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Don’t get me wrong: When I attend movies or watch ‘em at home, I usually do it for entertainment. But there are times when I watch something for the sake of ministry or for other spiritual edification – like watching The Social Network for the second time this week, or viewing Temple Grandin with my autistic friend.
It’s Movie Week here at the blog, starting with Monday’s post!
But even when I’m not “on the clock,” watching primarily for these reasons, I would hope that my calling – to the field of college ministry – wouldn’t ever be left too far behind. So lots of times a movie surprises me, because I notice something (or lots of things) that hone my ministry skills in some way or another.
These days, there are lots of movies that give us the chance to learn about, ponder, or (re)discover Millennials… which just happens to be the only sociological generation we campus ministers tend to impact these days. (And it will be for another decade!) Because the oldest of those guys and gals are in their late 20s, Millennials are not only being marketed to, but their ethos is permeating society and is reflected all over. Including in modern film.
So looking for Millennialness in the movies accomplishes at least the following:
- We are reminded of what Millennials are generally like, as films reflect the members of this generation.
- We are reminded of what Millennials want and need, as films either reflect that or try to offer that.
- We see how others (filmmakers, in this case) are targeting Millennials.
- When a film does well among this generation, we have the chance to determine why a movie “fits” or “speaks to” the Millennials.
If there’s a good perpetual training regimen for college ministers, I would say one powerful – but also fun – exercise is understanding our students through the light of popular culture. It takes a little practice and is helped by a little outside info, but remembering to chew on this idea – whether you’re watching The Social Network or Horton Hears a Who – will get your college-ministry-mind in even better shape.
I have indeed looked at Horton Hears a Who through Millennial lenses, along with a small smattering of other films. (I’d write more, but it’s kind of time-intensive.) If you wanna practice seeing the Millennialness in the movies, you should be able to rent most of these! Here’s the list:
- (500) Days of Summer, Surrogates, and Whip It (during last fall’s Millennial Movie Mish-Mash blog event)
- Whip It (full review)
- Post Grad
- “Every Reason I Needed to Know for College Ministry I Learned from Transformers 2” (a tongue-in-cheek look at a terrible movie)
- Horton Hears a Who
- The Social Network – I wrote about it here (first reactions) and here (about what it says about college ministry). I plan to look at the specific Millennial-ness soon
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Cool It could be a useful tool for college ministers, helping them better grasp the climate change issue and start (or continue) discussions on how their students can help in all sorts of world concerns. The film brings up great questions about what it means to truly help; as the movie says, “It’s not about feeling good about yourself, it’s about actually doing good.” Could that be any more relevant to college students on our campuses?
Theming is fun, so this week is Movie Week here at the blog. Enjoy.
My free screening for Cool It last Thursday came in response to a mass email from Relevant magazine. [And you can go free this week if you live in D.C., Nashville, or Grand Rapids.] Maybe I shouldn’t have assumed the ticket site‘s repeated references to “God’s creation,” as well as the movie’s promotion by Reel Truths (whose tagline is “Finding God at the Movies”) meant there would be overtly religious content here. You might even think the Christian small group discussion guide available for the movie would indicate that it touches – at least somewhere – on the spiritual connection.
It doesn’t. But while the whole experience originally felt like a bit of a bait-and-switch, it’s been good for me to remember that creation stewardship is still a spiritual concern, even if no spiritual case was made within the movie. (And unlike the movie, the free, impressive discussion guide definitely turns that corner.)
In any case, I did enjoy this movie, which takes a look at world concerns and where climate change / global warming fits into those concerns. For somebody who hasn’t paid much attention at all to this issue (and I bet I’m not alone!), the movie at least “caught me up” a bit and put it on the radar for me. But one surprise I appreciated is that Cool It expands its vision beyond discussing climate change to looking at quite a few other world issues, including issues that more directly affect individual lives right now. (“Priorities” is a major concept in the film.)
