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Maturing
Millennials
As the Echo
Boomer
generation
grows up,
so should
the messaging
D
uring the past 10 years or
so, as marketers outside and
inside of the outdoor industry
have diligently worked to un-
derstand and entice millenni-
als, something that should’ve
been expected has been
taking place. The Millennial
generation, quite simply, has been growing up. De-
pending on whose definition one uses, millennials
currently can be anywhere 16 to 40 years old, with
the more commonly accepted ages falling closer
to 18 to 34 years old, or born somewhere between
1998 and 1983.
By all measures, the realities for someone enter-
ing college (18-year-olds) are vastly different from
someone climbing the career ladder or building a
family (thirtysomethings), so it’s errant to think of
millennial as a uniform, homogeneous group with a
common set of beliefs and behavior, say researchers
at Nielsen. Nielsen, for its part, has begun breaking
the cohort into three distinct groups – “dependent
adults” (living with parents), those “on
their own” (in their own home without
kids) and “starting a family” (in their own
home with kids) – and notes distinct be-
haviors between them. In other words,
lots of millennials have moved or are
moving from the years of freedom and
perceived independence to the years of
structure and responsibilities. In turn, it
might be time for common notions and
assumptions about millennials likewise
to grow up.
It falls under an age-old ques-
tion within product development and
marketing. Will patterns and behaviors
adopted during youth carry over into
adulthood or will behavior conform to
the demands of adulthood? It’s often
assumed that millennials are some-
how different; that they will forego
the consumptive paths and binds that
tied down previous generations. We
have pictures of childless hipsters with
alternate careers and the freedom to
travel or the 30-year-old content to live
in his parent’s basement. Mounting
evidence, however, suggests many
millennials, as they age, have rather
traditional goals and aspirations, so
marketers may have to reconsider how
messaging remains relevant as more
and more millennials move into adult-
hood, and even middle age.
The point isn’t too diminish the
unique circumstance under which mil-
lennials were raised and how those cir-
cumstances make them unique to other
generations. Certainly, millennials have
come of age during a time of exception-
al transition. The ubiquitously connected
smartphone alone has changed the way
By
Martin
Vilaboy
Inside
Outdoor
|
Winter
2017
16