We’re not as dumb as you think anymore.
A Millennial's note on the ads we ignore, and ads we want to share.
I’m a 22 y.o. male living in Toronto. I am well connected to social media feeds and regularly indulge in Tasty videos, Gifs, and regularly; almost religiously consume content from the people I subscribe to on YouTube.
In analytic terms, I am a member of a prime demographic group. Majority of large scale ads or campaigns tend to prioritize Millennials and the slowly maturing Gen Z demographic. We are a hyper-connected generation, more efficient at consuming and transmitting information to one another than any other generation before us.
Being part of a connected social world, the attempts to catch our attention through advertising and marketing has never have never been more critical.
Crash course in the power shift from television to the internet:
The television provided a way to widely broadcast images and video. Audiences would have to actively participate and sit through ads to watch the intended content.
This means that audiences had no choice but to sit through and watch ads. Video (moving images in a box) was still new at the time and one could easily keep an audience stylistically and visually captivated.
Fast forward to the present with YouTube, and social media. Audiences have come up with ways to bypass ads. From Netflix, to Adblocker, to simply ignoring pop up ads.
Now, younger people are connected and talking to each other, while online ads for the most part have stuck to the same formula for commercials. We all know what a car commercial is going to look like, just like how we all know what a hair commercial looks like.
In a world with so much clutter of commercials, constantly repeating the same formula only with different brands. Audiences know what to expect and therefore make assumptions that the brad offers nothing unique.
Commercial for Heathrow airport 2016
The commercials I applaud are those who can pin point and represent the value and service of the brand, as well as it’s ability to incite an emotional response.
I especially dislike the ads that sample from the infomercial-style ads. In this world of saturated images and constant bombardment of commercials, it is not enough to tell me or show me how to feel about your brand. Visually communicate something that will make me feel.
We Millennials are more informed and see through the polish on the turds way more easily than Gen Xs (one’s who grew up more with television). My advice, adapt to the language of audience. Stop referencing other ads and commercials, and start referencing from your audience.
Good luck.
