17 Things Brands Get Dead Wrong About Millennials

Summary

Podcast Summary: Brain Driven Brands – "17 Things Brands Get Dead Wrong About Millennials"

Host: Sarah Levinger
Episode Air Date: June 3, 2026
Main Theme:
Sarah Levinger dissects the most persistent misconceptions and missteps brands make when marketing to millennials. Drawing from neuromarketing secrets of powerhouse brands and firsthand experience, she and guest Nate (regular collaborator) unpack 17 essential truths about the millennial generation. The episode is packed with actionable strategies, humor, and relatable millennial moments to help marketers more authentically connect with this massive consumer segment.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Millennials Aren’t 25 Anymore

• Myth: Marketers often picture millennials as perpetually young 20-somethings.
• Reality: The oldest millennials are 45, the youngest in their late 20s/early 30s.

“I think a lot of marketers have this in their head that, like, millennials are 25 years old.” – Sarah [02:15]
“We're not young. I feel bad. We're not really all that young anymore... I’m pushing 40 here.” – Sarah [02:37]

2. Not in Peak Spending Years

• Misconception: Millennials have disposable income galore.
• Reality: Most are financially strained, holding far less wealth than previous generations at the same age.

“When the boomers were our age, they owned like 30% of the wealth in the country. All ready. We're at like three [percent].” – Nate [03:18]
“We can't afford it.” – Sarah [03:55]

3. Under-Taught, Not Under-Educated

• Insight: Millennials lack practical life education—financial literacy, career-building, emotional intelligence.
• Advice for Brands: Educate your market about your product or category, but don’t be condescending.

“If you can teach it without being condescending, that's the first step.” – Sarah [04:41]

4. Valuing Autonomy and Objectivity

• Millennial Preference: Present all the facts—including flaws—and let them decide.
• Turn-Off: Overly polished, one-sided marketing breeds distrust.

“Give it to me straight, man… If your product doesn't do something, tell me.” – Sarah [05:18]
“If you make someone feel like they're being sold to from the jump, they're going to be turned off.” – Nate [06:04]

5–6. The “Reinvention Era” and Craving Peace

• Current Stage: Millennials are shifting careers, picking up new hobbies, seeking therapy—not having stereotypical midlife crises.
• Aspiration: Peace, three-day weekends, quiet moments. Fewer want big, flashy items.

“We just want a three-day weekend, guys.” – Sarah [08:09]
“Oh God. Poor millennials... The anxiety actually comes up when we start to feel like everything's okay. Because most of our life, it wasn't that way.” – Sarah [08:36]

7. The Sandwich Generation

• Juggle: Caring for both kids and aging parents.
• Marketing Hook: Anything offering time, money, or emotional bandwidth is instantly attractive.

“Any product or brand that can give me back time, money, or emotional bandwidth, I will buy immediately.” – Sarah [09:46]

8. Acknowledge Tiredness (Without Over-Identifying)

• Delicate Line: Affirm millennial exhaustion, but don’t imply the brand is equally tired.
• Key: Make space for their feelings, don’t “join in” insincerely.

“Please don't tell me though, that you know what I'm experiencing.” – Sarah [10:08]
“Never tell your audience outright, ‘We feel this way too.’” – Nate [11:49]

9–10. Built-In Bullshit Detectors & Respectful Ads

• Anecdote: Millennials grew up inundated with aggressive marketing, raising their guard.
• Tips: Be genuine; never condescend.

“We kind of have a built in bullshit detector.” – Sarah [12:27]
“We just have zero tolerance for marketing that just assumes we're stupid or shallow.” – Sarah [13:56]

11. Nostalgia as Cheat Code (But Be Specific)

• Effective Tactic: Recalling millennial childhood (90s/early 2000s) works when it’s detailed and authentic, not generic.

“You can't just say, remember the 90s, right? Get me some references. Talk about my Tamagotchi that died.” – Sarah [17:11]

12. Real Community Building

• What Works: In-jokes, shared history, and organic engagement—not just generic Slack and Facebook groups.

“Communities have inside jokes, they have a shared history and they have people bringing in other people for no reason...” – Sarah [18:30]

13. Price Transparency is Non-Negotiable

• Consumer Demand: No hidden fees or surprise costs at checkout.
• Effective Strategy: Show prices upfront and explain the value.

