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Just 12 more minutes, guys. 1988. Holland wins the European Championship Soccer.
I think there are a lot of people in the audience
who can remember where they were when this happened.
But not me. And that's not because I'm gay, or because I don't like soccer. Though both
are true. It's because I was 9 months old. You see, I was born in 1987 en that makes
me a part of a generation that starts somewhere around 1983 and ends somewhere around 1998.
Researchers call this generation 'Generation Y', but I can't really do anything with that.
Doesn't tell me anything about what kinds of people they are. So I thought of something
new: I'm calling it the CD generation. That is people who were born after the CD was introduced,
and before everybody started carrying MP3 players. And in the coming 10 minutes and
59 seconds. I want to share with you my vision on how you can be popular and successful with
this generation by using the social internet.
Now you could ask yourself: why? Why should I try to appeal to this group anyway? As in:
who gives a ***? The youngest people in the CD generation were born in 1998. Even for
me that feels like 3 years ago. These people are now 15 years old. This means that this
generation covers people from 15 through 30. And these people have money. From odd jobs
or career jobs. That means there's a market here, a very interesting market. This generation
has a unique outlook on the world. For example, 39% of my generation has a tattoo.
Even I have one, but let's not go there. 43% values texting as much as they value a face-to-face
conversation. And the CD generation eats out an average of 4 times a week.
Barack Obama: 44%. Apple: 22%. Oprah Winfrey: 14%. Greenpeace: 11%. Mark Zuckerberg: 9%.
These are percentages. And they are the answers of the CD generation to a scientific poll.
The question? Who do you think has the biggest chance to change the world and make it better?
There's two brands there. One of them is Apple. Now you know I'm all in to Macs but what do
they have to do with this...? Marck Zuckerberg, Oprah Win... What this tells us is A. My generation
still has a lot to learn. And B. these are all very internet-heavy answers. Barack Obama
would have not been president without the internet. Looking at these answers, you could
conclude that my generation sees the internet as it's first and maybe sole touch point with
the world. Maybe we even think the internet is more of a real world than the real world
itself. Other research asked: what are your decisive factors for purchasing a product
or service? This are the answers. Price. Quality. Coolness. 56% of my generation answered that
the coolness of a product or brand was a decisive factor in buying a product or not?!
But actually, all generations are the same. We're born, we smell of Zwitsal and we get
to know the world step by step. And then we go to school. We make friends. We want to
marry our teacher. And we wanna be a fireman when we grow up.
And then comes a time that's very different but also the same for everyone. High School.
Where you get to know yourself. Where you get to know other people. Where you learn
to break your boundaries. Where you not really yourself, but somehow you are. And you sort
of try to find your way through all of that. And it's right here where my generation differs
most from generations before.
Generation X, the generation before my generation, where I think most people here tonight are
a part of. They also go through this. And then they go to work, put on a jacket, and
they leave the high school years behind them. It doesn't come up again until after eight
beers. My generation does pretty much the same. I mean, I also started working, I'm
also wearing a jacket. And despite the opinion of some people, I too have left high school
behind me. Although...
My generation has found a place where we can unleash the high school 'me' again. The social
internet. A place you come to, and also leave. A place where you're anonymous, even though
you are yourself. A place that deals with peer pressure, influencers, with tastemakers
and cliques and prejudices and herd mentality. A place where mistakes can become scandals.
This is an example: a girl bought a 500ml carton of milk at Albert Heijn, poured it
in to a measuring a cup and it was 400ml. She takes a picture, puts it on the Albert
Heijn Facebook page and says "Albert Heijn, what the hell?". Please note the 20.000 likes,
the 1.073 shares, almost 3.000 comments. What this reminds me of is high school. And these
kinds of wounds will fester on for a long time. If fall on your face on the first day
of school, you will be reminded of it for years to come.
There are more similarities. When your mom comments on your Facebook post, it kinda feels
like she's bringing your lunch. It's ok, but it's also kind of your space and maybe rather
not...
The social internet is a high school yard. That's what I want to show you today. The
social structures that apply to a high school can be translated to Facebook, because it
works the same. And that's the clue if you wanna be succesfull as a brand, product or
service. You have to view Facebook as a high school yard. And as a brand you are the new
kid in town. By the way, never start watching this.
It's called awkward and it's on MTV. And it's crack and you'll get addicted. Just say no.
