While Millennials Spend More Time Engaging with Electronic Media, They Pay Attention to – and Value – Print Media

SUSSEX, Wis. - Quad/Graphics, a leading global provider of print and marketing services, today released Millennials: An Emerging Consumer Powerhouse, a report spotlighting best methods for marketers, advertisers and media partners to capture the attention of the connected Millennial market, defined as those born between 1981 and 1997. The report:

• Explores Millennials’ media engagement preferences and attitudinal behaviors across five key industry verticals: Grocery, Retail, Restaurant, Automobile and Financial Services.
• Examines the impact various media channels have on their behavior and, ultimately, their purchasing decisions. These channels include, but are not limited to, catalogs, mobile, direct mail, email, social media, retail inserts and magazines.
• Reinforces that omnichannel marketing campaigns should include more than just digital channels. Traditional channels like print can be used to elevate brand awareness and drive traffic online.

“By 2020, Millennial spending power will surge to an estimated $1.4 trillion – just as they are reaching key life milestones such as getting married, purchasing a home and becoming parents,” said Joel Quadracci, Chairman, President & CEO of Quad/Graphics. “It is critical for marketers in these industry segments to capture the attention and influence of these consumers early on in their buying journey.”

Key findings from the research are:

• Even though Millennials are the most digital-savvy generation, surprisingly more than half ignore digital advertising, and instead pay the greatest attention to direct mail and print advertising.
• More than half of Millennials read retail email, more than any other type of email marketing.
• Fewer than 1 in 10 Millennials based a purchase decision on what’s happening in a social network.
• Nearly half of Millennial mobile users discovered new brands by following, liking, pinning or tweeting information on social media.
• Millennials are cost-conscious multichannel consumers who actively shop from catalogs and retail inserts using print and mobile coupons.
• Nearly half of Millennials made a purchase because of something they read about in a magazine.

“Millennials are a connected, media-astute generation who are completely in control of when and how they engage with content across an ever-growing number of media channels,” Quadracci said. “This has created a crisis of measurement for marketers who are challenged to optimize their marketing spend across channels to break through the clutter, engage with the end user, and increase response and loyalty. Our report shows that Millennials engage with different channels for different reasons with all of them contributing value on the path to purchase. Further, our research supports that brands perform better when using a balanced approach with online and offline channels.”

The findings in Millennials: An Emerging Consumer Powerhouse were gathered from Quad/Graphics’ proprietary Customer Focus® 2015 Research Study, as well as from external research authorities, including Pew Research, Nielsen and Annalect, among others. Customer Focus® is a quantitative annual survey of 2,500 adults, a solid representative sample of demographic U.S. Census estimates. Millennials made up the largest share of the U.S. workforce as of Q1 2015 and, in 2016, Millennials will surpass Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) in population size for the first time in history.

For the complete Millennials: An Emerging Consumer Powerhouse report or more information on Quad/Graphics Consumer Focus® research, visit http://www.QG.com/millennials-an-emerging-consumer-powerhouse or contact Ashley Durkin-Rixey at 202-223-4933 or [email protected].