Jay Kandampully

1. Engaging Gen-Y Customers: The
Fusion of Innovation and Technology
Kandampully,
Zhang, Bilgihan
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2. Purpose
Outlines the evolving role and the fusion of technology and
innovation in services.
Proposes the fusion of these two engines in engaging
Generation Y customers to profoundly strengthen the
competitiveness and sustainability of service companies today
and in the future.
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3. Gen-Y
• Gen-Y is unanimously regarded as a priority market segment that no business can
afford to ignore (Adner & Kapoor, 2010).
• Strong in both number and affluence.
• The largest population of young people in US history (Bolton et al., 2013).
• Boasts a collective income of over $1.89 trillion and their cumulative earnings are
projected to increase by 85% within the next 10 years, surpassing those of their
Baby-Boomer parents by as much as $500 billion (Deloitte)
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5. Gen-Y
• Restaurant Industry: Gen-Y’ers eat out more than three times a week,
twice the frequency as that of the rest of the population (Sheahan, 2005).
• Lodging Industry: Gen-Y is anticipated to become one of the largest
segments in the marketplace, and their behavior a harbinger of how
people may behave in the future (Bolton et al., 2013).
• Gen-Y’s preferences and needs are different from previous generations
(i.e. baby-boomers), especially in terms of their response to marketing.
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Millennials’ travel spending is up
20% over last year.
Once loyal, millennials are
willing to go out of their way and
spend more.
It’s a mistake to say millennials
don’t have money to spend,
MMGY’s Steve Cohen said.

7. Gen-Y and changing technology needs
• Companies need to revisit their strategies in order to establish
a positive and lasting relationship with this “new” customer
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10. High expectations

11. Service Innovations in traditional service firms
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12. Service innovations in non service focused firms
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14. Interactive online brand community
Designed for huge fans of LEGOs: children as well as their parents.
LEGO Club magazines freely sent
to the members’ homes.
“Club Codes give members access
to secret online content!”
How companies are using brand communities to engage with their customers
LEGO Club

16. The LEGO Club offers
hundreds of videos that are
created by the members as
well as by the designers of
LEGO.

17. Heineken unveiled a departure board at
JFK’s Terminal 8 last week, daring travelers
to play ‘Departure Roulette’. The game is
simple – press the button on the board and
you’ll be given the opportunity to drop your
existing travel plans in favour of the next
first class flight to one of ten locations,
including Portugal, Switzerland or Peru. The
catch is, you don’t know where you’ll be
going before you’ve already committed.
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18. Employee
Engagement
Customer
Engagement
Brand
Ownership

19. Perfect example of offline brand community
“110 years of the world’s greatest motorcycles.
30 years of the world’s greatest motorcycle clubs”
Now more than 950 Chapters worldwide
“The next best thing to riding
Your Harley-Davidson motorcycle
is talking about it.”
How companies are using brand communities to engage with their customers
Harley Davidson Owners Groups

20. Primary purpose: Ride and have Fun
A HOG chapter is more than a motorcycle club, it’s a place where members participate with other Harley
owners through various activities such as meetings, picnics, social gatherings and of course numerous rides
to various locations and events ….

21. P&G BeingGirl.com site (a community site for preteen and teen girls), where girls share their
feminine care related product information and personal life experiences with other girls. The
users’ active participations in a virtual brand community increase their brand loyalty toward the
brand. According to P&G, the P&G BeingGirl.com site is four times more effective than
traditional communication as a marketing tool.

22. Quirky is a socially developed product company, which sells products that are created by its
community members. Any member who has an innovative idea can submit their idea on the
website, Quirky community evaluates regarding which products Quirky should
manufacture and sell and votes for their favorites. This firm operates based on social media.
About 30% of the firm’s gross sales revenues of each product are distributed to the
participants. The firm was founded based on the idea that “the best ideas in the world are
locked inside people’s heads.”

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24. Service innovation examples from
other Countries
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IPAD ordering
system
Online
Engagement
Game
APP

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Online
reservation
Online food
delivery
Online feedback
Sharing with
social networks
Online payment
Sync with social
media

27. Multi-city virtual dining
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30. Wallet
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Cellular service Investment
(Stocks &
Securities)
Lottery
Online
shopping
Online chatting Call a Taxi
Credit card
payment
Go Dutch Group
purchasing
Air tickets Movie tickets
Donations Lucky money

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Intercontinental
collaborates with Tencent
China to innovate Indoor
Mapping of the hotel.

32. Fusion of Innovation & Technology
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33. Costs
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34. Thank you
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Kandampully.1@osu.edu