When was the last time you saw a syndicated journalist walking the aisles of Wal-Mart?
Reporters used to be easy to spot.
Remember the outfits they used to wear? They wore those old frat-boy cotton button downs complete with a pen guard in the top pocket. And they carried the note pad on a well-worn clip-board.
There’s a Wal-Mart I often go to near my log cabin in North Georgia.
Can’t say that I have seen any reporters there lately.
Reason I asked is that there is an Associated Press story running in today’s newspapers titled “Aside From Wal-Mart, Retail Sales Sluggish.”
The sub-head reads “Mall-based apparel stores, high-end luxury merchants alike feel pinch as shoppers focus on essentials such as food and gasoline.”
There’s a picture with the article too. It’s a shot of the exterior entrance into an Abercrombie & Fitch store. The caption below it reads “Teen-oriented Abercrombie & Fitch is among retailers feeling the pinch as shoppers react to a slowing economy.”
Have any of you reading this been in an Abercrombie & Fitch store?
Aside from the nearly nude, perfectly built point-of-sale artwork, all the products are designed around that worn and torn, pacific-beach “grunge” look. They also command prices like $79.50 for a pair of worn-out blue jeans and $70 for the worn, button-down shirt.
Most of those teens that shop at Abercrombie & Fitch are driven by a cocktail combination of ADHD and a puberty hormone rush. I doubt that they read the Wall Street Journal or watch CNBC.
Anne D’Innocenzio, the author of the AP article, probably worked her way through journalism school in an Abercrombie & Fitch.
Well…the article goes on to cite continued sales declines at other mall-based specialty stores and teen merchants along with high-end retailers like Saks and Nordstrom…with the blame being placed on high gas and food prices.
Isn’t it wild how the press sees the world out there?
Maybe the press needs to a refresher course in Reality 101.
The fact that Millenniums and GenXers look at Saks and Nordstrom as their parents’ brands might shed some light on why sales are down.
The fact that malls today are “old-fashioned” versus outdoor live/work/play centers and new, environmentally green “town squares” might shed some insight on why mall-based retail stores are becoming history.
And the fact that the folks you find dwelling in many of the suburban malls today speak a language other than English could add some further insight why high-end brand sales at mall stores are down.
The fact that Target’s brandline “Expect More. Pay Less.” and Wal-Mart’s brandline “Save Money. Live Better.” just might be a mirror image of the new consumer lifestyle of choice.
Our BrandVenture intern is a first year student at one of the hot-bed design schools here in Atlanta called Creative Circus. Kevin is also dating a young lady whose father founded one of the top creative shops in the Southeast called BooneOakley.
Kevin is now age 20 and represents the very crest of the Millennium Generation Bell Curve.
I asked Kevin about Abercrombie and Fitch and here is what he said…
“I used to go there back in the day” – remember that Kevin is 20 years old.
Over the course of the last two weeks, the word “Change” has come up a lot. Change is part of Obama’s campaign with a focus on a change in leadership. Change was the central theme of McCain’s speech last night with a focus on market change demanding change in how we view and approach the economy.
When I was an early teen, Sears stopped publishing its annual Holiday catalog (spelled back then “c-a-t-a-l-o-g-u-e") and Woolworth 5 & 10s were shutting down.
I don’t remember much press coverage that it was because of high gas prices and food prices. I think the press talked about cool new stores that were overtaking the market with the rise of the Boomer generation.
Course we didn’t have the perspective of CNN and MSNBC back then.
BrandVenture has had the pleasure of finding this cool gal named Judith Damin who teams up with us and visa versa on branding projects. Judith came out of the ranks of a great agency group called Saatchi & Saatchi.
The two of us have been in dialogue with a real estate developer that is looking to launch a new live/work/play development in a hip, intown area of a southeastern city.
Clients come to us with challenges…so it’s not odd that we may not see things through the same perspective that we first hear from new client prospects.
Judith summed it up best when she said; “real estate developers had it great back in the party time years of the 1990s, they just now need to wake-up and accept the fact that the past is gone and we are here today in 2008.”
I think Judith and Kevin should team up together and speak at the next press association luncheon…don’t you think?
Hey… go put on a pair of those $14 Levi’s from Wal-Mart and a $10 Mossimo T-shirt from Target… and let’s journey!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
There's A Lot We Can Learn From The Political Conventions!
I just got done watching NBC Nightly News. Of course all the news was about the DNC 2008 Presidential Convention in Denver.
I have encouraged the BrandVenture Team to watch the DNC this week and the GOP next week. It is interesting to watch and listen as each party works to build its presidential candidate “brand.”
We would love to hear back from others on this Blog what insights they glean about our consumer marketplace and headset.
Politics is an interesting topic.
My friends always tell me not to bring up the topic of Politics. They say I find too much humor in the politics of America.
My Grandmother told me to find fun in everything, otherwise you would cry!
One of our 2008 Trendcasts is titled “The Persona of Politics.”
Here are some interesting facts that we cite in relationship to American Politics:
• It’s the first time since 1825 when the two party system emerged in the US that we have two consecutive two-term presidents preceding the election…Clinton eight years and Bush eight years
• Al Gore, from Tennessee, came within 538 popular votes in Florida of becoming president without winning a single Southern electoral vote
• In 2000, for the first time ever, a Republican won the White House while losing the North
• In neither 1992 nor 1996 did Clinton win 50% of the popular vote
• Independents represent the largest affiliate political party in the US…38.6% compared to 32.4% Democrats and 27.7% Republicans
In tonight's broadcast NBC made a big to do about the DNC’s strategic need to align McCain with Bush. They talk about Bush posting the lowest approval rating of any President in history.