So how can you become popular as a brand? Switch back to high school: how can you become
popular? How can you get accepted by a group of people that don't really like you. How
are you going to maneuver there?
Recognize your strong points. Know what your good at as a brand and what you can tell good
stories about. But stay close to yourself. Don't try to be someone else. Place yourself,
as a brand, in a high school yard. What kind of kid are you? Recognize your strong points.
And act accordingly. Ok, maybe that's not clear enough, so here's an example:
Heineken. We all think that Heineken is a pretty cool brand nowadays. But if you look
at Heineken through a high school filter, then it's just beer. And beer is cheap, it's
sort of fun, it feels German, it's not really high class, not really lifestyle nouveau riche.
Everybody can drink it, everybody likes it. Really normal. So if you put Heineken in the
high school school yard. What kind of kid is it? It's a boy, but what kind of boy? Is
he super handsome, great body, crazy rich? No...
Heineken. A good boy. Nice. Slightly overweight. With pretty average parents. So if Heineken
walks into the schoolyard, how can he become popular? Is he gonna brag about sex, drugs
and rock & roll? About being a player? About all the sex he's been getting? And how many
girls he's hooking up with? Noop... Cause even if that's true, nobody's going to believe
him. And if tries to lie about it and people find out... Heineken's done. What Heineken
should actually do (speaking from experience). Is be funny, show personality, be witty. Make
a party of it, so everyone likes him. And that's what Heineken actually does. On Facebook
Heineken does nothing else than be funny, witty, charismatic. And everything they do
is about togetherness, partying, fun!
But that's Heineken. And maybe you're a really technological brand, you make computers or
whatever. Then you can try to be really funny, but maybe that doesn't work. Maybe, apologies
TU Delft, you're an autistic techno nerd who makes robots in his attic. You can! Those
exist. If that boy acts like he's Heineken, that doesn't really work. But if this boy
wants to be popular on the high school yard, should he talk about his robots? How he made
them, which chips he used? No! What this boy should do is show how his technology can make
your life better. Be supportive. Give tips. If this boy knows how to hack the school servers
so everyone gets the answers to the next chemistry final, he will be the hero! He will get invited
to the next party, and people will talk to him too.
Look at Best Buy! Bunch of nerds. Best Buy gave them smartphones and Twitter and said
"Go help people!" if they have questions. Help them make their life better with your
technological knowledge. One of oldest and most famous examples of how social media can
enrich and grow your business.
But these are two consumer brands, they can do those things. But we are an information
point or a knowledge organisation or a charity! Sure, we can be invited to the party but that
doesn't really help us. We want to tell people something, we want people to learn. That we
get totally drunk at the party might bring us more wrong than good. Maybe you're not
a student at all. Maybe you're a teacher! The teacher can become popular, sure, but
the teacher is not at school to get invited to all the parties. So how does that teacher
become succesful on the schoolyard? Talk about things no one cares about? Come into the schoolyard
and be like "Well, the War of the Roses in England started in 1500"? No. If that same
teacher goes onto the schoolyard and starts talking about the latest episode of Game of
Thrones, and then starts talking about War of the Roses and Game of Thrones are basically
the same story. Then those kids suddenly start listening, they'll be like "Oh, that's interesting".
This is how I know what the War of the Roses are.
This is a message that an insurance company wants to deliver. I know a lot of brands,
including some of our clients, who think "This is what we do, this is our business", so we're
going to put this on Facebook and then everyone will like us. Nope.
Same message, but in an entirely different way. A way that resonates with people in my
generation. I know remember what he's saying. And if you're thinking "Well how succesful
is this really?". Mayhem, which is the character from the advertising
campaign, has 1.5 million likes on Facebook. A character from a campaign! Sounds kinda
good. So it can be really succesful. AllState communicates in a way that I think is cool,
and so I do remember what they're saying.
And who are you? As a brand or as a service? Are you a cheerleader? A goth girl? Pressured
Indian kid from really strict parents? Jock? Creepy-looking teacher? Who are you? Put yourself
on that schoolyard, look at who are you are and then behave accordingly. Then people will
truly accept you. If you don't lie about it. Just be yourself. Only keep in mind what you
can say, and what you can't.
And if I sounded really prejudiced so far? Good! Because high school is very prejudiced!
And no one will give you a second chance. Take your pick and get to work. Thanks!