NEW YORK ? A GFK executive at the 2015 Mobile Marketing Association Forum New York explained to the wants and needs of a new millennial generation and encouraged marketers to incorporate this in advertising.

During the ?Cultural Trends that will Drive Mobile Usage & Connections? session, an executive from the German-based consumer research firm GFK explained this in-between generation, under the age of 22, focuses on 4 main values, freedom, learning, creativity and adventure. In order for marketers to succeed advertising should cater and include these values. 

"This concept of an in-between or 1.5 generation has a lot of relevance today,? said Kathy Sheehan, executive vice president and general manager at GFK. ?I think understanding what this in-between generation looks like we can look at those trends and apply them in the mobile space.

"We're thinking about mobile strategies not just for today but where do we want to be in two, three, five years down the road,? she said. ?And where is the consumer value, based upon what we know about this today.?

GFK is one of the largest consumer research institutes and conducts yearly interviews with individuals to discover what is their core motivation. Results showed that the Y generation is more interested in being different, unique and fun.

Campaigning to millennials
Research has shown that the millennial generation is clearly a global generation compared to its predecessors such as the baby boomers, who were strictly categorized as Americans. The similarities of individuals categorized as millennials are seen on a global level. 

Brands that pay attention to these characteristics and incorporate them have had very successful and sometimes viral campaigns. One in particular is British Airways playing to the adventure side of this demographic. 

The airline used digital billboards with technology that integrated flights flying overhead. When beacons detected a flight overhead it would pull up the flight information and displayed a child following the plane with his finger. 

This campaign was unique, hard to miss and it combined the generation values with an engaging advertisement. This is the way to reach this demographic.

"There are some real differences in how this new generation thinks about innovation or how they describe innovation,? said Ms. Sheehan. ?So it's more about being different or being unique or being fun or doing something in an exciting way."

"It is less about simplification, so simplifying something that is less," she said. "Which when you look at older generations, is usually the number one attribute of innovation, so it was about simplicity." 

"We're seeing that is less of an issue for this generation one is that the bar is set that things should be simple and easy."

Goldfish attention-span 
Something else to notice is that human attention spans are decreasing. The ability to focus on a specific task repeatedly is down 12 minutes from 1998. The average attention span has decreased from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds, which is slightly shorter than the attention of a gold fish.

Esurance capitalized on this by confronting Geico in its ads saying that 15 minutes for an insurance quote is too long. 

The research also detail that the average person is busier now compared to past years. With technology increasing in speed people are packing more into their days. 

On a day to day basis people are not only busy with work or household chores they are integrating things they want to do into their daily lives. Being busy has now turned into a form of social currency. 

Popularity is also growing in services and products that will do things for the consumer. This is what is in demand right now in the mobile world. 

"Think about these new and emerging values that we have identified with generation 1.5 and think about how you can link your mobile strategies to that," Ms. Sheehan said.