I am looking forward to watching Fox News next week when they share the fact that congress is currently posting not only the lowest approval rating of any congress in history, but a rating less than half of Bush's rating.
Consumers today really don't trust politicians.
In our Trendcast 2008, we also cite the impending political showdown between the Millennium Generation and the Boomer Generation. They are nearly the same size.
Obama got the nomination n large part due to his popularity among those 18+ and 20-something Millenniums. The majority of Obama’s vote was from Millenniums. The majority of Hilary’s vote was from Boomers.
Birds of a feather flock together? There is an age difference between Hilary and Obama.
CNN.com’s headline this morning was all about Obama not really getting much of a surge out of his vice presidential selection of a true classic Washington Boomer.
Will be interesting to watch…Millenniums are known for their ADHD brand loyalty.
This week will truly be entertaining. Next week will be like Star Wars II.
Maybe the biggest learning out of all of this is a need to revive the old competitive comparisons.
Yeah… Visa did a wimpy version of competitive claims with its “the only card accepted at the 2008 Olympics” ads...but if Visa was really playing the strategy modeled after the DNC and GOP it would have outright gone after American Express.
Like "Visa is here at the Olympics and does anybody see Tiger or Ellen?" If they really played their politics right, Visa could even go on to say that both Tiger and Ellen each has a record of not liking Chinese food and that’s really why they did not get an invite to come to Beijing.
The political conventions are scripted from beginning to end. If you really want to glean insights into how Americans really think, get out the office and hit the streets.
Go to your nearest Starbucks and ask the others in line to describe the picture of America that is painted at each of the political conventions. Then ask them on a scale of 1-to-5 with 5 being very accurate and 1 being not accurate at all, how they would rate the picture painted compared to what they experience day-to-day in their own lives.
Come post what you find on the BrandVenture Blog-logue!
Over the next several weeks, we will be out talking with consumers about politics and share those thoughts with readers of our Blog.
If you are snowed under with work, then Email me with any questions you would love to ask!
Come, let’s journey!
I have encouraged the BrandVenture Team to watch the DNC this week and the GOP next week. It is interesting to watch and listen as each party works to build its presidential candidate “brand.”
We would love to hear back from others on this Blog what insights they glean about our consumer marketplace and headset.
Politics is an interesting topic.
My friends always tell me not to bring up the topic of Politics. They say I find too much humor in the politics of America.
My Grandmother told me to find fun in everything, otherwise you would cry!
One of our 2008 Trendcasts is titled “The Persona of Politics.”
Here are some interesting facts that we cite in relationship to American Politics:
• It’s the first time since 1825 when the two party system emerged in the US that we have two consecutive two-term presidents preceding the election…Clinton eight years and Bush eight years
• Al Gore, from Tennessee, came within 538 popular votes in Florida of becoming president without winning a single Southern electoral vote
• In 2000, for the first time ever, a Republican won the White House while losing the North
• In neither 1992 nor 1996 did Clinton win 50% of the popular vote
• Independents represent the largest affiliate political party in the US…38.6% compared to 32.4% Democrats and 27.7% Republicans
In tonight's broadcast NBC made a big to do about the DNC’s strategic need to align McCain with Bush. They talk about Bush posting the lowest approval rating of any President in history.
I am looking forward to watching Fox News next week when they share the fact that congress is currently posting not only the lowest approval rating of any congress in history, but a rating less than half of Bush's rating.
Consumers today really don't trust politicians.
In our Trendcast 2008, we also cite the impending political showdown between the Millennium Generation and the Boomer Generation. They are nearly the same size.
Obama got the nomination n large part due to his popularity among those 18+ and 20-something Millenniums. The majority of Obama’s vote was from Millenniums. The majority of Hilary’s vote was from Boomers.
Birds of a feather flock together? There is an age difference between Hilary and Obama.
CNN.com’s headline this morning was all about Obama not really getting much of a surge out of his vice presidential selection of a true classic Washington Boomer.
Will be interesting to watch…Millenniums are known for their ADHD brand loyalty.
This week will truly be entertaining. Next week will be like Star Wars II.
Maybe the biggest learning out of all of this is a need to revive the old competitive comparisons.
Yeah… Visa did a wimpy version of competitive claims with its “the only card accepted at the 2008 Olympics” ads...but if Visa was really playing the strategy modeled after the DNC and GOP it would have outright gone after American Express.
Like "Visa is here at the Olympics and does anybody see Tiger or Ellen?" If they really played their politics right, Visa could even go on to say that both Tiger and Ellen each has a record of not liking Chinese food and that’s really why they did not get an invite to come to Beijing.
The political conventions are scripted from beginning to end. If you really want to glean insights into how Americans really think, get out the office and hit the streets.
Go to your nearest Starbucks and ask the others in line to describe the picture of America that is painted at each of the political conventions. Then ask them on a scale of 1-to-5 with 5 being very accurate and 1 being not accurate at all, how they would rate the picture painted compared to what they experience day-to-day in their own lives.
