Is the World Coming Closer Together? Many social commentators maintain that youth and teens are becoming more alike across countries over time. Others, although not disputing the fact, point out that differences between cultures at even younger ages by far exceed the similarities.
Take a position: People are becoming more and more similar, versus, The differences between people of different cultures far outweigh their similarities.
My reply:
Learning about segmentation was interesting this week. What it made me think about is how different everyone's tastes are, but also similar the world has become from where it has been. There was a question at the end of one of the chapters that asked that exactly. "Take a position: People are becoming more and more similar versus The differences between people of different cultures far outweigh their similarities." I think our world is in a transitional period where the older generations are being moved out of their positions of power and influence, and the next generation is moving in with different worldly perspectives. At the moment, Baby Boomers are in positions of power around the world, but the Gen X and Y groups are quickly climbing the corporate and political ranks as the Boomers start to retire younger and younger. Age is becoming a non issue for the most part in a lot of industries as skill sets become a commodity that only experience can make more attractive, but consumers seem to be preferring interactions with younger workers, which demonstrates a level of segmentation from the consumer perspective as the younger and more modern generations start to become consumers of luxury items as their disposable income increases also at younger ages. I asked a group of teenagers (13-15 year olds) the same question. They pretty much all agreed with my theory. They look to interact with service providers that they can better relate to, and communicate at higher and higher levels of technical expertise on modern conveniences, rather than someone who reminds them of their parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents whom constantly offer their displeasure of such interactions. Racial lines are being blurred to the point of nonexistence in the younger generations waiting for their chance to be in positions of power and influence so they can make their mark in the world and change its perspective. Good marketers are being more creative with establishing brand messages that span most age groups and demographic groups around the planet, channel guidelines are well established and generally followed, and the gray area of taboo marketing has a tendency to go viral with the technically affluent community regardless of their age. The Internet offers a platform that supports extreme freedoms of expression, open sharing of information, and has a connectivity factor that has more than 4+ billion users around the globe a few milliseconds (or less) from each other. As such, marketing campaigns that would not be seen as appropriate (taboo) for conventional marketing channels like TV and radio are finding their place online where segmentation does not technically exist. With as connected as everyone is today, it makes sense why every interaction with our devices and machines renders some ad for a product that specifically appeals to you and your friends. Marketers are good at what they do, and technology makes it a lot easier to shift marketing methods at the speed of progress.
What do you think? Am I on the right track or completely off base? ~Geek
Reference:
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2012). Marketing Management (14th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.coursesmart.com/SR/7147203/9780132103008/617?__hdv=6.8.
