The BGO Rattling House & Home

I have written about BGOs in this bloglogue in the past… BGO translates to Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious.

House and home is a market that is posting a market BGO right before our eyes… and the market gurus from Wall Street to Madison Avenue to Washington are not seeing it.

Over the last few days, the Wall Street Journal posted a couple of stories that shed spotlights on the stage.

One of the stories that ran mid-week last week showcased the big decline in home sales and new home starts.

Like good MBA-accounting journalists, the article was littered with stats comparing sales, mortgage rates and real estate listing stats to support the overall observation that… well… housing is diving quickly back into a slump.

No question that the writers talked about the low-growth recessionary recovery.  They cited the new bank regulations and the long process of loan qualification.

They even wrote about the industrial transition with builders and developers.

Ahhh… but they did not cite the BGO!

The article over the weekend titled, “Rentals Reach For The Skies” came a bit closer to showcasing the BGO… but it too reminded me of the kid that comes close to knocking down that Cinco de Mayo clown filled with candy, but just cannot hit it and reap the reward.

The second article noted that there are 74 rental high-rises being built this year across the U.S. and another 81 on the books for next year.

It talks about the young singles and couples paying the premium rents to live intown and near where they work.

One evening last week, I sat at a coffee table with Atlanta community leadership and talked about all the new live-work-play centers that are all the rage here in Atlanta.

We talked a lot about our wonderment of just how long the live-work-play rage will be a rage.

So what's the BGO... the Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious?

Simple.  The Millennials are making their mark right in the midst of us… right in the midst of our here and now.

I’ve rattled in this blog a lot about the Millennials, their sheer size and how they are going to be the market drivers for the next 20-30 years.

They cannot be overlooked, excused or dumb-downed.

We are in the midst of the Millennial tsunami as Brian, Maria, Jasmine and Ethan depart from campus-town and the helicopter-parent nest to stake a home claim of their own.

But the Millennials are facing a record-setting low of down payment savings and record- setting pain-in-the-butt process of securing a mortgage loan.

Rentals are rising as the new American city-scape embrace this tsunami.

Community politico clients are always astounded by the stats that the make-up of their townscape is much more single and rental than they ever imagined that it could be.

House and home manufacturing and retail clients continue to dismiss that the mom-dad-kids-apple-pie-homebody is fading fast.

I am the first to showcase quick service restaurants and their franchisees.  A vast array of those teams see the Millennial tsunami and are out their capitalizing on it.

The biggest glitch that the QSR groups are making is an assumption that the Millennials are going to follow a family life-stage transition just like their Boomer parents… marry, move out to the ‘burbs and have kids.

If you don't see this happening ... go check the Burger King brand. 

Back to housing.

Home-owners who bought their pads in the 90s and early 2000s are in for a shock when they learn that the homes have way too many walls with outdated countertops, bathrooms and extended outdoor living space.

Real estate agents are in the midst of a shock as they cling to their out-dated commission-agent-driven business model.

And house and home retailers need to either re-adjust or be ready for the arrival of a new competitive mix.

House and home is hip… but it’s not what we see on the pages of Elle Décor or Architectural Digest.  

That set of pubs has become a dwindling cliché of New York designers, fashion publishers and high-end boutique retailers that refuse to recognize that life does exist past the Hudson.

To capture what’s really happening, tune in or better yet, pick up an HGTV Magazine. Spend some time on Pinterest and look at the pictures. Go shop at Pier 1 Imports and Target.  Go to the local “retro-rehab” furniture store.

The current issues of BOTH Southern Living and Country Living Magazines highlight the new retro-50s headset of the Millennial homemakers – and that’s both the male and female ones!

The housing market is in the midst of radical change.

Rental is the new norm – and probably will here for longer than a "transitional lifestyle" time.

Less is more and more is way too far out of what’s in the checkbook each month.

High touch comfort and multi-use furniture (note… I did not say space – that’s assumed to be there already by the Millennials) is the hip and trendy.

Pre-owned brings in history and neighborhood roots.

Kitchens are center stage and not operational sidekicks.

Color adds personality with window fabrics, area rugs, accent pillows and wall art… even modular flooring that works great in those newly built “post-industrial” lofts.

I am sure that some readers of this bloglogue have a take-away that I might have all the answers… 

…But in this situation I don’t.

What I do know is that we need to get out from behind the desks and sit down with Millennials and hear their stories about what they and their friends are doing.

Hey… I am the first to admit that the Millennial ADHD does not make it easy.

But folks, the Millennials are now in the driver's seat of the future. 

That Wall Street Journal article talks about the new high-rise apartment just built in Minneapolis and how its so very not what one would expect. 

