MILLENNIALS: THE YOUNG GENERATION SHAPING THE FUTURE

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Matthew Moroni Social Media Strategist DigitasLBi - Gothenburg, Sweden @moroni

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Gen X

Gen Y

Gen Z

Who are the Millennials? Millennials belong to what’s been called ‘Generation Y’, a group made up of those born early 1980’s to early 2000’s, ages ranging from 18-33. They are the generation who came of age politically, economically and socially as the 21st century – and the new millennium.

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24% of European Union in 2013 27% of the adult population in the United States in 2014

REPRESENT THE LARGEST SHARE OF INTERNET USERS AGES 16-64 - GWI AUDIENCE Q1 2015

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So it’s been said… Entitled Over-sharers Self-absorbed Clingers Dreamers Need validation

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“Slackers or Self-Starters? This generation is focused pretty much exclusively on what can you do for me today. This generation wants to play the career game by its own rules.” - Consultant Richard Chaifetz Chicago Tribune

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“Slackers or Self-Starters? This generation is focused pretty much exclusively on what can you do for me today. Generation X wants to play the career game by its own rules.” - Consultant Richard Chaifetz. Chicago Tribune Sound like what you’ve heard about Millennials? This article from 1999 actually addressed the ‘selfish’ attitudes of Generation X. Chaifetz later goes on to explain that he believes “it's a product of what they've been exposed to growing up.” Each generation will inevitably get it’s share of criticism from those before it.

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THEY SAY NARCISSISTIC,

WE SAY SELF-EXPRESSIVE

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Millennials are the first generation to have access to such a high amount of technological platforms from which they can express themselves. Different than those of past generations, Millennial voice and volume have both been enabled and amplified through modern technology. Platforms and devices have given Millennials and people of all ages for that matter, a megaphone to be louder and more expressive. THEY SAY

NARCISSISTIC, WE SAY

SELF-EXPRESSIVE

FIRST GENERATION OF THE DIGITAL WORLD

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We have a unique relationship with web and tech. For many of us in our pre-teen years, this relationship started with peer-to-peer connectivity through email and chat. We’ve come to age in an electronics-filled and increasingly online and socially-networked world.

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MSN Messenger, ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger among others were platforms that gave us our first tastes of peer-to-peer connectivity through one-to-one and one-to-many chat. We had the traditional communication channels of the time, but we eagerly consumed the online ones. They were new, exciting, and allowed us to develop our friendships on a different medium.

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Continuing into the early 2000’s, communication moved to connected communities - social media 1.0 – LunarStorm in Sweden and MySpace in the US. Many Millennials spent much of their childhood and adolescent years communicating and socialising with peers via these early social networks. MySpace even gave young individuals some of their first interactions with HTML and CSS code, allowing users to manually code and customize their profiles.

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… and it grew at rapid speed “MySpace, which has accumulated 67 million members since its launch in 2004, is currently growing by an average of 250,000 new members daily. - Dani Dudeck, a MySpace spokeswoman.” Cnet News 2006

INNOVATION CONTINUED & EXPECTATIONS GREW

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” We were taught that it’s ok to dream, to think outside of the box, to not stick to an agenda. How could this mantra as a child not play out later in life - through habits, expectations, attitudes, work ideals, mindsets.

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EU: 23.1 - 23.6% youth unemployment rate ‘08–’13

ECONOMIC MELTDOWN  

US: 13 – 19.5%

youth unemployment rate ’08-’13

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ECONOMIC MELTDOWN  

Just as Millennials were getting into higher education or entering the work force, the recession hit – an economic meltdown. The financial crisis hit much of the Millennial generation during university or at the beginning of their careers, forcing many young people to find work through less conventional channels. Traditional jobs were harder to come by, pay levels receded, young people were competing for entry-level jobs with older professionals who were also looking for work.

ECONOMIC MELTDOWN  

For many young people, starting a business or finding new ways to ‘hustle’ income became a more attractive and more feasible. Technology and a changing economy made these endeavours more affordable and easier than ever. Dori Albert, crowd-scourcing practice manager at Lionbridge Technologies Inc., stated that Millennials helped create a “new nature of work,” with increasing reliance on the gig economy and freelancing.

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“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

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“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

“Improve it or create

something new.”