For a few moments, this documentary reminded me of Expelled; both documentaries reveal ideas skeptical of prevailing scientific opinion that have been supposedly subjected to an excommunication of sorts. But that focus doesn’t turn out to be the meat of Cool It; although the introduction-of-sorts drags something like 25 minutes, it then curves toward even more interesting topics.
Unlike Expelled, the primary subject and the narrator are the same (very interesting) person, Bjorn Lomborg. And it’s important to note from the outset that he is – by no means – a “climate change denier.” This film doesn’t have as obvious a conservative slant as Expelled; for example, while Lomborg’s critique of Al Gore’s work is strong here, he also praises Gore for putting environmental concerns on the world’s agenda. A Reuters article quotes Lomborg elsewhere as saying, “A fundamental problem of climate change is that we seem to be stuck in two positions – it’s either the end of the world or it’s not a problem at all.” It’s thinking about a pragmatic balance that is the heart of Cool It, for sure.
From the movie’s official site:
Award-winning filmmaker Ondi Timoner travels the world with Lomborg exploring the real facts and true science of global warming and its impact. Lomborg is the founder and director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a globally respected think tank that brings together the world’s leading economists to prioritize major global problems — among them malaria, the lack of potable water and HIV/AIDS — based upon a cost/benefit analysis of available solutions. Amidst the strong and polarized opinions within the global warming debate, Cool It follows Lomborg on his mission to bring the smartest solutions to climate change, environmental pollution, and other major problems in the world.
So the movie focuses on more than climate change; it looks at priorities and asks what we can do to help with all sorts of difficult problems faced by the world community. As I noted at the top, thinking about true help vs. “help” is one of the best ways we can help our college students grapple with the very current social justice issue.
Later this week, ideas on why and how Cool It (or other movies) can be helpful to us as college ministers. But I’ve provided enough links and info that hopefully you can consider that already!
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I noted yesterday one of the major resources we have for determining how best to grow the college students we’ve been called to shepherd. Those resources are the Singles Ministers, Young Adult Ministers, and really anybody else who works somewhat up-close with post-collegians.
(Add this area to the list of research projects somebody needs to pursue for our field of ministry. But for now, you’ve got plenty of people in your town you could talk to!)
While I would urge us to “go to the source” and observe our students’ future through the eyes of these ministers, I figured it might be edifying to note what I’ve observed myself. ‘Cause I am indeed a “single young adult,” and I’m involved in a church with a pretty thriving young adult crowd. So after spending a Labor Day retreat with 4 or 500 fellow young adults, this topic is rather on my mind.
What do we as college ministers need to do better to prepare students for their young adult lives?
Again, to be clear, I’m just pondering this one. This is not an area of particular expertise (which is why we need to consult those who actually work in this area!). But I was interested to see the list I’d come up with, and I’m interested to see if you – or even your young adult minister buddies – might have anything to add.
Here are some areas that may deserve a little more suitcase-packing:
- understanding the power of intimate Christian community and getting over the roadblocks to participating in it
- being great in the basics of the Christian walk
- watching out for the legalism and Gnosticism-lite that descends on college students and young adults alike
- learning and using spiritual disciplines (of various sorts)
- learning and using their personal spiritual gifts (of various sorts)
- the wonders of intergenerational connections
- having a battle-plan for the post-graduation disillusionment & other difficulties
- biblical literacy
- reading through the entire Bible by the time they’ve finished college
- shining the light of what God’s doing in their lives – both among non-Christians and among Christians
- knowing that God is calling them into a great, personal, impactful adventure…
- …but realizing that they were never, ever meant to “choose their own adventure” based simply on passions, hopes, desires, or circumstances
- understanding church
- finding a church
- singleness and its glorious opportunities
- servanthood and its glorious opportunities
- doing something cross-cultural (or even outside the country) by the time they graduate
- a realistic understanding of the various waits, slowdowns, and other patience-trying years that may await them in their 20s and 30s
- glorifying God via their vocations
- the amazing opportunity to give away much of what they earn, and everything else that it can mean to glorify God with finances
This honestly came off the top of my head, but it was interesting to ponder. What might you add? What do we college ministers need to be better about packing in our students’ post-graduation suitcases?