“Hidden fees at checkout. Number one way to lose me.” – Sarah [19:33]

14. Lifelong Loyalty to Brands Who “Grow Up” with Them

• Insight: Classic brands who remain relevant retain loyalty—unless they refuse to age alongside their audience.

“If you refuse to age with me, I'm probably not going to come back.” – Sarah [21:09]
“Nike... hasn't done a single thing to like, win me over in the last 10 years. But I still have a sock drawer full of Nikes...” – Nate [21:10]

15. Performing vs. Authenticity

• Major Turnoff: Performative masculinity, wellness, activism, and hyper-exaggerated fitness ideals.
• Advice: Feature relatable, average people—avoid extreme archetypes.

“Everyone turns the character in their ads into like a caricature… None of your customers are that.” – Nate [22:57]

16. Micro-Influencers Over Mega-Celebrities

• Trend: Millennials trust micro-influencers with authentic experiences over celebrities or sanitized brand ambassadors.

“Mega influencers… totally dead to me. I'll take a micro influencer every single day.” – Sarah [23:57]

17. Don’t Promise to Solve Their Lives

• Pitfall: Overclaiming life-changing results breeds skepticism and alienation.
• What Works: Acknowledge, don’t overpromise—fit naturally into their routines.

“We do not need you to solve this midlife crisis for us.” – Sarah [24:57]
“Let's not frame it as, like, the supermodel is going to be into me now, because she won't be.” – Nate [27:26]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Wealth Disparity:
  “When the boomers were our age, they owned like 30% of the wealth in the country. Already. We're at like three.” – Nate [03:18]

• On Marketing Approach:
  “If you can teach it without being condescending, that's the first step.” – Sarah [04:41]

• On Aspirations:
  “We just want a three-day weekend, guys.” – Sarah [08:09]

• On Peace and Comfort:
  “What can I do to make you feel comfortable with this purchase?” – Nate [09:14]

• On Nostalgia:
  “Talk about my Tamagotchi that died.” – Sarah [17:11]

• On Performative Marketing:
  “Everyone turns the character in their ads into like a caricature… none of your customers are that.” – Nate [22:57]

• On Overclaiming:
  “Nothing is life changing at this point, guys. Like, my life will only get changed if I win the lottery…” – Sarah [26:59]

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Important Timestamps

• 01:46 – Introduction to the episode’s topic: 17 truths about marketing to millennials
• 02:28 – Breakdown of millennial age demographics
• 03:18 – Analysis of millennial wealth and spending
• 04:24 – Discussion about lack of practical education for millennials
• 08:09 – The craving for peace, not extravagance
• 09:46 – The “sandwich generation” phenomenon
• 10:08 – Brands acknowledging exhaustion without being patronizing
• 12:27 – The millennial “bullshit detector”
• 17:11 – Effectiveness of specific nostalgia marketing
• 19:33 – Price transparency musts
• 21:09 – Evolving with your millennial customer
• 22:57 – Pushback on performative marketing tropes
• 23:57 – Micro vs. mega influencers
• 24:57 – Brands shouldn’t claim to solve life/the midlife crisis

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Tone & Style

• Conversational, authentic, and irreverent—grounded in lived millennial experience.
• Strategic, practical takeaways mixed with self-deprecating humor and pop-culture nods.
• Direct, often using “give it to me straight” language.

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Episode Takeaway

Understanding millennials means seeing them as adults juggling multiple roles and responsibilities, craving peace, autonomy, transparency, community, and authentic brand relationships. Cut the hype, ditch the condescension, and fit into their lives—don’t try to redefine them.

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For more, follow Sarah Levinger (@aralevinger) and guest Nate (@aytelegos).

Transcript

[A]

Three, two. Welcome back to Brain Driven Brands, hosted by me and Sarah.

[B]

Do.

[A]

I wanted to put my name first.

[B]

I actually. This is going to sound so bad. I have one one PL project that creates all of, like, the descriptions for all the YouTube videos for these, and I was using it the other day to put all on all of my tether videos that I do for, like, my school. And I forgot to take out you as a co host in the description. So literally every. I'm.

[A]

I'm a co host for your school now.

