I remember the time when I was at my Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128K looking at a TV screen playing Hunchback, a perfect forming of squares with addictive gameplay. Fast forward to my first PC a Tiny Pentium MMX with a whopping 2GB drive, then the frustration of my 36.6k modem humming into the speaker and a view of website then boom. Connection lost – redialling.
[easy-tweet tweet=”#Millennials are infiltrating the workplace, are you enabling them? You should be.” user=”comparethecloud”]
When I try and explain these early computing frustrations to a generation born on the Internet it generally elicits a look of pity and a feeling of getting very old.
As we look at the generation coming into board positions and rising through the ranks of our companies to try and frame them into a term such a millennial is bordering on ridicule. Like every generation before us a younger more vibrant generation has always disrupted the status quo, from the hippy movement of the 60s to the rave generation of the summer of love 1989-1999.
we are seeing the rise of a generation that will disrupt mankind more than any other
My ‘personal’ view is that we are seeing the rise of a generation that will disrupt mankind more than any other in history. When we look back at the periods in time such as the Italian renaissance or industrial revolution we saw science, art, and industry change dramatically. Have we seen such a disruption since these times? I would argue not, are we on the cusp of something amazing? Maybe.
As the old guard slowly moves on, the practices that were deemed acceptable seem to be fading, for instance blatant advertising without a message, the loss of brands to reviews and recommendations, and above all information delivered at the speed of thought.
Think about that last paragraph for a second and transpose oneself back in time and place a tablet or mobile device in your hand with a 4G connection or broadband. How would you have reacted? Imagine being able to Skype or Facetime – it would have felt like something from a Star Trek movie, and completely blown your mind. Today this new generation accepts such access as normal and expected.
So how do you capture the attention of a confident, technically aware audience that is used to goods and services being delivered at digital speeds?
[easy-tweet tweet=”Hear the #Millennial view on how to grab their attention on @Comparethecloud”]
Rather than answer this myself I decided to throw this question to our resident internet generation for potential answers.
Kate Wright, Customer Experience Manager at Compare the Cloud, born 1990
I want to be informed by advertising. If the website or campaign doesn’t give me any options for secondary sources of review I won’t consider the product. If I’m actually going to buy something it’s going to be from word of mouth and recommendation. Anything that I see online I’ve probably investigated because someone mentioned it to me. I’ve definitely moved away from making impulse purchases, I take the time to research it, the information is so easily accessible now that it is vary rare for me to now buy something and have regrets.
Rhan Wilkinson, Managing Editor at Compare the Cloud, born 1992
For a brand to capture my attention, there has to be a genuine aspect to their advertising. It also has to involve something that is intrinsically interesting to me. I won’t be sold something that I don’t desire. I think audiences are a lot more aware than they were previously, we recognise the submissive advertising in films – the Coke billboards in the backgrounds, and we definitely recognise the blatant advertising of Samsung phones (I swear they’ve paid for half the blockbusters that have come out in the past two years). There also needs to be an aspect of appropriateness to the advertisement. I don’t want to see adverts for technology in my browser when I’m shopping for shoes. I want to see adverts for other shoes.
David Amoah, Digital Media Producer at Compare the Cloud, born 1991
I like blatant advertising. Things like the Oasis advert. I’m thirsty. They want money. They can quench my thirst, I’ll buy their product. Easy! I don’t like products lying to me, consumers aren’t stupid. We’ve been raised in an era when we can find out anything at a click of a button, brands can’t hide from us.
