Millennials, Understanding Their Want for Collectivism

Millennials, love them or hate them, they have more control over the market than ever before. But what if we told you that the common perceptions of millennial ideology are incorrect?

In this week’s Just a Taste, host Scott Curry sat down with Dan Negroni, the CEO and founder of Launchbox 365, to debunk some misconceptions about millennials and how companies can target their marketing strategies towards this generation’s interests and restructure internal training and development practices to better suit the modern multi-generational workplace.

What Millennials Actually Want

Typically, the word “millennial” tends to elicit a negative response. There’s an implication that millennials are spoiled “snowflakes”, they have a lower work ethic, and they’re just simply not as smart as older generations. However, these assumptions have no legitimate backing. In fact, according to Negroni, these ideas have only become widespread because technology has amplified generational differences more so for this generation than previous ones.

Negroni’s company Launchbox offers a training program that is designed to help companies adapt their internal coaching routines to suit the needs of the modern workforce. He believes that high schools and universities have done a poor job at training this younger generation to connect to themselves. The program that he has developed is designed to improve millennial’s work ethic by allowing them to feel more competent and secure in their own ability to grow and succeed, which gives them the resources to help their community grow as well.

Millennials are often viewed as the “me” generation. There’s a common perception that labels them as individualistic and selfish, but almost the exact opposite is true. This younger generation is driven by a need to help others, and to contribute positively to their community. When companies focus their coaching and development on collectivism rather than individualism, it gives their employees more drive to better themselves so they can contribute more to those around them.

Marketing to Millennials

There’s no doubt that digital marketing is one of the best ways to reach consumers. However, traditional marketing techniques tend to fail when simply applied to a digital platform, especially when targeted at millennials. According to Negroni, younger generations are much more critical of advertising and can often see through typical marketing ploys. In fact, according to a 2019 study conducted by Quad Customer Focus, 56% of millennials ignore internet ads and 29% of them have enabled ad blocking software.

Despite being very tech-driven, most millennials prefer to make purchases in-store and still respond to some traditional marketing techniques. In fact, 69% of millennials love direct mail marketing, and 56% still enjoy seeing ad inserts and circulars. It appears millennials don’t mind being directly marketed to, as long as it’s within a context where they’d expect it. Internet ads and email solicitations often fall upon deaf ears and have lost their impact.

Harnessing Collectivism

Millennials are first and foremost looking for authenticity. They are very quick to pick-up on false advertising and empty promises.

Similarly, millennials also approach their careers in a similar fashion. Negroni pointed out that millennials typically want to work for the companies they want to buy from. They see value in working for companies that actively allow them to make positive changes to their community and environment.

By taking the time to coach and mentor this younger generation, companies can harness their unique perspective. Because, in the end of the day, the best people to market to millennials are in fact millennials themselves.

To learn more about Dan Negroni’s corporate training program Launchbox 365 listen to our podcast Just a Taste.