The last 40 years have seen unprecedented changes in how we communicate. Just about everything from the telephone to TV has become pocket-sized and the internet has changed the way we work and live. But since the arrival of Generation Y (born between 1981 and 1996), perhaps the greatest shift of all has been in how — and how much — we rely on visual communication.
More than ever before in human history, we communicate with each other in nonverbal, visually driven ways. We share our daily lives with friends and family by posting photos and videos. We retweet memes and spend hours a day watching YouTube or streaming video. Even when we’re using a text-based medium, like chat apps or text messages, we sprinkle our copy with emojis.
What I’ve come to call the Visual Generation — the group comprising Generations Y (millennials) and Z — aren’t just digital natives. They’re visual natives, having grown up learning to communicate in fundamentally different ways than their predecessors did.
Let’s take a look at five reasons it’s essential to customize your marketing for the Visual Generation.
1. They’re in the majority.
Generations Y and Z comprise nearly two-thirds of the entire global population — 31.5 percent and 32 percent, respectively, according to Bloomberg…
