Who wins when customers shift the milestones of success?

Read the full What the Future: Success issue

What brand doesn’t want its customers to succeed? Put another way, what brand doesn’t succeed when its customers do?

Success is a vibe. In the early 1990s, the Northwestern University football team was historically, generationally, not good at football. Wikipedia describes the team at the time as a “perennial doormat.” A new coach, Gary Barnett, took over, and like most new coaches, swore things would be different. It started with a mantra, “Expect Victory,” which, as you can imagine, was a massive mind-shift after decades of losing three games for every win. It shifted not just the mentality of the players, but also the fans. And it worked. In 1996, the team went to the Rose Bowl and graced a Wheaties box.

When my twins were born and we suddenly had three kids under age 3 in the house, my family pivoted that slogan to “Redefine Victory.” Some days that meant no more than, “Hey, we made it and everyone got fed on time.”

America hasn’t necessarily adopted my catchphrase, but nonetheless, victory today means something different or happens on a different timeline than it used to. If you’re a marketer, you really should be paying attention to these shifts.

A new timeline of success

I was in my 30s when we made the jump to three kids. That’s not uncommon these days. Marriage used to be something one did soon after graduating high school. Kids naturally followed soon after that. And after a couple of years in the workforce, folks tended to buy a home and settle down. Each of those milestones led to massive changes in how people spent and saved. And they still do; they’re just all happening later, if at all.

These are some ways that we have redefined success since 1970 or so. Now, for four times as many people as then, it includes a college degree. That alone pushes out our milestones. It takes us longer to get established, especially as debt comes with that degree for many.

But play this out. If we get married and have kids at 30 instead of 21, we’ll be partway into our careers. We’ll have different childcare needs. We’ll have different needs for flexibility. We’ll likely still be renting, as the age of our first home purchase is now close to 40. When we get to our home, we’ll have older kids than we used to. We’ll have grandkids much later in life, while we’re also taking care of our aging parents.

Same dream, tougher climb

All that said, we haven’t totally redefined success. Younger Americans, and in fact, younger folks the world over, aspire to many of the same milestones previous generations did.

The problem is that, as we saw in the What the Future: American Dream issue last year, while a majority believe in the dream, a larger majority think it’s harder to reach than it used to be. For the young Gen Zers, there was a whopping 22-point rise since just last year in their agreement that the economy is rigged to the advantage of the rich and powerful.

The ladder to success in America historically has involved education, homeownership, mobility and often entrepreneurship. Being born on a higher rung certainly helps. It’s seen as the most likely way to be successful, according to 71% of Americans.

Who the traditional path actually works for

So, in reading the data in this issue one way, the system works. Those who are more affluent or more educated tend to say they are successful at a higher rate than those who aren’t.

Reading the data another way, the system has worked for those it was designed to work for.

One in five (22%) says that the traditional path is outdated and is no longer a guarantee of success. Another 17% say it’s flawed and can leave people less successful if they try to follow that path. A plurality (42%) say it works for some people, but also that there are a lot of other paths that also can lead to success.

Just 14% say it’s still the most reliable way to make it in America.

What is replacing this path? For some, it’s multiple jobs. Call it the “1099 economy” or the “gig economy,” these jobs typically tout flexibility if not high wages. ADP estimates one in ten American workers are working these jobs in a typical month, but that one in four takes on some sort of gig job over the course of a year. But just because people are working these jobs, it doesn’t mean they think they lead to success. A plurality (43%) of Americans would prefer the traditional model of one full-time job. And a sizeable majority (70%) say that companies have a duty to pay their workers livable wages to help them succeed.

The problem for so many is that whatever our goals — from health to financial security to setting the next generation up for their success — we feel as though we are falling short.

Redefining victory for your brand

So how can you, as a brand or policy leader, help people reach success in the constellation of these modern milestones?

That’s what we’ll dig into in this issue of What the Future. Helping your customers succeed can build the relationships that will help you succeed in the future, too. Define that victory how you will and redefine it as needed. But it all starts with a deeper understanding of today’s consumer.

For further reading:

• American Dream reimagined: How brands can find opportunity in its evolving meaning
• Ipsos Consumer Tracker
• Insights to Activate: Brand America 250