FOCUS ON BUSINESS - March 2005

Remember the Crocs when marketing to Gen Y

By Steve Stovall
Special to the Herald

One way to understand the market segment known as Generation Y, those born between 1977 (some say 1979) and 1994, is to examine Crocs – those brightly colored, hard rubber shoes.

They are an enormous hit with members of Gen Y, some 71 million strong in the United States.

To many of us, this footwear is the epitome of ugly. So what! The manufacturer in Niwot is selling them as fast as the company can make them.

How did this happen?

Crocs are definitely non-mainstream and they have no appeal for the mass market – just what Gen Y wants; something distinctively theirs.

Just take the portion of this market segment ages 14 to 22, represented by Durango High School and Fort Lewis College, and you are talking about almost 6,000 consumers in Durango.

Savvy marketers are trying to figure out how to effectively woo them.

Here are four marketing suggestions that may work.

Minding your own business is not a good idea. Take trips to Cortez, Farmington and Pagosa Springs. Observe what the competition is doing, how they operate, what brands they sell, what customer service they provide, what prices they charge.

Because Gen Y consumers are rich with information, you need to know as much as they do. Today's young shoppers browse and compare prices without ever leaving home.

Some Web sites provide comparison-shopping services, listing prices from high to low and identifying where to buy products and services.

So Gen Y buyers know almost as much about the products and services they purchase as do the salespeople selling to them.

They also have extensive knowledge about the competition.

Anybody who sells to this market segment had better know the market place.

Gen Y has added a new dimension to word-of-mouth advertising. Think Internet, e-mail and cell phones. These young consumers talk to one another about brands and retail outlets faster than one can speed dial.

This informal network helps to create "buzz" that is sometimes ingenious marketing and sometimes purely accidental.

An excellent book, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, discusses several case studies where this marketing communications has paid off handsomely.

Event marketing, one of the latest and most effective ways to generate "buzz," means establishing a presence where young people go to play and be entertained: local sporting events and games, as well as dances and concerts.

Sponsor these events or provide gifts and giveaways – anything to be a very visible part of the action.