For many years now the companies I have worked for have mainly appealed to the 50-plus demographic, so marketing efforts have mostly concentrated on traditional media, both on and offline.

Then, along comes U by Uniworld. Our new brand, comprising river itineraries and bespoke ships targeting the 21-45-year-old market – most of whom qualify as “millennials” – requires a whole new approach.

Back to my meeting, which I should point out was with a marketing team of individuals who all qualify as Gen Y – which millennials are also known as.

This sector is full of digital natives who have never known a world without technology, meaning their needs and the way they consume information are totally different to previous generations, and so social media will be the dominant player in our marketing strategy.

I therefore pipe up in the meeting with ideas around Instagram and Snapchat, only to have it “kindly” pointed out to me that they are actually referred to as “Insta” and “Snap”… oops. I had hoped to redeem myself by mentioning a connection I had at MTV, only to be met by sympathetic glances around the table before someone gently mentioned that MTV’s satellite television channel was “a bit ’90s”.

I’m enjoying getting to grips with such a distinct and different target audience. Travel ranks very highly on the list of Gen Y life priorities, along with fitness and healthy eating. All three elements can be easily combined and are things that we will ensure we do on our two completely customised U by Uniworld ships – The A and The B.

Online content is hugely important, and in particular video. Let’s face it, in our industry we have absolutely no excuse for not getting video content right, as our images are so engaging; it’s not like we are trying to sell widgets! It is predicted that by 2020 (only three years away), 75% of all mobile traffic will be via video.

Another necessity is connectivity (in fact I think Wi-Fi is rapidly becoming the sixth element required for survival!). Millennials check their phones on average 157 times a day, so free Wi-Fi onboard our ships will be essential, and our communication pre, during and post-trip will utilise mobile technology.

Despite being technology natives, reports suggest a significant proportion of millennials still book their travel through agents. While they will undertake research online, they call upon the experts to help them out with the plethora of information they are presented with. They also want the reassurance of someone taking responsibility for their booking.

In fact most of you reading this column will fall within the Gen Y demographic, so none of this will be news to you, but I wonder how many agents have adapted their marketing to increase their share of this lucrative demographic.

Kathryn Beadle is UK managing director at Uniworld