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Gaming On Facebook

DrawsomethingGaming on Facebook has been on a tear of late. Slightly more than four in ten teens and college students (41%) said they've played a game on Facebook at least once during the past month, compared to just 22% six months ago. Not unlike the broader entertainment category, social gaming is very much a hits driven business and two games in particular, Draw Something and Words With Friends have caught on big time with the younger set. Of the 41% of teens and college students who played a game on Facebook during the past month, more than half (57%) said they played either Draw Something or Words With Friends. Here's a quick look at the top ten most popular Facebook games over the past month:

1. Draw Something

2. Words With Friends

3. Texas HoldEm Poker

4. Hidden Chronicles

5. Empires & Allies

6. CityVille

7. Diamond Dash

8. CastleVille

9. Tetris Battle

10. FarmVille

March 22, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Facebook Gaming, Social Gaming, Top Facebook Games

Top Celebrities & Athletes - Q4 2011

MilakunisHere's a look at the most popular celebrities and professional athletes from the Q4 wave of the Top Ten List report. On a sequential basis, Daniel Tosh experienced the largest increase in popularity among teen and college guys. Among female respondents, Ryan Gosling shot up the ranks of the list to secure top billing for the first time. Taylor Lautner had been number one for the past five quarters. The big story on the female celebrity side of things is Mila Kunis. She number one among the guys and number two among the young ladies. It's rare (especially in the female celeb category) to see both teen/college males and females rank the the same celebrity as high as they did, but the occasional exception pops up and this is one of those cases.

The most popular pro athletes category saw quite a bit of change compared to the prior quarter. Tim Tebow replaced LeBron James the top athlete among teen and college guys, while the Denver QB was also number one among teen and college females for the first time. Tiger Woods was the last pro athlete to be number one in a wave of Top Ten among both teen/college males and females and you have to go back almost five years for that, so that's quite a statement being made by the audience for Tebow.

Top Male Celebrities (By Gender)

Among Males

1. Will Ferrell

2. Matt Damon

3. Brad Pitt

4. Daniel Tosh

5. Bradley Cooper

Among Females

1. Ryan Gosling

2. Taylor Lautner

3. Ryan Reynolds

4. Johnny Depp

5. Bradley Cooper

Top Female Celebrities (By Gender)

Among Males

1. Mila Kunis

2. Jessica Alba

3. Megan Fox

4. Zooey Deschanel

5. Scarlett Johansson

Among Females:

1. Rachel McAdams

2. Mila Kunis

3. Jennifer Aniston

4. Reese Witherspoon

5. Emma Stone

 

February 16, 2012 in Celebrities, Sports | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Top Celebrities, Top Professional Athletes

Shopper Insights: Specialty Clothing Retail Pulse

Shop1The results are in from the latest Shopper Insights pulse covering the specialty clothing retail category. The specialty clothing retailer pulse. Through panelist diaries and survey research, Shopper Insights melds material actions like store visits and purchases with perceptions like buzz factor, appeal and customer experience, among others. Ultimately, Shopper Insights provides an ongonig and unfiltered 360 degree view of various shopping behaviors, habits and attitudes of the college market.

There are a few emerging macro trends of note. A new version of the collegiate preppy look is on full display on campuses around the country. Unlike recent waves of the prep look, this one centers on brighter colors adorned by by college males and females. As a result of the surge in popularlity, retailers ranging from Brooks Brothers to Vineyard Vines are gaining traction and share of spending from the audience.

 

Switching gears to beauty, one of the hottest things around right now among college females is 3D nail art. Nail art is an illustration of the macro DIY and personalization trend. It's also a social experience as groups of students gather to pain and glue on anything from rhinestones to glitter. You should see some of the designs these creative young ladies come up with. It would be interesting to see something like this get turned into a competition of sorts. If they're not busy, perhaps the cast of "Jersey Shore" could judge the contestants. This would be right up Snooke's alley.

 Some of the more popular looks and items of late among college females include lots of soft and pastel colors, whether it's a mini-skirt or event a simple t-shirt. Basically, and not pretending we're fashionistas of any sort, the looks comes off as being...well, very feminine in nature. With respect to some of the hot retailers during the prior three-month period, both Forever 21 and Victoria's Secret turned in strong performances in terms of store traffic, repeat purchases as well as through some of the key perception ratings. Among the guys, Brooks Brothers experienced the largest sequential gain in store traffic and new student purchasers. American Eagle faired the best among college guys in repeat purchases and Urban Outfitters demonstrated sizable gains in several perception ratings.

