Maine’s identity economics

Economics is often described as the study of how we use limited resources to address unlimited wants. It’s why it is called the Dismal Science.

Maine’s identity is ruled by the same laws of economics as our natural and human resources. Simply put, the Maine brand has a limited number of assets and can’t possibly be everything to everyone.

Lately the Maine brand has been under attack. Both the crotchety New York Times and “CBS Evening News” made snippy remarks about Maine’s nippy weather. This ganging up on Maine might be part of a natural ebb and flow, taking the heat off New Jersey. But maybe there’s something else going on here that’s part of a looming socioeconomic shift.

First off, baby boomers are getting old, or to put it more politely, older. At their physical peek, they climbed, ran and biked with abandon. They were also at the peak of their entrepreneurial zeal. They sought out places to live and work that allowed them to pour out endless energy. New England – and especially places like Maine – became a mecca.

Now, most baby boomers have ascended the corporate ladder. Having survived stock market crashes, Internet bubble bursts and plantar fasciitis, their risk tolerance has gotten way low. And their tolerance for outdoor adventure and cold temperatures has gotten … well, maybe it’s finally time for that Caribbean cruise.

It doesn’t mean that Maine isn’t still attractive to this generation. Retirees on the leading edge of the baby boom are moving to Maine in droves. But it’s for the quality of hospitals instead of black diamond trails, and for the safety of communities instead of the pulse-pounding danger of Class V rapids. Baby boomers also hold deep-seated opinions built up over a lifetime. Changing these opinions – even mistaken ones – is quite difficult. If a baby boomer Fortune 1000 CEO or CBS Evening News commentator thinks Maine is cold, well, it’s cold.

Meanwhile, Generation Y, comprised of the roughly 76 million people born in the U.S. between 1978 and 2000, has a completely different profile. They grew up with technology that most baby boomers still can’t understand. Theirs is a world of MP3 players, WiFi and instant messaging. They’re drawn to the urban influences of hip-hop and the hardcore punk culture of Emo.

And now, Generation Y boasts increasingly powerful entrepreneurs. The founders of next-generation Internet companies like YouTube and FaceBook are Gen Y’ers. The global friends that Gen Y’ers are chatting up socially on the Internet today will be their global business partners tomorrow.

My own interaction with these young people tells me that they want to be mentored rather than managed. They value what their friends say, not what advertising says. The Internet has given them a global perspective and has also broken down cultural barriers. The Gen Y’ers I know are perhaps the most open-minded people I have ever met.

So from an economic development perspective, how can Maine – with its finite assets and resources – possibly craft a brand identity which will be compelling to baby boom generation CEOs and developers while also grabbing the attention of the next generation of young entrepreneurs and technology leaders?

Some will say that Maine needs to do both. They’ll also say that we need to do more to attract tourists. But we can’t be everything to everyone. Maine must define its identity beachhead in the battle to stay relevant in the 21st century economy. Generation Y should be this beachhead. Huge, long-established companies like Sprint, Sony, Microsoft and Hearst know that their future depends on being relevant to these 71 million powerful influencers.

Maine’s future will depend on them too.

Technology is the lifeblood of Generation Y. We must continue to build our wireless and broadband infrastructure, but at a much faster pace. On the economic development front, we must focus on attracting software and Internet applications companies that will in turn attract our future entrepreneurs. Technology spin-off companies provide exponential economic growth.

While we must continue to encourage technology entrepreneurism from within Maine, our economic development effort must also attract early stage technology companies to Maine – companies whose greatest growth is still ahead of them. Future growth that will occur in Maine. To do this, we must be at the table as leaders during technology summits throughout the country. Maine must stake its claim at the technology table and position its technology “brand” to Gen Y influencers. We must tout success stories at leading national venture capital firms and through influential national technology media and blogs.

We need to give this generation prominence – not just staff jobs – in our state government. We need to establish more – and more meaningful – technology-related internships throughout our private and public sector to attract the cream of the crop from Maine’s university system as well as from leading universities throughout the world.

We tend to think of Maine’s young people as an asset. We should start thinking of them as the most powerful people on the planet today. It is they – not big-business CEOs or large developers – that will determine the future of Maine.

David Vazdauskas, of Brunswick, is president of Victory Branding. E-mail: david@victorybranding.com.