If you’re reading this, you’re probably weird

Jack Blog

August 17th, 2015 By Caspar Mason

Millennials | Photo credit: Millennial Magazine

Photo credit: Millennial Magazine

 

Or rather, W.E.I.R.D.

Western. Educated. Industrialised. Rich. Democratic.

And a lot of focus is put on you. Marketing and services are designed around you. Even in the field of Psychology, WEIRDos are vastly over-represented as experimental subjects, meaning received wisdom about what everyone everywhere thinks is heavily skewed…despite one paper calling you (yes, you) “among the least representative populations one could find for generalizing about humans.”

And if you were born between the early ’80s and the turn of the century – i.e. if you’re a WEIRD Millennial – then the focus is even greater. But how many of the 13 Million results from a search of “marketing to Millennials” are about non-Westerners?

‘We’ doesn’t mean
‘everyone’.

Because, of the 2.5bn Millennials globally, only about 15% are WEIRD. And while characteristics are shared globally, such as being the most connected and educated generation in history, one size doesn’t fit all. In many places, cultural differences prevail over what year you were born.

And brand marketeers ignore this diversity at their peril. Not least because non-WEIRD Millennials are less cynical about brands. So don’t assume your reality is everyone else’s, because the opportunities are greater the less WEIRD you become.