Key Takeaways from YMS 2014 Conference, Pt. 1

Voxburner's Youth Marketing Strategy 2014 Conference in New York, New York was "a day of insight, expertise and discovery." I learned key Millennial insights relevant to youth marketers today from leaders from brands including Spotify, MTV, Facebook, Tumblr, Uber, and more.

If I could the sum up what I learned from the event in one word, it would be “Disruption.”

Disruption defines not only what Millennials appreciate in brands, but how they live their lives. Rather than thinking about how things are, they think about how things could be be, and are now known for their desires to shake up and mend old systems with new resources. Most dramatically, they have shaken up the conventional timeline of a person’s life. As children, it has been drilled in our heads that after we finish school, there were only three things left to do: build our careers, get married, and have children. As a result of modern technology and a shift in political ideology, Millennials have deviated from this prewritten path in order to create their own paths and discover outside goals.

The ability to simply learn a craft or subject with a simple Google search has broken down the barriers to entry in many fields—you can literally Google how to be a CEO. They have granted themselves the ability to be driven by passion, and creativity is at the cornerstone of their accomplishments. Today, creativity is a form of social currency. We are rewarded with social approval via social media platforms when sharing our creativity with others. Because of this, they see immense possibility in pursuing careers in creative fields, a move that were previous generations wrote off as unwise careers choices.

With the information and tools technology makes available, Millennials can “become older” and achieve their creative and career goals at an earlier age, a phenomenon that results in more time for play. Millennials now want an extended youth, and believe there is more to life than just working a job and making a family. They have found a way to create a life of meaning, and a life that satisfies their individual needs and wants.  With their extra time, they want to experience more in one lifetime than was ever possible for those growing up in previous generations.

This deviation from the standard life timeline is an example of how Millennials have disrupted their broader life path and goals, but disruption also runs through their lives on a day-to-day basis. They like things simple and quick, and work to create life-hacks that will save time. Several Millennial brands have succeeded by simply repurposing a familiar product or service. For example, Uber, a company that utilized the crowd-sourcing ability of mobile phones to completely disrupt the public-transportation industry.

Overall Millennials are a creative, self-expressive, resourceful adults that refuse to be stopped by the boundaries set before them.