We're All Millennials Now

I can’t help but chuckle when I hear people complain about Millennials. I’m sure you hear the same things I do:

“They’re addicted to technology.”

“They’re always texting.”

“They’re constantly on social media.”

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

We’re all Millennials now.

Whether or not you fall into the Millennial age group born between 1980-2000, chances are you own a cell phone, send text messages, routinely check yourFacebook account and have mastered the art of stretching your arm as far as possible for selfies. You buy some things online, you shop brick-and-mortar too, and you crack up at Jimmy Fallon video clips just as much as the person sitting next to you. In some ways, we’re all Millennials now. This means that marketers must embrace the concept of “age elasticity” – the ability to go up or down the age spectrum — when building marketing strategies and plans.

This involves thinking outside the Millennial box, and embracing a broader view of concepts like these:

Married or not, cell phones are the new significant others. You may already know that 90% of American adults own cell phones, but this year, for the first time, more than half of all U.S. mobile subscribers age 55+ ownsmartphones, according to Nielsen. Mobile phones are so pervasive, and so unlikely to leave the proximity of our warm bodies, that it feels like the entire population of Earth has suddenly grown an extra hand or foot. Writing about the implications is a cottage industry that I won’t belabor here. The point is this: it’s not just Millennials running their lives on their mobile phones. It’s everybody. And that means every business must embrace it.

Read More on Forbes.

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