[B]

For the school.

[A]

Cool. As long as I'm getting royalties for that, then it is all good with me.

[B]

Somebody pointed it out and they were like, are we gonna see Nate anytime soon? It says he's a co host. I was like, where?

[A]

Want to come in? We can talk about it. I was thinking about starting my own school. If you just want to combine schools, that's fine.

[B]

It was the funniest thing ever. I was like, oh, yeah. I mean, Nate has been in the group, and you're fit. I mean, your talk that you did was that, like, even two weeks ago, we can have. They're still talking about it. Everybody is like, we need to have Nate back. Like, I love this concept of, like, bottoms up marketing. Like, all these things.

[A]

Appreciate it.

[B]

People are loving it.

[A]

It's a good group. I'm thinking about joining to be honestly, just being a paying member, if that's all right with you.

[B]

I mean, you don't have to pay. I. I can probably let you watch. I feel like you and I do enough, like, shuffling back and forth of cash flow from each other. It's fine.

[A]

That'd be hilarious for us to send it in. Voices back and forth all year. And then at the end of the year, it's like, so Sarah's up 400 bucks on me. Like, what are we doing? We sent 37 invoices to each other.

[B]

Invoices all over the place just to see. I just want to see, like, how

[A]

much increasing our taxable income for no reason at all.

[B]

On the podcast today, we're going to talk about two tweets, actually, that I had that popped off in the last month or so. So today we're going to talk specifically about 17 things that you need to know before you market to millennials.

[A]

Nice. I love the generational episodes.

[B]

They're so interesting. This one, I think, actually hit home because it was just my experience as a millennial. And then I went over to LinkedIn and I actually had, like, a ton of very nice gentlemen who. Who Just like, gave me a ton of their thoughts on the male perspective of this number one very important experience that I am having is we are not 25. I think a lot of marketers have this in their head that, like, millennials are 25 years old.

[A]

The oldest millennial. I'm the youngest one.

[B]

Okay. Are you at the cutoff?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. Yeah. The oldest millennial is 45.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, we're not young. I feel bad. We're not really all that young anymore. You're definitely not 30. Okay. I'm pushing 40 here.

[A]

I know I've been three years.

[B]

Very important. Like, all of us in here are, are in our, like, prime.

[A]

We are adults for sure.

[B]

Adults. A lot of us are, like, going through perimenopause or, like, buying houses or running companies. I think we need to stop putting millennials in skinny jeans and assuming that they're young. If you're marketing to millennials, very first thing you got to remember, we're not 25.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We're like midlife number two, big myth out here. I think everybody assumes that we're in our prime spending years. I don't think that's true.

[A]

No.

[B]

A lot of us are spread pretty thin.

[A]

I think prior generations probably were at this point. But no, like millennials. Well, I saw a thing the other day that was like, when the boomers were our age, they owned like 30% of the wealth in the country. All ready. We're at like three.

[B]

Yes. It's not good.

[A]

So. So, yeah, like, it's. We're not, we're not growing financially like previous generations.

[B]

Did you hear these conversations of like, millennials just aren't buying diamonds or like, they're not going to buy your protein cereal. It's not. They don't want it.

[A]

Yeah. They can't afford it.

[B]

We can't afford it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Very, very clear distinction. And I think that kind of leads into number three, though. We are one of the most under taught generations in history. Now, not that we're not educated, but nobody ever taught us how mortgages work. They didn't teach us how a 401k works. They did not teach us how to turn a job into a career. They definitely didn't teach us, like, how to grieve, how to, like, dump out emotion, how to solve our own, like, emotional problems. Well, and like, you didn't get taught much.

[A]

A lot of our parents didn't need to be financially savvy to do well. Like, if you just worked hard in Very true America and the previous generation, you did well, and now it's like, well, we're trying to stretch dollars as far as they go. So, yeah, we didn't get taught these things.