Come post what you find on the BrandVenture Blog-logue!
Over the next several weeks, we will be out talking with consumers about politics and share those thoughts with readers of our Blog.
If you are snowed under with work, then Email me with any questions you would love to ask!
Come, let’s journey!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Take Time To Celebrate The Journey!
This week my father, H.W. “Mike” Kooyman turns 80 years old.
He was born in 1928 in Northeastern Ohio. He is the youngest of eight kids and he is the only one of the eight to be born in the United States.
My grandfather and grandmother immigrated to the US from Alkmaar – the cheese capital of Holland.
My father went to a one-room schoolhouse and is the only one of the eight kids to graduate High School.
He attended Case Western Reserve University and has a degree in political science from Ohio State University.
He started working right after WWII in Cleveland for a manufacturing company. Cleveland and manufacturing were booming then.
When he married my mother, it was controversial at the time. My mother was an Italian Catholic and my father was protestant. He did not convert, but the priest went on to marry them in the church.
He went on to manage departments, offices, manufacturing plants, divisions, company acquisitions and whole corporations. He also served on the board of a couple global companies, headed up a few economic and commerce groups and helped to launch several non-profit organizations.
When he retired twelve years ago, he and my mother moved to a college town where they volunteer their time to support student athletes.
My Dad also took up landscaping, raising chickens, racing antique cars and being a grandfather.
Today, he remains more active and involved in things at a level that seems to outpace both my sister and me combined.
I talk to my father most every morning.
One of the things that I am always struck by is that he always answers the phone with a smile and positive outlook on the day.
He has taught me many things over the course of time, but his optimism is perhaps the greatest gift of all.
When you listen to the politicians and the press today, it sounds like we are in the midst of the downfall of America.
Sometimes clients can convey a negative outlook on life as well.
Over the course of the next several weeks, the BrandVenture team will be presenting a new overall branding campaign for a hospital, developing new media channeling strategy for an academic institution, revamping an adventure experience restaurant chain for national franchise launch, launching a new form of visual assessment technology and listening to consumers reaction to global “green-cause” rebranding positioning options of a multi-billion dollar corporation.
Cool companies and organizations doing cool stuff.
But this week…well I am going to be celebrating along with a myriad of friends, family, business associates and community supporters my Father’s achievements over 80 years of living life.
While destinations are always wonderful, we are fueled in life by the process of getting there. When we look back across time, it’s really the process that we remember most.
Happy Birthday Dad…and let's celebrate your wonderful Journey!
He was born in 1928 in Northeastern Ohio. He is the youngest of eight kids and he is the only one of the eight to be born in the United States.
My grandfather and grandmother immigrated to the US from Alkmaar – the cheese capital of Holland.
My father went to a one-room schoolhouse and is the only one of the eight kids to graduate High School.
He attended Case Western Reserve University and has a degree in political science from Ohio State University.
He started working right after WWII in Cleveland for a manufacturing company. Cleveland and manufacturing were booming then.
When he married my mother, it was controversial at the time. My mother was an Italian Catholic and my father was protestant. He did not convert, but the priest went on to marry them in the church.
He went on to manage departments, offices, manufacturing plants, divisions, company acquisitions and whole corporations. He also served on the board of a couple global companies, headed up a few economic and commerce groups and helped to launch several non-profit organizations.
When he retired twelve years ago, he and my mother moved to a college town where they volunteer their time to support student athletes.
My Dad also took up landscaping, raising chickens, racing antique cars and being a grandfather.
Today, he remains more active and involved in things at a level that seems to outpace both my sister and me combined.
I talk to my father most every morning.
One of the things that I am always struck by is that he always answers the phone with a smile and positive outlook on the day.
He has taught me many things over the course of time, but his optimism is perhaps the greatest gift of all.
When you listen to the politicians and the press today, it sounds like we are in the midst of the downfall of America.
Sometimes clients can convey a negative outlook on life as well.
Over the course of the next several weeks, the BrandVenture team will be presenting a new overall branding campaign for a hospital, developing new media channeling strategy for an academic institution, revamping an adventure experience restaurant chain for national franchise launch, launching a new form of visual assessment technology and listening to consumers reaction to global “green-cause” rebranding positioning options of a multi-billion dollar corporation.
Cool companies and organizations doing cool stuff.
But this week…well I am going to be celebrating along with a myriad of friends, family, business associates and community supporters my Father’s achievements over 80 years of living life.
While destinations are always wonderful, we are fueled in life by the process of getting there. When we look back across time, it’s really the process that we remember most.
Happy Birthday Dad…and let's celebrate your wonderful Journey!
Monday, August 11, 2008
A Cool Time For Brand Refreshment!
We just had our first cool weekend here in the South since back in May.
This morning at my log cabin in North Georgia, my iPhone posted a temperature of 54 degrees. Since I can remember, seems that every August we have a cool-down that seems to refresh the air and revive the soul.
In some ways, this cool-down is very similar to what’s going on out there in our marketplace.
Consumer spending is down. Consumer savings are up.
For how long have we been told that Americans had stretched their credit card limits?
GenXers grew up thinking of their credit card as an extension of their checkbook. No joke. We did a set of focus groups for a financial group and GenXers talked about how much easier it was to use their credit card than carry around a checkbook.
