Really, Let’s Stop Saying This

TImeout-NYWeekly entertainment magazine Time Out New York recently began seriously wooing the Millennial reader, implementing a few different strategies.

According to Diego Vasquez in Magazine MediaLife, the publication “began targeting adults 18-34 by making the publication free and changing its digital, mobile and print strategies to better reflect this generation’s media habits.”

The article offers a good bit of advice for publishers looking to target this age group, but Vasquez makes one major assumption that seems flawed when he calls the target audience “generally disinterested in print.”

Targeting Millennials is surely a challenge; they are probably better at technology than the marketers creating the campaigns, and quick to spot and annihilate any lack of authenticity. Just look to the recent Starbucks social media campaign fail if you aren’t convinced of this.

But let’s stop saying that they are not interested in print. The research just doesn’t back this up. In fact, Nielsen Research and Pew Internet Research both show quite the opposite – Gen Y and Millennials do love their print.

Looking to connect with the younger generation? Don’t assume they aren’t interested in print. Yes, you probably need to be reaching out via social media, events and other influencers, but the idea of print still resonates deeply with this audience. Let’s not be so quick to make bad assumptions.