Getting close to youth: Understanding millennials' themes of

life to create Gen-Y-proof brands

Joeri Van den Bergh, Patrick Alders, Anneleen Boullart and Martijn Van Bijnen
Source: ESOMAR, Qualitative, November 2014
Downloaded from WARC

This paper sets out research undertaken by Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) in Northern Europe to better
understand the lives and needs of millennials, how these build into trends and how VIMN can best serve this group.

Millennials are a key target group for VIMN, as they compete for employees, clients and audiences.
An online research community with participants from ten countries with discussions and blogs on participants' lives
and how VIMN content fit into it.
Findings included that today's youth are more positive and feel they have more freedom to be themselves than
previous generations, focus on sharing and discussing experiences and avoiding boredom.
Millennials do not have boundaries for time and place, as technology enables them to pursue their interests
wherever they are.
To be 'millennial proof' brands should be more human, provide relevance, have a social purpose, be positive and
focus on sharing stories, not just sending messages.

Joeri Van den Bergh, Patrick Alders, Anneleen Boullart and Martijn Van Bijnen
InSites Consulting, Belgium and VIMN Northern Europe, Germany

Introduction
In the summer of 2013 InSites Consulting and VIMN Northern Europe (part of Viacom International Media Networks) set up the
'Close to Youth' program. The program aimed at keeping the brands and departments of VIMN Northern Europe Gen-Y-proof. In
collaboration with an international task force of VIMN Ambassadors and the insight department in Berlin, the 'Celebrating Youth'
research community was launched to generate a deeper understanding of the Northern European Generation Y and validate the
themes which are used as building blocks for VIMN's channel brands, programming and sales approach. Ten European countries
were represented by a selected group of 149 active Gen Y participants (aged 16 to 32 years). During three weeks, these GenYers
shared their hopes, fears and dreams and gave us insights in the real meaning of the VIMN Northern Europe building blocks.
Furthermore, they also shared their opinion and evaluation of how the current VIMN Northern Europe content relate to these
themes of life. Based on this input and internal exercises, VIMN Northern Europe's sales and marketing approach was evaluated.
The five crucial themes in the lives of Gen Y youth are at the core of this approach, each manifesting in a specific way.

This paper aims at explaining the key themes in the lives of Millennials and how these are represented in the VIMN brands and
content. Based on these insights, we elaborate on how these five themes are the source of some important Gen Y consumer
trends happening today.
Introducing the key stakeholders: Gen Y & Vimn
What is Gen Y?

GenYers (or Millennials) are generally born between 1980 and 1996. They are the first generation coming to age in the new
millennium and the first digital-native generation. They grew up in a connected and globalized world where everything is only a
finger snap away. Unlike their parents and grandparents, they are completely individually empowered: all opinions are equally
important (Van den Bergh & Behrer, 2013, p.7).

This makes GenYers a challenging group to market for: they are difficult to reach efficiently because they are everywhere (both
online and offline), they are difficult to talk to because they question everything you tell them and they are difficult to keep involved
because they want to be stimulated constantly. Still, however challenging this may be, this is the generation that all brands and
markets want to target their efforts at. The Boston Consulting Group released a study in April 2012 about Millennials and their
influence and consuming behavior. This research was held in the United States among 4,000 Millennials (aged 16 to 34 years)
and 1,000 non-Millennials (aged 35 to 74 years). Some key findings explain why these groups are so important:

Millennials are more engaged in activities such as rating products and services than non-Millennials (60% vs. 29%) and
uploading videos, images and blog entries to the web.
Millennials are far more likely to favor brands which have Facebook pages and mobile websites (33% vs. 17%).
Millennials are far more likely than non-Millennials to be the first to try a new technology and they also have several devices
such as smartphones, tablets and gaming systems.

What do these GenYers expect?

GenYers are more marketing-savvy and will immediately see through superficial marketing strategies. 'Directness,' 'transparency,'
'authenticity' and 'closeness' are the values they expect from the brands they embrace (Van den Bergh & Behrer, 2013). In the
brand CRUSH model ,developed by Van den Bergh & Behrer in their book 'How Cool Brand Stay Hot', self-identification is the
most critical success factor for creating brand conversations, a better brand image and brand leverage. Self-identification is
defined as the extent to which a brand is seen as a mirror of one's own passions, interests

and lifestyle. In other words: when a brand or company is capable of getting closer to the lives of youth, in a way that Millennials
feel it is part of their lives, it will improve both its short- and long-term market success.

What is VIMN Northern Europe?

VIMN Northern Europe operates in one of the most dynamic and rapidly evolving industries in the world: media and entertainment.
It was created from a rebrand of Viacom's MTV Networks, including MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon and includes Comedy Central,
Viva, TMF and related channels and sub-brands. VIMN is the international division of Viacom and oversees the production,
broadcasting and promotion of the key Viacom brands. For VIMN Northern Europe these main brands are MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick
Jr., Comedy Central & Viva.

As many of VIMN's brands target youngsters, it is particularly important to keep track of new consumer evolutions among the
Millennial generation and to evaluate the extent to which the brands, content and approach are Gen-Y-proof.

Why does VIMN want to be 'Close to Youth'?

