Study: ‘Millennials’ represent 22% of P.R.’s population
Carlos Thompson, DLC’s general manager, offers details of the study.
“Millennials,” or those people born between 1980 and 2000, represent 22 percent of Puerto Rico’s population, and represents a generation of togetherness with family, with friends, collaborating with teams to study and work.
That was one of several findings revealed at the presentation “A Generation of togetherness but full of Contradictions,” conducted by Integrated communications agency de la Cruz & Associates.
The findings of DLC’s proprietary study provide local data showing their preferences, attitudes and needs in areas such as family values, personal values, economic situation, education and employment and, the role of technology in their daily lives.
“The ‘Millennials’ generation is extremely important because, although it isn’t the largest generation like the baby boomers, it still has a significant number. They’re people between 18 to 34 years of age, so you’re talking about key ages in many of our customer’s target,” said Liza Umpierre, planning director at DLC.
“Understanding their attitudes and preferences helps us to know this segment for the development of communication strategies which will allow for us to connect with them effectively,” she said
This group — also known as “Generation Y,” the “Boomerang Generation,” or the “Peter Pan Generation” — is composed of young people who are starting their careers and starting a family. They are relevant as a target audience for many brands because they usually tend to consume more, both for themselves and for their families.
The data collected in the study validated that Puerto Rico’s “Millennials” are also connected all the time to friends, family and the world. However, it is a generation full of contradictions, an issue that stands out in Puerto Rico due to a conservative culture that still gradually is freed from traditional values.
The study highlights, among other things, contradictions related to the segment of family and personal values. Seventy-one percent, for example, show they consider bad for society that the mother works out of home and the father stays at home taking care of the house and kids. It contradicts in the sense that “Millenials” are very open-minded in general, yet, they show conservative views on changes in traditional roles, particularly male roles.
In the personal aspect, the topic of independence of this group is a matter of contradiction. Some 64 percent says they always feel they like to make their own decisions, while a 75 percent mentions that they never feel like they prefer to work alone instead of being part of a team.
This clearly indicates that “Millenials” are a generation of collaboration like no other but are extremely independent. “Millenials” are usually private individuals who choose what they desire to share with the rest of the world, primarily because they do not want others judging them and telling them what is right or wrong or what to do. The study revealed that 48 percent always feels they don’t like to share their personal life with too many people.
DLC took on the task of identifying the differentiating point that would facilitate working focused on what Puerto Rico’s “Millenials” prefer “to continue working on the constant evolution of its clients and brands. de la Cruz & Associates has always had as a goal the growth, evolution and well-being of our clients. It’s already spent 30 years innovating, facilitating added value efforts that also establish goals for the industry to follow,” said René de la Cruz, founder and CEO of DLC.
As part of its mission, DLC seeks to connect consumers with brands in ways that produce both real-time results and long-term success.
“During these times of change and challenges, giving added value to the agency-client relationship is extremely relevant. To provide our clients unique data about this segment positions us as true business partners. That’s why it’s important to invest in data to learn and gain complete knowledge of the consumer needs,” said Carlos Thompson, DLC’s general manager.
Market research firm Latino FootPrint, founded by Puerto Rican Lourdes Fernández and Maria Casas from Colombia, conducted the study through online tools. It had a demographic profile of 49 percent female and 51 percent male.
