Bauer Media has developed a version of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid theory based on millennial behaviour.
The new version of the hugely influential 1943 theory of human motivations has been created with the input of over 3,000 millennials.
It provides illuminating insights for any brand wishing to engage the one-in-four UK adults that now make up the Millennial Generation.
The infographic below represents how the five millennial personas uncovered by Bauer’s landmark research project, Bauer Knowledge: The Millennials Chapter, map onto Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Maslow’s theory states that people have five sets of needs that are fulfilled in a particular order: physiological; safety; love and belonging; esteem; and self-actualisation.
In the Bauer Knowledge initiative, millennials involved in the project were encouraged to create their own hierarchy of needs based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a framework.
Using TGI Clickstream, Bauer segmented the 16-34-year-old audience attitudinally and discovered five very distinct segments: The Influencers, The Adopters, The Apprentices, The Entertained and The Contented.
The different segments generated distinct hierarchy pyramids. For instance, for The Influencers, their physiological needs include the basics, such as food and water, but also their smartphone or laptop as it is the main way they access the internet and feel they feel ‘lost without it’.
For The Apprentices, self-actualization is all about just being happy with what they have got at that moment in time, not necessarily because of the objects they have in their life.
The full five new hierarchy of need pyramids infographic is below. Click to download.
Bauer Knowledge: The Millennial Chapter is funded by Bauer Media but all content is editorially independent, except pieces labelled "brought to you by". Find out more here
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