The industry is transforming every day and in order to realize the mission of being the most engaging, innovative and agile media
company, VIMN is in a constant battle:

for the (best) employees

for the (best) audience
for the (best) clients

To ensure an on-going connection with these key stakeholders and in order to maximize the relevance of the VIMN Northern
Europe offer for all of them, VIMN wanted to further support VIMN's ongoing 'Close To Youth' program and commissioned InSites
Consulting to connect all parties, hereby creating internal and external leverage. By being close to its target audience, VIMN
Northern Europe wants to be able to produce more relevant content for its end users, (ultimately) leading to a better VIMN
Northern Europe market performance. The program also helps creating new opportunities internally, by providing up-to-date
content and knowledge for sales visits, trade communication and events for advertisers.

How to bring VIMN Northern Europe even closer to Gen Y

The challenge of the project was to optimally connect VIMN with their target audience and gain insights about their core
positioning. In order to engage GenYers with research, we needed to search for a flexible solution that speaks to the always-on
mentality of these GenYers. It was clear that the connection element would be important: GenYers love to connect with peers,
especially internationally and online. That's why we chose to unite 10 different nationalities, each with their own background and
context. Our research covered 10 European countries: Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Poland,
Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. A Consumer Consulting Board was the framework surrounding them all.

This method: 1) connects GenYers in an online closed platform, 2) empowers participants to share their experiences and get
inspired by each other, and 3) enables participation in a flexible and asynchronous way matching the lifestyle of the busy GenYer.
While this solution brought us key benefits, we were also faced with several challenges:

1. A linguistic challenge
2. A profiling challenge
3. An engagement challenge

Next we will discuss these challenges briefly.

Bringing 10 nationalities together

The 'Celebrating Youth' community was an international community. The goal of the community was to identify common insights
for GenYers in Northern Europe, rather than to focus on the cultural differences. Therefore we combined all nationalities in one
platform, making the discussion and blog language English. This required a minimum level of written English and its vocabulary, in
order not to lose out on richness of output. But given the fact that this target group was already globally connected, they didn't
seem to have any problems expressing themselves in English. By including a TOEFL test in the recruitment questionnaire and
only allowing those who scored at least 6 out of 10, we made a first step towards an acceptable qualitative level of English.
Moreover, we also included an extra open-ended question at the end of the questionnaire, as a double check of the level of
written English. This second filter seemed to work, as in the end, 149 GenYers were active in the 'Celebrating Youth' community,
generating over 2,820 community posts and 322 blog posts in three weeks' time. These posts were of very high quality and there
was not one moment when we experienced any problems with the fact that the participants were not contributing in their native
language.

FIGURE 1. THE CELEBRATING YOUTH COMMUNITY

Bringing 150 Genyers together
When talking to Gen Y, we chose not to talk to just everyone. We wanted to make sure to have active GenYers, meaning:

MTV and/or Comedy Central fans

Active online
Active offline
Willing to share pictures

That's why we used an alternative recruitment method:

1. First of all, we applied a mixed approach: we did not only recruit people from panels, but also through the Facebook pages of
Comedy Central and MTV in all 10 countries. By clicking on the banners at the top of the Facebook page or on the posts on
the wall, the participants were led to the online questionnaire where they could answer profiling and screening questions.
2. Secondly, in the online questionnaire, the open-ended question 'What does ''Celebrating Youth'' mean to you?' gave us an
idea about the interests of the GenYers and whether or not they were also active outside their online life. It also allowed us to
assess the quality of future contributions we could expect.
3. Thirdly, we asked them to share their Facebook page with us or to share a profile picture. This allowed us to also make an
assessment of who was willing to share pictures of their personal lives and was thus eligible to keep a personal diary on the
community (see further).

Out of the 450 applicants who passed the screening, we manually selected 250 people and invited them to participate, a sample
broad enough to result in 150 very active participants.

Engagement: Three weeks of mixing blogs and discussions

To really immerse into the lives of Millennials we added a blog element to the community. Because blogging with 150 GenYers
would be too time-intensive and would not bring us any more added value than blogging with a smaller group, we focused on 30
participants blogging individually about the same topics the other 120 ones were discussing about. The bloggers were selected
manually after recruitment and invited personally to participate in a special task on the ''Celebrating Youth'' community. Their blogs
could only be followed by the moderators and were closely monitored in order to discover all the details. In total, the 30 bloggers
shared 322 personal (photo) blog posts, which were made available afterwards in a Gen Y story dashboard.

FIGURE 2. GEN Y STORY DASHBOARD + EXAMPLE OF POST

These blogs were necessary to really immerse into the consumers' life and get a real feel of what was going on from day to day.
The interactive discussions then explained the happenings and the why behind it. This mix of meaningful observations and crowd
analysis was crucial to obtain the right conclusions.

The goal of the Consumer Consulting Board was to dig deeper into the themes VIMN Northern Europe had defined with InSites
Consulting as being relevant for Gen Y, to validate them and adapt them if necessary. Furthermore, it was also necessary to
investigate how VIMN was performing on these themes and to single out the strong and unique points of VIMN in the studied
region. In order to keep Gen Y engaged for three weeks, we created an interesting and engaging content calendar. The challenge
was to stay at the eye level of the short attention spanned GenYer. That's why we built up the content calendar as followed:

W1: My Life

In the first week, the VIMN's four themes were introduced (see below). We asked our GenYers what these themes meant in their
daily lives and mainly probed for examples. We also discussed the relevance of the themes in connection with other people, using
their social nature to make them engaged with the topic. Our goal was to learn more about their interpretation of the themes and
how these themes are relevant in their personal lives.

