How Will Gen-Y Change the World: A Gen-Y Mini-Series (Part 1 of 5)

Last night I went on a TED adventure. “TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading” (and you can read further about TED on their about page). After watching a few videos and clicking through the site, the most fascinating thought hit me. As a Millennial and member of Generation Y, the thought is a question that I think we must answer and have to answer.

How will Gen-Y change the world?

I must admit, it’s a pretty open and broad question. The answers are endless. And each discipline can quite realistically answer this question in a different way. But the reality is that there are huge implications with this generation. Everything about Gen-Y seems to be interesting, complicated, surprising and problematic. However to really see what Gen-Y is about, you have to break them down and get to the heart of Millennial issues.

Today is going to be the first of five articles in a mini-series for this week. I’m going to dub it “How Will Gen-Y Change the World: A Gen-Y Mini-Series” (I know, it’s a pretty obvious title). So strap yourself in. Clear your mind. And get ready for a wild and interesting ride. First on our agenda: the Gen-Y Consumer.

The Gen-Y Consumer

The Gen-Y consumer is drastically changing the commercial landscape. Although to the naked eye this is not apparent, their consumer habits are reshaping many characteristics. This is being fuelled by a series of Gen-Y ideals. We are very clear on what we want and when we want it. Gen-Y wants the dream lifestyle now. And this itself is pushing products and brands into a lifestyle brand culture. In simplest terms, we want everything to happen now. We want the Benz (google search “Generation Benz” and you’ll see Mercedes is going in the right direction), the 7 For All Mankind designer jeans, the Chanel handbags and so much more. Can we afford it? Definitely not. But has that stopped us from trying and wanting to live this lifestyle? Not at all.

Hyperconsumerism and Gen-Y

Increasingly, all members of society are becoming hyperconsumerists. We are buying absolutely everything. And what we buy often causes us to buy more just to satisfy the first thing we bought. It has come to a point where you can quite realistically have multiple items that do the same thing, and yet we purchase more.

It’s really nothing new to know that we buy more now than ever before. And this increases as years go buy. What’s mind-blowing is the combination being created between Gen-Y and hyperconsumerism. This relationship is the catalyst to something more profound. It’s what I would like to call “consumer horizontalization”.

Consumer Horizontalization

Products and brands have always been placed on a vertical scale. One ranked higher than the other based on aspects such as brand name, exclusivity and price amongst other characteristics. In lamest terms, you would have differentiation based on top-level, middle and low-level categories. With that, you would have social classes that would fit these categories. Gen-Y is dramatically turning this vertical scale into a horizontal one.

Consumer horizontalization is the effect that Gen-Y is having on hyperconsumerism and all products and brands involved. As Gen-Y seeks to fulfill their dream lifestyle and as brands take on a lifestyle brand culture, you will effectively see a horizontal scale beginning to emerge. Although products and brands can very well bring their existing characteristics with them, they will differentiated based a series of other characteristics such as quality, customer service and ability to be customized.

And for those of you who made it down to the bottom of this article, you might be asking for some proof. The proof effectively exists in the malls and stores we all frequent. As time goes by, we see products and brands, which are ranked differently on a vertical scale, right beside each other, which is the emergence of horizontalization. With that it can’t be ignored that a horizontal scale is emerging. Nor can it be denied that Gen-Y is leading consumer horizontalization. As smartphones become “smartphones” and cars become “cars”, what will you do to standout and get a Millennials attention?

So stay tuned this week as we explore how Gen-Y is changing the world…