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Reaching Generation Y Through Sponsorship
Depending on who you ask, they were born somewhere between 1978 and 1995, and are a fickle and sophisticated group of consumers with an immense amount of purchasing power. What differentiates the Generation Y population from the somewhat misunderstood Generation Xers is that Generation Y kids don't want to be marketed to. They're confident and they demand individual experiences. They don't want their interests to become popular because popular means movement to the mainstream.
Credibility plays a significant role in successfully reaching this group. Do you support the event or sport, or are you just jumping on the bandwagon once it's been established? Are you contributing to the development of the sport or just exploiting imagery and your association with an event to promote your own brand? Below are a few strategies for successfully marketing to Generation Y through sponsorship:
Participate: Generation Y's interests lie in activities that they themselves participate, rather than pursuits in which they are passive viewers. In order to gain credibility, sponsors must get involved in the participatory aspects of Generation Y's favorite activities. Instead of slapping its name on a skate park, a sponsor can more quickly build trust with Generation Y by building skate parks or funding after-school snowboarding or music programs. If your employees (especially brand managers and anyone else you expect to be involved in a sponsorship) participate in their favorite activities, Generation Yers will be more likely to accept your advances
Ask for Their Assistance: Generation Yers are likely to be more technology savvy than we are and they're very self-reliant. Instead, involve them in the sponsorship, not to expose them to your brand, but to have them provide guidance on how your brand would be more meaningful to them.
Don't Waste Time: You must remember that this is a population growing up with cell phones and e-mail. They can communicate with anyone, anywhere, anytime. What are the implications for you? Well, Generation Yers are used to instant results and that means they expect instant gratification. Don't toy with them or lead them on.
Don't over-commercialize: If you bombard Generation Y with brand messages through your sponsorship, they'll likely tune out and move on, and you'll lose any credibility you may have gained. Also, consider sponsoring grassroots, controlled-access properties. Once something reaches the masses, it loses its edge. In the eyes of Generation Y, if you help broaden mass appeal, you'll be associated with the destruction of a sport, event, athlete or musician.
Get Creative: Generation Yers are a confident group who are quite expressive. If you sponsor to them, you stifle their ability to express themselves. Instead, support and encourage their creativity. If you sponsor a film-related property, consider backing a student filmmaking contest. If you're considering involvement in freeskiing (misnamed extreme skiing by marketers who don't ski), then activate by asking talented design students to create the graphics for skis you plan to give away in a promotion or auction. If you don't get creative, your Generation Y target audience won't have the opportunity to be creative.
