We’ve all seen the headlines. Millennials opting to delay parenthood, Millennials supporting purpose-driven brands—and moving to the heartland. Millennials now make up the largest segment of the U.S. population. And, here’s the kicker, they’re currently entering prime spending years. And that is what drove the VJ Insight team to design and execute a custom research study among Millennials who choose to live in the middle of the country instead of on the coasts.
We wanted to learn more about this amazing, dynamic, creative and interesting group of people—a group often overlooked in favor of their coastal counterparts. They hold significant influence in their values, and of course, their dollars. But we wanted to know what makes them tick.
We wanted to pinpoint burgeoning markets in the heartland, identifying cities that have called to Millennials. Or whose growth has been fueled by younger communities. So we sought out voices in Fayetteville, Arkansas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Omaha, Nebraska; Des Moines, Iowa; Kansas City, Missouri; and Denver, Colorado.
To really focus on spending power, the study looked at those with annual household incomes of $100,000 and up. We sat down for in-depth personal discussions with 18 people and surveyed an additional 353 on the themes that arose in our interviews. With this research we dug deep—like, really deep—to understand, not just the habits of Millennials in this region, but their identities. We talked about big ideas: community, purpose and connection. And we ultimately found that it’s in the balance of clear personal purpose and concern for others that they live life and make decisions. Spoiler alert: For brands, the opportunity is as wide open as the heartland itself.
We started by asking ourselves, what has created the disconnect between what we see in Millennials in the Middle behavior, and the perceptions about this group specifically. Is it because we are in the middle and hard to define that is creating so many misperceptions about those who inhabit this area? Is it the land or the people who are so misunderstood? And we wanted to know more, especially about the most sizable generation ever—the Millennials who live here.
It’s not news that advertisers often look to Millennials (25-40) as trendsetters and key spenders, especially as they’ve hit peak spending ages while Boomers are on the way out.
What can this group of influential people who live in this amazing area teach us, so that we can be better at communicating with them?
Historically, those who have lived their lives in this part of the county have been considered the brave, the strong, the clever and intrepid…the visionaries who saw a place that was full of opportunity and created a future no one else thought possible.
Faced with limitless possibilities, and the drive to create something, the middle of the country was populated with those who saw the world differently and didn’t have time to settle, much less wait for someone else to tell them what was or what was not cool.
They were the pioneers—linked together through self-interest and a desire for political freedom and greater economic opportunities. Shaping culture and creating new ways of life, this region created what is now commonly thought of as the American dream…the ideal by which quality of opportunity is available to anyone, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved.
Today, we often hear the heartland diminished as simply “flyover country.” It is sort of the ultimate putdown, especially in political years, culturally positioning the region and the people who live here as unworthy of attention or lacking in cultural capital. What this actually does is diminish the people and places that should be celebrated by treating Middle America like a time capsule from a simpler era, and patronizing those who have chosen to live in this remarkable part of the world as unworthy of attention.
In reality, the heartland is what it’s always been…the ultimate and ever-evolving frontier. And the Millennials who live in the heartland are busy shaping the future.
What is the real cultural census? Headlines indicate that perhaps the flyover misappropriation is dying down…economic development is starting to lead the conversation about how this part of the country is thriving for the very specific group of people we studied—the Millennials.
Here’s the thing. These headlines, they’re positive, they speak to the excitement and to the opportunity. This is the modern version of those rugged and starry-eyed ads for westward expansion just above.
By looking at these headlines, it’s easy to tangibly feel what we believe—the heartland is STILL the new frontier. Except for the fact that…
We are still firmly positioned in the culture like this too—this is the kind of chatter we are more used to seeing about this part of the country, right?
"The people in the flyover states, they don’t hate us, they want to be us."
"Des Moines is one of the fastest growing cities in the country… No.
You mean like the corn?"
"Arkansas?… Excuse me, but isn’t that the Bubba, Backwater, Redneck capital of the Western World?"
Why are comments like these stickier? Because they are largely unconfronted, it’s cultural chatter like this that creates the accepted perception of our region. For every positive headline, there is a thinly veiled reference to our lack of cultural capital and acumen.
Culturally, this part of the country is no longer largely considered at “the forefront” of much of anything, and we are considered too nice to push back when people publicly say things like you see here, which are real quotes from real people, in real positions of cultural influence—like late night comedians and well-known authors.
So for every Alexander Payne, there are dozens of others who continue to disparage this region. But, while we are physically outnumbered, we are definitely not culturally outclassed.
Wrapped up in stereotypes that don’t make sense, that have NEVER made sense.
We believe the people who populate these states today are far more like the people who first crafted our communities from the beginning.
Dismantling the Arrogance of Assumptions
There is opportunity among this group that smart brands and marketers ignore at their peril.
