Who you calling a millennial?

“There is a danger in bifurcating the customer base into these nice names: boomers and millennials. As a proud member of Generation X, what ever happened to my generation? I think about it in terms of how do we understand customers as individuals.”



That’s what CVS VP marketing George Coleman had to say in December, at the annual Drug Store News Industry Issues Summit. I have been thinking about that a lot in the last couple months, as we worked on the New General Market report that appears in this issue.



For retailers and CPG companies, there is an inherent danger into lumping people together in neat little buckets — which might explain why “personalization” is such a big buzzword in the industry these days. With millennials, it is like playing Russian roulette with your marketing dollars.



In a May 15 column, “Trying to pin down the mosaic of millennial tastes,” New York Times reporter Sarah Lyall asks the same question every marketer in America wants to know the answer to right now: What do millennials want?



Lyall conducted her own mini focus group in a Brooklyn-hipster coffee bar. “I struggle with the term millennial,” one 25-year-old man told her. “Maybe this is a very millennial thing to say, but I don’t feel I’m of the same mind as everyone else just because I happened to be born in the same 15-year life span.”



As part of our ongoing coverage of the New General Market consumer, DSN has spent a lot of time — and ink — reporting on the influence millennials and multiculturalism are having on consumers as a whole. Hence, the “New General Market.”



The New General Market is a mind-set, not a consumer segment. Serving this new consumer is about ignoring demographics in favor of psychographics, needs and values.



The New General Market consumer demands a more honest, authentic experience with brands. They want community and connectedness with brands and companies that have a strong sense of identity and purpose, and that stand for something bigger than just the product.



It is not about serving the New General Market at the expense of some “Old General Market.” It’s about inclusion.



In this issue, DSN examines what some of the best retailers and leading CPG companies are doing to engage and forge meaningful relationships with the New General Market consumer, leveraging digital, mobile and social platforms, and by aligning their brands with things that really matter.

To download the full New General Market report, click here.