Probably not, and I haven’t heard of very many companies who do. Luckily my boss, Hilary, was on vacation with her in-laws and they happened to be watching Focus on the Family. While they were watching the show she saw Esther Fleece, who is in charge of Millennial relations for Focus on the Family. Being that I am Jewish, I had never heard of this show, but I decided to go ahead and e-mail Esther some questions on her role in Millennial relations. After all, I had never heard of any company who had a director of Millennial relations. Esther provided me with great insight into what Focus on the Family is doing with Millennials and why your company may need a director of Millennial relations.
Question 1: Why is it important that your company reaches out to Millennials?
Esther: These statistics are one reason we believe it is crucial to invest in the Millennial generation. 91% of Millennials believe getting married would make them happy. 94% believe it is possible to have just one spouse for life. 91% said that when thinking of their own future, the idea of having children was a source of happiness. We are a large demographic and by the year 2020 we will make up 90 million eligible voters. Millennials have a voice, and they want to make a difference. Now is a key time to engage with them.
Question 2: What do you do in your role as director of “Millennial Relations?”
Esther: Focus on the Family President, Jim Daly, and VP of Media and Communications, Gary Schneeberger, made a strategic decision late August to bring me on board to assist Jim, and our executive team with reaching the Millennial generation. I have two co-workers here at Focus whose job is building relationships within geographical locations (Washington DC and Colorado Springs). Gary thought it was important and necessary to create a position not with a geographical location, but with a specific generation. Focus’ interest was peaked after conversations with David Kinnamen of the Barna group, and after reading his book, UnChristian. Generational ministry was nothing new but they knew that it was time to be more strategic in reaching this rising generation. We are still very much in a knowledge accumulation stage. Since starting in September, I have done a lot of traveling and meeting with people learning what is out there now, and then raising awareness of this new direction for Focus.
Question 3: What are some strategies that you use to relate to Millennials?
Esther: Millennials are very connected, they enjoy dialogue, and they want people to get along. We are making a key shift in engaging with those who may not share our same view. Our President Jim Daly has done a wonderful job at this on several media fronts. Focus will never change the messages we have here; they are based on principles from God’s word which is unchanging, we are simply trying to translate these principles and truth claims to a rising generation.
Now I may not know anything about Focus on the Family, but is your brand/company taking as big of an approach in relating to Millennials?
Millennials are the future, and your company may be missing out. Maybe you should hire a director of Millennial relations.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting approach for sure. While it’s not likely that many companies will hire specific marketers to handle specific demographics (expense etc will be prohibitive) it is critical to understand the variables that are needed to reach a specific group. We are in the social media age but the same basic principles of examining and understanding a market segment applies. It will be interesting to see what is learned about this segment of the Christian community and how their faith plays out (at this point in their lives at least).
Blake, I love it. For so many reasons.
I enjoyed reading your post on Millennial relations. However, being one myself, I was taken aback by the statistics Esther quoted. That is until I realized that the Millennial that participated in the survey or poll were, in the most likely scenario, Christian. This will definately affect the way in which they preceive marriage, monogomy, etc. There is definately some good information here put I will say that I take the stats with a grain of salt.
Interesting stats about Millennials and marriage. Any idea where they came from? Did Focus on the Family do it? When?
Hey Katie,
Yes, those stats came from Focus on the Family. Feel free to message Esther Fleece on Twitter @estherfleece, and I’m sure she can let you know where they came from.