W2: My Brands

During the second week, the participants were already familiar with the themes. In order to get an understanding of how
Millennials interact with products and brands and how the themes were translated in that interaction, we came up with several
exercises:

Rank different brands in terms of their ''closeness'' through a personification exercise

Spotting brands that are performing well on the themes
Think of good and bad examples of brand campaigns, relating this to the themes
Evaluate campaigns for different categories (technology and beverages)

This taught us a lot about the relevance of the themes in a specific marketing context and uncovered do's and don'ts that brands
are facing nowadays.

W3: My Media

Finally, we also dug deeper into MTV and Comedy Central. In the third week of the community we used a number of topics and
blog exercises to gain a deeper understanding of the way Millennials interact with MTV and Comedy Central and to what extent
they recognized the VIMN Northern Europe themes interwoven in their content. Amongst others, we asked our participants to:
 explain the relevance of MTV and Comedy Central in their lives
evaluate the ''closeness'' of MTV and Comedy Central through a personification exercise
evaluate the extent to which the themes are incorporated in MTV and Comedy Central content (by providing examples)

The feedback at the end of the community spoke for itself. Many participants regretted the end of the community and would have
liked to continue the conversation with VIMN Northern Europe.

"That was really a great community and I had such fun answering all your questions, it was really interesting, exactly the perfect
size for questions and you were great, you both look cool :) See you soon hopefully!" bebor4i, f, 30, Austria

Findings on Gen Y's main themes of life

By engaging for three weeks in a row, we gained a much deeper understanding about what the key themes of VIMN actually
mean. In what follows we will discuss the meaning of each of these themes for Generation Y, based on their comments in the
'Celebrating Youth'-research community.

Celebrating Youth

Relevance

Just like previous generations, this generation really wants to celebrate youth, enjoying it while they can and getting the maximum
out of it. What sets this generation apart from previous generations however, is that 1) they are more positive (less about rebellion,
more about enjoyment and happiness) and 2) they have more freedom to celebrate their youth the way they want it. Youngsters
these days can be who they want to be and be happy about it.

Being young means for them that you can dream about the future, change your goals, make mistakes and try again: endless
possibilities are lying ahead. Living once means enjoying life to the fullest, getting everything possible out of it.

Youth is a period with reduced responsibilities - until you move out, a safety net is protecting you and providing for you. It gives
structure to your life while leaving room to experiment. The more responsibilities you get, the faster the feeling of being young
decreases. On the other hand, if there is no feeling of independence, enjoying youth also becomes more difficult. There is a thin
line between being independent and not having too many responsibilities.

Expression

Celebrating Youth can be something very individual (exercising, listening to music, etc.). This depends on individual preferences
and interests. It can be about hedonistic pleasures (being occupied with interests like music, games, etc.) but also about
'proceeding in life' (fantasizing about the future, graduating, etc.). But 'Celebrating Youth' is not only about the individual; it is
something Millennials will typically often do together. Connections with others make the experience more relevant and memorable.
The experience is shared at the very moment but also afterwards: bringing up memories and evaluating all the things encountered
together with someone else. These experiences often evolve around laughing, doing random things, going out together, traveling
together or simply having the same interests.

"Being young means to me being myself in every single way. I listen to what I love, I work where I love, I eat what I love, I tell
others what I love and most of all, I feel no boundaries to love it all!" Lobke, f, 25, Netherlands

Ditching 'Boring'

Relevance

'Celebrating Youth' is (in the eyes of Millennials) often about deleting dullness, which in many ways is more about avoiding a
boring life than about ditching moments of boredom. As a result, this generation is always on the lookout for new and unique
experiences. Being bored or perhaps even more being boring, is one of the biggest fears of Millennials. There's even a medical
term for that: 'Thaasophobia'. Generation Y constantly want to be stimulated and does not want to end up in a routine. Their
hunger for new (and unique) experiences is clearly present.

Having a boring life means:

 being stuck in a routine: not doing anything new
not having an opinion, no dreams, no goals
not being passionate about anything

Getting rid of 'boring' means looking for anything that breaks the routine of daily life. They do this passively, actively and
interactively:

Distraction: just looking around and finding something which catches their eye
Action: looking actively for interesting things
Connection: searching and contacting others to help them to ditch boring

Expression

Youngsters are looking for things to avoid leading this boring life. This happens on different levels:

Kill those short moments in everyday life when boredom is just around the corner (waiting for the bus, boring classes, coming
home after work, having to do something you're not interested in, etc.)
Ditching the BIG BORING: at some point, even all these short moments of avoiding boring get boring, so they start to search
for 'bigger ways' to ditch 'boring'. To really overcome a boring life they have to overcome the pajama feeling: leave their own
comfort zone and challenge themselves. This can be done alone or together with others e.g. studying abroad, looking for a
job, switching styles, meeting new people…

Share stories

Relevance

As seen, Celebrating Youth is often (not always) a WE-activity and this uber-connected generation is very WE-oriented. They
share stories and experiences with a huge circle of (real and virtual) friends because they want to learn from each other and get
social approval. Everything they do will only get value when shared with or by others. The fact that they're so interconnected
makes sharing extremely important.