We’re sheepish to admit it, but the findings of our research surprised us. We know and love the heartland—but we found even ourselves challenging and unpacking misplaced and overgeneralized ideas about both the heartland and about Millennials.
This is a group with a strong voice, and a strong identity all their own. With layers we didn’t expect but were fascinated to pull back.
The Millennials of the heartland highly value community, and it’s not necessarily constrained by previously thought-of physical boundaries of community. Their sense of purpose is staunch, and often centered on impact for the greater good. They seek layered and authentic connections—this is something they’re hungry for all the time.
Other general traits that stood out harken back to the original heartland folks: we heard bravery, recognized a pioneering spirit, and were blown away with their decisiveness. They’re guided by their intention to have positive impact on others. Flighty and individualistic? Not a chance.
And we firmly believe that all of this depth and nuance has a big bottom-line impact for brands.
We asked: What does it mean to be part of a community?
We often think about community as defined by parameters of some sort—geographic parameters, shared interest parameters, who we think we are—often exclusive in their framework. More recently, we think of community in terms of a social network—particularly for Millennials.
Things like followers on Instagram, or who they influence through their social profiles—those seem to define the narrative of community in modern times via a proxy of community built through social clout.
But for heartland Millennials, community is defined differently.
By a wide margin, community is defined by emotion first, proximity a distant second, and personal recognition or clout among others not even registering in the top three.
This is a group more interested in creating multiple and varied communities of meaning, much more so than any other generational group before. They want and need to be connected—not for their own self-interest but because they see the value in having a sense of something greater than themselves in their everyday lives.
For them, community is essential, and they carefully curate it in many different ways. They want the personal and the collective benefits and they want to shape community to contribute to the future.
Dismantling the assumption that communities need to be limited by any parameters—this group looks for deep understanding and shared interests to find their many tribes.
Deeply felt, and emotionally resonant—a sense of community is like oxygen to them.
They can’t imagine and wouldn’t want to live without it.
This goes beyond just a sense of self—it’s about expanding impact and influencing, not by generating followers or monetizing likes, but rather through the right kind of engagements for them personally.
A generation bound by weathering storms
September 11 weighed heavily on this generation, forming many of their earliest memories. They came of age during a recession. They’re now gaining footholds in their careers and building families in the time of a pandemic. They’ve been through a lot.
Yet they know they needed help along the way and haven’t been afraid to normalize things that were once thought of as hard to talk about—like mental health and a focus on openness in all facets of life.
Collective support—leaning on each other when times are tough—is more powerful to them than stoic individualism, which is where they diverge from pioneers of the past.
They also recognize that, while in the past community may have been selected for you, they self-select and build community much more thoughtfully.
Perhaps the most common phrase in open-ended responses about community was “having people to lean on when times are tough.”
So, they are selecting and seeking out the community they want and need and leaving everything else behind.
We, we, we! (Not me, me, me)
Of the 350 surveyed, only 5 people expressed apathy about “what it means to be part of a community.”
Think for a second about how you might respond to this. Think about your generation. Think about other generations. What would you expect them to say?
This group of Millennials from the heartland gave us a lot to think about.
For the good of the collective
They are focused on confident, people-centric purposes.
Many centered their family, their friends and even people in general as beneficiaries of their goals.
They were steadfast in their commitment to those closest to them.
Some who expressed high priority for work and wealth specified that they’d leverage financial success to give back.
This is where we began to get a deeper understanding of the value of community to these Millennials—they had a purpose that was tailored to making a positive impact on the lives of those who they care about.
“I want to change the world together.”
—Denver male (25-30)
We can really feel the ambition, but also the weight on their shoulders. They feel inspired to change the world, but also recognize it as a place that requires great change.
We love this notion shared by a Denver man, to work as a collective entity to shift the world as he knows it.
Without losing sight of the individual
So while the sense of the collective is a critical component of living a purpose-driven life, that focus is not at the expense of personal achievement.
A segment of responses focused more on high achievement, independence, and stability, with positive outward contribution as a possible outcome.
This is a generation that has been plagued by a series of financial disasters that have made the goal of exceeding the success of their parents before them much more challenging. For many, while ensuring the happiness of those closest to them matters, their true driving force in the world is more focused on their ambitions: financial independence, being good at what they do, and other facets of personal life. For these people, high achievement is pivotal, both in and out of the workplace.
They are not the egotistical, indecisive and rudderless group that culture has painted them to be. And they want to contribute in a way that serves personal and greater good.
I’m sure the tie to community feedback isn’t lost on you. Knowing they need to build strong community ties—Millennials are driven to invest in the world at large rather than thinking small.
Only 10% don’t really think about purpose. Which means that a whopping 90% say that they do, in fact, think about their purpose—something that drives them or the central motivating aim in their life.
