Why does Generation Y love luxury brands

Recently answered this HARO inquiry by a student for an article on "Irrational Spending in Generation Y" for her NYU Journalism Class:

"My article is about how Generation Y spends money with false rationales. What are the psychological and sociological reasons for spending on luxury goods when there are loans to pay? What influence do advertising and pop culture play in the demand for luxury goods?"

MY RESPONSE:
Ah, Generation Y, lovingly referred to in marketing circles as “Generation Why” or “Generation Why Not”.

Why does Generation Y spend money with false rationale? Why they’re not “false rationale” at all! The U.S. today is full of example after example of bail-outs. Gen Y has been raised with “helicopter” parents who protect from every harm and admonish nay-sayers that their child is NOT at fault for anything they do, federal bail-outs including those on the scale of Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae, the mortgage industry (I could go on ad infinitum and ad nauseum) where managers walk away with their heads held high and millions in their pockets, bankruptcy protection rates soaring again. You get the point.

So, if a Gen Y’er can’t lose, why not spend like there’s no tomorrow. In their frame of reference, there IS only today. Modern culture for young Gen Y’ers has also included U.S. participation in war after war and terrorism-you-can-touch brought to American soil. So, there may not be a “tomorrow”, either. A very different "feel" from the Cold War of the baby boomer's generation.


What part does advertising and pop culture play in the demand for luxury goods? Manufacturers and retailers are in business to make a profit. Period. And, advertising’s goal is to encourage more sales to make those businesses more profit by playing to the attributes of the target market. And, play to them, they do. Gen Y’ers are really being “played”. Advertisers are pushing ever more expensive must-have items. Imaginative brain-teasing toys and games, or even create-your-own fun games, have been replaced with follow-the-leader computer games and virtual worlds.

Pop culture is fraught with celebra-mania. Gen Y’ers see how easy – and “fulfilling” – it is to be a celebrity. Celebs represent the “good life”, lots of stuff and doing nothing more than smiling at a camera to get it.

Gen Y was raised amidst the explosion of instant communication and, thus, instant gratification. Just look at the anecdotal evidence, such as the explosive rise of social media and alternative newspapers where articles are reduced to no more than sound bites themselves and we communicate in 3 minute or less video vignettes.


A better question may be: what would Gen Y do without electricity?

Good source: the folks at Iconoculture.com.

Understand History or doomed to repeat it?

The Hampton Roads Ad Club recently invited Jason Chambers to speak to our group in Norfolk.

Jason teaches advertising at U. of Illinois. He shared info from his book, Madison Avenue and the Color Line, specifically about black women in advertising through the years.

More importantly, he alerted us to the fact that despite Hampton Roads being the 43rd largest TV market (or 42nd, depending upon which report you read, we represent the 14th largest African-American market.

Marketers take note!

Bert's brother, the advertising model

Ya' jes gotta chck out the Bubba!

How Do You Move From Print Advertising to Digital Advertising?

The following query was posed on LinkedIn by Mark Gordon, Webmaster at Prince William County Park Authority:

"We have a print magazine that we want to move to a digital format. Our current print magazine has advertisers that we would also like to take to the digital side. What steps would need to be taken to ensure that we charge a good price for this? We're not sure of the medium (pdf or other), but we would not be averse to having ads on our website (we currently only have google ads on our site. Is there something that speaks to the best way of doing this?"

My response to Mark:

First, and most importantly, you must ascertain if your target audience is READY for a move from the now-print version to a digital version of your magazine.

How? Ask them! You already have their attention with your print content, so develop a short survey and include it in your next edition. And, send the survey electronically, too. A great way to "test" your audience's acceptance of digital media. Sometimes the best information gleaned from a survey isn't related to a question and a response!

And, while you're at it, be sure to ask them HOW, if you should move to a digital format, they would want to receive it: via email with PDF of magazine attached, via email with link to website-archived magazine, via a reader like Zinio (with advertisers' interactive links), or a combination of media?

Be certain you have the email address of every current magazine recipient and reader. Again, ask for it and their opt-in in advance. (Think, too, about how will you reach readers that get an issue via pass-along.)

Don't push this one; you need to "pull" your audience along, providing what they want not what you want to give.

Plan to spend some money on obtaining email lists of prospective readers, too, in order to add/maintain value to your advertisers.

Making sure your audience WANTS a digital magazine is very, very important in today's social media frenzy. I can think of many magazines I currently read that I would unsubscribe in a heartbeat if they went digital-only. So proceed with caution to maintain readers AND advertisers. Depending upon your audience, perhaps you try to ADD a digital version to your current mix and test reaction/ readership. I've seen this done with great success. After you see your audience has not only accepted, but embraced, the new digital format, you can guarantee your advertisers with solid metrics and eliminate the print version (and all the related costs). And, for those few print-hangers on (and there will be a few), you have a solid reason for making the change, not just that YOU wanted to make the move.

As far as the pricing of online magazine advertising, you most definitely will be in a better position to maintain or even increase rates if you take some well-place steps FIRST to guarantee readership, stability AND growth.