The banks and credit lenders make it sound like we are in the depths of a frigid January blizzard. From Capital One to Visa to Citibank to American Experss…not only have they each promoted their credit cards, but made cash payment look plain stupid.
Oh well… Just like my father taught me…we are all accountable for our actions.
I actually believe that market cool-downs are good.
Just like waking up in that cool mountain air makes the body feel refreshed and revived…market cool-downs can do the same for a brand.
The 8/18/08 edition of Business Week features a story about Gap’s new design chief Patrick Robinson. Patrick is a leading GenXer at 41 years old.
Patrick is actually in the midst of more than a simple cool-down. As the article says, “sales remain anemic” at Gap, “an apparel chain that has grown too big and lost its way.”
Patrick is pushing Gap to reconnect with its roots and bring clarity back to its brand with a cohesive look and brand experience. Something that Gap strayed from when they moved with the industry in focusing instead on “fast fashion-rapid-fire mini-trends.”
Seems that Gap, under the direction of former Disney executive Paul Pressler, got addicted to doing focus groups and very rarely got out into the marketplace and the stores.
Isn’t funny how addicted to conventional focus groups the MBA-execs have gotten? Not that sitting behind the mirror with their martinis and shrimp cocktails is driving their passion to do them.
Patrick is also focusing efforts on a more defined 25-34 year old age group and is spending time out in the marketplace visiting with them and getting to know them.
I hope that Gap gives Patrick time to refocus the brand. In all likelihood, if they do, the Gap brand will be refreshed and revived.
Over the course of the past two weeks, BrandVenture has received calls from three firms that are using the cool-down time to refresh their brands with new thinking.
Frustrated by the economy, the marketing and management teams have finally decided to sit back, take a moment and get back in touch with the marketplace and their customers.
These cool-downs in the middle of August are a gift of refreshment.
Last night I actually turned off the air conditioning and opened up the windows. In addition to enjoying the nice cool breeze, I was intrigued by the sound of all the crickets, birds, frogs and turtles.
Same thing I hear from clients when we get out and talk with their customers.
Hey…refocus during this economic cool-down, call us and let’s journey!
This morning at my log cabin in North Georgia, my iPhone posted a temperature of 54 degrees. Since I can remember, seems that every August we have a cool-down that seems to refresh the air and revive the soul.
In some ways, this cool-down is very similar to what’s going on out there in our marketplace.
Consumer spending is down. Consumer savings are up.
For how long have we been told that Americans had stretched their credit card limits?
GenXers grew up thinking of their credit card as an extension of their checkbook. No joke. We did a set of focus groups for a financial group and GenXers talked about how much easier it was to use their credit card than carry around a checkbook.
The banks and credit lenders make it sound like we are in the depths of a frigid January blizzard. From Capital One to Visa to Citibank to American Experss…not only have they each promoted their credit cards, but made cash payment look plain stupid.
Oh well… Just like my father taught me…we are all accountable for our actions.
I actually believe that market cool-downs are good.
Just like waking up in that cool mountain air makes the body feel refreshed and revived…market cool-downs can do the same for a brand.
The 8/18/08 edition of Business Week features a story about Gap’s new design chief Patrick Robinson. Patrick is a leading GenXer at 41 years old.
Patrick is actually in the midst of more than a simple cool-down. As the article says, “sales remain anemic” at Gap, “an apparel chain that has grown too big and lost its way.”
Patrick is pushing Gap to reconnect with its roots and bring clarity back to its brand with a cohesive look and brand experience. Something that Gap strayed from when they moved with the industry in focusing instead on “fast fashion-rapid-fire mini-trends.”
Seems that Gap, under the direction of former Disney executive Paul Pressler, got addicted to doing focus groups and very rarely got out into the marketplace and the stores.
Isn’t funny how addicted to conventional focus groups the MBA-execs have gotten? Not that sitting behind the mirror with their martinis and shrimp cocktails is driving their passion to do them.
Patrick is also focusing efforts on a more defined 25-34 year old age group and is spending time out in the marketplace visiting with them and getting to know them.
I hope that Gap gives Patrick time to refocus the brand. In all likelihood, if they do, the Gap brand will be refreshed and revived.
Over the course of the past two weeks, BrandVenture has received calls from three firms that are using the cool-down time to refresh their brands with new thinking.
Frustrated by the economy, the marketing and management teams have finally decided to sit back, take a moment and get back in touch with the marketplace and their customers.
These cool-downs in the middle of August are a gift of refreshment.
Last night I actually turned off the air conditioning and opened up the windows. In addition to enjoying the nice cool breeze, I was intrigued by the sound of all the crickets, birds, frogs and turtles.
Same thing I hear from clients when we get out and talk with their customers.
Hey…refocus during this economic cool-down, call us and let’s journey!
Monday, July 28, 2008
A New Baby Boom Churning?
It was on ABC World News last Wednesday night.
In 2007, a record number of babies were born in the USA that some demographers say could signal an impending baby “boomlet.”
Interesting.
Back in January, an AP release came out from the CDC in Atlanta titled “Against the Trend, US Births Way Up.”
4.290 million babies were born in the US in 2006. 4.315 million babies were born in the US in 2007.
Wow.