They talk about how when you get up to the penthouse that posts a rental amount of $9,000 per month you can see the Mississippi River as it meanders southward.

After reading this… go to the newest high-rise apartment tower or live-work-play town center or new “retro” loft complex and take in the vista of the new market horizon and see what you might see.

All I know for sure is that the BGO hitting us right now is the Millennial Generation forming its nests – even if they have to rent it for the next decade or so!

Tech Geeks Writing A Dumbass Article In The WSJ

My hope in writing this is that many of our clients and business partners actually take a moment and read this blog. 

This might be one of the most important ones that I post this year.

I’m a strong advocate of the Wall Street Journal. 

And, that’s the printed newspaper version, and not the online editions nor website.  There are still a small number of us that still read the real print editions.

Despite my loyalty to the WSJ, this morning’s edition is actually the springboard for this blog – and it centers around an article that, quite frankly, is a junk story that I would more likely see in the local, Atlanta rag that goes by the name the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The authors of the WSJ article go by the names of Khadeeia Safdar and Angus Loten. 

My bet is that they are tech nerds that have an inner desire to be newscasters.

The title of the article is, “Search For Help With Web Ads, But Not Finding Much.”

No question, the headline did catch my attention. 

Reason being that there are a lot… a lot… of web consulting firms out there in many of the cities I work spanning the globe from Seattle to Toronto to NYC to ATL. And there are many, many smart marketers that are using the art and engineering of the web to achieve some great sales.

When I got into the article, I was further surprised.

The article is not about large corporations, but instead about small business owners and how those featured have voiced frustrations about their using online and web advertising as a part of their marketing mix.

The authors are out to make those firms that claim to do web advertising to be slime, money-takers.

My surprise is that the “Marketplace” sectional editors actually allowed this article to be printed.

Below the article’s picture of a small business owner, the quip reads, “Business owner Dave Bennett says he didn’t get customers after spending $1,800 in an online-ad campaign.”

Before I even begin to read the actual facts about the case, two things struck me.

One… the man is standing next to what appears to be a very sophisticated shower stall.

Two… $1,800 might be a large sum of money to this man, but $1,800 is really not a large marketing budget – especially as I learn, it was for four months of marketing!

When I delved further into the article, turns out that Dave Bennett runs a company called Wasatch Chill Zone.  It’s a whole body cyrotherapy firm.  Based in Utah. 

He was paying for listings in online business directories and search engine mechanics (SEOs). 

Wow. 

This story is appearing on the same page with news about Home Depot, GM and Google. 

There’s another story about a psychotherapist spending $2,200 on a campaign to market his service in New York City and another case about a firm called Ageless Karate in Las Vegas spending $1,000 to land students for classes. 

With roots in NYC, I find it surprising that the psychotherapist isn’t aware that $2,200 in NYC barely gets you one poster up from one week on a subway stop over in the Bronx.   But then again, we are talking about a psychotherapist.

And a firm called “Ageless in Karate” in Las Vegas … my bet is that the owner is a cousin of the whole body cyrotherapy firm over the border in Utah.

The reason why I encourage my clients and partners to read this blog… and to even go online and read the article is to gain an understanding that there’s usually a whole lot more to a story than what is captured in the tidbits of a headline or the viewpoints of “peer” commentary.

Yesterday afternoon as I was driving back home, there was a guy dressed up as a clown waving a poster to get people in the afternoon rush hour to come rent an apartment in a complex that needs a bunch of renovation help.

There are a lot of really dumb folks out there doing some very dumb advertising and marketing who spend small amounts of money and expect large groups of people lining up at the door.

Shame on the WSJ for printing the article.  The authors need to go back to their techie programming venues. The editors allowing need to get fired.

A couple important points…

#1… Advertising alone does not a sale make.

#2… Simply wearing a nametag when you walk into a room does produce long lines of people that are ready to jump into bed with you

#2a…. Taking a date to a cheap fast food restaurant also does not persuade them in all likelihood to go have passionate sex either

#3… Fat people do not look good wearing bikinis or swimmer thongs… a simple listing on a search site or a simple click banner ad will not produce purchasers of large ticket, highly targeted product lines

#4…. If I say the word television, and the conventional thinking set is “get on those shows that have the highest ratings” to generate that high volume of reach, then how can you sleep at night if you then say, “target one-on-one through that highly targeted use of online ads?”

#5… How many sale closings are you getting from your Yellow Page ad listing?  My bet is that these small business owners featured in the WSJ article actually spend more than triple the dollar amount highlighted in what they spent on the Internet on Yellow Page ads. 

Please… Please… do not abandon the use of online marketing as we cruise quickly into the year 2015.

And if you ever receive a resume from a person that matches with the two geeks or their editors from the WSJ, trash it. 

