Generation Microculture

[creative_way]

Have you ever thought about how companies manage to sell certain products, items, or services that are currently popular, to past generations?  One of the ways companies succeed in doing so is by examining the generation microculture.  Each generation microculture consists of a group of people that grew up during the same time period and often have similar preferences, which causes their buying decisions to vary. The “Greatest Generation” represents people who were born before 1946, “Baby Boomers” were born between 1946 and 1965, “Generation X” were born between 1966 and 1980, and The “MIllennials” were born between 1981 and 1995. Taking these micro generations into consideration, companies try to personalize advertisements to each cohort in order to appeal to consumers. For example if a company were trying to grasp the attention of an older generation, and were selling electronics, they might use music, clothing or anything that can cause the consumer to reminisce, but still focus on the product or item that is being advertised. Knowing what attracts people of different generations is another fantastic tactic that companies use in order to sell, increase versatility, and maintain popularity. Some commercials that use this strategy to appeal to consumers are Jackson Hewitt, and Dell.

Here are some examples:
Jackson Hewitt used a 90s hit

Dell

Comments

[eriks]

Good point here. I have definitely noticed this with cell phone commercials for new cell phones. For example, I saw a commercial for a cell phone the other day where they were emphasizing how instead of ordering pizza at home and watching a movie, one can take his or her phone (which has video capabilities) out with them to go get pizza. I thought this was kind of a weird ad, but obviously geared toward a younger, "on-the-go" generation.