[B]

We didn't get taught anything at all. So if you can teach what your product is, why it's viable, education is a good thing. If you can teach it without being condescending, that's the first step. So don't come at. I know you gotta be super careful with it, but you have to come at this from a standpoint of, I'm gonna educate you because no one taught you this. But that's okay. It's okay if you didn't know how to do this. Let me teach you how to do it right. Don't be condescending. Number four. In here, we want to be independent, but we want it to be objective. Meaning, like, let me see all the information and I will make the decision. Millennials are real big on autonomy. Right? Like, please, please don't just, like, shove your reviews down my throat. Give me all the information, and then I will make a good decision. I don't think it's good for, for everybody just to like, put all of the nice, happy stuff up front. Give it to me straight, man. Yeah, like, if your product doesn't do something, tell me. Yeah, because you making it seem like you do everything under the sun is killing it for me.

[A]

Yeah. I think the generation that grew up watching infomercials, like we did, like, got really turned off to like a lot of hacky sales.

[B]

Yes. Oh, my God.

[A]

Tactics. But, like, this is why I think so we. We touched on it in the last episode. So sort of like when we share certain information about the product and the brand and what it can do for them is super important. Because if you start, if you make someone feel like they're being sold to from the jump, they're going to be turned off.

[B]

This goes straight into number five, which is going to resonate with you. I think. We are in our midlife reinvention era.

[A]

Thanks for calling it that. And not a crisis. Thanks.

[B]

It's a reinvention era. You just reinvention.

[A]

I. If you guys don't follow me on Twitter, I just wrapped up about an 18 month long midlife crisis spanned from the age of 28 to 30. But I think I'm done now. I think I'm good.

[B]

Did you get out of your system, do you think?

[A]

Yeah, I think so. You? I bought a farm. I grew a mullet. I changed jobs a couple times.

[B]

Yes. Okay. Yes.

[A]

I bought an Aston Martin and Returned it. I changed my sense a little bit. Lost the down payment there. That one hurt. And then just bought an RV to spend more time with the family. So I think. I think I'm done. I think I'm good.

[B]

This is the point I'm trying to make is like, we're not buying. I mean, Nate did, but we're not buying the red convertible he returns. Right? Like, we. We are going, like, career pivots. That's what our reinvention era is looking like. We are going to therapy. We're doing sobriety, like, experiments coming out of those two. But, okay, we have new hobbies that are coming up. Like, our midlife crisis does not look like the boomer midlife crisis. We actually are paring back. Typically, when we start going through this process, all we want is just peace. Like, please give me peace is all I need.

[A]

That is how mine ended up. At first I was like, no, give me the car. But then it quickly became like, actually, I, like, I want my life closer to be like, let's sell everything and live in the woods.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It's, like, where I wanted to go with it. Hence the rv. Hence the quitting my job to do copy and creative strategy full time so I can work from anywhere and live in the woods.

[B]

100%. This is why number six exists in here. I. I think a lot of marketers believe that we want, like, something big. Big aspirational vacations, like, aspirational cars, aspirational life. We just want a three day weekend, guys. Yeah, I want a weekend.

[A]

Yeah, I think we just want peace.

[B]

Peace. I want an overnight trip with my family. Like, I just want. Oh, sh. I want quiet as well.

[A]

You actually went through this a couple weeks ago. You told me you were, like, feeling anxious about how calm your life was, and I was like, sarah, I think this is a good thing. I think this is what we've all been working.

[B]

Peace is what you're describing. I'm like, yeah, nothing's wrong. Why?

[A]

She's like, yeah, like, nothing's wrong. Nothing's really going on. Like, that sounds like the dream. You should celebrate that.

[B]

Oh, God. Poor millennials. This is a great example of this really, really struggle to be okay with things going well and to, like, be in peace and to feel, like, totally anxiety free. The anxiety actually comes up when we start to feel like everything's okay. Because the most of our life, it wasn't that way.

[A]

These. Oh, this peace angle. I've seen work more and more in my copy in the last year. It's been like the more and I haven't used the the word peace, but like, the way I think about it is like, what can I do to make you feel comfortable with this purchase?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

What can I do to make this approaches that you make? And then don't regret and don't stress about and like, don't feel guilty about. Make people feel comfortable buying from you.

[B]

So interesting. Okay, number seven, we are. What is. Turn the terminology on. This is sandwich generation. We are sandwich generation chart. We're raising kids. We also have parents who are starting to age up. Right. So any product or brand that can give me back time, money, or emotional bandwidth, I will buy immediately. Like, I am taking care of everybody right now.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

I just need time and emotional support. Please give me energy back because I'm doing it all.

