Boomers, Xers, and Nexters: A Brief Field Guide

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Boomers, Xers, and NextersA Brief Field Guide

• Barbara Hyde
• Communications Director
• American Society for Microbiology
• CESSE
• July 18, 2003
• Minneapolis, Minn.

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Generational Marketing
Generational Marketing is a strategic business
prospective. It is based on the premise that the
sum of a given group's past life experiences -
their upbringing, national and world events, war
experiences or the lack of them, social
phenomena, etc. - directly affects their present
mindset. This, in turn, affects their propensity
to accept or reject a selling message. Will
Ruch, CEO, Versant, Milwaukee WI
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Who Were Talking About

• Boomers1943-1960 (73.2 million)
• GenXers1960-1980 (70.1 million)
• Nexters1980-2000 (69.7 million)

Source Generations at Work
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Generational Themes
Source Center for Generational Studies
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Boomer Core Values

• Optimisim
• Team orientation
• Personal gratification
• Health and wellness
• Personal growth
• Youth
• Work
• Involvement

Source Generations at Work
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Boomer Motivational Messages

• Youre important to our success
• Youre valued here
• Your contribution is unique and important
• We need you
• I approve of you
• Youre worthy

Source Generations at Work
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GenXer Core Values

• Diversity
• Thinking globally
• Balance
• Technoliteracy
• Fun
• Informality
• Self-reliance
• Pragmatism

Source Generations at Work
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Messages That Motivate GenXers

• Do it your way
• Weve got the newest hardware and software
• There arent a lot of rules here
• Were not very corporate

Source Generations at Work
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Nexter Current Core Values

• Optimism
• Civic Duty
• Confidence
• Achievement
• Sociability
• Morality
• Street smarts
• Diversity

Source Generations at Work
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Messages That Motivate Nexters

• Youll be with bright, creative people
• Your boss is in his (or her) sixties
• You and your coworkers can help turn this company
  around
• You can be a hero here

Source Generations at Work
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The Way They See the World
Source Generations at Work
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Determine Generational Differences

• Perceived level of satisfaction
• Types of programs, services desired and delivery
  preferences
• Attitudes about meetings, time away from home and
  office
• Attitudes about governance and leadership of the
  association
• Loyalty to association
• Willingness to volunteer, motivations, preferred
  time commitments

Source Facing the Future
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Implications for Professional Societies
Dealing with diversity is the key to success, as
you must create a sense of affinity for a
broad-based membership. Local components need to
be more flexible in their programming and
management to allow for new lifestyles and
priorities. It will become increasingly difficult
to convince (current and potential) members that
their professional society understands their
needs and concerns if no one in the organization
looks like them, sounds like them, or is close to
their age. The ability to convert student members
to regular members, never an easy task, becomes
harder as the student population becomes more
diverse.
Source Mark Levin, Three Critical Trends,
Marketing Fast Facts, May 2003
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The Nexters??????????
New college graduates frequently enter the
workplace with a short-term career outlook,
without any goals of developing within their job
or even within their first company. Patty
Nelson, Director of Staffing, Tektronix,
Beaverton, OR
What does this mean for professional societies?
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Resources
Center for Generational Studies,
www.gentrends.com Facing the Future A Report on
the Major Trends and Issues Affecting
Associations, ASAE Foundation, 1999 The Fall of
Advertising and the Rise of PR, A. Ries and L.
Ries, Harper Business, 2002 Generations at Work,
R. Zemke, C. Raines, B. Filipczak, Performance
Research Associates, 2000 Rocking the Ages The
Yankelovich Report on Generational Marketing,
J.W. Smith and A. Clurman, Yankelovich Partners,
Inc., 1997