Millennials and Z's don't believe that they will be rich one day and it's a game changer.

After longing for the past two years for someone to move the national debate from Trump's race baiting to more important issues I have been delighted with AOC's tweets.  If you aren't one of the 2.7 million people following her, start now.  She is the voice of her generation.  Ignore her at your own peril.

Her opening gambit was to propose a 70% tax on the rich.

Needless to say that sent the one-percenters and Republicans into a tizzy.  So they trotted out their tired, old, and now thoroughly debunked arguments against it.  Tax cuts for the wealthy create jobs, rich people won't work as hard, it won't raise that much money. Seriously?

But none of those arguments matter.  They never did. 

Americans never bought into those arguments.  They were in favor of low taxes on the wealthy because they believed that some day they too would be wealthy.  (Remember all decisions are emotional.)  They no longer believe that.

Right now the median age in the U.S. is 38.  The generations above that mark - Silent Gen, Boomers and Gen X all bought into the idea that they would be rich someday.

But for the generations below the midpoint something fundamental has changed.  Millennials and Gen Zs no longer believe that they will be rich someday.  Moreover, half of Americans age 25 - 34 say that worrying about money has negatively affected their health. (Gernon, 2017)

For Millennials and Gen Z's, the defining moments of their youth were 9/11 and the 2008 recession.  And the rapid pace of technological advancement and social change have accelerated their fears even more.  Is it any wonder given these influences that they crave safety and security above all? 

Therefore they have no problem raising taxes on the rich to pay for their healthcare.  Or perhaps more importantly to stop global warming before it destroys the world.  And since they are the future, they will have their way.  It's only a question of when.

A Hill/Harris poll fielded this month showed that 59% of registered voters support 70% tax rates for people earning over $10 million a year.  That's 71% of Democrats, 60% of Independents and 45% of Republicans.  (Velencia, 2019)

Maybe the future is already here.

Gernon, D. (2017, August 7)  Half of millennials share two stressful views about money.  cnbc.com.  Retrieved January 30, 2019, from 

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/04/millennials-share-two-sobering-views-about-their-relationship-to-money.html

Velencia, J. (2019,  January 18)  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Wants To Raise Taxes On The Rich — And Americans Agree.  fivethirtyeight.com.  Retrieved January 30, 2019, from https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-wants-to-raise-taxes-on-the-rich-and-americans-agree/

Using social proof and scarcity to market to the tribe Hyatt-style

In a previous blog I discussed the fact that marketing to tribes appears to be on the rise and attributed the change to the influence of social media.  Bottom line, social media has heightened the effect of group think and has allowed it to overwhelm individual thought. You can read the previous blog here...

http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2018/03/is-there-any-individual-thought-anymore_14.html

Smart marketers have already noted the increase in effectiveness that comes from reaching out to tribes and have been exploiting it appropriately.  Or inappropriately as was the case with the Russian Facebook campaigns.  More here...

http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-russians-sure-know-how-to-market-to.html

Now along comes Hyatt to demonstrate how tribal marketing can be used to differentiate hotel brands. 

Presumably after doing some target research, Hyatt identified two very distinct tribes for their Park Hyatt and Hyatt Centric brands.  Then they found a partner for each of the brands which would help them to attract more members of that tribe.  Makes sense right?

For Park Hyatt - an upper end brand - the common interest for the tribe was photography.  So a partnership was formed with National Geographic.  Copies of the magazine in rooms and by-invitation-only walking tours with photographers were part of the effort.

For Hyatt Centric - a cooler more affordable brand - music was the key, so a partnership was formed with Sofar Sounds - a pop-up concert company.  This campaign includes priority tickets for the local rising talent concerts which attract as many as 7,000 applications for 50-100 seats. (Chipkin, 2019)

It's important to note that both campaigns include an element of exclusivity available only to members of the tribe.  So they are using the persuasiveness of scarcity to some extent in their efforts.  But the bigger emphasis is on belonging to the tribe, which is an example of the social proof persuasion technique.  And of course both campaigns recognize the societal shift toward seeking happiness from experiences rather than things.

Given all that, I think they are likely to be successful.  Don't you?

Chipkin, H. (2019, January 17)  Partnerships Help Hyatt Differentiate Brands.  mediapost.com.  Retrieved January 22, 2019, from https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/330706/partnerships-help-hyatt-differentiate-brands.html

It's time for Boomer politicians to step aside.

President Trump is 72.  Speaker Pelosi is 78.  Minority Leader Schumer is 68.

Why is this a problem?  Because the average age in the U.S. is 45. (Average is calculated by dividing total years by total people.)  The median age in the U.S. is 39. (Median is the midpoint where there are the same amount of people younger as older.) And the mode is 28. (That means more people in the U.S. are 28 than any other age.)  People 27, 29 and 26 follow close behind them in numbers.  (Byron, 2017)

So the question is why do these Seniors think that they have a clue about the issues Americans face today?

