The current generation of CEOs and senior management are not ‘children of the digital revolution’.

In fact, 56% of Asia’s senior business executives confessed to never having been on a social networking site, according to a closed survey conducted by one of our clients. In addition, 61% of them feel ill-equipped to handle the opportunities and challenges presented by new technology.

The findings spell trouble for senior communications professionals who themselves are not yet gearing up for the Next Generation born between the late 70’s and early 90’s, otherwise known as the Millennials.

Most research shows that Millennials entered life at the most child-centric time in our history and is the first generation to grow up completely online.

Showered with attention by their parents, these Millennials exude a high level of confidence. Being highly technically literate, they use all electronic forms of communication inter-changeably. They are also good at multi-tasking and are typically team-oriented. When it comes to work, Millennials seem to expect structure. They acknowledge and respect positions and titles.

A survey in the US shows that even amongst savvy online shoppers, mobile and Internet activities vary across age groups. Millennials text instead of call. They actively seek out social networking opportunities and are more inclined towards multimedia communications.

What does this mean for professional service firms?
In the next decade, Millennials will take on more executive decision-making roles and calling the shots.

How we ‘woo’ them to purchase our products and services need to be tailored to their preferences.  In business, they are most likely to embrace:

• Online social networking forums as relationship building tools
• Online news sources
• Communicating through their own blogs
• Cloud computing and online digital business services
• Colorful interactive communications campaigns
• Personable and less formal business communications

If you haven’t already noticed, some traditionally ’serious’ businesses are talking directly to Millennials in ways that are complete departures from their usual style and form. We are not referring to consumer brands targeting tweens, but some of the world’s largest management consultancies.

You just need to check out the career pages on Bain or McKinsey to see what we mean.

Or look at ways that young professionals are showcasing their expertise. Here’s a short self promotional video, named “What is Search Engine Marketing”. Or take the example of a corporate video aimed at students. Watch Aiesec’s video.

Some final tips
Forward-looking communications professionals need to consider how to utilise cross-media marketing in an engaging, personable and responsive manner.

We need to:

1. Be engaging and interesting
2. Build relationships early
3. Encourage networking
4. Manage our two-way communications more actively
5. Be vigilant with our open forums

As Millennials respond well to personal attention, we also need to consider how to tailor our communications across different Asia Pacific countries. By taking a quick look at the median ages of the population in the region, emerging markets tend to have a larger share of young people and probably, future business executives who fall into the ‘Millennials’ category.

County         Median age (years)*
Japan             45.3
Hong Kong      41.4
Singapore       37.8
Australia         37.4
Korea             36.7
China             33.6
Thailand         33.2
Indonesia       27.4
Vietnam         26.9
India              24.8
Philippines      22.3

* Estimates from 2007/2008

There is a sea change at hand. We may need to review our entire scope of communications tools and ‘re-calibrate’ our campaigns.

The next decade will certainly be very interesting for those in professional business services!

Read our other blog on Evangelising the Professional Service firm.

For more information, please contact Manifesto.