The story on ABC World News featured film clips of Anglo and African-American Gen X families riding in SUVs through subdivision America. They also interviewed a nice middle-class Anglo couple that just gave birth to a little girl the night before.
In the AP CDC release, the 2006 level was cited as the highest since 1961…the tail-end of the Baby Boom surge. In the ABC World News report, the 2007 level was cited as the highest since 1957, one of the peak years of Baby Boom deliveries.
So…is the Gen X couple that clings to their cocoon and feels overlooked by many really producing this many babies?
We noted in a Blog this past fall that a Newsweek article reported that Gen X couples are the least sexually active generation when compared to Millenniums, Boomers and Matures. Maybe Gen X couples really only have sex to pro-create and they use their self-taught tech mindsets to chart out just when the field is most fertile and productive.
The in-town Atlanta development where I live has become over-run with Gen X couples in the last several years. After the ABC newscast, I took my puppy for a walk through the neighborhood. Sure enough…I noticed that a number of the GenXers had more than one stroller on their front porch.
Then I thought, maybe it’s the result of the economy. The original Baby Boom was fostered by the troops returning home from WWII. Maybe the GenXers getting laid-off in the last several years have decided to procreate to occupy their time spent being contained in the home.
Here are a couple observations from our perspective.
Nowhere in the ABC World News story did the newscaster mention that the birth rate among Anglos remains stable and the birth rate among African-Americans has actually declined.
USA Today also ran an article about the high US birth rate. It quoted “federal demographer” Stephanie Ventura who said: “I can’t tell you anything about who’s having these babies, but it is an early look and there is an increase.”
Stephanie, are you related to the governor of Minnesota?
Here are some facts that your comrades at the US Census Bureau have released. Maybe you should go have lunch with them.
According to the US Census Bureau, the average size of an Anglo US household in 2007 was 2.4 individuals. The average size of an African-American US household in 2007 was 2.7 individuals.
Now Hispanics are a different story!
The average size of a Hispanic US household in 2007 was 3.6 individuals and 62% of all Hispanic households have a child less than 18 years old still at home.
Also according the US Census Bureau, 24.7 years old is the median age of US Hispanics compared to 36.4 years old for the US population as a whole.
Family bonding and family building are icons of Hispanic culture.
In fact, the CDC noted in its article that Hispanics as a group in the US have fertility rates 40% higher than the US overall.
Hispanics represent the largest minority group in the US.
Generation ZOOM is jelling right now as we speak.
Generation ZOOM is made up of the kids born after 2000 and right now are age 0-8. There are 40 million of them out there coast-to-coast in the US this year.
The generational span is projected to end in 2012 and is expected to exceed the 52 million GenXers in terms of their population count.
Make no mistake about it… Hispanics are driving a significant share of the growth and while this generation is not likely to exceed the size of the Boomers or Millenniums, they will exceed every generation they follow in terms of their impact on our society, marketplace, technology and politics.
And Hispanics are going to play a significant role in the generational impact!
There are 78 million Baby Boomers and 71 million Millenniums.
There are only 52 million GenXers who are now age 32 – 43 years of age.
Many of the press editors are in their 30s and early 40s. This is true across the broadcast as well as print media. Yes…most of the news announcers are Boomers…even Katie Couric was born right in the midst of that 1957 baby making surge!... but the guys and gals that are writing the stories and deciding what gets broadcast and printed are mostly GenXers.
The 2007 Yankelovich Monitors reports that many GenXers believe that both business and government are passing them by and moving alignment with the Boomers directly to alignment with the Millenniums.
Last week I wrote about the message being the medium and the medium being the message. These GenXers seemed hooked on labeling the kids they are birthing as the “next Baby Boom.”
Hey GenXers…don’t look behind you, but the Millennium Boom is emerging as the hot marketing target NOW!
In 2007, a record number of babies were born in the USA that some demographers say could signal an impending baby “boomlet.”
Interesting.
Back in January, an AP release came out from the CDC in Atlanta titled “Against the Trend, US Births Way Up.”
4.290 million babies were born in the US in 2006. 4.315 million babies were born in the US in 2007.
Wow.
The story on ABC World News featured film clips of Anglo and African-American Gen X families riding in SUVs through subdivision America. They also interviewed a nice middle-class Anglo couple that just gave birth to a little girl the night before.
In the AP CDC release, the 2006 level was cited as the highest since 1961…the tail-end of the Baby Boom surge. In the ABC World News report, the 2007 level was cited as the highest since 1957, one of the peak years of Baby Boom deliveries.
So…is the Gen X couple that clings to their cocoon and feels overlooked by many really producing this many babies?
We noted in a Blog this past fall that a Newsweek article reported that Gen X couples are the least sexually active generation when compared to Millenniums, Boomers and Matures. Maybe Gen X couples really only have sex to pro-create and they use their self-taught tech mindsets to chart out just when the field is most fertile and productive.
The in-town Atlanta development where I live has become over-run with Gen X couples in the last several years. After the ABC newscast, I took my puppy for a walk through the neighborhood. Sure enough…I noticed that a number of the GenXers had more than one stroller on their front porch.
Then I thought, maybe it’s the result of the economy. The original Baby Boom was fostered by the troops returning home from WWII. Maybe the GenXers getting laid-off in the last several years have decided to procreate to occupy their time spent being contained in the home.
Here are a couple observations from our perspective.
