Brands are #failing to engage the millennial generation because they are too pushy, don’t encourage social participation and their strategies lack focus.
That is the message being pushed by niche creative agency Mpire Creative which focuses on reaching 18-34 year olds, specifically the electronic dance music market and culture.
Mpire’s Emanuel Freer said marketers need to stop “jamming self interested advertising down their throats” because Gen Y just isn’t listening.
He said that with electronic dance music becoming part of their culture that there is too much noise to try and compete.
“When a brand becomes a part of their world, their passion, their culture, you have their attention. Brands need to not just take a genuine interest in millennial culture, they must commit to enhancing it,” Freer said.
Brands have jumped on social media but Freer believes many still use it as another ‘push’ channel rather than a listening one. Instead, marketers need to make their social fans feel like they are part of the brand.
Freer believes brand “need to stage their own battle of Normandy” and ditch the catch-all marketing technique.
The way to engage millennial is by adopting what Freer has labelled the ‘C & C’ principle, the right content customised for the correct context.