[A]

Yep. Love it.

[B]

Generation on that one. Okay, number eight, we want to be told it's okay that we're tired. Please don't tell me though, that you know what I'm experiencing.

[A]

Elaborate on that.

[B]

Yeah. So there's three ways that you could go about this. If somebody says, I'm tired, you could come in and say, you know, you

[A]

put up a poll about this this week.

[B]

I did, Yep. It's okay to feel this way. Another way you can answer is, everyone feels this way. A third way you could answer is, we feel this way too. It's okay if you want to tell us, like, God, it's okay that you're tired. It's a lot right now. But please don't couple it with we are tired too. Because as a brand, I just don't align that way.

[A]

So I voted the opposite.

[B]

Oh, you did.

[A]

But I. But I think it's because I. I know how to write in a way that doesn't hit it on the nose like that.

[B]

Okay. So you can skirt the line between the two.

[A]

Yeah. Like, I think we did a ton of this at OG where it's like, you know, selling a watch to a man that ultimately.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is there to boost his self esteem and like, mask his security. It would never work if we run it out. It's like, hey, we used to be insecure too, but now we feel confident because we put on a watch. It's a great example, but I think we can. I. I think we were able to message it in a way that like, communicated that without saying that. But like, my, my thought process going into it was like, I need to show them that we feel this way too. Even though the output didn't say that outright.

[B]

The interesting part is sometimes just a really talented copywriter. Sometimes you can feel the internal message. Even if it's a little bit different from the output, you can still feel the two are connected. So yeah, if you got good copywriter on your staff, please let that person try to bridge. If you, if you think you can do it. Most of the time I just suggest brands like don't go at this from like a. We do it too. Like we feel it too. I'm like, it just.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Process and disingenuance.

[A]

Yeah. And I'll double. I'll click on that. Like never tell your audience outright. We feel this way too. We experience that. Like that's not what they want to hear. You need, like I said a minute ago, like, I think you need to give them the space to feel comfortable in whatever emotion they're feeling. And I think you need to do that by bringing them into a world where other people do or it's okay for them to.

[B]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay, well, I have another one for you that might be really interesting to get your take on. Number nine. We grew up being marketed we. We grew up being marketed a little harder than I would say almost any generation before.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. I was like, I don't know that I can clearly state this because I don't have any data on it. This is really just anecdotal, but we kind of have a built in bullshit detector. Like, yeah, we. Yeah. If anybody comes at us with like, hey, are you struggling with xyz? We're like, nope.

[A]

Immediately, I feel like commercials when we were growing up went super hard. And then like as soon as we got the Internet on our phones, it was flooded with ads. So like, I think we have seen by the age of 30, or in your case, 45, we have seen more ads than anyone at our age before, which means we're very good at detecting them. I think we sniff out bullshit super quickly. But at the same time, like, I think this is why you and I and clients are of ours are having success. Advertising to this generation is because we're doing in a way that doesn't feel like the previous era of marketing.

[B]

100%. This is the reason why number 10 exists too. We. It's not that we hate ads like we heavily marketed to for our entire life because we got like a lot of openness right to messaging. That again, anecdotal, I have no data on that. But I. It's not that we hate ads. It's mostly that we just don't like being talked down to so, like, we'll watch a 20 minute YouTube video. Like, yeah, I will 100% send ads to like the group chat and I do on the daily. We just have zero tolerance for marketing. That just assumes we're stupid or shallow. Don't just assume that. I don't know what I'm talking about.

[A]

You know, like the classic infomercial hook of like a guy just being like, so dumb and clumsy and like spilling something. It's like, but wait, the. The Swiffer can clean it all up. It's like we need. We do not respond well to that at all. Because we see that and we're like, oh, you think I'm a moron? Like, you think, because I just dropped a bucket of water in my kitchen.

[B]

But I think this is the reason why UGC really bothers me sometimes. Because for women in this, in this, like, particular trope, you get a lot of these UGC girls who are like, I'm a skincare girly. And this is what I found. That's like, you're gonna love it. And I'm like, stop, stop. Like, that is so demeaning to me as a person. Please just give it to me straight. Like, just act like a normal human. Please.

