Dive Brief:
- Advertisers are seeking nontraditional ways to adapt to millennials’ habits, particularly on smartphones and tablets, where they spend 41% of their media time.
- Younger millennials 18 to 24 years-old spend about 91 hours a month in smartphone apps, according to comScore, including 30 hours per month in social media apps.
- Millennials want brands to add value to their lives, with almost three-quarters (73%) saying that it’s important for a brand to do more than just try to sell them something.
Dive Insight:
Marketers are starting fresh when it comes to millennials, since the demographic has so many options in media and prefers to avoid traditional advertising methods. Not only do they spend more time on mobile devices and ad-free messaging applications, but millennials don’t have much tolerance for traditional ads; they are media-savvy and instead look to brands for added value.
Unpredictability is the main challenge, with millennials streaming TV shows and switching between multiple devices rapidly. To break through, brands are experimenting with emojis, apps, and events. Four out of 10 millennials would prefer to communicate with images, says the Cassandra Report, and companies such as Domino’s Pizza make that possible. The North Face and Under Armour have also found success in building relationships with millennials by offering lifestyle and fitness apps.