The J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Teens and Early Careerist report says that online conversation analysis of two subsets of Millenials finds that they are concerned about the current economic
environment, and are becoming particularly value-conscious and focused on finding employers that offer stability and long term growth opportunities.
These two important subsets of Generation Y
(born during the 1980s and early 1990s): teens ages 14 to 18, and early careerists ages 22 to 29, display markedly different views, opinions and behaviors from the other, and have the potential to
attain the greatest spending power of any previous generation.
The brands that generate the highest volumes of online discussion among early careerists, relative to other age groups, indicate
the increasing popularity of value brands, which are competing with trendy brands for share of mind. For example, among retailers, value brand Old Navy closely follows trendy brands Anthropologie and
Bath & Body Works in terms of positive discussion volumes among early careerists. Among quick-service restaurants, fast food chains Arby's and Subway receive particularly high volumes of
positive discussion, along with premium ice cream chain Cold Stone Creamery.
Among retailers and quick-service restaurants, the brands that receive the greatest volumes of online discussion
among early careerists, relative to volumes among social media users in other age groups, are as follows.
Social Media Top Brand Discussion Activity Among Careerists |
Rank | Retailers | Quick-Service Restaurants |
1 | Anthropologie | Arby's |
2 | Bath & Body Works | Cold Stone Creamery |
3 | Old Navy | Subway |
4 | Victoria's Secret | Taco Bell |
5 | Forever21 | Panera Bread |
6 | Urban
Outfitters | Dunkin' Donuts |
7 | H&M | Wendy's |
8 | Gap | Starbucks |
9 | American Apparel | White
Castle |
10 | Best Buy | Burger King |
Source: JD Power & Associates, October 2009 |
Overall, the brands that generate the greatest
volumes of discussion among early careerists relative to other age groups are American Idol, Google, Twitter, Yahoo! and YouTube.
Compared with social media users overall, early
careerists are much more concerned about the state of the economy, influencing online conversations that indicate a strong degree of disillusionment among the group. And, the finds that although early
careerists consider job-hopping a necessity for moving forward in a career, they strongly desire long-term stability and security within their chosen professions.
Chance Parker, vice president
and general manager of the Web Intelligence Division at J.D. Power and Associates, calls this a "quarter-life crisis." He says "... many are in the process of reevaluating their
educational, career and lifestyle choices."
When it comes to purchasing environmentally friendly products, the two poles of Gen Y exhibit considerably different attitudes. While teens
indicate that they will not pay more for green products, but they are considerably less likely to consider products that they do not perceive as green. Early careerists know they should care about the
environment, but like most consumers in other demographic groups, will make environmentally friendly choices only if brands and companies make it convenient for them to do so.
The
Participatory Marketing Network, almost concurrently, looked at the communications channels most influential on the GenY/Millenial group. This GenY behavior study, with the Pace University's Lubin
School of Business' IDM Lab, looked at time spent and preference for visiting social networks, reading/writing email, texting, talking on the phone, watching TV, reading magazines and surfing the
web (non social media sites).
While Gen Y do indeed spend considerable time on social networks, when asked what they would least like to give up for one week, only nine percent said
social networks while 26% said email and 26% said texting.
Michael Della Penna, PMN co-founder and Executive Chairman, says "... as long as email remains the collection point for social
networking updates, including alerts around new followers, discussion updates and friend requests, it will remain a powerful force in marketing and our lives."
Activities least likely to
be "given up for a week:"
- Email (26%)
- Text messaging (26%)
- TV (15%)
- Talking on phone (11%)
- Visiting social networks
(9%)
- Reading magazines (7%)
- Visiting non social network sites (6%)
Additional findings from the behavioral study include:
- Average time spent
on social networks per month is 33 hours, compared to 31 hours for email, dispite the disparate media coverage given to Facebook and other social networks
- Texting remains an
important communications tool for Gen Y with the average number of text messages per month exceeding 740
- Gen Y spend more time emailing, texting and social networking online than
talking on the phone, watching TV or reading magazines
- Interest in mobile marketing remains low among Gen Y, with only one in five now receiving targeted promotional messages and
only 4% planning to do so in the future
For more information about the careerist report,
please visit JDPower here, and for more information about the Generation Y and Social Networks study, please go here..