ads were quite popular at the time because most products were advertised and sold on a local level. It made sense to put a giant billboard alongside the main freeway most of your local consumers used to get home. The practice worked so well the Feds had to step in and regulate it.
I, for one, would be excited to use the mile-long billboards referenced in Ray Bradbury’s futuristic tale Fahrenheit 451. But of course “The Man” had to step in and ruin our good time by passing the 1965 Highway Beautification Act, which strictly regulated the size and number of billboards that could be used. This was great news for those who owned billboards because rates went through the roof, and even today billboards are still predominantly only used by huge conglomerates. Therefore, billboards are well out of the budget of most small- and mid-sized companies.
2. Catalogs
The next traditional marketing method to develop was catalog marketing. In the early part of the twentieth century many purchases were made using catalogs, which helped to establish many of the retail giants. Even today IKEA uses catalogs as a staple in its advertising presence. Catalogs still manage to be useful in killing time when you are waiting for a doctor, or for covering ugly rings left on your coffee table from coasterless cups.
However, in modern times of online catalogs with quick search options, their paper counterparts are becoming a little outdated. Much like using a phone book to look up a number, sure, it is still possible but with Google a few clicks away, why bother searching through a huge confusing book? As this trend continues catalogs will eventually be literally worth less than the paper they are printed on.
3. Newspapers
Another printed marketing form that is steadily losing steam in the face of more efficient digital competition is the newspaper. The first paid ad to appear in a newspaper was in the French paper La Presse in 1836. The ads were used to offset the price of printing the newspapers and allowed the publishers to lower their price. The model was quickly adapted by other papers around the world, and it is still the business model used by most newspapers today.
The original ads were very basic and straightforward, stating the facts. They did not include any fancy typeset or illustrations, so the system of newspaper advertising used today was actually developed during the early part of the twentieth century. However, the current low readership means most newspapers around the world are struggling to stay in the black. If they are having trouble keeping the doors open, they are probably losing prominence as an advertising form.
Gen Y seems poised to put the final nail in the printed newspaper’s coffin. The majority of Gen Ys get their news from online sources such as bloggers. Many speculate that printed newspapers may come to an end within the next ten years; a fact which depresses me, because how else am I supposed to look intelligent when in public? Moreover, what will I wrap breakables in when packing?
The majority of Gen Ys get their news from online sources such as bloggers.
4. Magazines
Closely akin to the dilemma facing most newspapers, most magazines are slowly losing readership and are having trouble staying profitable against online sources that spend nothing on printing and distribution. Printing is especially problematic for most magazines because of the extra cost of the colorful, glossy pages as opposed to inexpensive newspaper print. Magazines have been slowly seeking to niche themselves, in order to maintain readership, and to make them more targeted for marketers trying to reach a specific audience.
Yet once again in the face of online competition that has no printing expenses, and can distribute specialized content to readers worldwide at no added distribution cost, magazines will continue to struggle into the future. They will especially struggle amongst the Gen Y community, because when it comes to paying $8 for a magazine, I find myself thinking, no way because I can get it for free online. It is this mind-set that will be the undoing of much of the printed world. It will be just too hard to compete with digital counterparts that have fewer expenses and can still make money from selling ad space. The more efficient model has and always will dominate, given a long enough timeframe.
5. Dethroning Media Royalty
The traditional marketing formats that have dominated the marketplace for the last 50 years would undoubtedly be radio and television advertising. A vast majority of many advertising budgets are dwindled on these two resources. Yet much like their printed counterparts, these two formats are in serious jeopardy, specifically as a result of the changing habits of Gen Y. Ultimately these advertising mediums were the cutting edge technologies of their day, but now newer and better technologies are set to knock them from their pedestals.
5.1 Radio
Broadcast radio was first started and used by radio manufacturers as a way of selling more radios. They figured broadcasting free radio shows was a good way to convince consumers to make the pretty substantial investment to buy a radio. Keep in mind this was when radios were still the size of kitchen hutches and lurked forebodingly in the corner of people’s living rooms. It wasn’t until marketers started to see just how much time the average family spent listening to their radios that they finally realized the potential for using this new technology as a way to have their message reach the masses. The effect was immediate and substantial, and soon after most major advertisers saw the advantage in sponsoring short radio shows to receive mention of their product. In fact, this is actually where the term soap opera came from: It’s the result of soap manufacturers sponsoring short daytime radio dramas. The shows were recurring and would draw listeners in on a daily basis to hear the next dramatic turn of events.
The format worked quite well to establish products in the minds of customers, and very much influenced purchasing. Keep in mind this was a time when most people tended to grant more credence to what they heard on the radio. After all, it was during this time that Orson Welles did a short radio show in which he read HG Wells’ The War of the Worlds, and caused mass hysteria. When Steven Spielberg retold the same tale with millions of dollars in special effects and big name actors, he could hardly even motivate Gen Y to go to an afternoon matinee, much less form a riotous mob. So the sensitivity of the listening public to lend credibility to anything they hear on the radio has dwindled, to say the least. That is if they are even listening to the radio at all.
Personally I never listen to the radio. For all the years Gen Y has been able to drive, we have had CD players in our cars, which enabled us to listen to our music collection on the go. Albeit, the effectiveness of the CDs begins to wane as they get scratched up. More recently, people have been able to listen to their iPods when they drive anywhere. People can either use a small device that transmits a radio frequency from their iPod to the car stereo system, or, many new vehicles have jacks that can directly plug in the iPod, especially any of the vehicles that are being deliberately marketed to Gen Y. Vehicle manufacturers were able to see the trend that the vast majority would rather listen to their own iPod collection than some radio show, packed with dumb commercials and mindless chitchat. Once again going into the future, the old technology (of radio) will be continually superseded by the more efficient technology (of iPods). Many people, if given the choice, like the option of listening to thousands of songs they picked as their favorites, rather than listening to a radio program that only plays some songs they like, with a lot of commercials between those songs, and having to endure some deejay ramble on about his date over the weekend. The decision seems pretty obvious.
5.2 Television
Having saved the best for last, let me introduce the most prominent form of traditional marketing: television advertising. TV ads still cost the most money and this is where most advertisers spend the majority of their budgets. For example, for a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl a company will spend around 2.7 million dollars. Which I will admit of all the occasions, people specifically watch the Super Bowl for the game and the funny commercials. But at the end of the