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. 

Kmart’s Ship My Pants Disrupting the Schema

I may be a little late to the party, but like many other internet users, I too saw the Kmart Ship My Pants video and thought it was a perfect mix of humor, information and marketing. In case you missed it, take a look.

Needless to say, the main reason this video garnered so much attention is because it sounds like “shit my pants.” As a 25-year-old kid, I have no problem with the verbiage. Ask a 65-year-old mother and you may have a different opinion.

However, looking at it through my marketing mind, I couldn’t praise Kmart’s creative and risky spot any more.

Like all marketing, we want people to talk about our products. In addition, we also want to inform the public of new services. This spot does both because it did a terrific job of disrupting the schema of the typical consumer.

What does that mean? Steve Knox, who I believed coined the term, said it best in a 2010 Fast Company article.

“You have many schemas operating at one time,” Knox said. “Here is one that you likely used today: When you got in your car, you had a schema that you would drive on the right-hand side of the road, and the person coming at you would drive on his or her right-hand side. You don't think about it. Your brain simply makes the assumption that this is how the world works.”

But what is someone was driving on the left-hand side of the road? Chances are, you would mention it to the next person you communicated with. Why? It disrupted your schema.

These types of ads are not common in our culture anymore. Some question the tactic, but the good marketers don’t run away from disrupting schemas. They welcome it, just as Bill Kiss, chief digital officer for Sears and Kmart, did for developing this ad.

“I wouldn’t call it hesitation,” said Kiss when asked if he had second thoughts. “I would call it healthy and direct conversation and debate. There was a lot of that. But I’m a marketer at heart so I know that if you really want to disrupt and get the point across, sometimes you need to break some paradigms.” In other words, you need to do something others won’t expect, like driving on the wrong side of the road.

Not that I have started shopping online at Kmart, but I truly applaud their marketing and risky behavior on their Ship My Pants campaign.

WOMM is Not for Everyone

Last week, I had the privilege of interviewing one of the biggest names in word of mouth marketing. I am not going to reveal his name, but believe you me, he knows what he is talking about when it comes to WOMM.

The interview was about his upcoming WOMM-U presentation for WOMMA, but one of his answers really stood out to me. When I asked what are his fundamentals of WOMM, he went over four tests that every WOMM program need to pass. He then iterated that if your program didn’t pass each test, word of mouth marketing is not for you. I decided to share this because even if you are not trying to implement a program like this, any company, no matter the size or business, should pass each one. Let’s jump into it.

Is Your Story Interesting?

Needless to say, your company’s story needs to be different. It needs to provoke an emotional response from your fans that encourage people to talk about it. If you are content with being a boring insurance firm, which is not always the case, then WOMM is not for you.

Is Your Story Relevant to Your Audience

Not every story is going to resonate with everyone. For example, many new moms love to write everything that happens to their new baby. Being a 25-year-old single male in Chicago, you can imagine how little interest I have in these types of blogs. Then again, I am not their target audience. If your target audience doesn’t find your story relevant, then you are missing the big picture.

Is Your Story Authentic?

We put a big emphasis on ethics at WOMMA and for good reason. All good WOMM programs have an authentic story behind them. People hate being lied to and enjoy the classic tale of new business owners coming from nothing to making it big. Make sure you find your true angle of your story and highlight it.

Do People Care?

Most importantly, do people actually care about your brand? In the interview, the interview even said, “Do people actually give a fuck?” He’s right. If people don’t care, why in the world would they tell others? They wouldn’t. In order for people to stick their neck out and recommend your brand, you better have some conviction behind your company’s mission and that comes from an interesting, relevant and authentic story.

So does your word of mouth marketing program pass the four questions?