We share what we love - a kind of altruism: "I thought this story was funny/ interesting/ shocking and I think you might feel the
same".
We share to vent & get support: "When something goes wrong we share it with those around us: pain shared is pain halved".
To express ourselves: we are what we share: "The stories that we tell also tell a story about us and this is managed
consciously".

Expression

The stories Millennials share often go beyond mere stories; they are also experiences. These experiences are being shared in the
heat of the moment: "Look what I'm doing now". Elements of a story worth sharing are:

Humor: if something makes us laugh, we want to share this with others. A shareable story doesn't have to be funny, but it
helps.
Unpredictability: if a story has something unexpected it can surprise your audience and make them curious to hear more.
There is no point in sharing a story that your audience can predict from A to Z.
Relatability: the personal touch in a story - "Could this happen to me?". We are more likely to be interested in a story if it is
something that we can personally relate to.
Emotions: if something truly affected you, it is more likely to affect or at least interest others.

"I share personal things that I am experiencing and that I know my friends will enjoy. For the most part, they include some
laughter or something unexpected (what they have in common is that they are personal). I share these stories because I know
my friends will appreciate them." lillfia82, f, 31, Sweden

Whenever, wherever

Relevance

Celebrating Youth, Wherever, whenever: when they are listening to music while on the bus, when they are talking on Whatsapp
about last night, when they are posting on Facebook about how great their trip was: Gen Y has no boundaries of time and place at
all.

Sharing stories, Wherever, whenever: Sharing and connecting happens all the time through all kinds of different channels with
different kinds of people. Between all those different types of connections, youngsters still want to be heard. They have clear
preferences for certain channels depending on the content. The moment when a story is shared also depends on the type of
content.

Kill boring, Wherever, whenever: Youngsters kill 'boring' wherever they are: at school, at work, when waiting for the bus, when in a
club, on the street, in their bed or in the bath: every place where they may possibly feel bored. Youngsters want to be stimulated
all the time, everywhere and will search for ways to avoid boredom.

Expression

Occasions: youngsters aren't only going to school and returning home, a lot of other places are also relevant to them. There is a
difference between Generation Y's everyday context (e.g. practicing hobbies) and special occasions (milestones, special events).
The expression, content and channel depends on this context.

Channels: Millennials are using several channels: they are constantly connected online on laptop or mobile, they are looking for
inspiration on television or on YouTube and events are the perfect way to make everything about the experiences. It's not an 'or'
story, but an 'and' story.

Live & learn

Relevance

The 'why' question is very relevant to Millennials - who are often referred to as Generation (WH)Y. This fifth theme evolved around
'live/life inspiration': why do Millennials do what they do? What's their bigger goal in life?

When being young there is always something new to see, do or experience for the first time - there is an entire world out there to
explore and facing the world with open arms is vital. At the same time youth is also the time of self-discovery: getting to know who
you are by looking back at past experiences. For every decision, youngsters have to figure out what they really want. It's an on-
going quest where it's not only about today but also about the future. Youngsters are enjoying the ride, but they do not forget
about the destination. They see being young as a time of 'live and learn': exploring new domains, making mistakes, trying again
and developing an own identity along the way. It's not because YOLO (you only live once) that YOLT (you only live today)!

Expression

Youngsters learn to fall and to stand up again and take away some individual lessons. However, they also need people around
them to help them develop: friends and family are 'life benchmarks' ; other peers (celebrities, schoolmates, colleagues, etc.) are
also used to create an own preference pallet. Feedback from others is also necessary in the quest to make the right decisions and
develop one's own identity.

"I hated my job and I felt extremely depressed. I decided to leave my job, as I had seen enough of the negative side of human
kind. I have never felt so grateful for being young and being able to just get up and leave with no regrets. I now decided to be a
vet and definitely feel like I have no obstacles on my way and I am still young so I can start everything all over again." Didi, f, 29,
Finland

How these themes are manifested in the daily lives of Gen Y

When analyzing the five key themes in the lives of Millennials, it became clear to us that they are not just driving their everyday
choices but also clearly influence Generation Y's consumer behavior. Each of the themes can be linked to current evolutions in
Gen Y's media usage and broader lifestyle trends.

Celebrating Youth: The party-cipation trend

Millennials increasingly want to go to events where the excitement originates from feeling part of the crowd. They want to feel part
of something greater and, in an age where they are often separated by screens, they value the moments where they can come
together and connect with peers. Not only connections with digital communities, but first and foremost with people in real units -
and not exclusively age or gender peers. As our social and professional lives are configured more and more by bits and bytes, we
see an increase in Generation Y's longing for material substance and corporality. Conviviality is gaining in interest in our sporting
activities; people share challenges and experiences. We are on the eve of a breakthrough of 'sportainment' and 'party-cipation'.

Some examples:

Run Dem Crew: a movement founded by Charlie Dark in 2007 as an alternative to traditional stuffy running clubs. Runners start
with a hug and then run together without any competitive goal. The Run Dem Crew is now sponsored by Nike.