[A]

Yeah. By the way, can I give you a weird take? I went down like women's makeup rabbit hole the other night for research for a potential client. I think I could be the best person in the world at selling makeup to women.

[B]

Like, I think I want to hear

[A]

the thing because, like, everything's. I think, I think what I've done well in my career, like into my own horn a little bit, is like, I. I think I can make the, the aspirational feel relatable and feel within reach. And I think most advertising to women, whether it's clothes or makeup or anything that's going to like, make them look better. I think they go too hard. I think the women are too hot. I think their routines are too long. I think it needs to be more normal looking women. Yes, that without getting canceled. But like pretty but normal looking.

[B]

He like an everyday person.

[A]

And the thing should be like, I'm late to date night with my husband because my kid wouldn't go down for a nap. I have seven minutes to do this thing. Here we go. And I think if you give women the freedom to kind of feel like, oh, and that's okay, and my husband will still think I look good, like, I think that would work really well. I forget what client we were working on together, but I think it was Like, a year ago, where it was some, like, Men's health thing, and, like, every ad that they were showing, like, the dude was ripped, and it's like, hey, that's not going to work on me. Because I know what it takes to look like that. I never want to do that. I just want to be, like, 30 pounds lighter.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Like, I still won't look good without a shirt on, but I just want to look slightly better than I do now. Like, that would work on me better than a bodybuilder.

[B]

Just give it to me normal. Especially since millennials are a huge demographic in the U.S. like, we're a massive consumer group, and you guys are over here trying to make me feel like I could attain that. I don't want to attain it. I don't want it. Like, I don't want a beach body anymore. I'm sorry. I've had two kids. All I want to do is look slightly better in the jeans that I already have.

[A]

Oh, that would be such a fun angle for a company to run. Be like, look a little better. Like, just. Just bring yourself up a little bit.

[B]

I want to take by the end of this year, and I think that's

[A]

going to be my, like, hey, like,

[B]

you're gonna look a little better.

[A]

It's £15. You don't have to buy a new sh. But the one you're wearing will look better on you.

[B]

Just already feel good to me. Thank you. Look a little better. I don't need to look a lot better. Just, like, a little bit. I'm going to start that brand. Okay, number 11 on here, because we got just a few more to go. Nostalgia is a cheat code with us. We missed the 90s, and we missed the early 2000, but you got to be very specific. So, like, you can't just say, remember the 90s, right? Get me some references. Talk about my Tamagotchi that died. Like, talk about it. I will take anything you got that's specific.

[A]

I could do a half hour on this because this worked on me this week. I. I grew up playing all the Lego video games. Lego Star wars was the first one, and then they did ones for, like, Jurassic park and pirates and everything. They dropped a new Lego Batman video game this week.

[B]

I saw that on Twitter. I was like, what are you?

[A]

I paid 90 for the deluxe pack yesterday.

[B]

Holy cow.

[A]

But that game is filled up with references for millennials.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

Like, they reference the movie Taken and other movies that Christian Bale has been in American Psycho. Like, these are references that are baked into this game to make 30 year old me feel nostalgic.

[B]

I know their audience.

[A]

It's going over the heads of any kids that are playing that game. But the parents or in my case the 30 year olds who are playing it themselves are like, that's a good reference.

[B]

I like that so well, that's really smart actually, because that it creates. Okay. And this we're doing really well. Honestly, just rolling through this. It creates number 12, which is community. You can create community around almost anything you want to. But don't just give me like a slack channel or like a, you know, a Facebook group to join and then just like leave it to us to decide what it is. Community has like three parts. Communities have inside jokes, they have a shared history and they have people bringing in other people for no reason at all just because the group is fun to be a part of. If you don't have those three things, you got nothing to work from. Smart. Creating communities without having to do anything at all. You just had to like throw out the reference. That's fascinating actually. I like that one. Okay, number 13, price transparency. Non negotiable. Tell me how much I'm gonna pay up front. We see. I've seen a crap ton of posts from. If you guys don't follow Robert Freund, shout out to you. You guys, you're an amazing person. He is a DTC lawyer, E commerce lawyer that looks at people who are getting sued.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

For sharing things that are just not true. Right. Like lots and lots. Even big brands are on his feet a lot. This one is important. Hidden fees at checkout. Number one, way to lose me. If you pop in anything in there that I did not expect. You didn't tell me before I got to the cart that this was going to be a part of it. I will close that window so incredibly fast. We have been burned way too much by like free trials or like low pricing. Just tell me what I'm going to pay.

