Analysis Of Communication Strategies Of Selected Athletes From Different Generations
Every day we communicate, from face to face, phone calls, tweets or emails we are always exchanging with one another. Recently more than ever communication has changed drastically. Right now, communication has become a huge part of our everyday life. We use communication to not only share information, but to learn, ask questions, express our needs and wants and also to connect with people. The three athletes from different generations that I will be comparing are Zinedine Zidane from Generation X, Paul Pogba who is a part of Generation Y, and Kylian Mbappé Lottin who is to be part of the Millennial Generation. For these three French footballers we will be assessing how they most likely communicate based off of their generation and analyze their communication strategies.
Zinedine ‘Zizou’ Zidane is not only the best players to ever play for the French national team but is also looked to be one of the greatest footballers of all time. Playing with a small team in France he was quickly bought from Bordeaux where he signed to Juventus and would go on to win two Serie A league titles. After a tremendous five years at Juventus he would strike a deal with the Spanish giants Real Madrid setting the world record transfer fee of €77. 5M ($116M CAD). He held this record for eight years while playing in Spain for five of them, he would go on to win the La Liga title, help to bring his team to victory by scoring the game winning goal bringing him the Champions league title. Zinedine Zidane also helped bring home a World Cup to France where he has now capped 108 games and scoring in 31, thus being Frances 5th leading goal scorer to date. Aside from his playing career Zizou is now a professional coach who has won nine titles. These titles consist of three European cups, Copa Del Rey, UEFA Super Cup, La Liga league title, and three consecutive Champions league titles. Zinedine Zidane was born in 1972 making him part of Generation X.
The main form of communication for those born in 1965-1980 is text messages and emails. Due to the fact that social media was not around a lot of people would still be getting their news from newspapers, radios, and television. As a result of text messaging and emails being the preferred way of communication, it was made extremely helpful because Zidane being a top-class professional footballer, he was living in another country away from his family and friends where there would be limited communication mostly do-to the fact that he would always be on the go. Thanks to convenience of emails and text messaging he would be able to send a message to friends and family while on the team bus heading to games or on his way to practice.
Being born in a Paris suburb, Pogba showed much promise in the Ligue 1 youth division, enough so that it got him looks from Manchester United where he would go on a play for their youth academy from 2009-2011. After being called up and down with the senior squad for two years he was sent to Juventus on a free transfer in 2012. He quickly got along in Italy, helping Juventus win four straight Serie A league titles. At this point in time Pogba was now one of the most watched young players in the world, earning himself the Golden Boy award in 2013. After contributing to Juventus first Champions League final in 12 years Pogba would return to Manchester United in 2016 where he would set the world record transfer fee of €105M ($157M CAD). In his inauguration season back at Manchester United he would go on to win a double, which consisted of the League Cup and the Europa League. Flash forward a couple of years he is now representing his national team on home soil in the 2016 Euros where he would finish second to Portugal but then go on to score and win the 2018 World Cup. Being born in 1993, Paul Pogba is part of Generation Y which consist of the years 1981-1994.
With knowledge from class, our textbook and the internet, I was able to find that Generation Y liked to use Email and Phone call as their main form on communication. Generation Y is a key generation because they were the first generation to have early stages of social media, such as, Myspace and Facebook. Although not everyone jumped on the social media bandwagon right away so not everyone converted to it as their main way of communication. Paul Pogba wrote an email to the head of the club asking to be traded as he was not happy with his current situation at Manchester United, after that email gained news, clubs were calling United and Pogba’s agent to initiate negotiations to sign the young superstar.
The best young player in the world and projected future best player in the world, also known and Kylian Mbappe was born in Paris, France and made his professional debut in 2015 at the age of 16 year old. Mbappe was a natural goal scorer and helped AS Monaco win their first Ligue 1 title in 17 years. One year after an incredible season he transferred to Pairs Saint Germain (PSG) for €180M ($269M CAD) which makes him the world’s most expensive teenager and the second most expensive footballer. Mbappe later had his debut for the France national team in 2017 then was selected for the 2018 World Cup team where he would become the youngest French player to score in the World Cup and Second youngest player to ever score in a World Cup final. At this tournament he would go on to win the World Cup and receive the Best Young Player Award. Since Mbappe was born in 1998 he is part of the Millennials which is everyone and anyone born after 1996. Since I am also a Millennial it made it extremely easy for me to relate to Kylian Mbappe.
The main form of communication for Millennials is social media. Communication would come through apps such as Twitter, Facebook, Snap Chat, and Instagram. Mbappe is always keeping his fans updated and entertained whether it is him taking a picture for Instagram of his 4 goal performance or if it is him singing on his snapchat in the changeroom before a big game. He is always interacting with fans online because all it takes is on click and you are engaged alongside him.
Analysis
You can see the how the forms of communication have changed over the year but there is also a pattern of one thing being left behind by each generation, from text messages dropping from X to Y and social media dropping from Y to Millennials. Two people I belive that would be able to communicate well together would have to be Pogba and Mbappe. The reason for this is because although they are in different generations they are only 5 years apart so I feel that there is more relatable to one another then if you were to have Zizou and Mbappe together. I feel that Zidane and Mbappe would have a harder time communication with each other just because of the age gap and I’m not too sure if Zidane would know how to use some social media platforms. If Zidane ever needed to get in touch with Mbappe I feel that he would do it the more old school and formal way, where if Pogba wanted to get in touch with Mbappe he would do it in a more impromptu Facetime Call.
Conclusion
From the moment I started this project, to this point in the conclusion I have learned things I did not know before starting this project. Communication has changed over the years but even with all of the differences there are still a lot of similarities that can be shared from generation to generation. There are more factors to communication than just the style of it, we have to be considerate of timing and the recipient of the message. If someone is so busy and, on the go, you will not have time to call them or have a face to face talk with them, you will just need to send a quick text message or memo. After completing this project, it is easy for me to realize why certain generations connect with others more or less.
