Tailoring Your Offer After Covid-19
This pandemic will shape our economy for the next 30 to 40 years. Generational attitude and pattern of behaviors are defined by what is going on in the world and how old we are when significant events happen like this pandemic, 9/11, or the Vietnam war, to name a few.
Big events like the Covid-19 pandemic generate uncertainty about the future; these uncertainties will shape how we think about our future, especially spending, family planning, education, all that way to employment decisions. Also, we need to take into consideration that in every crisis, there is an opportunity.
When creating value and offers for post-Covid-19, here are a few things to keep in mind about how different ages brackets think and act.
Baby Boomers: Baby boomers were born between 1944 and 1964. They’re current between 56–76 years old (76 million in the U.S.)
When Boomers were affected by the cold war and Vietnam, the narrative was “think about America first.” If you understand patterns, you will understand why marketers choose the words they choose to convince you to take a certain action. Boomers make up a huge number of voters and we see the above narrative being activated with the campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
This pandemic is different for Boomers and brings to light the benefits of technology. Many of them have to relate to online services for shopping due to the higher risk of their age bracket.
For the first time, Boomers have tasted the wonders of technology-enabled services like groceries delivered to your house, Amazon, and Netflix. This is not going to go away after the shelter in place is lifted; this generation will now realize the advantage of these technologies. Furthermore, Covid-19 took away the ability for them to travel and visit family, which allows them to embrace services like Zoom, Facetime, and Skype. This then leaves the door wide open for telemedicine and other services that can be provided via telecommunications.
Gen X: Gen X was born between 1965–1979 and are currently between 41–55 years old (82 million people in the U.S.)
Gen X are resourceful and have high adaptability, they are the 4x4 of all the generations. They were shaped by the Regan administration, the crack and AIDS epidemic, the War on Drugs, the dot com bubble, mass incarceration, the savings and loan crisis all the while living on nothing but instant ramen noodle soup and broken promises. Most of Gen X is ready for the next step, they are getting ready to retire and start working their bucket list and make their final attempt to pass the torch. Gen-Xers are not thinking about RV trips or buying a house in Florida. They will look for different ways to offer their expertise and knowledge from a distance.
Gen Y: Gen Y, or Millennials, were born between 1980 and 1994. They are currently between 26–40 years old. (Gen Y.1 = 26–30 years old (31 million people in the U.S.) Gen Y.2 = 30–40 (42 million people in the U.S.)
For Millenials, the great recession set them in an unsteady pattern of low wages and weak career growth that gave birth to the gig economy.
For the most part, Millenials are always chasing the new trend or next thing in their career. This approach may have been ok in the past, but it will not help them moving forward in the shift after the Covid-19 economic crisis. Millennials are a generation of instant gratification; they didn’t put a strong emphasis on savings to the same degree other generations did. Most likely, Millennials will start shifting more toward saving and stability, now that they have mortgages and about to take over the leadership roles and will adopt the trend of a consumption-driven culture. We will see more and more the favoritism of stability over job satisfaction. Some studies show that working from home decreases your chance of promotions. One of the main reasons for this is the serendipities that happen when at the office, like having a random lunch with your boss. A big uphill battle for Millennials that favor job-hopping over building strong networking connections and relationships when it comes time to seek employment.
Gen Z: Gen Z is the newest generation to be named and was born between 1995 and 2015. They are currently between 5–25 years old (nearly 74 million in the U.S.)
Covid-19 will define Gen Z. The interesting thing about Gen Z is they are more practical and frugal with their money because they experienced the recession without being directly in the thick of it. They watched and now they want stability. They want to get a better deal. This generation will be all about cost-effective opportunities. In simple words, they will spend money on things that have fewer risks. Studies show that major events that trigger the economy, and the generation that comes to age at the time that occurs, will shape the world for the years to come. So Gen Z frugality may be here to stay.
Experts agree that Gen Z will come out better than Millennials post-Covid world, most likely millennials with being set back a few years. Gen Z has the advantage that this crisis will hit them at the right time and they can adjust their sails and build accordingly.
COVID-19 is shifting everything about our lives — changes that are universal across all generation brackets. Each of them will hit differently and will adjust accordingly based on their previous experiences. Markets and businesses will see the disruption in their industry or sect and need to be able to adapt quickly to the new norm. Failure to do so may result in the loss of opportunities.
Photo by Brian McGowan