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It’s been a fun week examining the many things we can learn from ONE cool advertising campaign. If you missed it, you can find all the entries in this week’s little exercise right here. (The intro post is at the bottom, since it came first.)
For now, some other ideas that we can glean for college ministry. If you’ve got anything to add or questions to ask – please do!
immediate response
Whether we malign it as “immediate gratification” or extol it as “staying current,” immediacy doesn’t simply carry a premium for Millennials; it’s expected. We’ll have to weigh how to work this into our ministry. But at the very least it seems like we can respond to world, local, and campus issues ASAP, before they become “old news.” Further, as college ministry blogger Matt McComas mentioned here on Monday, students “like real-time stuff cause it’s fun and feels good to watch something unfold before your eyes.”
fluid and opportunistic
The Old Spice crew took advantage of some timely opportunities in their two days of video responses. For one thing, lots of publicity came their way after they offered a “get well” video to Kevin Rose, who just happened to be sick… and just happens to be the founder of Digg.com, too. Likewise, some of the best video responses (in my opinion) came from parrying with Alyssa Milano, which only happened because Alyssa chose to play along. And of course, the whole event was built not on some predetermined script but on real people’s interaction with what was taking place.
This choice is obviously closely connected to the “Go with Opportunities” note on Thursday’s post, as well as the note Tuesday on Interactivity. But the emphasis here is on taking advantage of even the “micro-opportunities” that God might present. It’s worth asking ourselves, Are we just “running plays,” or are we responding to what’s happening within our college ministry and on our campus in a real-time way?
quick-moving
Of course, the length of these videos (rarely even a minute long) made them very attractive for viewing, both during and after the event. Think of it this way, and it becomes obvious: Students were probably far more likely to sit down and watch 30 minutes of these 45-second videos, than they would be to watch 15 minutes of one video. Right?
Sure, we can (and maybe should) bemoan our collegians’ short attention spans and preference for quick-moving presentations, but we’re probably not gonna “fix it.” A rapid pace can – sometimes – be worth aiming for.
soundbites
Also from the file of “it’s-annoying-but-true”: Our Millennials love soundbites. And certainly the soundbite has been the M.O. of this Old Spice Man from the beginning. “I’m on a horse.” “Smell like a man, man.” “Swan dive!” “Look at your man, now back at me.” Those were in the commercials, and the two days of videos offered plenty of additional one-sentence wonders.
While I’m not completely sure how we work this in (and I’m not sure we’d want to), I’ve got a few guesses. It seems like we could at least offer the occasional “sound bite synopsis” of teaching, of our ministry’s values, of an upcoming event… If nothing else, it can make things “catchy” and “sticky,” which of course might just make them more impactful, too.
strategic targeting
One last bit of marketing genius was involving individuals who could help spread the word. I’ve already mentioned Kevin Rose and Alyssa Milano. They both have big sway these days over the internets and other media. So do Ashton Kutcher, George Stephanopoulos, Ellen DeGeneres, Perez Hilton, the Huffington Post, Apolo Ohno, and on and on… and all got shout-outs from Old Spice Man (and in the case of George, political advice for President Obama). The MSNBC article describes this strategy quite well:
The decision to include Rose and the celebrities was no accident. The Wieden team purposefully selected not only persons with huge followings on social networks — followings that dwarfed Old Spice’s own — but specifically those with particular credibility and influence over the technorati and social media addicts. The social media kingpins told their followers, their followers told their friends, and the math compounded exponentially, fervently and quickly. Old Spice’s Twitter followers increased more than 1,000 percent. Nearly 600,000 people on Facebook gave its ads a thumbs-up “like it” vote. And, according to Advertising Age, the Old Spice commercials received more than 7 million online views this week alone … The cost of media: nothing.