Tough Mudder: a boot camp for everyone, not only for the most sporting types. It started in the US in 2010 and immediately had
20,000 participants. The general philosophy is group thinking and participating implies you are to help and motivate others. In the
meanwhile Tough Mudder organizes 52 different events on a yearly basis and no less than 700,000 people (25% of which are
women) took part in 2013.2)

Naked Run for Freedom: originated from the Danish Roskilde festival. The festival encourages guests to get naked and race for
charity. Runners are only allowed to wear a helmet and shoes. The annual recurrent attraction at Roskilde is the naked run
around the campsite. Whether motivation comes from the free ticket to the next year's festival given to the male and female
winners, a desire to contribute to a worthy cause or the wish to experience a feeling of freedom, dozens of participants try their
hand at nude-running every year.

Color run: 5 km of running while being sprayed with paint powder: a contest without competition, figures or statistics, it is simply
about enjoying the mutual activity, also called party-cipation.

Tomorrowland: the biggest global EDM (Electronic Dance Music) festival in Belgium attracting 360,000 GenYers from 212
countries during two weekends of celebrating youth in the amazing surroundings of a fantasy world consisting of dancing elves,
fountains and magical decorations.

Ditching 'boring': The serendipity trend

As a reaction to our behavior which is predicted by algorithms, the over-personalization of products, services and ad messages,
too many suggested links or purchases in our social media, on e-commerce sites or even in shops, we are fighting a harder battle
against boredom. We feel an increasing need for unexpected, coincidental, fun discoveries and surprises in a society in which
everything is becoming too predictable. It has been scientifically proven that a sandwich is better when prepared by someone else,
because otherwise we anticipate too much on the taste (based on the fact that we know the ingredients), which kills the appetite.
Many inventions and discoveries are the consequence of 'sheer luck', as serendipity could be described. Think about x-rays,
Kellogg's cornflakes, 3M's Post-its, the HP inkjet printer, Viagra, the teabag, penicillin or the discovery of America. So the notion
serendipity is also important in a way that it could be at the start of a new economy, The Serendipity Economy, where other less
fixed methods of collaboration increase the chances of coincidental discoveries. Collaborative social networks for companies such
as Yammer and more open-ended research methods such as Consumer Consulting Boards are supporting this new way of
business thinking.

Even the number 1 algorithm company, Google, still shows the 'I'm feeling lucky' button that immediately takes you to the first
search result based on your search words. This is possibly costing Google a yearly 110 million dollars in missed income from
advertising. And how about Google's famous Doodles. Aren't they regularly surprising and intriguing us and making a boring
search job more fun? But it is also 'business an sich', such as the lovely surprise boxes on notanotherbill.com or the Belgian
deauty.be (which stands for Discover Beauty) or the 'Pochette surprise' for 20€ at the fashionable Paris retailer Colette. Panera
bread, the American bakery-and-café chain, has also included a healthy portion of serendipity in its MyPanera loyalty card.

Talking about playing with cards… board games, which traditionally have strict rules, now also give more room to coincidences.
Examples are Cards against humanity - immensely popular in the US - and Shut you Mao - new and since recently sponsored by
Kickstarter.

FIGURE 3. SHUT YOU MAO

Computer games such as Minecraft are very popular with the youngest generation. Minecraft is an open world game that has no
specific goals for the player to accomplish, allowing players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game. Since its
release at the end of 2011, it has sold over 33 million copies. 22tracks.com is a curated jukebox which contains 22 playlists of 22
tracks each. All tracks are selected by deejays from four cities. The idea is that you get surprised, that you discover new genres
and new music, without registering. In the travel sector there is getgoing.com where you get a discount because they choose
your destination, so you are rewarded for your flexibility.

Renault introduced serendipity in this year's test drives with the 'Va va voom' button but the version for girls was the most
successful one on YouTube. Jeep introduced the 'Get lost' button on their GPS system. Jeep drivers can select it and choose their
terrain from options like mountain, sand or woods. The GPS will then take them to one of 28 off-road destinations in the middle of
nowhere.

And last but not least, Heineken has been using serendipity since 2013 as the core of their positioning and viral marketing. From
the departure roulette through the #dropped campaign all the way to the most recent Christmas carol karaoke which has already
attained more than 2.5 million views since its launch last week.

Share stories: The shortcut economy trend

Millennials have been taught all their lives to make as little effort as possible yet to find and reach what they want when they want
it in a way that suits them best. They have grown up with a rather natural 'shortcut reflex'. Older generations sometimes wrongfully
mistake Millennials for being idle. There is not one single reason why we should make a detour, yet we do so every day, because
we were taught wrongly, because we have been conditioned differently. So we do it out of habit or because there are rules,
trainings and legislations which keep us from taking shortcuts.

The access to information, technology, money and kindred spirits (peers) has been largely facilitated by social media and sharing.
Just think about how P2P networks have done damage to the music, TV and movie business. We will see an endless flow of new
peer-to-peer and shortcut initiatives which - based on the Millennials' passion - will rock the boat of several classic sectors.
Existing business models will get under pressure as a result of the Gen Y consumers' urge to take a quicker, easier, cheaper and
less strenuous shortcut to the solution.

