The morning’s central theme centered on the ways companies can capture the attention of the Millennial Generation.  YouTube and MySpace obviously represent two entities succeeding in that area.  But one consensus seemed to be that there is no consensus.  Marketing to the generation is a constant experiment, playing with the tools we know Millennials use, like social networking and user-generated video content sites.  Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess.

Yet the key for marketers, said Tommy Means, founding partner of Mekanism, is authenticity and honesty.  He said today’s generation is more turned off by dishonesty than previous generations, and that, first and foremost, is the key to any campaign.

So what are the most effective ways of building buzz?

“The primary thing,” said Suzie Reider, “is the content.  It’s not YouTube that did it, it’s the user community.  You build the platform and give the users the tools, and if the content’s great, you’ve got them.  Marketers have to think about their commercial as content, not as a commercial.”

Added Means, “It really boils down to good story telling.” 

Means also brought up an interesting point about advertising campaigns and the freedom YouTube and others provide, not simply in form and content, but in cost.  The Windows Vista campaign on Clearification.com was launched on YouTube with The Daily Show’s Dmitry Martin serving as host.  Because posting on YouTube is free, it’s a great tool to see how a concept is doing and prove to large parent organizations like Microsoft that experimentation with today’s generation can succeed.

One important question with the generation seems to be their seemingly short attention spans.  How can companies keep their attention?  A question with sites like MySpace always will be, as the panel’s moderator Marissa Gluck of Radar Research said, “When will the popular sites ‘jump the shark?’”

Suzie Reider believes it’s not so simple.  “Millennials will stay where their communities are because there are tremendous switching costs.”  She compared the building of a user’s community to the purchase of a new Blackberry when faced with converting your data from a Treo.  The task, though easy, is time-consuming and seems overwhelming.  She said YouTube’s challenge is to provide more switching costs.  Today, YouTube’s simplicity makes it vulnerable to easy switching.  “Features are a challenge,” she said.  “We have an area called ‘TestTube’ where users can see other services we provide.”

 
Scott Goldberg