As an agency, we are a curious bunch. We are always searching for the WHY behind the WHAT and are fascinated by the human condition. We are especially interested when generalizations and stereotypes are used to create narratives that stick. When we are curious about something, we dig deeper. And in digging deeper, we often find inspiration and opportunity. Which is exactly what happened with this study.
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.