The Patchwork Of Human Community ... That Drives Sales!

Over the last two weeks, I have journeyed across America working with retailers, banks and local healthcare groups. 

The journey has taken me from Birmingham to Cape Cod to Cleveland to Seattle to San Diego.  Even Doraville… right in the ATL… and a city that was made famous by the Atlanta Rhythm Section back in 1974. 

I have had the pleasure of working on gleaning insights about the served geographies, neighborhoods and groups of people that reside and work nearby.

What hit me yesterday afternoon is that I really haven’t blogged much about the way that here at EXPERIENCE we have the resources and tools to go in and really dig down into the richness of just what makes up the consumer marketplace.

Bank in the early 1980s, I attended an AMA Conference up in NYC – AMA as in American Marketing Association.  One of the speakers at the conference was a guy named Robin Page from a corporation based outside of Washington called Claritas.

His presentation was all about how Claritas had built a system that profiled out the American patchwork quilt of neighborhoods and people into a set of 40 distinctive consumer lifestyle groups.

The lifestyle groups all had nicknames and when his slides came up with actual neighborhood maps of these distinctive groups, I was astounded by how reflective the groups were of the types of people who made up those communities.

After I attended the conference, I was hooked.  And now, more than 35 years later, a lot of what I do and the perspective of how I see the marketplace is through the glasses of the distinctive consumer lifestyle groups.

Today, in 2014, the U.S. is now made up of 66 different lifestyle groups.  There is no doubt that America has diversified since the early 1980s. 

Back then there were Hispanics that made up the population of the U.S., but not near the quantity – and diversity – of the American Hispanic-Latino cultural groups today.

Generationally, America was not as sliced and diced as we are today.  There were more of the War Generation and the Millennials were not quite being birthed.

There were urban, suburban, small town and rural communities back then, but now we have second tier cities, magnet urban centers and exurbia-villes.

These neighborhood groups go by cute nicknames… some of which I actually can lay claim to naming!

“Blue Chip Blues” and “Shotguns & Pickups” existed back in the 1980s and still exist today.  So does “Gray Power,” “Blue Blood Estates” and “Young Influentials.”

But gone are the manufacturing labor neighborhoods that went by the nicknames of “Levittown USA” and “Norma Rae-ville.” 

The upscale suburban Boomer family group called “Furs & Stationwagons” has evolved into the GenXer group of “Kids & Cul-de-Sacs.”

And while the hip and cool urban neighborhoods continue to attract the college elite, young professionals, the 1980s nickname of “Young Literati” has given way to the mobile iPad havens now nicknamed “Young Digerati.”

Today, the Claritas system known as PRIZM and also the like system for financial brands called P$ycle are both owned by Nielsen, a sister company of Claritas when they were both owned by the Dutch company VNU.

Over the years, I have built some very extensive segmentation models using PRIZM for some brands like BMW, Marriott, American Express, Discovery Networks, TNT and TBS, Church’s Chicken, Blue Cross Blue Shield, P&G, IAMs Pet Foods and Kraft Food Brands.

In the mid-1980s, I launched a company that brought the lifestyle groups to life in the healthcare business.

Also worked with PHD Media on building media planning models using Claritas PRIZM lifestyle groups.

Of all the clients I have worked with over the years, I am the first to say that the media folks are the most defensive and difficult to integrate the lifestyle groups in their media stats and sales strategy… and that is even true today with Nielsen now owning it.

Today, EXPERIENCE has licensed access to PRIZM in the U.S. and like systems in Canada, Europe and Asia.  We also have a good understanding and ties with firms that have crafted like systems in Latin America.

We are passionate about viewing the work as a diverse quilt of holistic and predictive lifestyle groups versus shotgun demographics. Passionate. Period.

In the last six months, I’ve had the chance to work in some very interesting markets with some very interesting brands and in doing so, have been able to see the American quilt right in the midst of fluid change.

A couple of observations…

Historic minority groups are merging into landscape of America

Whether the groups are African-American professionals, second and third generation Asian and Hispanic groups, or even gay and lesbian groups, they are merging into our neighborhood landscape versus redefining our neighborhood landscape.

The neighborhood group nicknamed “Blue Chip Blues,” that 20 years ago was made up of family-centric skilled labor is structurally the same today.  Kids are a top priority along with finding times to balance hard work with fun play with everything from motorcycles to RVs. Home is more home-base and Man Caves are not trendy, but something that is a given reward for hard work.

But today, those with family roots in Ireland, Poland and Italy, have been replaced by those with family roots in Mexico, Columbia and Korea. Perhaps the only quirk is that in addition to the Man Caves, the Mom Caves are a new given reward for hard work – whether that job is home-based or 9-to-5.