A few examples of this shortcut economy:

In the education sector: the so-called MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) such as Khan Academy, a non-profit
educational website providing free world-class education for anyone anywhere through a video library and over 100,000
practical exercises. Other examples include eDX, Coursera and Coderdojo, coaching youngsters aged 7 to 18 years to learn
how to code in a cosy club context, stressing the usage of open-source free software.
In the mobility sector: Lyft is a cellphone application which allows users to 'order' a driver to their location in minutes. During
their ride, passengers can play their own music and charge their mobile devices. All drivers are subjected to a criminal
background check as well as a vehicle inspection and a two-hour training session. At the end of the trip, passengers pay the
driver the amount of their choice in the form of a (technically optional) donation. Because Lyft facilitates pre-arranged travel
instead of on-the-street taxi-hailing and operates on a donation system, its drivers do not need a taxi license. Although
payment is not guaranteed, the majority of Lyft users are willing to pay the drivers a satisfactory rate.
 In the travel sector: Gen Y is the fastest growing customer segment in the travel industry. They are expected to finance half
of all travel spending by 2020. Millennials are adventure seekers. Millennials want a great place to stay and an experience
which fits with them, not an impersonal treatment in an anonymous environment. The industry has already created some new
travel experiences that tap into this trend, such as portable container hotels that allow guests to stay in more off-the-beaten-
track locations (e.g. Sleeping Around, Sleepbox Hotel). Peer-to-peer lodging companies are challenging traditional hotels.
Generation Y is simply more accustomed to networking with and trusting peers (Van den Bergh, et al, 2014).

Live & learn: Mono-tasking is the new multi-tasking

As a result of the recession, the youngest of the Millennials are experiencing more difficulties in finding a job than their older
peers. Since they graduated, they have experienced the consequences of the global crisis. They can no longer save money and
are obliged more than ever to make choices when it comes to leisure expenses. One out of three Millennials is dissatisfied with his
buying power and the number of young students with debts is rising (Van den Bergh, 2013).

According to the American Psychological Association Millennials are the most stressed generation ever. Youth unemployment and
social media peer pressure are the main sources of stress for Gen Y. Even those who were lucky enough to find a job have less
prosperous future outlooks. The starting salary - when corrected for inflation - has dramatically decreased since 2000 and half of
all graduates started in a function they actually didn't need their degree for (Huffington, 2013). As a direct consequence of these
augmented stress levels, the youngest Millennials and the next Generation Z have a more realistic and down-to-earth attitude
when compared to the 'Yes, We Can' - older part. In a recent Viacom study, survival girl Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger
Games is defined as the new icon of the young generation. In the same study a substantial 84% of youngsters state 'You always
have to be prepare and need to have an exit plan for every possible emergency situation". Almost half of the youngest Millennials
is afraid of school violence and many of them are still referring to the destructive forces of nature (e.g. Hurricane Sandy). In a very
competitive and unstable working environment, it has become crucial to Millennials and post-Millennials to hyper-differentiate and
to stand out from the masses. The youth has adapted a mono-tasking attitude and wants to learn and develop skills up to expert
levels. Millennials are DIY YouTube pupils who are on the look-out for the best tutorials and are dedicated to keep working and
improving their skills until they are the very best. This specific focus on one task or skill allows them to have a better control of
their own lives and to escape from a society full of overstimulation and stress (MTV press, 2013). In a global study by InSites
Consulting among Millennials, half of them found it very important to outdo their peers in a certain hobby or skill. Almost 8 out of 10
(78%) claims their friends would consider them to be an expert in at least one domain. Niche expertise is the new social currency:
the more obscure, super-niche or nerdy, the cooler - especially if you can build an online fan base or even commerce from your
own expertise.

Whenever, wherever: Blending Gen Y touch points

Accessing TV content through VOD and other options has generated some worry in the industry that it would steal time from live
TV viewing. What Viacom found is that live TV remains the dominant way to access video content. Even in Europe, where new
forms of access are becoming increasingly more prevalent, the frequency of watching live TV still soars above the rest. Passion
for TV content is driving consumers to seek out new ways to watch on other devices, creating new TV-watching occasions and
allowing TV content to fill more time slots during the day. As device ownership grows, Viacom is seeing a trend towards multi-
screen homes. Additionally, access to time-shifted options doesn't compete with live TV viewing, it actually supports it. Seventy-
four percent of all the Millennials who participated in Viacom's European study watches live TV daily. When looking at the daily
live TV consumption amongst those who have the ability to connect to the Internet, it actually went up to 81% (Kurz, 2013).

Connecting with Millennials is not about being there all the time. It's not about figuring out what the most popular spot is and just
setting up a presence there. It's not about just having a Facebook fan page or a Twitter feed. Brands like MTV and Comedy
Central connect with Millennials everywhere and at the right time – music, events, parties, reality television, cellphone services.
Whether it is online or offline, through TV or through a smartphone, whether it's in New York or in Frankfurt… Millennials don't
care about where MTV hangs out. They expect brands to follow them and only when they do, Millennials will return the favor.
Although watching television continues to be a social experience, the traditional 'everyone sit down and watch a show together'
has gradually been replaced by, 'let's sit down separately and watch a show together.' Viacom strives to create programming that
people talk about and social media is one of the channels that it uses. By building engagement through social media channels, it
enhances the TV-viewing experience for its audience. Last year, Viacom held the top three top-tweeted TV shows in the US - at
the same time: Catfish: The TV Show (MTV) - 511,226 tweets, Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta (VH1) - 504,301 tweets and Teen Wolf
(MTV) - 283,490 tweets (Chmielewski, 2013).
How Gen Y's themes of life are translated in the Vimn northern Europe positioning
We found that VIMN Northern Europe is already 'close' to the lives of millennials, in terms of both content and contexts. Millennials
feel that the various themes of life are interwoven in the 'content' that MTV and Comedy Central offer. In this next section we will
discuss how the themes are translated in the content of MTV and Comedy Central.

