Businessweek Gets Creative with Millennial Marketing

This month, another group of eager college grads leave their dream campuses and enter their professional careers. Or so they hope.

It is no secret the economy is better than it was four years ago, but things are still far from perfect. As a result, many move back home to live with their parents as they search for full-time jobs. Businessweek is now targeting those kids and parents.

Businessweek, along with Walrus, create an intriguing website that let’s parent co-habiting with their kids send them sarcastic and passive aggressive e-cards encouraging them to move out of the house. In return, if the parents fill out a form, they can get 12 free issues of the publications in print or digital. The magazine claims the kids would then have a chance to view the publication and hopefully see a tip or two to land a job faster.

Take a look at some of the e-cards Businessweek had in mind.

Now while I don’t feel that reading Businessweek will immediately land a millennial a job, I do understand the marketing tactic. While some may see these e-cards as mean and hurtful, I see them as a playful way of gaining a new audience. Many parents would love to have their children live with them for as long as possible and the kids know that. By sending these sarcastic cards, it’s just a way for parent and child to share a laugh. It is giving parents another way to connect with their children, something I imagine all parents want to do. In the process, Businessweek gains some new readers, both from an older generation and the millennial generation.

So while mean to some, I applaud these efforts. Way to go Businessweek.