Millennials and Generation Z will have a combined spending power of $350 billion between now and 2020, and their love for technology combined with their disdain for bothersome digital ads provides a marketing challenge. Where will the smart advertising money for these $350 billion generations go? We think it will flow to immersive extended reality (XR) advertising, and Trivver has the XR advertising solution.

A 2016 survey found that, unsurprisingly, a majority of the marketing professionals believe that the emergence of millennials will be one of the most influential changes to impact their industry over the next 10 years, and the numbers show why. As of 2018, millennials have surpassed the spending power of baby boomers, and by 2020, they are projected to spend $1.4 trillion. As a result, brands and marketers are constantly seeking effective ways to reach Millenials.

While millennials are currently brands’ number one focus, Gen Z is coming up the pipeline with a lot of influence. While up to $143 billion in spending power is generally attributed to Gen Z, this doesn’t include their indirect influence on spending. 93% of parents say that their tweens and teens have some influence on household purchases. Brands are taking notice and starting to cater to Gen Zers, but it’s a challenge — go-to marketing tactics, such as celebrity endorsements and banner ads, don’t resonate with Gen Z.

So where should brands turn to in the future to reach these influential spenders? Mobile is where they currently are, but technological advancements are leading to a immersive, 3D word, and advertisers need to start strategizing and making XR a priority.

Mobile, the Platform of Choice

Millennials and Gen Z are vital to businesses everywhere as they have a combined spending power of nearly $350 billion between now and 2020. How can brands reach them? Well, you can find them on their mobile phones, that’s for sure! Millennials spend nearly 4 hours a day on mobile! From 2012 to 2017, millennial internet users more than doubled their daily time spent on mobile devices — they now spend an average of 223 minutes per day. If millenials spend 4 hours, Gen Z will spend even more — Gen Zs were born with a phone in their hands, leading them to be coined “mobile prodigies.”

Research has shown where these two groups spend most of their time, now marketers need to ensure they are using the best possible tactics to reach them. This can be the hardest part — millennials and Gen Zs are particular about their mobile content, a recent study found what consumers want in their mobile ads. Respondents are looking for creative experiences that can be acted upon or saved for later, inspiration for new experiences using data that was collected via ethical permissions and content that aligns with their lifestyle. A deeper subset of the poll found that a 42% of participants believe that mobile ads should never interrupt the content they are currently consuming. This data shows us that millenials craze personalized content that inspires them, not ads that interrupt their daily mobile fueled lives.

Gaming is Huge

Two-thirds of Americans self-identify as gamers. That’s a lot of people! Gaming is growing, and it appears to only become more popular as millennial and Gen Z populations age. The self-identifying gamer segment has continued to grow year-over-year.

Now that gaming is in the pockets of millions of millennials and Gen Zers through mobile and cross-platform games, in-game advertisements have the power to give brands a leg up. However brands must tread carefully as traditional ads do not work well in gaming environments. Popup ads are disruptive to game play, banner ads are ignored in 3D environments, and brands must be aware that gamers are generally averse to any ad they perceive as interrupting their gaming experience.

Emerging Technology is In

No generation is better prepared for emerging technology than millennials and Gen Z. Both populations have experienced rapid technological advancements, and by learning and adapting along the way, they are ready and open to the next step. A recent poll of millennials and Gen Z found that 67% of the respondents are interested in discovering, exploring and buying new products with the help of emerging interfaces. They want explore buying products in new ways such as voice interfaces like Alexa, in-store smart kiosks, and XR — augmented and virtual reality.

Trivver is listening. Digital natives have been telling us where, when and how they want their mobile and in game ads. Trivver makes reaching millennials and Gen Z simple and modern by placing non-disruptive 3D ads on any XR game or other immersive content millenials and Gen Z frequent.

Developers interested in monetizing their content and advertisers looking to modernize their marketing tactics can apply to be apart of our Private Beta.

Continue the conversation with us on Twitter and Telegram