TAPPING W
INTO THE
MILLENNIAL
PSYCHE
BAS DE VOS LOOKS AT THE CHALLENGES AND
OPPORTUNITIES OF MOTIVATING A DIGITALLY
DRIVEN GENERATION.
80
R E WA R D S & L O YA LT Y S A
hile many are yet to enter the
workforce, the purchasing
power of the millennial
generation – those born
between 1980 and 2000 – is
immense. Business magazine
Forbes puts the generation’s annual buying power
at US$200-million per annum in the USA alone, and
predicts it will overtake the baby-boomers (those
born between 1946 and 1964) as the most powerful
group of consumers within a few years.
Businesses are therefore looking for ways of
appealing to millennials and retaining their loyalty,
but many struggle to adapt to the technologically
advanced, environmentally conscious demands of
members of this generation, who are characterised
as fast-paced, sensitive and remarkably social.
DIGITAL DISRUPTION
The phenomenon of mass digitisation has had an
extreme influence on millennials and is largely
responsible for shaping their rapid-response,
multitasking lifestyle. A recent study by Boston-
based Innerscope Research found that millennials
switch from laptop to smartphone to tablet etc.
27 times per hour on average. They are caught in
the throes of what has become known as the age of
‘digital disruption’, a term defined by technology-
media company TechTarget as “Change that occurs