Pursuits
Here Are the Ways Companies Have Failed to Market to Millennials
- Efforts at engaging the emoji generation have mostly failed
- Spending is stifled because of burdensome student loans
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Companies bending over backward to sell to millennials are doing the one thing the cohort hates most: trying too hard.
Attempts at wooing the emoji generation are often rewarded with a deafening ho-hum. Tic Tac put out a candy that changed flavors while dissolving (because millennials presumably get bored quickly); sales rose, but less than in the prior two years. Diet Coke put fan tweets on billboards (because Twitter is the millennial’s native tongue, the thinking goes); Americans still drink less and less soda. Banana Republic partnered with Hot Dudes Reading, an Instagram account, to create #HotDudesReadingForACause (because millennials reportedly want products with social conscience); net sales dropped 10 percent.