VICE teamed up with OWEN JAMES EVENTS to put together a series of breakfast briefings for Chief Marketing Officers / Directors from across the financial services sector. The objective was to work through the challenges we face winning the hearts and minds of the Millennials and explore whether we can spark some innovative thinking around finding practical, innovative ideas to get Millennials engaged with financial services.
Vice is 15 years old and has created brands which focus on the Millennials - they understand their mindset.
• They have however seen a change in their attitude to consumption. Contrary to popular belief, they are engaged and well-informed, affluent (more than people typically think), aged between 18 and 35, and consume on the hoof (mobile to we digital natives).
• Vice has created ten verticals which address their passions e.g. food (Munchies), tech (Motherboard), women (Broadly) etc. Most content is delivered through Facebook.
• They have created a number of partnerships with brands, distribution channels and agencies.
• They have their own in-house full service agency called – Virtue … which makes sense!
• On the media side, they co-create whereas Virtue offers a more bespoke service. Similar to a full service ad agency with the added value that they do have access to the Vice audience.
• Vice Insights is a shortwave research tool. They have the ability to research seven questions within one day. Vice Voice is a longwave research tool. A global panel which requires that the respondents opt in. This is a deeper research tool.
• So why is Generation Y thinking differently about financial services? This generation thinks and consumes media in a different way. They have access to unlimited channels which means that you are dealing with a fractured audience. They do several things at once. The chief currency is attention which is increasingly hard to get.
• There is also an increasing lack of trust. The example of the Arab Spring which took place over a decade ago. It was an exciting time and social media was seen as liberating opinion. There was a hope that it could galvanise the populous and ensure that crooked governments became history.
• Now it has come full circle and we have crooked governments manipulating data so it is difficult to pick something which is trustworthy.
• So the Millennials are liberated and conflicted – there is a crisis of trust.
• Following the vote to leave the EU, there was a “massive grab for eyeballs” yet a chap called Nicholas Barrett wrote a very short piece for FT.online and it attracted more interest than anything else. (Ed: for those of you curious to re-read the article, I found it) https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/brexit-referendum/financial-times-reader-comment-sums-disappointed-brits-feelings-n598526.
• So reach and attention is no longer guaranteed by media dollars. “Don't think demographic, think mindset." A mindset that demands an open dialogue; shared values; authenticity; and relatability. Mindset - not age.
• VW, Wikileaks – represent the downfall of trust
Please feel free to contact me for further details on how to connect with Vice or for a list of our Owen James Events – "enabling financial services to do better business’’.
24th April 2018 sees the 23rd iteration of A Meeting of Minds - Bank & Brand Distribution of Retail Financial Services at The Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge, again please contact me for further info.
John Hall, Head of Retail, Owen James Events - johnhall@owenjamesgroup.com