Nowhere in the ABC World News story did the newscaster mention that the birth rate among Anglos remains stable and the birth rate among African-Americans has actually declined.
USA Today also ran an article about the high US birth rate. It quoted “federal demographer” Stephanie Ventura who said: “I can’t tell you anything about who’s having these babies, but it is an early look and there is an increase.”
Stephanie, are you related to the governor of Minnesota?
Here are some facts that your comrades at the US Census Bureau have released. Maybe you should go have lunch with them.
According to the US Census Bureau, the average size of an Anglo US household in 2007 was 2.4 individuals. The average size of an African-American US household in 2007 was 2.7 individuals.
Now Hispanics are a different story!
The average size of a Hispanic US household in 2007 was 3.6 individuals and 62% of all Hispanic households have a child less than 18 years old still at home.
Also according the US Census Bureau, 24.7 years old is the median age of US Hispanics compared to 36.4 years old for the US population as a whole.
Family bonding and family building are icons of Hispanic culture.
In fact, the CDC noted in its article that Hispanics as a group in the US have fertility rates 40% higher than the US overall.
Hispanics represent the largest minority group in the US.
Generation ZOOM is jelling right now as we speak.
Generation ZOOM is made up of the kids born after 2000 and right now are age 0-8. There are 40 million of them out there coast-to-coast in the US this year.
The generational span is projected to end in 2012 and is expected to exceed the 52 million GenXers in terms of their population count.
Make no mistake about it… Hispanics are driving a significant share of the growth and while this generation is not likely to exceed the size of the Boomers or Millenniums, they will exceed every generation they follow in terms of their impact on our society, marketplace, technology and politics.
And Hispanics are going to play a significant role in the generational impact!
There are 78 million Baby Boomers and 71 million Millenniums.
There are only 52 million GenXers who are now age 32 – 43 years of age.
Many of the press editors are in their 30s and early 40s. This is true across the broadcast as well as print media. Yes…most of the news announcers are Boomers…even Katie Couric was born right in the midst of that 1957 baby making surge!... but the guys and gals that are writing the stories and deciding what gets broadcast and printed are mostly GenXers.
The 2007 Yankelovich Monitors reports that many GenXers believe that both business and government are passing them by and moving alignment with the Boomers directly to alignment with the Millenniums.
Last week I wrote about the message being the medium and the medium being the message. These GenXers seemed hooked on labeling the kids they are birthing as the “next Baby Boom.”
Hey GenXers…don’t look behind you, but the Millennium Boom is emerging as the hot marketing target NOW!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The Quest For A Down-to-Earth, Simplistic Lifestyle
Last night I caught the latest of the 2X TIDE detergent commercials.
It’s part of a new series of TIDE commercials that are kind of campy. You can check it out at www.tide.com/en_US/funspot/funspot_tv.jsp.
It features the Generation X talk-show host Kelly Ripa.
The spot aired on a special series of HGTV’s House Hunters show featuring GenXers and their next “move-up” home purchases.
That airing of the TIDE spot is a fabulous demonstration of “the media is the message and the message is the media” where the brand and its message marry with the content and perspective of the media and programming.
P&G has a great set of brands that are selling through the current “gloom and doom” economic times that the media portrays in their headlines and editorials.
Despite all the dismal newscasts and forecasts of the American middle class, I really think that we are seeing the impact of a bigger trend right now than simple economics.
GenXers are truly in the depths of family cultural cocooning in which maintaining the home and saving dollars to send the kids to college are both top priority.
Boomers are re-cocooning too, and true to their culture, many are placing far more value on the sustainability of the green-scape and their local hamlets than cashing in on retirement and moving off-stage.
That BIG GLOBAL group headquartered up in New York called the United Nations dedicated a lot of time in defining what they call “Sustainable Development” – development that is driven by the “three pillars” of social, environmental and economic change.
Of course with most anything that takes place at the United Nations, a couple of groups have been challenging the consensus reached claiming that there are actually four pillars of “Sustainable Development” with the fourth being cultural development.
I actually agree.
If any of you have Gen X friends and you hang in their house for a few hours, you will quickly see how TIDE has been able to tap right into the culture of the Gen X household.
As a Baby Boomer with Millennium friends, we all concur that GenXers are kind of campy in how they live behind that front door.
Whether it’s clustering in the home or the local community, the cultural icons of a more “down-to-earth, simplistic lifestyle” are quickly coming back in vogue.
Do-It-Yourself is more culturally cool that hiring others or spending the extra bucks to purchase the product already assembled. Cooking at home is back and the kitchen table is a place where neighbors are connecting more than at Starbucks.
There are some great cultural Icons headquartered right here in our own backyard that can tap right into the times!
• Holiday Inns – The Icon of the budget-conscious family weekend trip
• Coca-Cola – How more Americana can you get?
• Home Depot – Hey Wal*Mart capitalized on Target’s brand line… be the “Helpful Hardware Man” in an orange apron and you can be an Icon too!
• Little Debbie Snack Cakes – Kind of retro, campy cool… and if you play off “Little” you can own lo-cal too!
• Six Flags, The Choo Choo, Callaway Gardens, Ruby Falls and Stone Mountain – Also kind of campy cool and accessible on just one tank of gas!
• Krystal – The “real TV / YouTube” tailgating spots are great!