When it comes to campus ministry, this is one worth weighing carefully. There’s a thinnish line between trying to reach those who can help you reach others, and attracting or favoring only certain types of people. (Clearly, Old Spice chose the former, by the way.) But I do know that many college ministries have noticed that certain individuals can help them reach more people; do with that what you will.
But more clear (and less controversial) is recognizing that this can help our own advertising activities: spreading the word about an upcoming teaching series, for example, or hyping an upcoming event. If we’re strategic about how (and through whom) we first get the word out, we have a better chance of that “word” moving much further.
As with all of these lists, we observe the tools and the wisdom involved… but our methods are determined by our purposes (and not the other way around).
So thanks for the wisdom this week, Old Spice Man. Monocle smile!
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This is one of my favorites from last week. What’s yours?
Yesterday I described Old Spice’s recent internet campaign as “this month’s challenge to greater excellence” for us college ministers. One of my biggest hopes for college ministers is that we’d learn to, in a sense, “see the world through college ministry-colored lenses” – applying the wisdom we learn from everywhere to the specific, amazing call God has given us.
(That’s one of my driving hopes for the College Ministers Cohort at Catalyst, in fact – for us together to creatively apply what we learn at the conference. That’s one BIG reason to stay for our Saturday session!)
So I want to continue to view the Old Spice phenomenon through those very lenses. (If you’re unfamiliar with Old Spice’s surprising marketing move last week, my intro’s here. You can now see the whole series here.)
excellence
Through video after video, the Old Spice spots were excellent. Sure, aiming for “professionalism” at the cost of impact is a temptation for many, many college ministers. But going through with an activity (small or big) when it isn’t as truly excellent as it should be is also a big temptation. Too often we place action above planning and/or preparation, and that’s certainly ill-advised – whether it’s in designing a skit or creating a huge campus-wide event.
And lest we misunderstand: The concern over excellence isn’t simply for “marketing” or recruitment reasons. Excellence in our activities may connect with honoring God, hospitality, effectiveness, modeling, or all of the above.
bravery
As this article notes, “Old Spice’s parent company Procter & Gamble exhibited incredible bravery in allowing [the advertisers] to write marketing content in real time, with little to no supervision.” But not only did P&G take a gamble (get it?), the advertisers had to be brave to try a never-before-seen ploy!
Plenty of our impact comes from doing basic things well, every time. But some of our impact will only come… bravely.
go with opportunities
Of course, unless you’ve really been avoiding the TV, you know that last week’s Old Spice extravaganza was simply another iteration of some very popular commercials. When America first went crazy for the Old Spice Man after he was “on a horse,” the advertisers took advantage of the moment and doubled down on his popularity.
This can be applied in both lighthearted and more serious ways in our college ministries. But all the options come down to this question: Are we willing to adjust our calendars or even adjust our priorities when true opportunities present themselves?
fun
I can’t say it better than Matt McComas did the other day in the comments: “It was obvious [the Old Spice advertisers] were having fun with it…and that was attractive. It made me want to learn about the marketing company that was putting these shenanigans on. Seems like a fun culture to be a part of.”
(And it’s not surprising that this vital point would be brought up by a Campus Crusade guy; as I’ve noted before, they are very, very good at making campus ministry fun.)
personalization
Remember how, earlier this century, everybody began noticing that the Millennials are really excited about showcasing themselves? That’s still true, although it’s probably not quite as ego-driven as some curmudgeons believe. Still, our collegians do very much believe in the “power of one,” and they like it when they happen to be that “one” in the spotlight.
The Old Spice Man couldn’t answer nearly everybody who queried in those two days, but he took a nice stab at it. And it wasn’t only (or even mostly) celebs who received attention. So even those who didn’t get personal responses still felt included, because they were represented by the 180ish who did.
For college ministry, there are little applications of this (like recognizing birthdays and reading students’ blogs and status updates) and big applications – like asking ourselves, Does every member of our campus ministry feel like they’re well-represented by our ministry?
As you look through college ministry lenses at the Old Spice campaigns, what do you notice?
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