Celebrating youth

MTV is definitely celebrating youth with their content. This shows on different levels:

The positive and light side of life: MTV content is often daring, exciting and shows people who don't have to act very
responsible yet; e.g. Jackass, Viva la Bam.
MTV content also shows people who are partying, who are having fun and are enjoying their lives to the fullest; e.g. Jersey
Shore, My Super Sweet 16.
MTV content is also about individual stories and how it's not always easy being young. Making mistakes is allowed. Personal
development and the importance of others are central in these shows; e.g. The Real World, The Challenges.
Connections and relationships are very important on MTV. It's all about friends and love; e.g. Disaster Date, Punk*d, The X-
Effect.

Having fun is one of the characteristics of Celebrating Youth and watching humorous shows is one way to do that. The fact that
Comedy Central revolves around humor makes the channel fit perfectly with 'Celebrating Youth'. Cartoon series are often silly and
full of absurd humor. Part of being young is also being able to laugh with stupid things without having to think too much or giving
an explanation for it. Examples of popular cartoons are South Park, American Dad and Family Guy. Besides that, non-cartoon
series make youngsters think about themselves: they see situations, often with other people and they already imagine themselves
in that situation. 'Community', a show on Comedy Central, is such an example. 'Community' follows a group of students at a
community college in the US. They become part of an unintended Spanish class and eventually grow and learn together and,
individually, everyone develops a close relationship with each other. They all have their personal flaws which are the base of the
show's humor.

"Without a doubt Community is my number one choice for Celebrating Youth. The show shows adult people going back to school
for a better future. While they have serious work to do, they also do what they want to do and have fun doing it." Edslave, m, 27,
Netherlands

Ditching 'boring'

Humor is a perfect way to get rid of boring situations:

It is often unexpected
It evokes some kind of emotions
It is daring and unconventional
Situations are often recognizable

Comedy Central is in that sense 'ditching boring' with all its programs. Examples are South Park, Little Britain, Tosh.O and Happy
Tree friends. We saw that, in order to 'ditch boring', you have to break the routine and bring something unique. The combination of
different types of content on different channels makes that MTV also ditches boring for youngsters:

Music: youngsters go online and search for the latest music videos in order to ditch boring
News and tips & tricks: providing a lot of tips about all kinds of things that youngsters are interested in: gossip, make-up,
style, music, going out etc.
Shows and programs: Content (shows about Celebrating Youth) and context (shows at moments when youngsters needs it
e.g. late in the night, when they come home after school etc.) make that MTV ditches boring

But not only the small moments are tackled, it's also about ditching the Big Boring: people who are facing challenges to turn
around their lives. A classic show on MTV that still is very popular is MADE. MADE is a program that follows the life of someone
who wants to challenge himself by doing something completely out of their comfort zone e.g. being part of a football team or
participating in a school's beauty pageant. This show truly Celebrates Youth (aiming for an ambitious dream) but on the other
hand also gives inspiration: if they can do it, then I can do it too?
"All of them have an impossible dream- it seem to be impossible but MTV makes it possible that these guys can fulfil their
dreams. I think this is really a life story and I was always happy if those guys kick some asses with their big change in life!" Julia,
f, 18, Austria

Share stories

With their reality-TV programs, MTV always shares stories. Comedy Central also shares stories, but from a more 'distant' level.
Those are the stories you can tell to your friends ("Did you see this on TV?"). Both they also manage to show content that fits with
the important elements that a good story has to have:

Humor (e.g. Zach Stone is gonna be Famous, South Park),

Unpredictability (e.g. Jackass, Family Guy)
Relatability (e.g. MADE, Community)
Emotions (e.g. Plain Jane, The Daily Show)

Whenever, wherever

Using different channels is important: you don't have to be too pushy nor should you overkill: it still has to be relevant. VIMN
Northern Europe is present through different channels but manages to cope with them well:

Online (website MTV and CC, Facebook-pages, Twitter etc.)

TV (TV channels)
Mobile (apps)
Events (e.g. MTV Music Awards)

Both MTV and Comedy Central channels integrate contexts that are very close to Millennials (school, going out, holidays, work
life, etc.) in their content and share their content through a wide variety of channel contexts (TV, online, events, etc.). An example
is Roskilde. After Roskilde, MTV Denmark broadcast footage of shows from the festival on their website, leading to a win-win
scenario: even if you did not attend Roskilde, you could still watch the concert - or if you were there you can now relive it, thanks
to MTV.

"Cool, I thought immediately! So I could immediately form an impression of how my peers at the festival has seen the concert
and how the atmosphere in general is such a place... and then I could also see a concert, I had not been to. How great is that?
:D" Ollie0341, m, 20, Denmark

Live&learn

By offering relevant content and contexts throughout the lives of Millennials, VIMN Northern Europe acts as a kind of 'live/life
companion', providing inspiration (and a bit of coaching) to Millennials throughout their 'live and learn' journey. Youngsters want to
be inspired on the spot and MTV shows to be a good guide. Real-life peers are often the center of attention in their shows and
youngsters get inspired about their own lives when seeing others act in a certain way. Where MTV rather shows people in a real-
life setting, Comedy Central is more about series and shows. Series inspire them by looking at others in humorous situations and
imaging themselves in that kind of situation. Comedians, comedy shows and cartoons are watched because of the good jokes:
those jokes can even be conversation starters for later conversations with friends.