They are confident in their goals
Of the 350 who responded, only 6 are unsure of their purpose. Further, just 4 people stated that they have no purpose. On a sliding scale response, almost 75% of participants identified as having “clear goals and aims” in life.
"To use my skills and knowledge to improve the world around me in a big, or small way. Right now my purpose is to be a good husband and father. 3 young kids… I’m just here to help."
"My purpose is to protect, provide for and raise my family. Outside of my familial responsibilities, I feel my primary purpose is to continually grow and mature, while providing service or benefits to those around me."
"Part of a greater whole"
"Solving problems by thinking outside the box. Making positive connections with others and enjoying those around you."
Their purpose is pandemic-proof. When asked whether their purpose changed since the start of the pandemic, 70% responded “no.”
We as advertisers have indisputably seen changes based on the impact of COVID-19. But while behaviors may have shifted, Millennials’ core ideologies and sense of self has remained steadfast.
Perhaps because the world has consistently shifted in highly unpredictable ways throughout their lives, this group is an especially unshakeable bunch.
Discussing connections unearthed vulnerabilities
We as brands need to strive for the kind of openness that will get us into something deep with these folks.
Many Millennials said connection drives them to look beyond the obvious and see new aspects of people and places.
They expressed a desire to see and be seen beyond what is IMMEDIATELY apparent.
They want to go beyond and open themselves up—IN FACT, they want to be vulnerable. And CONNECT to those who express that sense of vulnerability as well.
If connection IS GROUNDED BY emotion and human-forward impact, how can brands get their attention?
“Connected to someone means you are feeling comfortable in sharing your values with them.”
—Tulsa female (31-35)
By leaning into our shared values in authentic ways.
Connection takes new shape
In a post-COVID-19 world, in-person connection has INCREASED IN value and shared interests drive much of the sense of community. But as they think about what they look most forward to, it’s meaningful, deep, person-to-person connections that can happen in the real world.
It’s about offering understanding, freedom to open up authentically, and sticking together THROUGH IT ALL.
Remarkably, only 1 of our 350+ respondents indicated that connection was meaningless to them.
“Connection means slowing down enough to notice the thread of similarity that runs through all of us.”
—Denver female (25-30)
Acceptance was deeply rooted in the desire for connection. This is not about being the SAME as—instead it’s about recognition of the commonality of us, and a basic trust in our inherent sense of good.
Where does all of this lead?
All the reasons people went west in the first place.
This is not new—think back to the pioneering spirit of the 1800s that drove groups of settlers to build something new.
That old frontier and this new frontier are one in the same!
We have to dismantle that stale, flat, UNTRUE idea of the heartland as flyover.
And while these are the emotional and cultural differentiators for the group of dynamic people who live here, they told us the differentiators for the geographic place that they call home as well.
And they really stood out to us…we think that THIS is the new definition of the heartland.
How would you define or describe the city you live in to someone who is unfamiliar with it? Please select any that apply.
This group values community and connection, and when they describe the city where they live, the stand-out descriptors are:
Comfortable (51%) and Friendly (48%)
When we asked them to describe the city in which they lived, we were wowed by their responses.
We began to see how this group pulls away from the understanding of and expectations for the coastal Millennials.
They define their communities as places that welcome them, that are comfortable, providing easy access to a way of life that they value and truly enjoy. Compare this to the chaos and hustle and bustle of big cities.
But this doesn’t mean they are aiming for flat, dull cities—Exciting, Accepting, and Open Minded did not trail far behind Comfortable and Friendly.
These secondary traits—all of which we might associate strongly with the draw of the coasts—are clearly still a part of what draws this group of Millennials to their homes, but they take a backseat to the cozy, heartland connection.
And most significantly…
For all of us marketers, here’s where we dive into that big bottom line for brands…83% of respondents were definitive in saying that NO BRANDS are currently connecting with them.
Okay, let’s recap here. Millennials in the heartland—specifically those with spending power—deeply value connection and want those connections to be deep.
They seek it in community-building through any channels they can get their hands on.
Connection has the power to make them act. Overwhelmingly, they say that brands are NOT connecting with them or representing their personal values.
The question is this: How can brands create authentic connection when systems are designed for transaction and people are designed for meaning?
By truly and deeply being ourselves. Trends come and go—staying true can only make an impact in TikTok if the real-life experience telegraphs the core of who you are.
So, this powerful, wealthy and BIG group of consumers is not asking us to change but to be COMFORTABLE BEING WHO AND WHAT WE ARE ALREADY. Create a community where your purpose—the true reason why you exist, not what you do—is telegraphed in how you connect with these amazing people. Be willing to be vulnerable and honest, and don’t worry about trends.
Be exactly the cozy, quirky, creative, deep-thinking, opportunity-filled places you are! They want friendliness and comfort. They will see you and they will value you.
We must find opportunities to connect authentically, to tap into that deep well of purpose and concern for others that this group holds dear.
