A new era is upon us. As of this past Fourth Day of November in the year Two-Thousand-Eight, WE the citizens of America are ready and willing for real change.

Barack Obama is the President Elect of the United States. He has a good story; born in Hawaii and raised by his grandmother. He is a very smart man, attending Columbia and becoming President of the Harvard Law Review. His beginnings are modest like most of us in the world, and he evolved into an influential and powerful figure. If nothing more (of which I should not even compare), Obama is a positive influence to all people who have nothing more than a dream. I am one of those people. I have a dream. I dream of having a family who supports and is supported. I dream of having a job which accepts my potential with open arms. I dream of a globe of coexistence.

I can honestly say that I now see these dreams to be a closer reach than previous years. It could be because I am growing and learning. But I think it is largely due to the incredible enthusiasm for governmental affairs that the Obama campaign has ignited within the citizens. Its hit me too. I've never in my life paid so much attention to an election. Granted, I've only been around for 4-5 elections (about 21 years), I am fully aware of the energy put forth to bring about change this term.

I may have more to say later on. Soaked this in for a bit.

Will marketers be able to
adapt to the changing lines of communication because of the digital
marketplace?

-Generation Y consumers now
respond fully when they are listened to and conversed with.

-Opinion leaders have given
way to opinion groups via product reviews and blogging.

-Cellular communications
are thriving and being used increasingly for marketing communications.

                For
years and years traditional marketing professionals have relied on mainstream
media to deliver their messages. Now the internet is revolutionizing that
landscape to an interactive space for commerce, personal expression, and
society. Particularly e-commerce is becoming more important in the daily lives
of citizens across the globe. As a consumer is able to visit a store, choose a
product, and purchase it they are also able to do all this online and more.
Consumers are able to visit multiple online stores, view and choose from
millions of products and services, and generate feedback all from the
convenience and comfort of their home computer. Marketers cannot view this new
market space as insignificant in terms of their own career goals as well as the
goals of the company’s they work for. It is an invaluable space for
communicating with the global population of consumers. A segment of particular
interest to marketing is the Generation Y population. They are almost 75
million strong and represent the revolutionary digital users. A revolutionary
digital user accounts for a consumer who is fluent in the most current and
upcoming digital technologies and demonstrates interest in creating a digital
identity. What piques the interests of marketers is how to effectively capture
the attention of this tremendous generation because not only do they have
influence in quantity but also influence in quality. To understand the
relationship this specific generation has with the globe and its impact on the
traditional concept of marketing we must first identify the generation in terms
of attitudes, perceptions, and passions. Then through research and
interpretation of online activity we must understand how Generation Y interacts
with the rest of the globe. Finally we must return to the traditional marketing
model and determine the most effective method of marketing to the mass
population known as Generation Y. This by no means will be the end of the
research, but merely a qualitative approach to adapting to rapidly changing
marketplaces.

                Generation
Y is a population in the U.S. which sprung up during the 1980’s and early
1990’s and interestingly coincided with the revolution of the Information Age.
1984 was the first year after two decades in which U.S. live births reached 4
million and stayed near that magnitude up through the 1990’s. What made Generation
Y special is that they were raised during the rise of the Information Age which
highlights some of the biggest and most rapid developments in information
technology. Personal computers started entering homes in the mid-1980’s, the
world wide web was adopted in 1989, and telecommunications majorly reduced in
cost with the advent of widespread cellular telephones in the late 1990’s. In
terms of the digital landscape Generation Y is versed in all forms of internet
communication including but not limited to profiles on platforms such as
MySpace, Facebook, and Second Life, email communication, and instant messaging.
Not only are they well versed in these aspects but many have never experienced
life without these net-essentials. Reynol Junco and Jeanna Mastrodicasa through
a survey of over 7,700 college students in the United States found that 97% OWN
a computer and 94% OWN a cell phone. The cell phone and the personal computer
are the primary wireless access points to the world wide web and the wealth of
information it holds. Instant communication and consequently instant
gratification come with these tools.

                The
premise of instant gratification came into play when E-commerce and the dot-com
boom erupted during the late 1990’s and through the millennium. Access to
products and services became easy and instant as more and more companies
expanded to include information technology and the web.  Generation Y grew up with the internet and
the premise of viewing and buying goods and services with little lag time. This
is not to say they stopped shopping in physical stores, but they never forget
the internet market place is always available. In addition to the market place
there is also a personal space that many Generation Y-ers are adopting. This
population group has been crucial in the success of social networking via
online networks. Facebook, which at first was a platform launched for college
students to create profiles and network, now is the largest online social
network; it is used for communication, self-expression, commerce, and
entertainment. What marketers learn from this is that Generation Y shares with
each other enormous amounts of information, and can often be characterized as
early adopters in this sense. The next base of evidence we can add to the online
habits, attitudes, perceptions, and passions of Generation Y is their inherent
struggle with wanting to be listened to. This can be traced to how many of them
come from broken homes, competitive and expensive education, and a dramatically
dynamic world.

