Giving Up on Millennials

It's Not An Option

Applebees announced they are giving up on Millennials. Their decision has implications for Public Media.

Applebee's Gives Up On Millennials After Failed Rebranding Efforts

They declared their attempt to rebrand themselves a failure. Business has been down and the restaurant chain was hoping to draw new customers from the largest generation right now...the millennials. 

Applebees' executive, John Cywinski, told NPR, "From my perspective, this pursuit led to decisions that created confusion among core guests as Applebee's intentionally drifted from its ... middle-America roots and its abundant value positioning." 

One of the things I was taught is that rebranding can lead to the situation described by John Cywinski. It is fraught with danger. Remember the New Coke, Crystal Pepsi, Mustang II, and when Radio Shack became The Shack?

Chains like Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday's, Chili's and Friday's are seeing business fall off. Anna Lucia Murillo's feature for All Things Considered points to research by Technomic that finds all these people are offering the same food items, the decors are the same, and also that prices have become very high in these places." Customers are drifting away.

There might be two solutions. 

First, don't assume Millennials are one giant marketing block. There are cohorts within that generation just like all the generations before it. Early research about the public radio audience suggested an affinity with Country Music fans when, in fact, there was very little crossover.

Second, to reach this generation might require taking on a whole new identity and platform. Creating a new platform allows the original concept to focus on strengthening it's hold on the core market (in the case of radio on the core audience) while creating a new identity and purpose for the new target audience.