Shallow, yet deeply self-indulgent, with attention spans as short as their list of achievements while sporting an annoying penchant for gifs, memes and trophies — never before has there been a generation as entitled as that of the millennial.
The most salient insights were those not obvious at first glance. Most notable was the juxtaposition between the Western millennial and the “Afrillennial”. You cannot simply extrapolate findings from research conducted into the Western millennial and apply a local lens — there are distinct differences that give rise to an entirely new set of behaviours.
The report also highlighted a fascinating duality: the ease with which an Afrillennial can navigate between traditional and modern life. While Afrillennials display patterns typical of their age group in how they assimilate information, they remain deeply culturally rooted and are at peace with this dichotomy.
Thanks to the proliferation of digital media, this supply-demand curve was upended. Access to information is no longer a challenge, and Gen Yers have adopted a “multithreading” method of processing: information is sought, scanned, rapidly processed and discarded in a continuous, fast-moving and decidedly non-linear path.
There needs to be an adaptive process to counter this misalignment. There is a great deal we can learn from each other. While millennials are brilliant at rapidly processing information, Gen Xers, for example, are fantastic at building relationships.The industry needs to adapt — and fast. There are a lot of learnings in terms of how — and the speed at which — consumers expect relevant information to be delivered, as well as their prioritisation of experiences over assets.