I have been teaching marketing at NYU for 13 years.  I've taught Gen X students, Millennial students and now Gen Z students.  And while I still have lots of wisdom to share, I am also aware that this is no longer my world.  These days they use products I have never heard of, sold by people I don't know, based on promises I don't care about. 

Sure I text and obsess over my Instagram.  But I don't know what it's like to worry that I won't be able to find a job because I will be replaced by a machine.  These people do.  According to a new report from the World Economic Forum, machines will account for over 50% of labor hours by 2025.  That's only six years from now folks. (Watson, 2018)

And let's not forget that this generation is driven by the memory of 9/11 and entering the workforce during a recession.  No wonder they crave security and worry about being able to afford health care.

It's also no wonder that they don't want any part of our broken political system with its old white guys (and the occasional old white woman).  This is why the Boomers have to step down. 

Last week President Trump took to the airwaves to try to convince the 63% of Americans who are opposed to the wall to change their opinion. (Drezner, 2018)

Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Schumer followed with a rebuttal.  It appears that their ratings were slightly higher than his - 28% versus 29%.  (Friedman, 2019)

But it does not appear that either side changed any minds.  Why would they?  They have all been saying the same thing for weeks.  Perhaps a new approach would have been better.

I read the day after the speech that all the Congress representatives in the districts that would be directly affected by the wall are against it - both Democrats and Republicans.  Wouldn't it have been more productive to let some of them speak?  They could have each given us one thought as to why they were opposed to the wall based on their personal involvement and stake in the outcome of the decision.  And maybe we all could have learned something.  At the very least we might have moved the dialog ahead instead of being stuck in this endless loop.

There's a reason why the only politician I follow on Twitter is AOC and it's the reason why Boomer politicians need to redefine themselves as mentors.  It's time for new ideas and fresh voices.  And yes we need to think seriously about taxing the rich and universal healthcare.  Even about making Election Day a national holiday.  But most of all, it's time to rethink the us versus them mentality.  We all live in America together and that means we all have a stake in and a responsibility for making it great.  It's time we remember that and step up, or aside, as the case may be.

Byron, E. (2017, October 10)  America's Retailers Have a New Target Customer: The 26-Year-Old Millennial.  wsj.com.  Retrieved January 14, 2019, from

https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-retailers-have-a-new-target-customer-the-26-year-old-millennial-1507559181

Watson, P. (2018, September 27)  Machines Will Do Half Our Work By 2025.  forbes.com.  Retrieved January 14, 2019, from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickwwatson/2018/09/27/machines-will-do-half-our-work-by-2025/#70df43d35e2a

Drezner, D. (2018, June 27) What Do Americans Think About The Wall?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/06/27/what-do-americans-think-about-the-wall-the-answers-may-surprise-you-only-if-you-read-drudge/?utm_term=.4ef699239bb0

Friedman, W. (2019, January 11)  Trump's Net Approval Is Down, TV Data One Part Of Nuanced Picture.  mediapost.com.  Retrieved January 15, 2019, from

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/330393/trumps-net-approval-is-down-tv-data-one-part-of.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=mostread&utm_campaign=112446&hashid=sLAHyO7POR-kvmHMPk1YNli2lIQ

Want a better solution? Redefine the problem.

Last week Governor  Cuomo announced a new solution had been found to address the problems of the L train that would allow it to remain open part time over the next two years, rather than shutting down entirely.  People were shocked. The closure had been a hot topic of discussion for three long years.  And no one ever mentioned an alternative solution. (Fitzsimmons, 2019)

But the turnabout was a perfect example of what happens when you reframe a problem.  Let me explain.  The first step in problem-solving is to define the problem.  As I often tell participants in the workshops I facilitate, this step is critical because if you misdefine the problem you will head down the wrong path.  Our decisions are shaped by experience, which is a good thing.  But sometimes we take shortcuts and simply repeat actions that have worked in the past without exploring alternative solutions. That's what happened here.

In the case of the L train this meant defining the problem as "How do we fix the L train cables that were damaged by Hurricane Sandy?"  Brainstorming then focused on the ways in which this task could be accomplished; with agreement eventually being reached that the best thing to do was to close down the line for two years so the walls could be ripped open and the work completed.

But, Gov. Cuomo decided to enlist some of our local talent and consulted with professors at Columbia and Cornell about options.  They started by redefining the problem, because it had not been properly defined in the first place.  It really was: "How do we get a properly working cable system for the L train?"  The key of course was not repairing the damaged cables, but bypassing them altogether and putting in a new system.  Given the age of the New York Subway system this makes complete sense and while the system may be new to NYC, it is currently being used in London, HK, and Riyadh.  So it's been well vetted.

And the best part is instead of closing down entirely for 15 months, the L train will be open during the week, and will have limited availability on the weekends, with work ending in 20 months.  Nice.  It may even cost less.  Think about that the next time you define a problem.

Fitzsimmons, E. (2019, January 4)  The L Train Shutdown Plan Was 3 Years in the Making.  It Unraveled in 3 Weeks.  nytimes.com.  Retrieved January 5, 2019, from

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/nyregion/l-train-shutdown.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage