The Y and X in Marketing

Today’s 18-to-40-year-olds are special and have more political, personal and consumer power than any other generation before them. Both groups have adopted freedoms, economic prosperity, values and believe from their elders (Beaudoin, 1998, p. xiv). As more and more brands become a representation of what they believe in, both X’s and Y’s hold tremendous economical power as well. They are “savvy, sophisticated, and particular… [and] have a sense of quality and fair pricing” (Johnson, 2006). They are also a challenge for marketers as they are different from baby boomers – are not easily fooled and have unique preferences. “We are what we observe from other people, so generation X’s and Y’s inherited much of what their parents passed along: the baby boomers passed to X’s and the X’s passed to Y’s. For example, the baby boomers passed their free-spirit and “love” attitudes to their kids. Sex, rock ‘n' roll, drugs: Baby boomers made these “cool” in the 60s. Throughout the 70’s, the 80’s and the 90’s, they kept leaving a “legacy” to society. If Baby boomers broke all the rules and “invented” individualism and freedom of speech, weren’t X’s overwhelmed by the past generation?