Boomers are changing the mix of the age 55+ lifestyle groups

Over the past decade, transitional empty-groups have emerged as a more dominant set of neighborhoods that in the past were viewed as transitional. Either the neighborhoods would quickly age into retirement living lifestyles or the empty-nesters would flee for the sunnier shores of Florida… but not anymore.

The neighborhood groups nicknamed “Middleburg Managers” and “Big Fish, Small Pond” are actually growing with Boomers in their 60s continuing to work or pursue new careers while groups like “Traditional Times” and “Gray Power” actually posting little-to-no growth.

Small town America is on the decline

Today’s Wall Street Journal posted a new release that showcases just how much of small town America is on a population decline as younger singles and families have to move to the metros to find work.  Traffic jams in the cities are even affecting the feasibility of living in the smaller satellite towns and commuting into the city. 

Younger, more service and hourly employment neighborhoods like “Crossroad Villages,” “Young & Rustic” and “Blue Highways” have declined, while groups like “New Beginnings” and “Boomtown Singles” have grown.

The professional DINK population is more permanent… and aging!

The headset of the 1990s proudly proclaimed that the female professionals were overtaking their share – finally – of the professional and management work force… but the headset quickly predicted that a very significant share would post a leave of absence to birth kids.  Interestingly, a large share of the dual-income couples elected not to have kids and is now in their 40s and even early 50s wearing the DINK label.

Neighborhood groups like “God’s Country” and “Country Casuals” are great illustrations of growing neighborhoods with DINK couples establishing roots along with peers where bikes, swing sets and family stickers on the back of the SUVs are no where to be seen.

Where do the Live-Work-Play developments fit in the mix?

I post this observation as more of a question than a statement.  I am not sure I have the answer yet … but certainly active in observation with a number of new municipal clients.

Live-Work-Play developments are booming right now as builders and developers see opportunity for multiple points of revenue, frustrated commuters see an avenue of escape from their standard hour long drives to work and Millennials crave the physical interaction that Facebook provides on the web-world.

But Live-Work-Play developments sport a combination of urban density against the backdrops of city, suburban and even exurban life. A strong share of those dwelling are rental and Millennial and there are bets on the table, transitional too.

Part of my gut predicts that they will become more matched up with a mix of “Urban Acheivers,” “Brite Lites, Li’l City” and “Young Influentials.”

There is no question that Baby Boomers shook the retail market into everything from fast food to drive-thrus to regional malls. Funny how those have attempted to transition and keep pace with the Boomers, but how many have fallen into a service mix with the transitional teen-to-twenty males and new immigrant groups.

Another part of my gut predicts that perhaps in about five to ten years, the Live-Work-Play developments may face a challenge that malls are facing today as the Millennials move onward.

Whew!

I know that this is a long blog, but I hope those taking the time to read it, send feedback or better yet, pick up the phone and give me a call.

PRIZM and lifestyle segmentation is cool stuff.  More importantly, it does drive business and bottomlines when used by those who see more than just the statistical numbers!

Its Time To Start Digging Below The News Dirt

Digging below the surface and unraveling the sub-merged.

In some ways that line is really what drives me to get out of bed every morning.

I am surprised by just how many folks claiming to be in the business of business fail to do any digging.

But then again, it’s good because the failure to do it keeps my company in business!

With all the snow that has hit the Southeast in the last several weeks, I’ve had the chance to delve more into the news reports. 

For example, here in front of me is today’s edition of the Wall Street Journal with a major news story posting the headline: Household Debt Jumps as Banks Loosen Up. 

I am always amazed how the writers on Wall Street see the world through their green colored glasses.

Last week I received a great project working with a financial group located in the Great Northwest and got the chance to hear some Oregon and Washington folks talk about banks and the process of “doing banking.”

Maybe its because the Northwest is not within a short car ride from Wall Street that the world over in the Northwest fails to perceive much “loosening up.”

Before I get into some digging, I want to share another interesting news story.

While unemployment posted by the Washington Politico continues to decline… so too does the percentage of folks out there claiming to work.

The percentage of population of our workforce has been declining in recent years.

The political left fails to even acknowledge the decline in the active American workforce.  The political right dashes quickly to showcase how many Americans have left the work force because of limited employment opportunity.

Again… the writers on Wall Street see the world through their green colored glasses and quickly attempt to engineer economic and business models to explain the decline.

The last Blog-post (and you can read it below if you haven’t) highlighted Generation X and their perspective of the world around them.

The generational architecture of a society… or the marketplace… is very telling indeed.

While Generation X is small and not too happy about being overlooked and dismissed, Boomers and Millennials are a whole different story.