                The
magnitude of defining global events happening within the Generation Y lifetime
is incomprehensible to some. They are growing up during a time of horrific high
school massacres, terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, a country-splitting war in
Iraq, corporation meltdowns such as Enron and WorldCom, the threat of nuclear
war from nations across the globe, and the potential of emerging nations such
as China and India. All these factors contribute to the passions of young
people in this world. Generation Y lives and breathes change, as well as having
something to say about it. They want and sometimes struggle to be heard. The
internet has given them complete and uninhibited access to information from
across the world. Weighing in on issues as well as proposing their own points
of view, Generation Y has learned to use and develop telecommunications
technology to their fullest advantage. Education is not only expensive and
competitive but also essential to living at least a subsistent existence. The
affirmative action legislation came into effect during the rise of Generation
Y, ensuring that education institutions accept an average amount of people from
all backgrounds. However this act has come under fire by Generation Y as they
realized the mistake of accepting non-qualified students to satisfy a
prejudicial premise. Split homes, in which children grow up with divorce and
separation, have coerced them to be skeptical of almost anything they hear.
This is a good aspect causing young people to question and debate everything
until they are satisfied with a result, although we will see this questioning
nature as a difficult quality for marketers to cope with. Marketing seeks to
cultivate feelings and messages which respond to the wants or needs of a target
market. In terms of the Generation Y subculture, Marketing needs to evolve into
a conversational medium which approaches and re-approaches this population on
their level. A Generation Y-er strives to be heard based on our earlier
characteristics of growing up in a dynamic world, in broken homes, and with
expensive, competitive education. As they strive to be heard, Generation Y
affects the world by spreading their ideas and perceptions with lightning speed
and reach. They all interact with and have influence over the entire world,
some more than others. We can observe such interactions through blogging or
content creation and through the diffusion of information via group
collaboration.

                Blogging
is the digital counterpart of a newspaper’s opinion section, although much larger
and much more independent. Generation Y has taken this concept to the next step
by not only writing but also logging videos and spreading them online. They can
capture a global audience with the click of a button. This creation of content
shows marketers exactly what the Generation Y consumers want and need, from
products and services to social and political change. By engaging these
consumers on the platforms they use and develop, marketers can create better
definitions by which to target their products and services. However, throwing
advertisements into the space of these consumers may intimidate them and cause
negative feedback. Marketers must be very sensitive as to where, when, and how
they engage the Generation Y consumer. These concepts return to the traditional
marketing model of designing the right product/service, pricing it to include
the target market, positioning it in a non-intrusive and expected place, and
promoting it to those who may benefit from it. Are there any basic definitions
established already to effectively communicate with Generation Y?

                Generation
Y is at the head of telecommunications technology which means marketing needs
to be right there with them. By using mobile marketing and data collection
marketers can gain more insight as to what the Gen Y consumer does on a daily
basis leading to better forms of interaction. Sharing value is of great
importance to this population as well; we draw this conclusion from their
intrepid use of the internet within social networks. Marketing is able to
grapple the concept of sharing and mold it into product and service reviews, in
other words driving word-of-mouth marketing. They do not tolerate or respond to
intrusive marketing and will often share their disapproval with the rest of the
world. Marketers need to be especially careful to not upset these key sharers. Engage
the consumer in their space and on their terms in order to garner the
opportunity to share your message with them. All of these options are
guidelines to successfully communicating with Generation Y, not AT Generation
Y. They are by no means a comprehensive guide or all encompassing guide, but
options to spark revolutionary thinking.

Works
Cited

Junco, Reynol. Mastrodicasa, Jeanna.
“Connecting to the Net.Generation: What higher education professionals need to
know about today's students”, NASPA;
First edition (March 29, 2007)

Reynolds, Leah A., “Who are the Millenials, AKA Generation Y”, Deloitte Consulting LLC. http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_consulting_millennialfactsheet_080606.pdf
(2005)

Lenhart, Amanda. Madden, Mary.
Macgill, Alexandra Rankin. Smith, Aaron. “Teens and Social Media: The use of social
media gains a greater foothold in teen life as they embrace the conversational
nature of interactive online media”, Pew
Internet & American Life Reports.
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/230/report_display.asp  (12/19/2007)

Lars Perner, Ph.D. Assistant
Professor of Clinical Marketing, “Consumer
Behavior, The Psychology of Marketing”. Deparment of Marketing, Marshall School of Business. http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/

I downloaded Firefox 3 
on its release date. SO far its smoother, lighter, and better looking than 2.0. However, one bug I am meaning to fix is its long startup time. I'm running Vista32 Home so it could possibly be some sort of leak in the loading. To continue jumpstarting the computer nerd in me I'd really like to start playing a role-playing game similar to the Might & Magic series. I've played it before at Russell's house and liked it. In addition to spending some time mulling stories over in my head I've taken it upon myself to read up on some Hawaiian Mythology
. I picked the book up at Volcano National Park on the Big Island this past week. Another book to add to my growing collection of unread and half-read materials. I put it right next to Freakonomics and The Newton Introduction to Literature, the latter of which I read most of already. Sudoku and Crossword Puzzles have been high on my list of things to do lately. Reason being is that the puzzles are good methods for excercising my memory. The more I use it the better it gets. Its proven that memory improves by increasing its inputs and repeating them. A memory or thought repeated enough times causes your brain to fuse a new connection between neurons. The more connections you have the "Better" your memory.

I'll be heading to Cleveland in about a week to take classes at Cleveland State University for about 6 weeks. I'm excited! I'll get to spend a lot of time with my fiance, thats right I said fiance. I asked her to marry me on May 19 while we were vacationing in Los Angeles. We're setting up for a long engagement, probably going through with the ceremony in 2010.

I have one more year of college after which I'll be holding onto a Bachelor's of Science degree in Marketing. I will take that degree, my fiance, and some of my things to California for a few years. I've been wanting to try to live there for a while and after I graduate is as good a time as any.

Thats all for now for my life update. I know this post is out of the ordinary but variety as well as moderation in all things, Even blogging, is a welcome sight.

Punaluu Beach, Hawaii – One of the many black volcanic sand beaches on the Big Island