What will Intel and the next great paradigm-shifting social media platform have in common? They will both recognize that we are in the midst of a renaissance and  capitalize on it’s growth. So, what exactly is this renaissance and why should tech athletes care? According to Patricia Martin, author of “Ren Gen: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer,” as with any renaissance, our times are characterized by a rapid decline in traditional ways of thinking, communicating and interacting and new fast-growing alternatives. The renaissance generation (Ren Gen) is not a demographic, but a psychographic of tech savvy individuals across various age groups that are creative, entrepreneurial and passionate about self-expression and a better society. Although the Ren Gen’s exact number is difficult to calculate, this group totals more than 20 million and is still growing according to Martin. At the enterprise level Intel is an excellent example of a technology corporation that collects and provides insights on cultural consumers, which provides clout for their brand so other B2B companies respect them more.

As this consumer segment is often misunderstood and under-served, there is much room in the marketplace for technology companies to profit from what this generation really wants, a company that Martin says “stokes their fire.” In this sense, technology consumers are not buying products or joining platforms for convenience, but because it makes them better people. Some argue that the genius of Apple’s marketing was that they understood this better than Samsung – that is, before the latter’s marketing campaign with Jay-Z.

In the technology space, Ren Gen standouts include SiliconANGLE featured companies DataKind and CrowdChat as well as design platforms like Creative Market. Jake Porway of DataKind, a company that provides data analytics to address social problems with Hackathons, uniting coders who would otherwise charge steep prices, but work for free because they want to make a positive social contribution. CrowdChat is a new platform to host #hashtag chats across multiple social networks, a reinvention of the traditional forum communication model. CrowdChat taps into the ability of the #hashtag to create a dynamic environment, unifying the audience to educate, promote a product, and brainstorm (among many other possibilities). CrowdChat is the perfect example of a new platform with potentially great appeal to the Ren Gen because it recognizes the consumer as a producer with ideas worth sharing. Aaron Epstein, co-founder of Creative Market (recently acquired by Adobe competitor, Autodesk) and Colour Lovers, not only created a marketplace for digitally-designed content including fonts, icons, photos and templates, but a community and platform for designers to discover and sell digital creations. As Martin puts it, such platforms are effective because they give cultural consumers “a reason to believe – a reason to believe, for instance, that by collaborating with us or buying from us we can achieve something greater together.”

In this two-part interview with Martin, we discuss the emergence, characteristics and continued growth of the Ren Gen. In part II we explore what marketers often get wrong in trying to connect with the Ren Gen. Martin also explains how and why technology companies are effectively reaching this cohort.

Part I – Who are the “cultural consumers” that make up the Ren Gen? Part II – How should technology companies reach the Ren Gen? What companies are getting it right?