Both generational groups are social, cultural and economic driving forces.

Those two generations combined represent about half of all human beings breathing in the U.S.

Let’s take a look for a moment at the Millennials.

This year – 2014 – Millennials will occupy the age 20-35 year old age group with the mass of the generational bell-curve falling in their mid-to-late 20s.

Over-nurtured by their Boomer parents, the U.S. marketplace is experiencing a seismic tremor as many are finally leaving the parental nest.

When the amount of debt is reviewed on an average across all households, Wall Street is correct that the average overall amount is on an increase…

BUT… if you simply view the debt by generational group, it’s a BGO of what’s driving it… (BGO = Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious).

It’s the Millennials who are finally forming their nests and accruing debt as they purchase everything from homes to furniture to appliances to electronics.

Yes… debt is on the increase, but the driver of it is the new generation now forming their nests.

And the drop in the percent of who all makes up the active American workforce?

Enter the Boomers.

What I am about to post is something to which, I can personally relate.

In a couple of weeks, I turn 55 years old. I am a trailing Baby Boomer.

If you asked me 10-15 years ago, at what age I would see retiring or starting up a second career, I probably would have said close to the age I will celebrate in a couple of weeks.

Baby Boomers long thought that they would enjoy an early retirement.

While the economy has shattered those dreams for many, we cannot let go of the fact that many, many businesses and corporations have extended early retirement packages and that many Boomers have quickly said, “Okay.”

Every day, about 12,000 Boomers turn age 65 and that will be taking place every day of every year for close to the next 10 years.

Part of the economic model is based on the drive that as people retire, the younger generations will have jobs.

Problem is that technology and the web have exploded in the midst of that transition.  Technology can do things that previously took 3-4 people to do.  And I am not just talking about technology on manufacturing lines.

Sooooo…. When we hear statistics of individuals exiting the labor pool, we have to be careful not to lay all the blame on lukewarm economics.

Lastly, the big news on Wall Street is the sale of WhatsApp for $19 billion dollars… the most paid ever or a new venture start-up. 

There’s a picture of the fWhatsApp founder on the NY Times website. He’s wearing a T-shirt, suit jacket (note: not a blazer), jeans and flip-flops. 

The article highlights why the deal makes sense and cites the fact that 55% of its users are age 18-24.  It highlights that young people use it.

Here at EXPERIENCE, we have coined the term ZOOMERS to describe those born between 2000 and 2014.  Their parents are GenXers.  Leading-edge ZOOMERS are just entering into the adolescent years.

Individuals age 18-24 are riding the very tail end of the Millennial Generation that this year spans the age spectrum of 20-35 years old.

Part of the rationale behind Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp is that it could be a tool to help Facebook open up China. 

Perhaps.

Here’s where I will place the bet.

One interesting characteristic of Millennials that they very rarely lay claim to the fact that they are a generational group.  Many believe that youth is immortal and that their group is comprised of boundless youth.

Just as the BIG BUSINESS clients I work with have great difficulty seeing the world beyond their corporate walls, Millennials have difficulty understanding constraint… for the most part, any constraint. 

Reading the article and further reading an editorial about the founder in the Wall Street Journal, it quickly becomes apparent that he… like Mark Zuckerberg… believes that the age 18-24 year old group will be the commanding force forever.

Problem with this perception is the bubble is bursting as I write this blog.

Starting this year and going forward for at least the next 10 years, the U.S. population of those age 18-24 will decline dramatically as the 76 million strong Millennials age and the 1-2 average kids per household of the 52 million GenXer parents cruise through their late teens and 20’s.

That’s the U.S. stats.  If you don’t think its rattling the population globally, check out the latest of how China is finally loosening the “only one kid per household allowed” dictate from Beijing.

I'm not planning to purchase any Facebook stock anytime soon.

What amazes me most out of the observations I post on this blog is how much the business community looks at the surface stats and surface news and crafts their overall strategy around it.

Yesterday I watched how a past corporate client of mine continues to move forward with some rather naïve actions that in the long-term make no sense.

I also had a chance to sit down with a financial service entrepreneur. It was a very enjoyable time listening to the entrepreneur react to market dynamics and strategic options.

By the way, the entrepreneur was older than these geek-tech 20-somethings!

My advice... don't react to the surface level of news reports... better yet, call us and bring us in to dig below the surface and unravel the insights!

GenXers... An Angry Group Of Breeders

Every morning that I get up, I give a big hug to my dog. 

Miss Georgia is her name and she is the best companion any person could have. When folks ask if I am single, I quickly reply… well, I don’t have a human partner right now, but I do have my dog.

Nearly all of my friends – many without any kids running around in their homes – have either a dog or a cat. 

