Social Media & Digital Marketing in Singapore

Forget Market Research, Observe Your Millennials

One of my previous bosses once said: You don’t need to spend $20k on market research to know what the youth are into. Just sit on the train from one end to the other end of the subway and you’ll see the iPods, Playstation Portables, Nintendo DSes and the like.

I’m reading a lot about how Gen Y’s expectations of work from the Baby Boomers (read: our bosses) are different. It doesn’t necessarily lead to conflict, but it can lead to misunderstandings.

But the best “focus group” or “market research” comes from these fresh grads who are seen surfing Amazon one day, coming in with a product bought off Amazon the next. All without watching a TV ad for it, or flipping a magazine to see an ad, but maybe got an e-mail from a friend (read: someone like themselves) with a link to check out this cool new product.

Since your company is probably thinking of cutting back advertising and/or marketing in these recessionary times anyway (bad move, by the way), why not ask him or her what led to that purchasing decision? When was the last time they even saw an ad on TV? They’re sitting in the office working at double the normal productivity and have time to spare anyway.

The even better way to do this, if you have kids, is to just watch your kids. If my folks were marketers (and they’re not), it would be folly for them to think I would ever see their company’s advertisement on TV or read about their company’s new product launch in a physical newspaper.

Years ago, during festive seasons (Chinese New Year, Christmas), families would gather for dinner and the TV would be showing some “special” programme, chock full of advertising. Growing up for me, that’s where the kid’s eyes were glued.

Now? My younger nephews and nieces are huddled around my laptop or around their gaming console. So why pay money for those advertisements that no one’s watching? Do you even know they’re not watching?

In my previous internships I’ve been lucky enough to have bosses who let me do what I want (within reason), and I like to think as much as I learned a lot from them, they’ve learned a bit about my generation and how to stay relevant as well.

Tags: advertisements on tv, amazon, baby boomers, digital natives, focus group, Gen Y, generation y, internships, ipod, market research, millennials, nintendo ds, playstation portable, psp, where is gen y getting their info from