1stFive Experience: Marketers and Employers, Heed Your Future Leaders

Since GenZ has grown up as digital natives they also expressed strong viewpoints on digital advertising making it clear it39s increasingly important for marketers to think beyond impressions and clicks when aiming to engage with this audience whether as consumers or as future employees quotIn the beginning social media and specifically digital media was seen as a great new field to put out a ton more advertising but it led us down a rabbit hole introducing us to more banners and content and it39s oversaturated nowquot shares Natalie a student from Syracuse who interned with Mindshare quotIt39s gonna be my generation39s responsibility to reign that in manage that sensory overload and really start creating advertising and content that means more With the constant bombardment of messages my generation has learned to tune out Interaction makes us stop and think and talk about it in a place beyond a like or a comment It39s going to be interesting to see how our generation takes that and pushes it forwardquotCasey a student from Holy Cross who interned at Turner agrees and she believes that branded content is that next thing to push engagement quotWorking closely with a content studio let me see we can move away from obvious and disrespectful commercials and towards presenting the narrative of a company Human interest stories are huge right now I like seeing that on my TV and on my digital app and not ads that are shoving messages down your throat that are not effectivequot she saysSocial media is also seen as a tool for making connections and telling your own story quotI feel like we39re in a world where content is driving conversation and storytelling and telling your own story on social media is really important whether that39s through Instagram Facebook Snapchat or whateverquot says Emily a student from Syracuse who interned at HuluGenZ also hopes to change the conversation around diversity and inclusion in media and marketing As a generation that gravitates toward multicultural tribes the expectations are for workplaces and media and advertising that is reflective of their own cultural norms when it comes to inclusive ideas around gender race and ethnicityMany interns who attended the 1st Five Experience produced by MediaVillage Turner and Horizon Media saw signs of diversity at their summer workplaces but felt there were more strides to be made Danielle and Catherine both AfricanAmerican interned at traditional broadcast companies and reported that they encountered a predominantly white executive team Catherine pictured above now questions whether she would be welcomed or excel in that environment quotWe are here We are ready to work Why has it taken so long to add diversity into executive rolesquot she asks Although also discouraged Danielle sees it as an opportunity to make change Meanwhile at Mindshare Natalie felt like a lot of the account leads were female and minorities and she was therefore inspired to feel like she could be a director one dayOther interns pointed to diversity and inclusion efforts within companies that empower diverse employees making them feel more welcomed and providing them with a unified voice Cindy a Loyola Marymount student interning with Turner talked about internal groups like the Black Professionals and another group for the LGBTQ community quotI feel like the answer to this diversity and inclusion question is always going to be progress Progress never stopsquot Diante a University of Michigan student who also interned at Turner agrees quotSeeing only 10 people in a group at a big company like that only magnified how little diversity there was While I understand the need to belong I also feel like these groups can create more separatismquot he sharesFor Diane an intern with the Ad Council working with an extremely diverse group opened her eyes to her thinking like a white woman quotThe Ad Council explicitly tries to include diverse people of all genders races sexuality and ages The experience was much more rich than what I was used to I learned that if I want to progress in my career I need to manage my perspective and think more openlyquotInterns also talked about how diverse teams working together actually can impact messaging quotIt may seem like having these clubs and committees is filling a quota but getting perspectives from diverse backgrounds educates everyone working in media and advertising so that we get different storiesquot shares Eddie a student from Trinity College interning at IMPACCT BrooklynWe39ve all witnessed the fiascos where brands got dragged through social media for misrepresenting or offending an underrepresented group GenZers in this breakout session felt strongly that their generation is the one to solve thisquotYou can39t get away with advertising that offends any group in this day and age Back in the day if people were offended with an ad they talked about it with their neighbors and friends but now you have all of these social media outlets where you can share feelings that go trending resulting in a company39s worst PR nightmare impacting reputationquot Social has added pressure but companies shouldn39t stray away from doing something out of the box just because of fear quotThey should make a balance of being sensitive to groups that may not be represented in the companyquot shares Brittany a Syracuse University student who interned at New York MagazineClick here to view our 1stFive Experience photo galleryClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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1stFive Experience: Marketers and Employers, Heed Your Future Leaders

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Lynne d Johnson

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