Marketing Management Assignment Guidelines: What next for Digital Millennials?
This assignment is in three parts and asks you to take a critical and balanced look at a topical marketing concept and explore what it may tell us about future opportunities to target new groups of digital consumers. You are being asked to compare media views with recognised academic sources to come up with your own evidenced perspective on the next generation of consumers.
The first part of the task asks you look at popular media and explore and map the sources they use, the evidence they offer and the validity of the argument that are used to describe digital "millennials". Use this to build a customer profile of who a next-generation Millennial is or will be - according to your media sources.
The second task asks you to undertake research using peer group review journals to establish current academic thinking of this same new generation of consumers. You should begin by looking at different definitions, the different study approaches and the different meanings attributed to millennials.
The third part is "Reflections and Areas for Further Research". You are now asked to compare and contrast popular media with recognised sources. Use this final section to conclude where the weaknesses in the argument are and to draw out how you would go about developing a future marketing opportunity. A key element will be for you to reflect on what the research and reading mean for you.
Pew Research (How millennial are you?)
Goldman Sachs (Coming of Age)
The MeMeMe generation (Time Magazine)
The Deloitte Millennial Survey 2018 available from
Pew Generational Research 2018
A New Generational Contract Resolution Foundation
The 10 best places to work for Millennials, Fortune June 2018
What do we know about the generation after millennials? | Jason Dorsey | TEDxHouston
How Generation Z Will Change The World According To Experts (Time Magazine
This is not a conclusive list but you will find trends and you may also find common themes, some of which may be paradigms.
Your challenge is that these "established" sources may not relate to digital Millennials which might be deemed as a new and emerging field of study.
It is almost certain that the existing literature (journal articles) have yet to catch up with the media.
So who has the evidence; the practitioners or the academics? This is what is known as a troublesome concept (Meyer 2005)
For task two you may wish to expand upon the articles in the Reading list. For example, in the Generation Z article in your pre-reading, the discussion reflected on how the "digital revolution" might have impacted on consumers and marketers. It implies that Generation Z are connected and social networks are part of everyday life for these multitaskers. The article infers that they want to engage in two-way brand relationships. In contrast, their parents Gen X, apparently, are wary regarding their children's engagement with technology and are worried that children will lose their sense of creativity and playfulness. There are numerous marketing opportunities and threats discussed in the articles on Gen Y and Z ranging from product marketing opportunities to marketing communication challenges. (and I am sure you could identify others!).
The challenge with the existing literature is to understand how reliable the studies are, whether arguements are empirically supported and whether they remain topical. For example, chronologically, a 2014 article is equivalent to a iPhone 5 - 3 plus generations behind the soon to be released "affordable" iPhone 9. This tells you that you must be critical of all of your sources - do not look for something that supports your argument. Look for gaps in the existing knowledge. . . and where there is a gap there is (usually) and opportunity.
There is nothing else than now. There is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow. How old must you be before you know that? There is only now, and if now is only two days, then two days is your life and everything in it will be in proportion. This is how you live a life in two days. Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
Having compared and contrasted media and journal articles, your third task to explore "what next for digital Millennials". You are asked to identify gaps in your reading and to outline new marketing opportunities that may arise with Generation Z. You are encouraged to take a critical perspective on what you have read but you need to present evidence that your new opportunities are suitable, feasible and acceptable to develop further.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.