In the early 2000s, every consumer industry chose to focus on the millennial market because they are the largest generation in history with the greatest spending power.
Concurrently, the barriers of international travel crumbled and emerging technology provided unprecedented access to the customer.
Naturally, every travel brand was seeking the silver bullet - the single theme - that would engage an entire generation and command a greater share of their travel budget.
However, in our perpetual search for target-market certitude, we have witnessed a scrambling of generational lines.
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The age bracket for Generation-Y has remained 18 to 34 for the last six years. And, just like that, an entire cohort of wannabe-millennials are considered Gen-X.
This might clue us into how problematic the soft boundary lines have been in this not-so-exact science of generation naming, and how these parameters do not circumscribe the soundest foundation on which to base our marketing efforts.
With every report - and there have been thousands - the millennial traveler becomes increasingly exceptional, a marketing anomaly, and we continue to miss the valuable insight this generation provide.
It’s time to ask a different question of Gen-Y.
What has their experience revealed about consumer behaviour and how can it inform travel marketing to all generations?
Millennials and technology
Generations were once defined by age, among other factors, like one’s proximity to a major war.
Traumatic global events could produce a shared consciousness amongst a demographic that would distil into a set of values, a worldview informing all aspects of life from politics and educational values to consumer behaviour.
Now, generations are defined by diffusion of technology, or one’s willingness to adopt new technology.
Some have even argued that technology is challenging the very notion of a shared consciousness, the existence of homogeneity across any age group.
Nevertheless, what distinguishes Gen-Y?
- Gen-Z are digital pure breeds, and when severed from devices - even momentarily - will develop a digital phantom limb.
- Boomers are the fastest growing market on social, and with little-to-no overheads, they have money to spend and are discovering what it means to "live their best life."
- Gen-X had the luxury of an analog youth, blissfully unaware of the judgemental world of "Likes" and "Shares" that Gen-Z is bred to navigate. Of course, there was always the threat of nuclear war in the 70s, but today, we still have Red Buttons, not to mention revenge porn, fake news and all this when the human mind - once considered the pinnacle of democratic reasons - now so easily manipulated.
All this to say, what makes Gen-Y exceptional for our human understanding is the tension they embody: the before-tech and the tech-ever-after.
This is specifically informed by the point at which Gen-Y experienced the disruption of digital.
Coming-of-age
Generation Y’s coming-of-age coincided with the advent of digital.
Young adolescents, in the formative years of identity, developing in a time when science fiction was fast jettisoning the modifier “fiction.”
Digital promised a new limitless frontier, prompting social scientists to question whether one can create a sense of identity in a new world without boundaries?
The best brand strategies, like the best stories will tap into something more primal to the travel experience en masse, it’s a strategy more Maslow than Kardashian, so to speak.
Matt Walker - LikeWhere
It’s a noble aspiration for any truly evolved society, however, Gen-Y were the first to make the journey in digital, not by choice, but by experimentation. There’s no way to measure the disruption technology contributed to their experience.
In this regard, they should be considered the brave in our new world (please, don’t tell them that).
This significant model of nurturing, has revealed a natural response. Considering Gen-Y as a new breed or generational anomaly leads to poor methodology.
Digital has precipitated an ever-changing landscape which has surfaced human values latent in former generations but not prevalent in their discourse.
Millennials are important because they provide unparalleled insight into human behaviour that is evident across all generations in the clutches of digital.
In an industry that will largely be mediated by digital, our approach should be: what’s good for millennials is good for all generations.
The need for context
Gen-Y have led the charge in demanding greater responsibility in how brands operate, not least communicate and use consumer data; other generations are not far behind.
Commentators have tried to dismiss this new sensibility as entitlement. We all have witnessed moments of entitlement - but entitlement is a shirking of responsibility that has no generational demarcations. Case in point: politics on both sides of the Atlantic.
A travel survey revealed that travelers were 59% likely to unsubscribe from a brand’s emails if the offers were irrelevant to their needs. Millennials were 72% likely to unsubscribe in the same situation.
While a lack of context in digital communication is a deal breaker to your garden-variety Gen-Y, all generations desire more context and responsibility in brand communication.
Every generation is benefiting from the millennial push-back which has lead to a greater expectation of service, relevance in marketing, security, ethics in brand/customer interactions, wellness - and the onus has been firmly laid on the brand.
What is good for millennials is good for all generations.
Disclaimer: It’s not that every generation desires the same experience when they travel, rather every individual to the extent they inhabit a digital world will reveal similar consumer behaviour, and travel is increasingly mediated by digital.
How travel brands have responded
Travel brands struggling to stay relevant in this evolving market have naturally sought the quick-fix, an attempt to subsidize a lack of human understanding in their corporate cultures and by extension their marketing with trending themes and celebrity gossip.
This has lead to an unhealthy fixation on the millennial traveler and a fallacy in approach: creating a sub-market for Generation Y.
Joon by Air France, recently an airline for millennials, should pose a cautionary tale for the industry.
Replete with craft brews and tapered outfits, Joon compounded the marketing aphorism: If you have to state your target market, your product is not targeting that market, it’s ostracizing every other market. The exclusivity of Joon’s offering smacked of condescension, desperation and backfired.
Conversely, Tru by Hilton is a success story. Hilton targeted the same market, but rather than cliched PR around coiffured staff in flannel shirts with hands worn soft from perfecting latte art, Hilton embedded solutions to emerging human behaviours around connection, space and added value in their offering.
Tru traded the extra square footage in each room, which sadly eliminated the proverbial writing desk for larger TVs, better WiFi, digital consoles and an expansive lobby/communal workspace, with free snacks.
Hilton leveraged the emerging behaviour of Generation Y to cater for the traveler of the future without alienating every other generation.
And, they achieved this without being reductive to the millennial generation who don’t even like being called millennials. They prefer the term "Snowflakes," actually (that’s a joke!).
Summary
Understanding the millennial transition into digital is critical for the travel industry because it has yielded unparalleled human insight and forged a new consumer benchmark.
It enables astute corporations to engage beyond static data points and sub-brand strategies that are clearly ill-conceived.
The best brand strategies, like the best stories will tap into something more primal to the travel experience en masse, it’s a strategy more Maslow than Kardashian, so to speak.