The Humane Society estimates that 62% of American households own a dog or a cat or both in 2014.

Now, before I go any further in this Blog-louge, I want to make the statement right up front… I do not dislike kids.  In many cases, I actually can relate to kids a bunch better than I can relate to their parents.

Okay…

The U.S. Census Bureau released its 2014 population stats a few weeks ago.  It estimates that exactly a third… 33% of American households have a kid under the age of 18 living in the house. 

If you got out of the office and walked up to the average Joe on the street and asked them what percentage of American households have a kid under the age of 18 living in the house, the majority share will guesstimate in the 50-70% range.

Sometimes when I hear folks say this, I wonder if this is a by-product of all those Viagra ads.

Quickly, here are a couple more stats just to anchor this blog-lougue. Just shy of two-thirds of all the households in American that have a kid under the age of 18 living in the house, two-thirds are married or coupled. 

The remaining third of the kid-present households are single parents and 75% of those are made up of a single female and at least one kid… the remaining 25% is made up of a single male and at least one kid.

In 2014, the U.S. Bureau estimates that there are 120 million households – not individual people – that make up the U.S.   And of 120 million households, 40 million have kids and 80 million do not.

Not all those 40 million households with kids in them are made up of Generation X parents, but a large share – over 75% are.  By the way, in 2014, Generation X will officially fall in the age 38-49 year old range. 

The rest of the 40 million households with kids are trailing Boomers or that Millennial who elected to have a child in their late-teens and twenty-something years.

I posted a blog back in 2012 about how Millennials were electing to put off having a kid and if they did, they often elected to only have one or maybe two.  This was driven by the cost of raising a kid from age 0 through college graduation. 

That cost back in 2012 was estimated to be about $600,000.  Today, that cost has risen closer to $750,000.

Writing about kids and the 2014 family household today is driven by one very profound factor: Most of the parents wear the label of Generation X.

Generation X is a very odd group of adults… and in many ways, their oddity really is the result of factors beyond their control.

Nearly half of GenXers were raised in households of divorced parents. 

They are the valley of 52 million stuck between 78 million Boomers and 76 million Millennials.

They vowed to remain married and they cocooned as a result. 

They harbor feelings of resentment because they wore second-hand brands passed down by the Boomers and watch as new brands emerge customized for Millennials and old brands are re-engineered around Millennials.

A couple years back, the Associated Press released an article tabout how GenXers feel shortchanged universally across parties – employers, marketers and local community groups.

In the local community where I live, families with kids represent less than 20% of the neighborhood households. 

Yet, the Gen X parents stake their claim.  They bring strollers into coffee houses, put up “slow down” signs on the streets and bring their kids along with them to the wine bars and pubs.

PTAs and PTOs post record high Gen X parent involvement, but decreasing community-wide support.

In survey after survey that I do, I find that Gen X parents perceive the world around them nearly exclusively through their family-anchored lens.

From Wall Street to Main Street, unless the news content has an impact on their child-anchored co-cooning day-to-day life, there is limited storage of the news in their awareness set.

How is this impacting marketing?

Well… right now, a significant portion of many marketing teams is made up of the GenXer mom and dad… especially in conventional industries that have been slow in merging in interactive, mobile and social media. 

These GenXer mom and dads are the same marketers who, with little thought… assume that the product promoted in the setting of mom, dad, two kids, a dog and cat is a marketing standard.

When you ask them why… they very quickly respond…”Well, more than half of our market is made up of families with kids” and “everyone out there can identify with a family of kids.”

And from a media standpoint… Women 25-54 continues to be the coveted audience group of the GenXer marketing teams.  This past week, a national radio talk show literally said… “marketers love the 25-54 age group because its made up with all those families that represent the bedrock of the American marketplace.”

The radio host is in his mid-30s, married with two kids, a dog and a cat.

A grass-roots backlash is emerging.

A pub in a neighborhood here in Buckhead which posts no more than 14% neighborhood residents with kids age 17 or less has a sign on their door that reads: “No Smoking. No Breeders With Kids.”

By the way… the pub is run by a smart business guy… dogs are allowed on the deck out back – something owned by twice as many folks touting a kid!

As the family unit becomes redefined around single parents, extended families and same-sex partners with kids, marketers intentionally reaching out to families will need to chuck their stereotype, "All American Family" portraits.

Some brands do get it and showcase singles, childless couples and empty-nesters as Main Street America.  Other brands embrace the parents sans the kids. And a few brands embrace the mom as a career professional.

The last perspective I leave with readers is that Generation X will continue to be an angry group of folks feeling slighted as they move from having the kids at home to empty-nester-dom in the next five-to-ten years.

The big question remain unanswered in terms of whether they will embrace their independence or give new meaning and value to the baby boomer “helicopter parents.”

