I am from Generation T – the transitioned generation. We are the group that had our social networks taken from offline to online whilst growing up. I've got great memories of times spent with mates that happened without the help of Facebook. I now appreciate that Facebook gives these same mates access to my life, as I with theirs, no matter where life has taken us. We Gen Ts are a relatively small pool of people who as teenagers 'hung out' with friends both offline and online. For me, having this unique insight has raised the question – are our younger counterparts living too much for their online relationships?
Before I go on, I'd like to note – I do not fantasise about messenger pigeons and a time when communicating to the masses meant carving a message into a stone tablet and standing at the top of a mountain. I love the benefits my newly formed iAppendages bring – easy access to the world's information, apps that save me time and money, the ability to feel connected to those I hold close regardless of physical distance. It's just a part of me wants to stand up for the young boy within me that's worrying. By quickly retweeting what we are told we are not reflecting on it. By giving a virtual "like" to a friend we are missing out on that physical pat on the back. By broadcasting personal milestones to all our "friends" we are not celebrating them with those who matter first. It worries me that youth today may be losing what defines us as human – the intimate bond we create with others.
The sad thing is - we can't blame them. We created this. We designed VCRs to record our favourite TV shows. We made video cameras to record our memories as they unfolded. We created the concept of Intellectual Property to record that "Ah-ha!" moment as our own. We've now arrived at a place where our entire lives are recorded through the click of a few buttons. It's a place where offline or 'real-life' connections and experiences are seen to demand effort, time and money. So if all today's youth has ever known is the ease that life online brings, can we expect to them to want to switch to off and take the time to discover the benefits of intimacy?
I believe as humans we are hard wired to desire a bond with another that is personal and physical – something that (at time of writing) is not available in the app store. It's simply how we are designed. As marketers, we have a tendency to just follow consumers wherever they go. It is rare to see us leading the way to undiscovered territories. But what's stopping us? Why can't it be us leading today's youth, helping them find out what only real-life experiences can bring? I'm not saying that this needs to be exclusive of anything digital. There will always be a place for this channel. We just need to start using it for the organisation, promotion and amplification of real-life experiences rather than the place where we get intimate with our younger consumers.
As an industry, we've been talking a lot about wanting to create value in the lives of our consumers – is this not the perfect opportunity? I'd like to lay down the challenge to the marketers, brand managers and whoever else is reading this post – let's give this younger generation experiences you can't get online. Let's create true value in their lives by helping them discover something that they didn't realise they needed to search for. Let's show them what is innate to being human – the intimate connections we have with other humans.
David Gray
UM
The AdNews NGen blog: A lesson from Gen T
14 June 2011