Generational Marketing

Generations are constantly changing. Values, behaviour, meanings and beliefs are all setting each generation further and further apart from each other. For example, the first St Trinians is about normal boarding school girls who have adventures, the new St Trinians is about girls in barely there clothing running around like numptys. This just shows how times have changed from years ago to todays society.Advertisers have to adapt to this change so adverts are aimed towards their right target group instead of one their not aiming at.

Generational marketing is basically marketing a product, brand or service to a specific generation, using nostalgia and their belief system. Because of each generations different characteristics, it is easy to catergorise a generation by the way the speak and act. Marketers tend to refer to generations as potential targets rather then using a particular group. There are 8 generations that marketers target:

1. Pre-school - These are the actual children or toddlers which have not yet begun school. Due to the ASA standards, it makes it really hard for advertisers to market towards this generation. But they may not need it as they're not fully developed yet in the way they think about things such as advertisements.

2. Children - This is possibly one of the smallest generations, and as the generations around them are changing, this generation might as well be gone all together. Typically, these children are intrested in toys, such as Barbie and Action Man, as well as Pokemon cards and other collectables.

3. Tweens - The ages of which Tweens are defined have changed in recent years. It used to be 8 but now it has got to as low as 6 years old, which should in my opinion still be classed as children.

4. Teens - Possibly one of the largest generations, this generation are one of the most digitally able and is constantly getting in the news for the wrong reasons. Marketers may find it easy to market towards this generation due to the news articles and just from looking at the culture between all of the people.

5. Generation Y - The younger adults of all the generations, this group are the most media savvy towards all types of advertisments.

6. Generation X - This generation is said to be the most ignored, and misunderstood in the country. They have possibly been through the most politically and culturally in their time and due to this, it is the reason they're so misunderstood. They are said to not respond to the hyped advertising this country is so used to.

7. Baby Boomers - These people were born after World War 2, after all the rationing and everyone was settled down again. This generation can be split into young baby boomers and old baby boomers. Young baby boomers are media savvy as they have so much experience of the media and the changes it can make. This could be said to be the same for the old baby boomers, but it is as if they have built up a reistance to the media as they have experienced so so much of it.

8. Grey - This is the generation which is expected to change the most, as it is estimated that half of the nation will be in this generation by the year 2030. They are said to be the most like the younger generations in their attitudes, even if theyre not up to the same technological ability of them. It's obvious that the older generation are becoming more independant and able.

This graph shows the amount of each generation in the US, however this is a similar story all over the world, something which marketers are very concious of. This could be a reason for why adverts are changing so much through out the years.

The tween generation is possibly the one generation that has changed the most. The age range for it has become as low as 6 years old. This generation has changed the most possibly to do with the change in the sorts of things the kids are watching, reading and doing. Programmes have become a lot more grown up for this generation, Hannah Montana is a great example of this as the star Miley Cyrus has said that she wants it to be 'like Sex and the City', a programme designed for adults not for children younger then teenagers.

During the lecture, we were asked to (in groups) pick one generation and teach the other people in the group about that generation. The generation we were given was Generation Y. In this group are people born after 1981. Generation Y have the largest recorded birth rate in human history, worldwide there is an estimated 200million of Generation Y. This generation have dafferent values compared to older generations. The values are very self orientated, having self respect, fun and enjoyment and a work-life balance in their lives atthe top of the list.

As they are all about themselves, it makes it harder for advertisers to promote products their way as they don't like being told what to do or say. Generation Y are also the most advertising savvy of all the generations, they know when they are trying to be conned and when something is really worth buying. This could be due to the technology they are acustomed to and that they are up to date with networking sites, such as Facebook and MSN.

Things that would make this group feel nostalgic and bring back good memories are things like:

All of these items and people were around when this generation were young, by aiming towards this group with these products, advertisers would be more likely to be able to catch their attention and persuade them to buy the product, as they may be able to relate to the items in the advert.

There are different adverts aimed towards Generation Y. Most adverts have some sort of imagery or sounds which could make it aimed towards this generation in some way or another.

This advert shows the sorts of imagery used to capture the attention of the generation.