Last night, HGTV’s House Hunters Show featured a young couple who just got married and the bride’s parents who were buying a home together that they were going to live in all together. 

I turned the show off.

Then I wondered if what I was watching was not HGTV, but a new show on TLC that might have been the newest in their series of everything from the Utah polygamists to the cougar affairs.

Wendy's... Popeyes... and My 2014 New Year's Resolution

Part of my New Year’s Eve celebration involved stopping off at a new Wendy’s to grab a quick soft drink.

The Wendy’s I went to was enlightening. 

Not sure how many folks out there have been to a Wendy’s recently. 

Back in the late summer of 2013, I actually did a blog about Wendy’s and their new pretzel burger that was a big hit and posted gains for the QSR chain way ahead of their competition.

I noted in that blog that the vast array of Wendy’s facilities are like time machines that jut you back into the mid-80s… maybe into the late-70s.  A look and feel that is in no way, mid-century, “retro-cool.”

Wendy’s is not alone in this dated environment scenario. 

Many of the QSR brands that have historically been scattered across a wide expanse of individual franchisees take you back in time.  Burger King, Hardees, DQs… they are all in need of an appearance on TLC’s “What Not To Wear” show.

The Wendy’s that I visited is apparently, “the new Wendy’s brand design.”  Those are the exact words used by the concierge hostess that greets you at the door and channels you over to the spot to place your order.

I was pleasantly surprised by the style and décor.  It’s somewhat “Dwell Magazine – Urban – Loft – Contemporary.”  Not at all the 1980s Wendy’s footprint.

There was a “sitting area” of four overstuffed chairs in front of a large flat-screen television right where customers walk in the front door.

My gut wasn’t too sure how long that area would last.  I’m not too sure how many people think about going to Wendy’s to relax and “hang” like they do at Starbucks.

When I asked the concierge hostess if this was a prototype, she quickly corrected me and said this is the new Wendy’s. 

I asked her how many area stores were going to be retro-fitted and she replied that as far as she know, none.  Only new stores that being built will look like it.

Interesting.

I asked a couple of the people eating in the Wendy’s what they thought about the design and nearly all of them said the same thing…

“Boy, it will be nice when they convert over all those other Wendy’s and have them looking like this... right now they are very dated.”

While the inconsistent Wendy’s “brand footprint" was problematic, there was something else that was much more disturbing. 

So much so that I immediately concluded I would showcase Wendy's in the next Blog post.

On the wall as you enter, showcased on the large wall by the tables, above the order stations, on the staff shirts and on the cups and food wraps is apparently the new brand line.

“Quality is our recipe.”

Readers… I am not making this up.

Wendy’s is not the only QSR out there that kills their brand.

When Burger King kicked out the King, they anchored their brand around the line, “Exciting things are happening at Burger King.”

Ahhh... I am sure that just rings the bell with those 20-something, single, hourly-paid dudes that represented Burger King's core brand loyalists. 

I hammer away at my clients that many product attributes are core deliverables just to be able to sit at the competitive market table.  

I often use fast food restaurants as an example with attributes like “good food” and “clean restaurants.”

When I see the leadership of large consumer brands doing what Wendy’s is now doing, I quickly come to the conclusion that there is some rather narcissistic leadership out there living in a self-created fantasyland.

The fact that the large vast number of Wendy’s look like the “before” décor on HGTV’s before-and-after “Property Brothers” hit show does not seem to even enter top management’s– and their “kiss the client butt” ad agency’s – headset. 

Is this just the way that companies are now operating and the days of emotional connections with the brand experience are now fading away?

No. 

Even in the QSR category, there are a couple of good examples of brands that live in reality and find ways to drive a brand experience that connects on the emotional -- and not the rational -- level.

I am the first to admit that I actually crave Popeyes spicy chicken.

When I travel on the road, I often will go online and scope out just where there might be a Popeyes not too far from the Interstate.

AFC is the corporate firm that owns Popeyes.  They also used to own Church’s Chicken.  

To be honest, when AFC purchased Church’s Chicken, the intent was to convert the brand over to Popeyes.

Unfortunately, there was a majority share of the Church’s restaurants that were located in some very “worn and torn” buildings and neighborhood areas to match.

For a long time, Popeyes conveyed a very mixed up and fragmented brand image. 

The Church’s brand might have even had a more defined brand image than Popeye’s.  

Church’s was the cheap, in-the-hood, good ‘n greasy, lick-those-lips tummy pleaser.  And they even accepted those EBT cards as a method of pay!  

Popeyes BGO (Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious) was simple. 