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Millennial trailblazers such as Mark Zuckerberg have inspired a generation of young entrepreneurs, having developed ‘The Facebook’ in his dorm while studying at Harvard. Did he foresee what it could become? Or did he see an opportunity to innovate? Little did he know that he would lay down the foundation for a platform that now influences most all of our lives every day. Facebook, along with other web platforms were created by young minds who were able to see what could be, not what made complete sense at the time.

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“Millennials, who are already emerging as leaders in technology and other industries will comprise 75 percent of the global workforce by 2025.” – Deloitte Millennial Survey Report 2014

1/3 OF DLBI SWEDEN TEAM ARE MILLENNIALS

Emilie Art Director

/Graphic Designer 

“We’re moving fast towards an all digital thinking. This puts a lot

more pressure on brands and their digital presence. The

costumer needs to get the same treatment on the website as in

social channels.

The digital experience will also change a lot because of

inventions like Oculus Rift and Microsoft HoloLens.”  

Martin Production Manager

“Millennials tend to play around more and learn by trying, using knowledge from previous experiences. Not following the book might be seen as unorthodox by non-millennials, but in 90% of the cases that hasn’t been a problem for me at least. I think that us millennials are seen as assets that quickly learn and adapt to the evolving technology around us. We are a bit like young children: not as afraid of failing. We keep on trying until it works.”  

Emma UX Architect

“In the beginning of my career I tried to hide my age because everyone kept telling me how young I was. Instead of being proud of my

position I just wanted to seem older. In the even younger generation it feels like more of an

achievement succeeding while young. I guess this depends on what kind of millennial you are.

We are a driven generation, but we are starting to realize that the career needs to be balanced with our personal life and less stress. I believe working will be more personally adapted. We want it all. Job, family, spare time, and at the

same time be equal. The work needs to be more adapted to our lifestyles.”  

IT’$ NOT ALL ABOUT THE MONEY

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What we want/what we need: + Flexibility + Purposeful Labor + Economic Security “Outside of making

meaningful change in their community, Millennials are seeking meaningful connections at work – 71% want their coworkers to be their “second family.”

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“More than three-quarters of Millennials say they are strongly influenced by thoughts of how innovative an organization is when deciding if they want to work for it.” – 2014 Deloitte Millennial Survey

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THE GOLDEN WATCH IS OUT THE WINDOW Many Millennials are putting in a few years at a company and then moving on to something else, no longer working for the Swedish ‘Golden Watch’ or a multi-decade commitment. With an attitude of evolution and innovation that is so engrained in this demographic, how can we expect that they will stay at the same job for 25, 30 years like the older workforce?

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“60% of Millennials are leaving their companies in less than three years.” – Forbes “What you do is a lot more important than where you do it. Life isn’t all about work to them. They aren’t working just to get a pay check, but to make a difference.” - Sandy Thompson, Young & Rubicam “There used to be an order in life: finish your education, go find a job, buy a house. This generation really mixes it up. They don’t do things in any one order. They just do what feels right and feel less pressure to succeed using the traditional career path to get ahead.” – Forbes

With less to spend, Millennials are putting off commitments like marriage and home ownership, choices that should not longer necessarily been seen as qualifiers of adulthood.

“Just 26% of Millennials are married. When they were the age that Millennials are now, 36% of Gen Xers, 48% of Baby Boomers and 65% of the members of the Silent Generation were married.” - Pew Research

NEW PRIORITIES + NEW LIFESTYLES

= NEW BUSINESS

The noticeable change in habits and priorities are forming new lifestyles, contributing to a surge in new types of businesses. Specifically, ‘collaborative economy’ types of businesses that offer experiences over owned assets.

MILLENNIALS HAVE A UNIQUE PLACE IN THE DIGITAL NARRATIVE, STRONG INFLUENCE ON THE PRESENT AND ARE POWERFULLY SHAPING THE FUTURE.

LET’S COMBINE OUR MINDS AND SKILLS FOR GOOD If we were to take someone’s economic expertise combined with a dreamer, can-do attitude, what’s the potential? Don’t just study and try to define Millennials, embrace and utilise them! Let’s combine skills, embrace our differences, translate them to abilities, and create things together. Next up, Generation Z.