CEO of ITR Research, Brian Beaulieu, aggregated a compelling case during the winter Vision Council meeting that suggests that focusing on “Marketing to Millennials” represents a misallocation of scarce marketing resources. Marketers with finite budgets are grappling with the data when they make decisions of whether or not to market to this demographic. Although some of Mr. Beaulieu's figures are hard to dispute, the potential to earn the loyalty of Millennials, in my opinion, is worth the investment.
 
According to Mr. Beaulieu’s research, Millennials represent 25% of the US population today yet spend a mere $300 billion a year. That is slightly more than a drop in the bucket in the $18.7 trillion US economy. There are currently more Millennials than Baby Boomers, and by 2020, they will represent 49% of the workforce. Thirty-two percent of Millennials are living at home with their parents despite an unemployment rate of just 3.2% for the group as a whole. Sixty-two percent of Millennials have college degrees. Home ownership, typically the benchmark for household formation and the spending associated with it, is in decline among Millennials, and worsening. Two-thirds of Americans under age 30 have a FICO score of below 680 and over half of that group has scores below 621.
 
There are parallels to draw between Boomers and Millennials: Just as many Millennials entered the workforce in the most recent recession that began in 2008, most of the Boomers entered the workforce in the 1970s to early 1980s when inflation soared to sustained levels in excess of 10%, interest rates subsequently rose to absurd levels on home mortgages  (as high as 18.5% on adjustable rate mortgages), and 10.8% unemployment hollowed out the “Rust Belt.”
 
Linked in being compelled to start adult life and economic independence in a negative economic environment, Millenials and Boomers (at the same ages) present a dissimilar marketing challenge wrought by the digital revolution. Millenials are far less likely to be influenced by traditional advertising messaging, choosing instead to build brand loyalty via social media and blog content – where they want to connect with brands. Millennials are also economically burdened with student loans which has limited their purchasing power. But Millenials are motivated by creating and seeking value, and are widely viewed as influential on older buyers.
 
Although these statistics and observations may seem paradoxical to marketers, my own experience with Millennials is much more optimistic than many of these numbers reflect. I like the Millennials' chances down the road, economically. I see a generation in search of a path—not exactly the same path of their predecessors, perhaps, but a path that likely involves working as barista or tending bar, working part-time, or interviewing for months without effect, driven by ambition and values. More educated and non-conformist in many ways, young workers are collaborative, insightful, adaptive, enthusiastic and often surprisingly inspired by the insight gleaned from older and more experienced workers. Millennials intuitively understand “self service,” leverage technology enthusiastically, and seek ways to improve their environments and systems, which drive business processes forward and build effectiveness and efficiency as they progress. It’s a big generation— bigger than the Boomers. It's a diverse generation in so many ways. The future will re-shaped by the Millennials’ education, their collective ethic of service, and a preference for collaborative rather than command management.

Today, if you are marketing anything, it’s the Boomers who have the big discretionary bucks to spend. But branding the 18-34 market is vitally important for companies who want to be around and want to drive growth sustainably for the long-term. Just ask General Motors, one of the nation’s largest national advertisers, whose Chevy and Buick nameplates are betting on the Millennials in their television ads— not so much for today, but for tomorrow and as influencers on older buyers. Those GM brands lost the battle for the 18-34 year-old consumer market in the 1980s among Boomers and suffered decades of sales declines because they did.

Earning brand loyalty from this well-defined “Millennial” generation can break that cycle. This is the paradox: every marketer needs to weigh how much they need to spend today to drive next quarter’s sales and where is it best spent. Millennials are loyal to engaging, quality brands, and so next quarter's sales will also be the sales of years to come once you gain their trust. Millennials are different and before too long, their time will arrive, as it has for previous generations. As a whole, Millennials are unique, but amongst each other, they are very diverse, and robust marketing technology such as programmatic advertising will help us all reach the individuals we want. That diversity is a result of the purpose-driven mentalities for work and life.

Marketers should not turn their heads away from Millennials, rather, dissect the complexities that cannot singularly define the generation. While the numbers of this largest generation are discouraging at first blush, ignoring them is simply not an option a successful organization will embrace.