Generation Y Crib Sheet

So, how DO the kids like being sold to these days? It's a question that seems to confound marketers trying to stake a claim in the ever-shifting Generation Y customer demographic. At The Direct Marketing Association's Annual Catalog Conference, executives from Urban Outfitters, the Journeys catalog and Lorel Marketing Group offered some tips learned from targeting this customer group:

* Gen Y males generally don't shop from catalogs—optimize your retail and Internet presences to appeal to them them instead.

* The catalog and retail store customers often don't overlap.

* Lists that work: dELiA*s, Alloy, Girlfriends LA, International Male, Abercrombie & Fitch.

* It's not so much about targeting the cliques that Gen Y customers belong to (e.g., club kids, skaters, punks, preps, urbans) as it is about finding a range of latest-and-greatest product.

* Gen Y customers crave product they see as hard-to-find.

* They're turned off by over-selling.

* No voice is better than the wrong voice.

* 21 to 23 is the golden age.

* Don't try to sell Gen Y customers something they don't want.

* Accept the fact that some customers simply will not buy certain things through the mail unless they can't get them anywhere else.

* Never stop listening to and observing the customer—what's alternative this morning is mainstream by the afternoon.