[A]

Well. And like, you know the example that I'm about to bring up, like we actually had a ton of success of showing the price first in the ad and then the landing page is telling you why it costs that much. It's all about like, hey, here's how we got to that. Here's all the work, the time, the effort, the money, the research, the craftsmanship that went into making this thing. So yeah, that $350 price point we showed you a minute ago, for the record, you forgot about it already because now you're just impressed with the Work it took to get there. When you see it again, you're gonna be like, oh, yeah, that makes sense.

[B]

100%. Just tell me what I'm gonna pay and make sure that you remind me throughout the process what we're up to. If I keep adding stuff to my cart, please give me a notification. Hey, you're up to this point, this point, this point. That way, when I get to the end, I'm like, okay, this was my choice and 100% I'm gonna buy, you know, $400 worth of stuff today. It's just gonna be a thing. I'm okay with it. Just don't shock me. That stressed me out. Okay. Number 14. We're loyal to brands that grew up with us. Brands that grew up with us. So, like me. Yeah. Lego Batman. If you sold me cool sneakers in 2005, I will probably come back and buy from you again. But if you refuse to age with me, I'm probably not going to come back.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So if you're.

[A]

I thought about that the other day with Nike. Like, Nike was like the cool brand forever. And like, I don't know if you guys know I was a college athlete, but, like, it was Nike forever. And Nike hasn't done a single thing to like, win me over in the last 10 years. But I still have a sock drawer

[B]

full of Nikes because they keep trying to go after the younger generations. And I'm just like, shocked by this. I'm like, I understand that Gen Z is important, but Gen Z will, will understand. They'll come with you. Yeah, because Gen Z is actually really into kind of like, what do they call it, like, dad drip. They like the fact that you look nostalgic. This kind of a big trend right now. Why are you fighting it brands? Why are you fighting. Okay, next one on here. Number 15. We are deeply skeptical of performative any. Anything like performative masculinity. Performative femininity is another one that I just can't get behind. Performative wellness is another one that I think would be really interesting to talk about. Another podcast, Performative Activism. Like, we see. What would you call it? Like puppet strings basically everywhere, like all over the place. We don't respond to that. So please.

[A]

Well, and like, we touched on this earlier with like the. I think you need like more average looking women and yeah, stuff like everyone and like supplement brands, I think are really guilty of this. The guy in the ad, his health and fitness is. His personality, is his identity. Yeah, but it's like that none of us have that none of us have that thing. Like, we're all just dads and coworkers and like, we just want something that's going to make us feel better, be a little less stiff, less pain, like whatever it is, like, look a little bit better. But everyone turns the character in their ads into like a caricature. Caricature?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like the most extreme version of like, whatever it is you're selling when none

[B]

of your customers are that I don't want it. Mostly because it tells me that you don't understand. You don't understand what I'm going through.

[A]

Not at all.

[B]

Because you've taken who I am and you've like, extrapolated it into this weird, like, character.

[A]

Almost nobody wants to be Brian Johnson, who's doing the whole, like, like, I'm gonna live forever longevity thing. And like, none of us want to be that guy.

[B]

He's terrified.

[A]

But, like, I'd like to be healthy into my 70s and 80s, you know, like, that'd be nice. Yeah. He's trying to fill a hole in his heart that he won't.

[B]

But, oh, it's just so hard to look at sometimes because I'm like, we take the extremes and we assume that the mean, the middle is exactly what we see in the extremes. And that's just humanism. That's not true. The average person is just doing their best, like, trying to make whatever I can today. Right. Oh, okay. Number 16 out here. Mega influencers. Totally dead to me.

[A]

I'll.

[B]

I'll take a micro influencer every single day. If you got somebody with like 8000ish followers who can give me a real like, like, we would talk about a real portrayal of what their actual experience is. I'll take that over a celebrity every day. Like, don't. I don't care what the celebrities are doing. I don't give a. I just want somebody who can tell me what they think. Yeah, that's.

