The overarching Millennial group’s years of birth is argued amongst researchers. The most common opinion is that Millennials encompass people born between 1977 and 1994. (Some researchers challenge that Generation Z began in the year 2000, which would extend Millennials for another 6 years). Based on popular opinion, EMs are those born between 1977 and 1989, and LMs are those born between 1990 and 1994.
Unlike their juniors, EMs remember a time before cell phones and the internet. LMs were the first generation to have mobiles, at a young age, with access to the internet. They grew up texting, understanding touch-screens twice as fast as their own parents, and given access to the world through the World Wide Web. The Internet was, and still is, a dangerous tool that parents did not manipulate as well as their children did. Furthermore, LMs were the first generation to be hit with social media whilst they were still in their formative years. Social media was a wondrous tool for many young adults, enabling them to stay connected to friends and family, share their travels and accomplishment. However, for the younger generation, social media brought pressure, cyberbullying, inappropriate pop up ads, and unrealistic life expectations.
Still, Millennials discovered, thanks to the Internet, that they had the right to an opinion, and better-still, could voice it on this platform. The very concept of audience feedback took shape with social media. As a result, marketers have been able to understand what consumers respond to, and why they respond to it.
As the most media-exposed generation to date, they are also the hardest to impress. They have seen it all. Lazy writing, boring concept, and déjà-vu big ideas do not work. Nothing gets passed them. They praise originality, conversation-starters, and sociologically-relevant content. They want an engaging, heavily thought-through, cunningly encoded, and creatively-crafted ad. The best way to satisfy these criteria is: narration.