No one enjoys food on the run more than Bill Jacobs, and today, he combines his love of chow with his smart POV on radio and Millennials. Yes, there’s a connection. – FJ
It may not be in your lexicon, but the term “Fast Casual” was created in the late 1980s to describe restaurants that are a cut above fast food chains but don’t offer full table service and wait-staff. Think Panera, Qdoba, and Chipotle.
These are big brands that spend a lot of money in marketing and advertising, and like most other industries, they have their own Fast Casual Executive Summit which was held last month in New Orleans.
While they continue to advertise on traditional media outlets, these eateries are grappling with ways to connect with harder-to-reach Millennials. One session – “The Big (Easy) Idea: Reaching Millennials Via Mobile” – featured panelists who claim that “there’s no field riper for a restaurant sales harvest than people born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s.” It was covered in a publication called “Pizza Marketplace” and makes a number of observations you may find interesting.
So let’s start by reading this next sentence sitting down – these panelists call “mass advertising a waste with Millennials.” Clearly, radio people would beg to differ, but it doesn’t negate the fact that executives in the “Fast Casual” universe are being told by experts that traditional ad tactics are a waste of money.
While you may find this disturbing, some of the takeaways from this industry get-together might in fact be helpful to any radio brand that targets Generation Y. As they discussed at the FCES, using mobile technology and building relationships with fans has to be at the forefront.
And if you think that chasing Millennials is a lost cause, think again, because some very big brands are hard at work pursuing twentysomethings and their elusive tastes and habits.
Consider the following from the article:
- “They’re in it for the fun as much as for the food” – Now if you substitute the word “food” for “music,” you’ve got a recipe for a strong radio station. It’s crucial for stations, especially those that target Gen Y, to bake in a consistent “fun factor” with jocks, videos, positioning, promotions, and marketing. Being a great collection of well-tested songs is a commodity they get on iPods or Spotify (without the commercials).
- “Millennials listen mostly to brands that connect with them personally” – Lori Lewis has consistently made this point and she’ll continue to do so because without that personal connection, you’ll never be able to truly create and maintain a fan base. Engaging your fans – socially, on the phones, or in person – is paramount to a station’s success in reaching Millennials.
- “No customer is as wedded to their smartphones as are Millennials” – We see that in our Techsurveys, and the mobile addiction is apparent in other research, too. Station apps are your mobile marketing tools – assuming you’re doing more with that simple streaming. A mobile app for a station looking to reach Gen Y should be a marketing and sharing portal, not just a place to hear your radio station. On-demand access, unique content, videos on the fly, and the ability for fans to send audio messages directly to the station, should all be part of mobile feature sets that differentiate your brand apart from pure-plays. The “Gruvr” app we developed with the Listener Driven Radio team is another example of empowering Millennials to participate in the music selection process.
- “Market directly to Millennials with tailored messaging” – For years we’ve urged stations to create more than undifferentiated email blasts. Use your database to your advantage and ask questions of your fans in order to provide them with a better experience. If Avenged Sevenfold is coming to town, wouldn’t it be more impactful to target Millennials who told you they’re a favorite? Better yet, build and nurture text databases to connect with them on their preferred communications platform. If you’ve got a movie promotion, wouldn’t it make sense to target those who signed up for a text club that’s based around movies?
- “Millennials like freebies but dislike using methods that are even mildly cumbersome” – OK, we know how to do this. While most stations have (thankfully) moved past contest triggers that force listeners to listen for a trigger at a random time during the workday, it’s still important that your contests and giveaways are easily understood and “hoop free.”
- And here’s a bonus: Nowhere at this session did they apparently discuss giving customers an amazing experience. But radio stations have the ability to do just that. Whether it is physically taking listeners “backstage” or putting together “Google Hangouts” with uber fans of an artist, chances are that your station can pull off some amazing things. And it’s likely these are experiences they can’t get anywhere else.
Now I know that some people reading this are thinking that radio has already lost Millennials, and that punch lists like this are a fool’s errand. There is no shortage of pundits and naysayers who will tell you that radio’s already blown it with this influential group of twentysomethings.
Clearly, Generation Y looks at the world differently than their parents, but so did Boomers and Xers when they were in the same age range.
It’s a matter of taking the time to understand this generation, and game plan accordingly. As we see in the Fast Casual sector and at DASH with the automotives, Millennials are a marketing challenge. In a recent Detroit Free Press article, Toyota’s VP of sales Paul Holdrige points out the painful reality: “Ultimately, the world is going to get younger. We’ve watched other brands die. If you don’t change your demographics over time, you put yourself in a perilous position.”
That doesn’t sound like “we give up” talk. For radio, it means coming to that same realization and working harder and smarter to have impact and move the needle.
We’ll be surveying thousands of Millennials in Techsurvey10 which launches in early 2014. Here’s your chance to take a deep dive into your own audience and learn what they’re doing when they’re not listening to you. It’s the best investment in the future of your brand you can make.
And you might just learn the keys to connecting with Gen Y.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Fred: Excellent stuff. Succinct and poignant. It helps me tons. Thanks, Rob
Rob, so happy you find it worthwhile. A high compliment indeed. Thanks for reading it.