• Bush Beans – Southern = Sustainability and beans are great budget side dish alternatives…maybe even the new “hamburger helper”?
• Shaw and Mohawk flooring – Recycled carpet squares are a Ready-Made Magazine showcase project!
• Popeyes, Mrs. Winners, Zaxby’s and Arby’s – The Icons of Fried Chicken and Roast Beef are back in and high-priced Sushi is out!
If you listen to the media and the survey numbers they report, you’d think we were in the 21st century version of the Great Depression.
Seeing the glass as always half full is what drives business success. At BrandVenture, what we see is called OPPORTUNITY!
Hey… in that TIDE spot, Kelly Ripa brings everyone around the washing machine to see just how clean, clean can be.
BrandVenture is going to head out in a couple of weeks with our Video camera and talk to folks about this new “down-to-earth, simplistic lifestyle” and we invite you all to be part of it and see just how opportune, opportunity can be!
Call us… and come journey!
It’s part of a new series of TIDE commercials that are kind of campy. You can check it out at www.tide.com/en_US/funspot/funspot_tv.jsp.
It features the Generation X talk-show host Kelly Ripa.
The spot aired on a special series of HGTV’s House Hunters show featuring GenXers and their next “move-up” home purchases.
That airing of the TIDE spot is a fabulous demonstration of “the media is the message and the message is the media” where the brand and its message marry with the content and perspective of the media and programming.
P&G has a great set of brands that are selling through the current “gloom and doom” economic times that the media portrays in their headlines and editorials.
Despite all the dismal newscasts and forecasts of the American middle class, I really think that we are seeing the impact of a bigger trend right now than simple economics.
GenXers are truly in the depths of family cultural cocooning in which maintaining the home and saving dollars to send the kids to college are both top priority.
Boomers are re-cocooning too, and true to their culture, many are placing far more value on the sustainability of the green-scape and their local hamlets than cashing in on retirement and moving off-stage.
That BIG GLOBAL group headquartered up in New York called the United Nations dedicated a lot of time in defining what they call “Sustainable Development” – development that is driven by the “three pillars” of social, environmental and economic change.
Of course with most anything that takes place at the United Nations, a couple of groups have been challenging the consensus reached claiming that there are actually four pillars of “Sustainable Development” with the fourth being cultural development.
I actually agree.
If any of you have Gen X friends and you hang in their house for a few hours, you will quickly see how TIDE has been able to tap right into the culture of the Gen X household.
As a Baby Boomer with Millennium friends, we all concur that GenXers are kind of campy in how they live behind that front door.
Whether it’s clustering in the home or the local community, the cultural icons of a more “down-to-earth, simplistic lifestyle” are quickly coming back in vogue.
Do-It-Yourself is more culturally cool that hiring others or spending the extra bucks to purchase the product already assembled. Cooking at home is back and the kitchen table is a place where neighbors are connecting more than at Starbucks.
There are some great cultural Icons headquartered right here in our own backyard that can tap right into the times!
• Holiday Inns – The Icon of the budget-conscious family weekend trip
• Coca-Cola – How more Americana can you get?
• Home Depot – Hey Wal*Mart capitalized on Target’s brand line… be the “Helpful Hardware Man” in an orange apron and you can be an Icon too!
• Little Debbie Snack Cakes – Kind of retro, campy cool… and if you play off “Little” you can own lo-cal too!
• Six Flags, The Choo Choo, Callaway Gardens, Ruby Falls and Stone Mountain – Also kind of campy cool and accessible on just one tank of gas!
• Krystal – The “real TV / YouTube” tailgating spots are great!
• Bush Beans – Southern = Sustainability and beans are great budget side dish alternatives…maybe even the new “hamburger helper”?
• Shaw and Mohawk flooring – Recycled carpet squares are a Ready-Made Magazine showcase project!
• Popeyes, Mrs. Winners, Zaxby’s and Arby’s – The Icons of Fried Chicken and Roast Beef are back in and high-priced Sushi is out!
If you listen to the media and the survey numbers they report, you’d think we were in the 21st century version of the Great Depression.
Seeing the glass as always half full is what drives business success. At BrandVenture, what we see is called OPPORTUNITY!
Hey… in that TIDE spot, Kelly Ripa brings everyone around the washing machine to see just how clean, clean can be.
BrandVenture is going to head out in a couple of weeks with our Video camera and talk to folks about this new “down-to-earth, simplistic lifestyle” and we invite you all to be part of it and see just how opportune, opportunity can be!
Call us… and come journey!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
The Inspiration of a Revolution!
Spending the 4th of July weekend at my mountain cabin was a blast of a good time. We did everything including fishing, grilling out, picnics, campfires, puzzles, playing cards, reading books and sometimes just doing nothing.
Being an owner of a second home log cabin is fun.
My cabin isn’t very big. The main cabin is about 800 square feet and the guest cabin is about 350 square feet. It has about as much square footage in porches and decks as it does inside space.
My home in the city is three stories tall with close to 800 square feet on each of three levels.
Every day, I count my blessings that I don’t have lawn at either home. It’s delightful not having to cut grass.
Last fall in one of the Blogs, I wrote about the next boom in housing. Some of our clients thought that I was crazy when I wrote it.
Course most of those offering me commentary are all Baby Boomers.
I keep telling clients that the line, “build it and they will come”…is dead.