Top 10 TV ads, 2007 (these are my faves!)

#4. Dove: "Onslaught"
Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto

I love the last line: "Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does." It's 60 seconds of really obsessive "beauty" behavior that, as consumers, we shouldn't allow the beauty industry to shove down our throats. I know it's hard to look away, but we should.





#6. American Express: Tina Fey
Ogilvy & Mather, New York

I love 30 Rock, I love Tina Fey, and I miss her at SNL. She makes us feel as if she's just like one of us, with way too much to do. I'd love to take her out for after-hour cocktails sometime. Tina?




#9. Doritos: "Live the Flavor"
Consumer-created ad

This was the winner of Frito Lay's Super Bowl ad contest. Yeah, I agree; it's a bit slick for "user-generated". But, hey, "geeks" are IN. Guess that's why I love it!




#10. Nationwide Insurance: "Rollin' VIP" (Kevin Federline)
T:M/Irving, Texas

This one is my absolute favorite; unfortunately, I never remember who/what the product is. It's classic celebu-not! Guess it's not really a good ad if I don't remember the product. I think Burger King would have been a better fit (especially better than their "king" with the big papier mache` head).

For all of the Top 10, click HERE.

Truth in Advertising, always be truthful

Some light-hearted fun for the holidaze:

moar funny pictures

HRAMA Program = What's Your Advertising IQ?

"10 Ways to Screw Up an Ad Campaign"...oh, I bet there are more than 10!!!

Barry Cohen of AdLab Media Communications in Clifton NJ spoke at our Hampton Roads Chapter of the America Marketing Association (HRAMA) last week. His presentation was passionate and his voice resonant with that of an experienced "ad man". Click on the title of his book to order via Amazon: "10 Ways to Screw Up an Ad Campaign"

A few take-aways (and some that are not very intuitive, either):

Curiosity-arousing ads work best. FALSE Express "benefit" 1st and "newsworthiness" 2nd, curiosity is 3rd.

A picture is worth a thousand words. FALSE A word is worth a thousand pictures.

The most important thing in an ad is the headline, followed by the caption under the photo or illustration. TRUE

People remember what they see better than what they hear. TRUE Think about all of those jingles you hear that just won't get out of your head!

To the consumer, perception is reality. TRUE Perception is culturally determined, too!

Celebrity spokespeople create better brand identities. FALSE

Companies that stopped advertising during recessions fared better than their competitors. FALSE

Price is more important to consumers than anything else. FALSE

Everyone who reads the newspaper will see your ad. FALSE Not everyone reads all parts of a newspaper; place ads in sections reads by your target market.

Outdoor advertising has the lowest cost-reach ratio of all major media. TRUE And, make certain your message can be conveyed in 9 words or less.

PR (Public Relations) doesn't drive sales. TRUE But, it does reinforce your expertise and raises your credibility quotient.

"Fish when the fish are biting." TRUE Every business has peaks and valleys. Increase promotion (fish) during those peaks (when the fish are biting) not during the valleys. Better peaks will get you through the valleys. Work smarter, not harder.


And, in my humble opinion....there is an exception for every rule!

Live passionately, just don't share symbolism with gangs

By MICHELLE E. SHAW, The Virginian-Pilot © August 18, 2007

The state’s new tourism slogan, “Live passionately,” almost died Friday.

The catch phrase, featured on promotional material, was accompanied by a hand gesture that has been associated with a decades-old gang that has members scattered across the United States.

Virginia Tourism Corp. officials decided to alter the images used in the ad campaign rather than scrap the idea.

The gesture, a heart made from both thumbs and index fingers, is one of many associated with the Gangster Disciples, according to several Web sites and the Virginia Gang Investigators Association.

The FBI Web site classifies the Gangster Disciples as “one of the most violent of four African-American gangs that hang out on the south side of Chicago.”

“Out of respect to those who have concerns about the use of this symbol, we will adjust the creative images in our ad campaign to eliminate any further misinterpretation of the heart/hand symbol,” said Alisa Bailey, president of the state’s tourism marketer, in an e-mail. “We regret if anyone interpreted the symbol as anything other than a symbol of love, as was intended.”

About $400,000 was spent on developing the campaign, not including ad buys, Bailey said earlier this week. By Friday afternoon, the pictures in question had been replaced with generic images or portraits of the same models – minus the hand gesture. No additional money was spent to make the change, Bailey said in a separate statement.

“We were able to use existing photography, so it was an easy change,” she said.
BCF of Virginia Beach developed the campaign. Art Webb, the company’s president, said he had “no idea things could go in this direction.”

“This is the first campaign that we’ve done that uses a hand gesture,” he said. “We ran it through a number of tourism industry leaders, and it was well received.”

Members of the Virginia Gang Investigators Association, a coalition of law enforcement officers, alerted various state officials on more than one occasion this week about the campaign, said Keith Applewhite, the association’s vice president. One of those calls was to the governor’s office, he said.

