Minnesota Vikings Hire 18-Year-Old ‘Gen Z Advisor’

Teenager to consult with team on 'business initiatives' and 'fan activation efforts.'

At one point, Millennials were all the marketing rage; they were a multi-billion-dollar cash cow, and everybody wanted a piece of this coolest generation.

But that is quickly changing, now that Generation Z is growing up and spending money

According to Forbes, this newest generation is worth $44 billion in retail sales. Yes, billion. And who wants a piece of this young, new lucrative customer base? The Minnesota Vikings, that’s who.

According to the team, they’ve hired 18-year-old Jonah Stillman to consult on “business initiatives,” which includes marketing and “fan activation efforts.” We’re going to guess the former means helping the team tweak it’s not-so-trendy social strategy, which includes a “Carpool Karaoke” knockoff (that’s, like, soooo 2016); and hopefully, helping to shore up school-boy-ish language like they have in this recent tweet:


Who’s Jonah Stillman, you ask? He’s part of a father-son motivational speaking team, GenZGuru, with his dad, David, seen below doing a 2010 TEDx talk. They travel the country spreading the gospel of Gen Z.

 

The two have since co-authored a book, Gen Z @ Work: How the Next Generation is Transforming the Workplace, and young Jonah, in his website bio, claims to be “the voice of his generation”—a title normally bestowed on musicians or writers like Bob Dylan or David Foster Wallace, respectively.

Quoted in the Vikings’ release, the new hire says (and we’ve bolded a particularly interesting soundbite): “It is a testament to the Vikings to think creatively and explore differing viewpoints, including those of recent high school graduates who want to make a positive impact in the professional world. I look forward to interacting with all departments to fully understand the Vikings organization and to offer ideas geared toward Generation Z.”

 

 

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