What’s cooler than cool?

By day, Michael Stephenson is a senior strategist at Big Red Rooster. By night (and sometimes during the day, but don’t tell his boss,) he’s active on social media. Want to connect? Shoot him an email or follow him on Twitter.

Editor’s Note: Big Red Rooster recently conducted a proprietary study on how parenthood affects Millennial’s values, shopping behaviors, and purchase decisions. This study, or Point of View (POV,) is the first in our ongoing thought leadership series. For more information and to learn how this changing generation can affect your business, visit our website.

Many of you reading this blog post are aware of Big Red Rooster’s inaugural POV on Millennial parents. I was both excited and honored to be part of this project for many reasons. One of which is that I am a Millennial parent. I’m a father of a beautiful little girl and still fit within the generational cohort (those born 1981-1999.)

Although I’m on the cusp of a Millennial and Gen X-er, I find myself more closely aligned with Millennials when I compare the results of our findings to my own value system, purchase decisions, and shopping behaviors. Like the Millennial parents we talked to, I believe that it “takes a network,” and the lil’ one is a valued and equal member of my network. I take pride in being frugal and saving money (except when it’s time to buy the latest gadgets). There is no doubt that I’m a perpetual multi-tasker. (I checked Facebook and Twitter twice while writing this blog post!)

One of the most interesting findings from our study, at least to me, came when we asked more than 800 Millennials a simple question: How important is being perceived as a cool parent in your relationship with your child(ren)?

Interestingly, only 9 percent indicated it is very important. When we dug deeper to find out what’s cooler than cool (sorry to disappoint the Outkast fans out there, but none of them screamed “ice cold”) we saw that 71 percent feel it is very important to have open communication with their children. If asked, I would have a similar response. I would much rather have open communication with my daughter than to be perceived as a “cool dad.” If you asked me that question prior to her birth, I would’ve given you a different response.

When it comes down to it, the birth of my daughter has been, by far, my biggest life-changing event. My attitudes, perceptions, and even shopping habits have altered drastically in the past 10 years, so I can see why other Millennials noticed similar changes once kids came into the picture. To me, this research truly solidified the fact that retailers, service providers, and manufacturers need to be aware of young parents’ ever-changing needs (like the fact the children are viewed as an equal member of their personal network.) If they don’t re-think their approach when targeting Millennial parents, they won’t be able to catch their hearts and wallets. Or mine.

-MS