Kevin Hall, a spokesman for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, said the governor became aware of the problem after several law enforcement groups contacted the office with concerns. Col. Steven Flaherty, superintendent of the State Police also raised the issue with staff members in Kaine’s office, the spokesman said.

“The governor is pleased the tourism agency quickly, independently and, he believes, correctly chose to revamp the campaign to remove those images,” Hall said.

Tourism officials were made aware of the possible conflict earlier this week, before the T-shirts and bumper stickers were handed out in Virginia Beach on Wednesday. At the time, officials thought the gang was “a small group confined to South Carolina” and went ahead with the promotional event, Bailey said Friday.

She spent the better part of Friday morning “trying to decide the best course of action.”
“We are taking this seriously,” she said around 10 a.m. “But just because someone in another culture uses the symbol inappropriately or for some other reason, I find it almost offensive that we would change our campaign.”

Just before 1:30 p.m., though, a BCF spokeswoman e-mailed a statement on Bailey’s behalf, explaining the decision to revamp the campaign.

“Our intent was to show people using their hands to make a heart to signify 'Virginia is for lovers,’” the statement said. “For the majority of people, the heart sign is a symbol of love – and the campaign’s images intended to convey a love of travel and love of Virginia. A heart has been our symbol since 1969 and we were looking for new ways to express it.”

Staff writer Christina Nuckols contributed to this story.

Virginia Tourism Site http://www.virginia.org/

Gang Hand Signs http://www.knowgangs.com/gang_resources/handsigns/menu_007.htm
Virginia Gang Investigators Association http://vgia.org/



The Virginian-Pilot © August 17, 2007

Updated full statement from Alisa Bailey, president and CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corp., on the "Live passionately" campaign. (A heart-shaped hand gesture used in promotional images is associated with a notorious gang.)

"We have decided to adjust the new Virginia is for Lovers Live Passionately campaign due to concerns that the heart/hand symbol has a meaning other than what our agency intended.
"For the majority of people, the heart sign is a symbol of love – and the campaign’s images intended to convey a love of travel and love of Virginia. A heart has been our symbol since 1969 and we were looking for new ways to express it.

"Attached (see below) is an example of the slight adjustment we were able to make in less than 24 hours at no cost that continues to promote Virginia is for Lovers but eliminates the hand symbol. We were able to use existing photography so it was an easy change. This ad example ties into one of the largest national travel trends involving groups of female friends traveling together.

"We will make the necessary adjustments to the new Virginia is for Lovers campaign to gear up for the full campaign rollout in spring of 2008. Virginia’s investment in tourism advertising is proven to generate a 5 to 1 return on investment."

NOTE: My take on this? We're giving way too much credence, weight, credit to thugs. This was the original article. What a difference a day makes:

By MICHELLE E. SHAW, The Virginian-Pilot © August 16, 2007

Since 1969, the Virginia Tourism Corp. has touted "Virginia is for lovers."

Wednesday, the state tourism arm introduced its latest love child, "Live passionately."
Neptune Park was abuzz with the slogan as hawkers passed out free T-shirts and bumper stickers.

"I'm not sure what it means, but I like the way it sounds," said Lore Baker, visiting from Illinois. "I'm kind of a hopeless romantic."

TV spots are airing in Richmond, and print and online ads are running on a limited basis.

The new catchphrase isn't meant to replace the old one, said Tamra Talmadge-Anderson, spokeswoman for the tourism unit.

" 'Virginia is for lovers' is our brand, and 'live passionately' is our call to action," she said. "They go hand in hand."

The new motto has been in the works since earlier this year and will debut nationally next spring, Talmadge-Anderson said. TV spots are airing in Richmond, and print and online ads are running on a limited basis.

About $400,000 has been spent on developing the campaign, not including ad buys, said Alisa Bailey, tourism corporation president. BCF of Virginia Beach developed the campaign.

"I like it, especially the passion part," Bill Price of Roanoke said. "I never liked the 'Virginia is for lovers' slogan, but I really like this passion thing."

Among state slogans, Brent Reed of College Station, Texas, said he remains partial to "Don't mess with Texas."

"I think it will just stick in my head like the old one did," he said of the Virginia slogan. "I mean, look at this beach. I can see how you could be passionate here."

The Ad-Averse: Finicky and Opinionated; YES, I can relate!

October 3, 2005
By ALEX MINDLIN

The online marketing research firm Intelliseek released data last week suggesting that so-called ad-skippers - those who avoid ads on TV or the Internet, either by installing pop-up blockers, by recording shows and skipping the spots or by changing channels when commercials come on - behave differently in other ways as well.

The study of 660 consumers found that ad-skippers were generally more interested than their ad-watching peers in online product research and more likely to participate in online discussions of products, like those on blogs or product review sites. Those who skipped ads were 17 percent more likely to research computer hardware or software online, and they posted comments on Web sites 25 percent more often.

This creates problems for marketers, said Pete Blackshaw of Intelliseek. "The same consumers they're spending money researching are now taking control of the message," sometimes voicing opinions that are the opposite of what the marketers want to project.

The New York Times Company
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