• by Marc Pickren , Monique Roy , June 6, 2007

Marketers, if you want to reach out and grab the elusive, ad-weary Generation Y, you'll have to fire up techno-rich lead generation campaigns and toss your old marketing tricks aside.

With approximately 76 million "millennials," as they're called, Gen Y is the largestgeneration in U.S. history. Gen Y is the "Net Generation," the first to grow up immersed in this digital and Internet-driven world.

Companies unable to "click" with Generation Y will lose out on a vast opportunity. There's just too much money at stake and market share to lose. Marketers targeting Gen Y need to revamp their lead generation campaigns to fit all interactive formats -- Internet, mobile phones, podcasts, SMS, wireless networks and digital TV, etc.

Defining Generation Y

Keep these key characteristics in mind:

• Diverse
• Individualistic
• Optimistic
• Realistic
• Multi-taskers
• Forward-thinkers
• Tech-savvy

To generate leads, marketers need to think like Gen-Yers and forge stronger connections with consumers that go beyond the functional. Providing memorable experiences and involving these screenagers will improve your response and conversion rates.

This Net Generation is marketing- and media-savvy, and much less brand loyal. They are verbally and visually sophisticated, creating a language convergence that marketers must learn, quickly. Generation Y has heard all the marketing spiel before, many times, and they see right through marketing messages.

How do you stand out in the explosion of media directed at Generation Y? Marketing techniques, such as grassroots tactics, will put your brand message on the forefront. Creating a compelling experience that grabs Gen Y's short attention span in literally seconds is a must. Most Millennials are visual learners or doers. Let them experience your brand.

Connect with Generation Yers through lead generation campaigns that take advantage of social networks in the virtual sense, interactive and interpersonally. Let Gen-Yers stumble onto your brand. The trick is to be where they are, whether that is online, at concerts, at the movies, etc. The reality is some of the biggest brands, like Coca-Cola and McDonald's, are being promoted at these places, so why not stick your brands and lead generation campaigns where the big boys are? Gen Y is everywhere and they're waiting ...

For example, in one campaign for a large retailer that caters to Gen Y, kiosks with a high-end game console were installed in-store for Generation Yers to compete for a chance to win a product from the retailer. The interactive, virtual and fun campaign was very compelling, drawing tens of thousands of Generation Y consumers.

Highly-educated Generation Yers will always question ... Do you blame them? They are, after all, Generation "why."