Marketing 0

The Five Generations

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We believe that every customer is unique, and with technological
support, marketing will eventually be one-to-one—powered by
customization and personalization at an individual level. In the
future, marketers will serve segments of one, each with a unique set
of preferences and behaviors. However, it is useful to see the overall
direction of marketing evolution by looking at the mainstream
market that companies will serve in the future. Understanding the
collective demographic shift in the market is the most fundamental
way to predict where marketing is heading.
The generational cohort is one of the most popular ways of mass-
market segmentation. The premise is that people who were born and
grew up within the same period experienced the same significant
events. Thus, they share the same sociocultural experiences and are
more likely to possess similar sets of values, attitudes, and behaviors.
Today, five generational cohorts are living together: Baby Boomers,
Generation X, Generation Y, Generation Z, and Generation Alpha
(see 
Figure 2.1
).