Macy's & Hyundai: Millennials

For every second of every day that passes society moves farther into the future and the next generation of younger people becomes more and more important. Currently we find our society consistently concentrated on the millennial generation, which is made up of 80 million individuals and now outnumbers the baby boomer generation. When it comes to millennials a business may find that it is hard to spark their interest through just one simple marketing strategy, and the true way to spark a millennials attention is to market to them in multiple different ways. Two companies that are excelling at this type of approach are Hyundai and Macy’s. Both of these companies follow somewhat similar strategies when it comes to catching the focus of millennials. First they create some form of brand awareness and then they do something that is extremely important, which is marketing to the millennial consumer base in person at live events. For example, Hyundai knows that purchasing a new car is not popular among people of younger ages, so they create brand awareness by promoting their products in popular places, such as television shows like The Walking Dead. Once Hyundai has created awareness they continue promotion through live events related to these popular platforms. In the case of The Walking Dead, Hyundai created a live event at the New York Comic-Con and made an immersive experience for fans of the show with little bits of Hyundai promotion added in here and there. By doing this they are able to make a connection with consumer through a popular trend. A Hyundai representative explained the importance of the live event as “a way to fully surround this fan and this passion with our brand and the franchise.” Macy’s, in a similar fashion, invests in marketing in popular televisions shows. However, they then try to bring their product directly to the consumer at an event to show them in person what the product is like and to educate the consumer about their websites mobile capabilities through the use of portable electronic devices. A Macy’s representative explains the importance of their events as “Part of being relevant to the millennial consumer is being where they are with content that is interesting and engaging.”

Besides the creative event and marketing strategies of Macy’s and Hyundai, another company that has used the all-important live event to market to the millennial generation is Just for Men. Just for Men has creatively sponsored the National Beard & Mustache Championship at the House of Blues in New Orleans in the past. Throughout this event Just for Men planned out social media competitions to go along with the event, so that they could spread brand awareness. This type of event ultimately did just that for the company with their social media efforts creating a 15 percent increase in share of voice for the brand. Overall, a business cans see that creating unique events to market their product to millennials is one substantial way to break the ice when it comes to a generation with low levels of interest.