Sometimes the characters in these shows or the content of the shows are aspirational, sometimes the characters in the shows are
dissociative. One person can be inspired positively by 'My Super Sweet Sixteen', another one would be repulsed by the
outrageous diva behavior. In My Super Sweet Sixteen girls and boys with rich parents can throw an exclusive party for an
important milestone: their 16th birthday. They often choose a special theme, buy fabulous dresses or outfits and complete their
birthday party with a star performance and get an expensive car as birthday gift.

"One of the TV Series that really Celebrates Youth on MTV is Sweet 16, because it shows young girls who are having the
biggest party and MTV made everything happen what they wish. Every time I watched that show I really wished I was one of
those girls because every show is amazing." Julia, f, 18, Austria

In other words: Generation Y's key themes of life prove to be present in the current content available on MTV and Comedy
Central. However, whereas the positioning might be 'spot on', this does not necessarily mean that the execution always is. In
response to the findings, VIMN started to critically examine the extent to which current and future programs and content are
scoring on the Millennial themes of life. At its best, each program or show should at least score a certain minimum for each of the
themes. This allows VIMN Northern Europe to stay Gen-Y-proof.

Conclusion: Making brands generation-y-proof

In today's world of media clutter and with an ever-increasing marketing-savviness of Millennials, deploying a traditional marketing
approach is often not enough for brands to be 'Millennial-proof'. As power shifts increasingly to the consumer side of the spectrum,
Millennials expect more from brands than before, with the five Viacom pillars again being highly relevant:

Millennials want brands to be like humans, as opposed to being like companies

Millennials want brands to provide relevance, as opposed to just selling products
Millennials want brands to focus on profit through purpose, as opposed to just focus on profit
Millennials want brands to celebrate positiveness, as opposed to a strong focus on negativity and frictions
Millennials want brands to kill boring, as opposed to being boring
Millennials want brands to share stories, as opposed to just sending messages
Millennials want brands to communicate when & where relevant, as opposed to when & where irrelevant

This case study showcases one of the arrows in VIMN's arsenal in the continuing effort to get and remain close to youth and Gen
Y. The broad qualitative exploration of the key themes of life through the community research project did fuel VIMN Northern
Europe's brand marketing and sales teams. From a methodology point of view, this study proves the importance of a well-selected
target group and gathering the right knowledge up-front to be able to get the richest output. On top, this community proved the
power of one single multi-nationality community with Generation Y.

Acknowledgements
Special words of thanks to Maarten Lagae and Henri Van Bost for their brilliant account and research work involved with the
research project and the workshops as well as to all the VIMN ambassadors and brand teams involved, especially to Manuela
Apitz, Mattias Behrer and Christian Kurz for their inspiring feedback and help with this paper.

Endnotes
1. Van den Bergh, J. & Behrer, M. (2013). How Cool Brands Stay Hot. Branding to Generation Y - Second Edition, Kogan Page,
p.7.
2. Here's a short preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUwXTfWxCTM

References
Van den Bergh, J. & Behrer, M. (2013). How Cool Brands Stay Hot. Branding to Generation Y - Second Edition, Kogan Page.

Barton C, Fromm J, Egan C. The Millennial Consumer. Debunking Stereotypes [Online]. 16 Apr 2012 [Accessed 21 August 2012);
Available from:
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/536_BCG_The_Millennial_Consumer_Apr_2012%20(3)_tcm80-
103894.pdf. From: Van den Bergh, J. & Berger, M. (2013). How Cool Brands Stay Hot - Second Edition, Kogan Page. P.13

Van den Bergh, J., Konings, H., Palmaerts, T., Van Belleghem, S., Mastboom, S. (2014). 5 Paradoxical Consumer Trends for
2014. Available from: http://www.slideshare.net/joerivandenbergh/5-paradoxical-consumer-trends

Van den Bergh, J. (2013) Youth Around The World Report, InSites Consulting.

Huffington, A., (2013, 19 Feb.) Millennials Come of Age as America's Most Stressed Generation. Accessible from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/millennials-stress_b_2718986.html

MTV Press (2013, 18 June). New MTV Study Shows Sharp Differences Between Younger and Older Millennials. Available from:
http://mtvpress.com/press/release/new_mtv_study_show_sharp_differences_between_younger_and_older_millennials

Kurz, Christian (2013). TV S.M.A.R.T. Anytime Anywhere, The evolution continues. Viacom InSights. Available from:
http://vimninsights.viacom.com/post/78442961166/

Chmielewski, D.C. (2013), MTV's 'Catfish' was top-tweeted TV show last week, SocialGuide says. Available from:
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/29/entertainment/la-et-ct-mtvs-catfish-the-tv-show-20130729

The authors
Joeri Van den Bergh is Co-Founder and Managing Partner, InSites Consulting, Belgium.

Patrick Alders is SVP and General Manager, VIMN Advertising & Brand Solutions Northern Europe, and SVP and General
Manager, VIMN Strategy & Business Intelligence Northern Europe, Germany.

Anneleen Boullart is Senior Research Consultant, InSites Consulting, Belgium.

Martijn Van Bijnen is Business Director, InSites Consulting, Belgium.

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