Scott Hess on the Post Generation, the Pandemic, and Low Levels of Trust

Scott Hesspictured at top chief marketing officer of Spark Foundry has been at the forefront of learning and talking about generational theory amp8212 one of the key ways to understand large consumer groups We discuss the roots of generational theory why it matters and how a pandemic could be the defining moment for the Post generationPhilip McKenzie Let39s start with your definition of generational theoryScott Hess It39s useful to trace some of the thinking and theory that underpins these ideas If you go back far enough you can start with Karl Mannheim who published an essay in 1928 titled quotThe Problem of Generationsquot which recognized that experience would impact individuals going through events together in a specific context You can consider him the quotfatherquot of generational theoryFast forward 40 years or so and the work of William Strauss and Neil Howe hits the scene when they publish their seminal work Generations All of this forms the foundation of what generational theory is all aboutThe simplest way to distill the idea of generational theory is to think about how different people coalesce around particular set behavior based on specific windows of time So what generational theory does is provide a shorthand or operating system that can be used to help organizations better understand the motivations of people based on shared beliefs and values It doesn39t promise uniformity but it does give us a place to start observing and begin to make sense of a vast array of behaviors I don39t think it is the end all be all but I do think it provides valuable broad strokes that become even more relevant when you think of it as a communication tool rather than a schematicMcKenzie Given the history of the school of thought for generational theory what are some of the relevant new aspectsHess Generational theory is used to describe local populations because to have a shared context they had to have a shared media language lens iconic figures and impactful events for it to be meaningful across the group What is becoming more novel now or quotnewquot is we see this context become crossborder and far broader in its scope So I believe the millennial generation is one of the first times where we have conversations about a quotmillennial mindsetquot that is global With the rise of social media platforms like YouTube Facebook and Twitter the hyperlocal realities begin to slip away as people are connecting across geography and having some of that same shared context that before these more recent years was not possible COVID19 is an example of this as I don39t think there has been as broad a shared global experience since perhaps WWII The impact of this will be farreaching on many levelsMcKenzie Is there a place for a cultureshared values perspective when we think about generational theoryHess Across my career which began in consulting through the era of digital transformation through a decade in research focused on youth and now the media one common element is that we have been evolving at a glacial pace from trying to market products and service to centering on the needs of the consumer The thinking is how do we fit into the lives of the consumer rather than leveraging intrinsic advantages to move product It39s less about product benefit than about how we add value to what they are already doingSpecifically from a generational perspective we have to think about culture because marketers need to understand just how different the Post generation is The expectations of what you should be capable of and how accomplished you should be regardless of your field of endeavor are much higher than ever That is a significant shift in culture that plays itself out within the generational theory frameworkMcKenzie You39ve coined the term quotPost generationquot as a counterterm to Gen Z Why do you think that term makes more senseHess Over a decade ago when I was looking at data from the lower part of this cohort 12 to 15 years old before the term Gen Z became the recognized shorthand I settled on the Post generation It made sense to me for a few reasons They were literally quotpostquot so many vital things They were postmillennium postamp8211the election of the first African American president postanalog postamp8211white majority post911 postdon39t askdon39t tell The list can go on and on but I wanted to use the term post to connect and draw attention to the culmination of all of those shifts that were in and around what we have come to know of as Gen Z Also the physical act of posting amp8212 ie encapsulating meaning by capturing a moment amp8212 is a defining behavior for this groupMcKenzie What do you think COVID19 means to the Post generation as their defining momentHess I am still working out the potential implications but what is clear is that what we are seeing is significant I think no one can say for sure what39s coming next and that uncertainty is part of the storyThe Post generation has uniquely never been able to take some fundamental truths for granted As a result they are operating from a frame of low trust They can39t trust institutions to protect them from a pandemic they can39t trust to feel safe in school they can39t trust in a president that we can rally around I believe these genuine concerns about safety and trust are crucial to how they see the world Understanding the Post generation has to be done with factoring in these defining breaks relative to other generations in how they perceive the worldClick to read Scott39s opinion piece amp8220Early Thoughts About the Post Generation Gen Z and the Pandemicamp8221Click the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Scott Hess on the Post Generation, the Pandemic, and Low Levels of Trust

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Scott Hess on the Post Generation, the Pandemic, and Low Levels of Trust

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