Making digital natives tick

Top-down view of people communicating at table with their devices and notepads. High angle view of people communicating at table with their devices

As Millennials grew so too did technological advancements. Their entire experience of the world has involved mass communication, exceptional information access and unlimited audiences. This singles them out from any other generation before, being a Millennial myself I agree we are the true digital natives.

Generation Y test brands, they are forced to roll with the constant digital changes to reflect rapidly changing customer behaviour. Keeping their brand identity, campaigns, tone of voice as up to date as their audiences’ latest iOS update. The competitive battle for social media awareness and talked about content, companies must stay ahead in all areas.

What was trendy 20 years ago, is not the same nowadays. Millennials respond to fun, friendly and quirky communications without any patronising tones. A great example of this would be Coke’s ‘Share a Coke’ campaign. The campaign put 250 of the most popular names among teens and Millennials onto bottles. What better way to increase sales than to make bottles personalised to customers? This truly was share-worthy content, you may even find this on my own timeline.

With social media taking the stage, a brand can use this to its advantage. However, it must also remember that with information spreading as fast as clicking ‘post’, quality it key. Brand’s have greater transparency, with constant access to engage with their audiences. It is important for companies to strive for quality, rather than the continuous out pour of non inspirational content. After all digital natives are used to the greatest product technology can achieve. From the latest app, to the local university, Millennials expect crisp, modern and up to date messaging and designs.

It’s clear Millennials offer the design sector a huge challenge, but also sizeable value as they will continually test the limits of what a brand can achieve. I suppose the key thing for brands and design companies to remember is, what’s next?

William Baker
Digital producer
William Baker
Digital producer
As our digital producer, Will regularly contributes to the pages of Brand Fabrik, our online publication dedicated to branding, marketing and design. Will enjoys relaying his enthusiasm for technology and its impact on the creative services sector. He also relishes the opportunity to review the latest design-related products and gadgets.

  • Sign up for updates

    Sign up for your regular dose of Brand Fabrik and be the first to receive insights and inspiration.

  • Sign up for updates

    Sign up for your regular dose of Brand Fabrik and be the first to receive insights and inspiration.

Explore