Popeyes had Cajun roots and tasted like what your mama used to make and reinvented itself based on its long-standing Louisiana-inspired home cooking complete with the Louisiana “Gen X” – but authentically-rooted, helicopter mom.

Brand sales are growing and the restaurant is opening up more restaurants.

Best yet?  The brand strums the chords of the heartstring and the more rooted the décor of the restaurant, the more believable the brand experience... i.e. the buildings don't have to be much revamped.

I don’t know about you, but “quality is our recipe” not only doesn’t make my mouth water, it doesn’t do much to strum my heartstrings either!

My 2014 New Year’s resolution is simple… 

I have lost all interest in bringing in clients that cling to the dysfunctional, rational models of the past and live in an internal corporate la-la-land with no sense that they are in dire need of help.

It's Very Easy To Get Lost

It’s very easy to get lost.

While the three martini lunch that the Madison Avenue ad agency and media maven craze made famous is long-gone, it’s not difficult to get lost in the pages of Town & Country Magazine and think that everyone, everywhere lives the fashion life.

Madison Avenue and the corporate boardrooms still promote that the fashion live is all alive and well.

This past week, I sipped coffee and read the Wall Street Journal at a local Virginia-Highland coffee house. Two Emory University MBA students at the table next to mine.

The two guys were very professionally outfitted in their blazers, button-downs and ties. 

They chatted about their expectations of their first management job touting the great cities they were aiming to move to like San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Boston. 

They spoke about their ideal career that as far as they were concerned was going to be their first job out of school. 

They spoke about their ideal home and cars, again, things that they would gain access to shortly.

They spoke about the marketplace. 

Not surprisingly, a dialogue filled with perceptions of people and cultures they imagine to exist... at least, the culture painted in their MBA case discussions.

It took a lot out of me to stay focused on the Wall Street Journal. 

I wanted to put them in my car and go on a journey into what really makes up America.

It’s very easy to get lost.

So far, the best part of my Thanksgiving break was going to a McDonald’s on Black Friday. 

I got there early… Just after 7:00am.

Next to where I sat was a table filled with women.  They were using their iPhones to check just what was going on sale, where and when.

I started up a conversation with them. 

I asked them if they were just beginning their shopping spree or had already been to stores.

They replied that they had been shopping since 7pm on Thanksgiving Day … all night … all over the place.

They went on to tell me about the deals they found and how they found some online and some instore.

They were planning to head about 30 miles west toward the “Big City” and then on from there back to their home town. 

As I listened to them share their stories, I could not help but quickly put them into target group “buckets” I am in the process of building for two new clients. 

Both of my clients have businesses located in smaller town America. 

There is a target group I coin as “Blue Sky Homesteaders” and another one termed “Heartland Seniors.”  These two groups make up about three out of every ten U.S. Households.

After I had breakfast, I went to a couple stores myself -- more to watch people than to shop. Later in the afternoon, I was back in the city of Atlanta and had a chance to chat with some folks shopping in the city.

I know what many of you are thinking. 

There are masses out there shopping the Wal-Marts of the America that might represent a share of our population, but really only a small share.  All the rest of the population is much more educated, professional and aspiring. 

Last week, I conducted a discussion group with homeowners who reside in a relatively nice, fashionable, Atlanta neighborhood.  One of my clients is going to be opening up a home design store in first quarter of 2014 and we are putting together their marketing program.

Going into the group, I was convinced that I was going to sit in on a group of women who truly lived in House Beautiful set-designed homes.

No question that the group was upscale. 

Most of the attendees were in their late 30s or 40s. 

When I asked the group to visualize their ideal home space, I was surprised.  The words, “Simple,” “Warm.” and “Clean” were used a bunch to describe the space.  “Fashionable,” “Trendy,” “Luxurious” and “Designer” were not used at all.

In fact, the group voiced how they used HGTV and Home Depot to get ideas more and custom interior designers less.

My client was surprised. 

The high-brow ‘hoods of the past are becoming “more commonplace.”

Lastly, there was an article this past week in the Wall Street Journal that I found very intriguing. 

I actually read the article during that morning coffee in which the MBAs were sitting next to my table.

The article talks about what is driving the new teenage shopping market.

The article has a sub-title that reads, “It’s Goodbye to Big Brand Names, Hello to Cheap Fast Fashion.”

Forever 21, H&M, Target and Wal-Mart are in and Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, Aeropostale and designer labels are out. 

Going into 2014, I encourage my clients and marketers alike to take time out.  Get a breakfast at a McDonald’s and forego the Starbucks. Go to the nearby Wal-Mart and Forever 21.  Spend the afternoon in a Home Depot and chain grocery store.

Do it before your corporate marketing team meets or the ad agency comes in with a presentation.

Its very easy to get lost.