[A]

Yeah, I can. I think I encounter like one hand of like, macro celebrities that make sense for like, a select few brands.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Everything else is like, you'd be way better with an army of 10, 000 follower creators.

[B]

Well, those micro influencers are also the only people I feel like, who are still trying to just put good content out, like, things. This is my actual point of view on this. Like, you got to get people who are in that range. Otherwise you get this, like, really, like, bland, watered down experience, like, opinion.

[A]

Yeah. You get legal departments involved.

[B]

Yep, Yep, yep. Number 17 on here. Last one. We do not need you to solve this midlife crisis for us. Okay? Don't solve it. Don't come in with your product and say that this is going to solve your life, because I can't. I think we talked about this in

[A]

an episode I tried with Aston Martin.

[B]

Oh. I have seen people who sell salads, like, salad kits at airports that have marketing on the side that just said, this is the sigh of relief that you wanted today. And I'm like, stop it. Stop that. We just need you to, like, see us. That's fine. If you want to, like, see what we're going through, also put it on your marketing.

[A]

No, it's not the candy bar. Next to it is the sigh of relief that you're looking for that day.

[B]

I'm like, I'm not here to buy a salad or the drink at the

[A]

bar across the airport. That's not what we're doing.

[B]

Like, so we might have to do a whole episode next on. On good copywriting that rides the line. Because somebody's going to be come, you know, next and be like, well, how then? Yeah, I'm supposed to see them, but I'm not supposed to trigger them. Like, how am I supposed to do that?

[A]

Yeah, we'll bring some examples, but, like, I think this one kind of wraps up well and, like, hits on a lot of the themes we hit on of, like, we don't want to be overly performative. We don't want to be overly extremists. A salad is not changing anyone's life. That doesn't mean there's not a reason to buy it. There are great reasons to buy it, and you can convince more people to. To buy it than who don't want to right now. But, yeah, like, I think marketers, and to be honest, like, I think this kind of comes from, like, Mr. Beast and, like, the TikTok ification of a lot of our content. Everyone runs to the extreme when most products, for most people are a tiny part of their lives.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

The biggest whiskey guy you know is drinking a nice bottle once a week.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And, like, you know, the. The a guy today who has a wife and kids and a job, who really cares about his health, works out for five hours a week. It's not their whole life. And I think we need to do a better job of showing how our products can fit into their routine in a way that amplifies it in a way that improves it in a way that makes it better. But we gotta ease off the throttle on, like, everything's life changing. No, it's not.

[B]

Yeah, Nothing is life changing at this point, guys. Like, my life will only get changed if I win the lottery for or if I sell a business for a million billion dollars.

[A]

Yeah. Doubling your income can change your life. Having another kid can change your life.

[B]

Like, a lot of us out here,

[A]

the gas on, like, these T shirts, it's like, no, no, it won't. No, it won't. It's a nice shirt. I get it.

[B]

Yep. It might make it a little bit better.

[A]

Let's not frame it as, like, the supermodel is going to be into me now because she won't be 100,000%.

[B]

So there you go, millennial. Everything you need to know about selling to us.

[A]

I think it's a really important episode too, because who comes before millennials? X. Yeah, X is aging and, like, I think are gonna start spending less money soon. So, like, watch over that. But, like, millennials are gonna have to carry our businesses for the next 10, 15 years.

[B]

Yeah. It's a long time, guys. Like, if you want to be in business for a long time, it's very important to know what these people are currently exper.

[A]

And because we're all 30 and up now, all of us are the people we're going to be for the rest of our lives. So, like, I don't think this psychology is changing much.

[B]

Nope.

[A]

So you need to understand how to market to us, like, now and then for the next decade.

[B]

I love it.

[A]

Thanks for listening to brain driven brands. Hit up me and Sarah if you guys want to work with us and I'll see you on the next episode.

[B]

Thank you so much for joining us on the show today. Appreciate you guys listening. If you want to follow me, I'm aralevinger. Anywhere you consume content, he is aytelegos. If you like this show and if you like this episode, go ahead and like, subscribe. Share with a friend. Drop us a review when you have a minute. We would appreciate it. Otherwise, have a great week. We'll see you next time.