Like many of my fellow Gen Xers, I have spent the majority of my career managing Millennials and being managed by Baby Boomers. Being caught between these two generations has provided an interesting perspective on the differences between the young’uns and the olds, shedding light on how my managers must have perceived me and my work when I got my first job in the mid-1990s and giving me a glimpse into what could lay ahead if I continue on the same path as my predecessors. It’s not uncommon for me to hear from Millennial colleagues that they “distrust …

As you know, despite its seeming popularity, Twitter's numbers have failed to truly take off. According to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, more than half of Twitter's 982 million users don't sign in to the microblogging platform each month. The Wall Street Journal has also reported that 44% of people on Twitter have never even sent a tweet. In fact, Twopcharts sites that, out of those 982 million registered accounts, only 241 million are active monthly users. That means 741 million users have abandoned their accounts or do not tweet on a regular basis. Not only that, but at least 419 …

Co-creation is a buzzword that has been catching the attention of brands, agencies, and even consumers alike-and rightfully so. We wrote recently about co-creation being the future of products. Eighty-one percent of Millennials say that they would be interested in helping a brand or company design a new product, and 87% of Millennials say that they think brands should get consumers like them to give opinions before creating them. Because these younger consumers grew up in an open platform world with increased access to information and technology, they've been conditioned to want more: more options, more uniqueness, and more say …

Generation Y has led many movements since coming of age, and for marketers, one of the most powerful movements Gen Y leads is the evolution of the uber-consumer. Through technological adoption, cultural shifts, embedded social networks and the overall size of the demographic, this "uber-sumer" is wresting control from brands to dictate the how, when and where of the marketplace. The rapid pace of innovation in today's world means that brands are often playing catch-up with these tech-savvy and ultra-connected consumers, and brands are often caught unawares of business- and industry-altering changes.

In the article Taylor Swift wrote for the "Wall Street Journal," the star emphasized the importance of surprising fans and staying inventive to please the "YouTube generation." Well, we've been paying attention to Swift's efforts to surprise and delight her own fans, and this year she has consistently made headlines for her tactics, not only keeping her name in the spotlight, but also building buzz for her new album. So whether or not you like her ear worm hits, brands could learn a few marketing lessons from Taylor Swift (seriously):

Among all alcoholic beverages, the wine category has been steadily growing for the past few years. Despite the fact that Baby Boomers still make up the majority of the market for wine consumption, Millennials actually have become the fastest-growing demographic making them a target for producers and marketers. According to Euromonitor, Millennials in the U.S., in particular, are even becoming fascinated with wine at a pace not yet visible among younger generations in Europe.

During the greed-is-good era of American history known as the 1980s, flamboyant businessman and head cheerleader of unfettered capitalism Malcolm Forbes supposedly declared, "He who dies with the most toys wins." Whether or not this precept of consumerism-run-amok rightly can be attributed to Forbes may still be subject to debate, but a generation later, the sentiment behind the quote seems to be ringing false these days, especially among Millennials.

Long before I finished graduate school with an advanced degree in psychology, I believed, as many mental health professionals do, that labeling a person or a group based on a set of traits or symptoms could do more harm than good.

Ask any Millennial what he or she can't live without and you're going to get a consistent response: "my smartphone." Millennials rely on these devices to text their friends, peruse their social networks, manage their emails, pay their monthly bills, listen to music, track their steps, hail a cab and more - "virtually" anything and everything they need to do throughout their day. They even use their unsuspecting smartphones to research, purchase and ship their smarter, faster, better replacements. (Poor smartphones. Never saw it coming.)

Do Millennials care about luxury? It's a question we hear a lot. We've done a deep-dive on the topic, and we know that the definition of luxury has blurred for the generation.