Dive Brief:

• At eMarketer Attention! 2015, a panel on marketing to millennials centered on the importance of authenticity for reaching that demographic.
• Another insight from the panel is many millennials are entering a new life stage: parenthood. In fact, most babies born in the U.S. currently are born to millennials.
• Earlier this fall, Curalate CMO Matt Langie told Marketing Dive, “To effectively reach millennials, brands need to publish compelling, interesting creative that educates and/or entertains this demographic.” 

Dive Insight:

Millennials remain a marketing challenge and a panel at the eMarketer Attention! 2015 event tried to shed some light on the demographic. At the panel Curalate CEO Apu Gupta said authenticity was key to marketing to millennials and provided some warning advice on how to stay authentic, “Be careful with millennial-speak. Don’t [use slang like], ‘on fleek.’”

Kathryn Minshew, founder of TheMuse, echoed Gupta saying, “Millennials don’t follow the rules of marketing.” And Simon Isaacs, co-founder of Fatherly, added that that most U.S. babies are now born to millennials so marketers should take the fact that millennials are entering these new life stages into account.

In terms of how marketers should approach millennials, Curalate's Langie told Marketing Dive, “The most important thing to remember is that ultimately, millennials are a diverse generation of consumers. They lead varying lifestyles and can't be reached with a one-size-fits-all approach. The best thing marketers can do is to be educational, entertaining and visual.”