The Baby Boomers really fueled the housing boom of the 80s and the 90s. Most of the builders out there are Baby Boomers. How does that line read…”Birds of a feather…”
They are the ones that added such wonderful features to the house like the “family room,” the “study,” the “morning coffee room,” the “play room,” the “flexible fourth bedroom” and the “bonus room” over the garage.
In 1950, the size of the average single-family house in the US was 1,000 square feet. Today, the average single-family house is 2,400 square feet. That’s 140% larger!
The average US single-family house of 2,400 square feet compares to the average home in Canada with 1,800 square feet, the average home in Japan with 1,000 square feet and the average home in Britain of 815 square feet.
Those Brits are famous for the “cottage” style of living!
The lead article in this month's Fast Company Magazine is titled “The Eco-Home of Tomorrow.” I really don't care what your company makes or what service it provides, you need to read this article. It's all about what is going to be the next wave of housing.
It features two cool guys…one that is age 36 and the other age 35…who are “retooling” their thinking and developing carbon neutral homes and methods of construction.
The article also features Steve Glenn who was the former Chairman and CEO of PeopleLink, the leading provider of enterprise e-community solutions software and services to clients like Oracle, GE, MTV, Paramount, Reuters and CBS.
Steve just started a new company called LivingHomes Business System that is pioneering another wave of modular housing that is eco-green and energy efficient. All of the modular homes meet LEED silver standards.
There are several other “Innovators and Inventors” featured in the Fast Company article…all of whom are jumping into the housing market and leading the wave of the next economic boom.
To save money, I got rid of my housekeeper. I am now cleaning both my home in the city and the cabin in the mountains. In some ways, it’s kind of like working out at a home gym.
After cleaning both over this past weekend, I have to say that downsizing to a similar square footage as the cabin is something that I am really seriously toying around with in my future planning.
As one of the featured quotes in the Fast Company article notes…”If we can un-name the rooms…we can give you more opportunity in less space.”
I agree.
There are a lot of companies out there are clinging on to the past model of housing as forward-thinking entrepreneurs, architects and developers are already envisioning the post-bust cycle of housing where smaller is better.
This past May, the bulk of the Millennium Generation that is just shy of the Baby Boomers in size got their college diplomas and headed out into the work force.
The demand for housing is coming and coming on fast. To meet it, we must ask…”How do you inspire a revolution?”
Being an owner of a second home log cabin is fun.
My cabin isn’t very big. The main cabin is about 800 square feet and the guest cabin is about 350 square feet. It has about as much square footage in porches and decks as it does inside space.
My home in the city is three stories tall with close to 800 square feet on each of three levels.
Every day, I count my blessings that I don’t have lawn at either home. It’s delightful not having to cut grass.
Last fall in one of the Blogs, I wrote about the next boom in housing. Some of our clients thought that I was crazy when I wrote it.
Course most of those offering me commentary are all Baby Boomers.
I keep telling clients that the line, “build it and they will come”…is dead.
The Baby Boomers really fueled the housing boom of the 80s and the 90s. Most of the builders out there are Baby Boomers. How does that line read…”Birds of a feather…”
They are the ones that added such wonderful features to the house like the “family room,” the “study,” the “morning coffee room,” the “play room,” the “flexible fourth bedroom” and the “bonus room” over the garage.
In 1950, the size of the average single-family house in the US was 1,000 square feet. Today, the average single-family house is 2,400 square feet. That’s 140% larger!
The average US single-family house of 2,400 square feet compares to the average home in Canada with 1,800 square feet, the average home in Japan with 1,000 square feet and the average home in Britain of 815 square feet.
Those Brits are famous for the “cottage” style of living!
The lead article in this month's Fast Company Magazine is titled “The Eco-Home of Tomorrow.” I really don't care what your company makes or what service it provides, you need to read this article. It's all about what is going to be the next wave of housing.
It features two cool guys…one that is age 36 and the other age 35…who are “retooling” their thinking and developing carbon neutral homes and methods of construction.
The article also features Steve Glenn who was the former Chairman and CEO of PeopleLink, the leading provider of enterprise e-community solutions software and services to clients like Oracle, GE, MTV, Paramount, Reuters and CBS.
Steve just started a new company called LivingHomes Business System that is pioneering another wave of modular housing that is eco-green and energy efficient. All of the modular homes meet LEED silver standards.
There are several other “Innovators and Inventors” featured in the Fast Company article…all of whom are jumping into the housing market and leading the wave of the next economic boom.
To save money, I got rid of my housekeeper. I am now cleaning both my home in the city and the cabin in the mountains. In some ways, it’s kind of like working out at a home gym.
After cleaning both over this past weekend, I have to say that downsizing to a similar square footage as the cabin is something that I am really seriously toying around with in my future planning.
As one of the featured quotes in the Fast Company article notes…”If we can un-name the rooms…we can give you more opportunity in less space.”
I agree.
There are a lot of companies out there are clinging on to the past model of housing as forward-thinking entrepreneurs, architects and developers are already envisioning the post-bust cycle of housing where smaller is better.
This past May, the bulk of the Millennium Generation that is just shy of the Baby Boomers in size got their college diplomas and headed out into the work force.
The demand for housing is coming and coming on fast. To meet it, we must ask…”How do you inspire a revolution?”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
