Category Archives: Insights

A Missed Opportunity From A Millennial’s Perspective

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I am a millennial.

I graduated from New York University in May 2014 with some hefty student loans. And, aside from my savings and checking accounts, these loans have been my entrée into the complicated world of financial institutions. While I won’t name the specific institutions I’ve worked with, I will say that almost every interaction I’ve had has been unpleasant. Calling, waiting on hold for hours, speaking to agents who have no ability to help me, transferring to new agents and explaining issues all over again, and very little email correspondence– I would characterize every step as the antithesis of what millennials expect from a reputable business. If this is our first interaction with a financial institution, is it any wonder why millennials want nothing to do with them?

This morning I came across a great article from TechCrunch, “Millennials Are Destroying Banks, And It’s The Banks’ Fault“, that poses a lot of interesting questions, and even more creative challenges to the financial institutions vying for millennial customers. With an estimated $30 trillion wealth transfer from baby boomers to millennials coming up, banks are realizing that, despite astronomical student loans and a new set of recession-influenced priorities, millennials will not be poor forever. But will they trust the traditional banks that their parents used for their own wealth? That much is unclear.

Why aren’t financial institutions catering to millennials in the same ways that seemingly every other industry is? This article rightly points out that, in most cases, the changes that millennials want are happily accepted amongst members of other generations. Simplicity, transparency, and efficient communication. I’m not the only millennial who has not experienced any of these attributes when dealing with my student loans, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s how the remainder of my financial experiences will be, until financial institutions learn how to engage with millennials.

Offering creative products and services that cater to my generation, as this article advises, is one of the ways that financial institutions can start to win over millennials. Using thoughtful and efficient communications is not a small component to overlook and at Canopy, I’m learning how to find the right way to engage millennials, instead of just talking to them. One thing is clear–the financial institutions that are not offering or marketing their financial products and services to tomorrow’s largest market demographic are missing a huge opportunity.

by: Jacqueline Goldberg, Canopy’s Resident Millennial

Daddy Issues

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Just in time for Father’s Day, Y&R has released a new study outlining the shopping habits and behaviors of North American dads. Cleverly titled “Who’s Your Daddy?” the study also shows how millennial dads are “redefining fatherhood.” Here are five of the most impactful takeaways from the study.

  1. Dads will pay more for convenience. Knowing that they can get all of their shopping done in one place is important to dads, and they’re willing to pay a price for the time savings. Compared with 32% of moms, 49% of dads are willing to pay more for “one-stop” shopping.
  2. Being first is important. Just like their hunter-gatherer ancestors, dads are always on the the lookout. Except, instead of looking for wild beasts, dads are looking for the newest and coolest products. 59% of dads said that they want to be the first of their friends and family to try new products.
  3. Loyalty is king. Loyalty is the top value for both dads and men in general, and it shows in their interactions with brands. 48% of dads consider themselves “loyal to brand-name products,” as compared with 35% of moms.
  4. Millennials are changing the game. As millennial parents adopt the idea of co-parenting, and distribution of responsibilities gets closer to even, brands should consider the impact of shifting habits. For instance, 80% of millennial dads take primary or shared responsibility for grocery shopping, as opposed to 45% of dads in general.
  5. Put the coupons down. Dads aren’t particularly interested in saving money on purchases they’re already going to make, even compared with men who are not dads. In fact, only 43% of dads are proud when they “get great value for [their] money,” as compared with 70% of moms. 59% of dads even think using coupons or flyers at checkout makes them look cheap.

Read the full study here.

What Sparks Our Fire: Great insights into the maturing Millennial market

Canopy Favorites: The Puzzle That Was Cobain

In honor of one of our favorite TV shows ending this week (#RIPMadMen), each day a member of the Canopy team will give some insight into one of their favorite shows or movies.

montageofheck
There’s never been a more fitting title for a movie than ‘Montage of Heck’. This long awaited Kurt Cobain documentary is simply a work of art. Taking excerpts from his personal diary, both written and recorded, and translating them into an artistic story only fitting for this rebellious rock legend. Director Brett Morgen creates a fascinating assembly of filmmaking genres that are transcribed into puzzle pieces that ultimately reveal intricate parts of Cobain’s undiscovered and disturbed life. Mind bending stuff. The score was amazing, as expected, but done in such a unique way, transforming iconic Nirvana tracks to match the specific periods of his life (imagine a lullaby version of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’).

This fast paced, wickedly crafty experience takes you from literary genius, to animated horror, culminating in a compilation of chaos, also known as a ‘Montage of Heck’. Check it out. Keep the lights on. Have a drink on hand. Enjoy.

Movie: Montage of Heck
Team Member: Marc, CEO

Google Changes the Game.. Again

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You’ve probably heard that at it’s AdWords Performance Summit this week, Google confirmed that the inevitable has occurred: mobile search have overtaken desktop search in ten countries, including the US and Japan.  Why does this matter to you and your brand? We’ve put together a list of the five most important takeaways and how they will effect businesses everywhere.

1. Google has unveiled new ad experiences in three distinct categories– automotive, hotel, and mortgages– in order to streamline convenience. The automotive ad experiences, for instance, will feature a photo carousel allowing users to swipe through photos both inside and outside of the vehicle. They’ll also have a link directly to dealerships selling the vehicle in their area. Similar relevant features will be built into the hotel and mortgages ad experiences, as well.

2. A new store visit predictor is available in the US, Canada and Australia. This tool will help marketing managers understand how their digital campaigns are driving in-store sales, and subsequently, will allow them to have better insights into their ROI.

3. Google’s beefing up their automatic advertising offerings, including giving marketers more transparency in the programmatic bidding process, and introducing dynamic search ads. Vice President of Product Management for AdWords, Jerry Dischler, says that this will be a “powerful way to automatically show timely and relevant ads based on the content of your website– without the need to manage keywords.”

4. Going along with new automatic advertising offerings, Google will integrate cross-device conversions into automatic bidding. This will allow marketers to capitalize on search activity that begins on one device and and ends on another.

5. The understanding that more users now search on their phones as opposed to their desktops (as well as the new tools Google has introduced) only reinforces Google’s decision to overhaul it’s mobile search algorithm, which went into effect last month. By designing new ad experiences, and giving marketers new tools in AdWords, Google is incentivizing businesses to keep pace with the shifting desktop-to-mobile landscape.

 

Work-Life Balance: The Key to Millennial Hearts Around the World

Youthful Cities

In the past few years, it seems the entire world has shifted their focus toward millennials. It’s not just brands that are reaching out to this key audience. The latest study by Youthful Cities, pulls together great insights into millennial behaviors and how cities themselves are mobilizing to attract this demographic.

As of 2012, 50 percent of the world’s population is under 30 years of age and 50 percent of the world’s population now live in cities.  Cities are extending offerings and services that accommodate millennial-friendly lifestyles and brands should look to the cities who are most successful in this for inspiration.

Here are the top 10 cities who’ve been most successful in attracting millennials:

1. New York City
2. London
3. Berlin
4. San Francisco
5. Paris
6. Toronto
7. Chicago
8. Los Angeles
9. Mexico City
10. Amsterdam

As marketers, it’s  key to understand our audiences behaviors, so that we can continue to develop engaging content, campaigns and experiences that connect with this audience.

What sparks our fire: Data data data! Knowledge powers our creativity.