 

The specialty clothing retailer pulse is essentially a net rating for individual retail chains based on store visits, core items purchased, non-core items purchased, average purchase prices, share of overall monthly spend, planned visits, planned purchases as well as eight perception-based ratings. The pulse captures a net positive or negative movement compared to the prior three-month period. For the most recent three-month period the specialty clothing retailer pulse leaders are as follows:

 

Males

1. Brooks Brothers

2. Urban Outfitters

3. American Eagle

4. J. Crew

5. Abercrombie & Fitch

 

Females

1. Victoria's Secret

2. Forever 21

3. Urban Outfitters

4. H&M

5. J. Crew

February 07, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: shopping trends, specialty clothing retailers

Top Ten TV Shows - Q4 2011

TheofficeThe results are in for the most popular TV shows among teens and college students for the 4th quarter of 2011. Along with some of the usual suspects, there are several surprises. Among the guys, most notably is the performance of "The Walking Dead" which made the list for the first time. Not to be left out is the increasingly popular Daniel Tosh and his digital generation friendly Tosh.0 Of course, if it's the 4th quarter and you're talking about guys, football will have to be a part of that conversation at some point. The only other mild surprise to us was the performance of "Modern Family" which is now firmly entrenched as one of the top comedies alongside "The Office." And speaking of "Modern Family," it's now the top show overall among the young ladies for the first time, eclipsing staples like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Gossip Girl." Who says comedy doesn't work with college females?  Here's a look at the top ten by gender:

Q4 2011 Top Ten TV Shows

(Males)

1. The Office

2. SportsCenter

3. Family Guy

4. Modern Family

5. How I Met Your Mother

6. South Park

7. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

8. Dexter

9. NFL football games

10. The Walking Dead/Tosh.0

(Females)

1. Modern Family

2. Gossip Girl

3. Glee

4. Grey's Anatomy

5. Desperate Housewives

6. How I Met Your Mother

7. New Girl

8. Pretty Little Liars

9. Friends

10. Revenge

February 01, 2012 in Campus Life, Television | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tags: Most Popular TV Shows, Top Ten TV Shows

Youth Trends Instant Insights: It's All About TV...Content

BreakingbadIn many marketing circles, TV gets the short end of the stick, especially when you are talking about young people, but we believe TV, and more specifically, TV content will be the thing this year. Like always, we have an ample amount of recent data to back up our beliefs.

First, let’s start off with the hardware devices. At last check, slightly more than 45% of all college students own a flat panel HDTV. The viewing experience via a flat panel HDTV is second to none for students, let alone everyone else. In fact, we would challenge any of you to find a college guy that doesn’t like watching his favorite NFL team in HD on a 50 inch screen. The reality is simple: over the past few years, the cost of a large flat panel HDTV has come down dramatically, so much so that many students have been able to foot the bill themselves instead of having to turn to Mom and Dad, which is always a plus. What’s more, if we’re talking devices, we must highlight the rapidly growing interest among students for connected and smart-TV devices. Purchase interest for Internet-ready TVs tripled in 2011. The last part of the device story centers on the set-top boxes like those made by Roku and Apple. Ownership of alternative set-top boxes is still relatively small (less than 5%), but again, purchase interest over the coming year is near 20%, which is a pretty robust percentage for any device within the consumer electronics category. At the end of the day, the picture is pretty bright on the hardware side of all things TV-related.

Now, let’s shift to the content side of the equation. Thank goodness for all those alternative viewing sources, because never before has there been so much to consume that’s deemed appealing by the college audience. It used to be just a handful of individual TV shows that would repeatedly show up as the favorite’s season after season. We now live in a much different time. Between broadcast, cable and premium cable, there are several “genre pockets” that are resonating big time with the audience. Who would have thought a few years back that History Channel would house two of the top 15 TV shows among college males in “Pawn Stars” and “American Pickers.” Better yet, none of us would have thought a couple of years ago that cable net AMC would be among the top seven cable networks, but it is, thanks to breakout collegiate cult favorites led by “The Walking Dead,” “Hell on Wheels” and “Breaking Bad.” Let’s face it, TV content has dramatically improved over the past few years and the audience by and large, is embracing it to the max.

And lastly, since we can’t get through any piece without mentioning social media at least once, let’s touch on the social component of TV viewing. Time and again, we’ve confirmed our belief that social media is a viable complement and fan supplement to the overall viewing experience. If Nielsen had a box in every campus dorm room or off-campus apartment, the marketing community would see that this translates into higher ratings for individual shows. Students who interact with an individual show via social media are by no coincidence among the most loyal and vocal fans—these are your unpaid content evangelists, so why wouldn’t you want to cuddle up with them?

Still think TV will be passé this year? Let us not forget that 2012 is an Olympics year and our past research illustrated the Summer Olympic Games are about 35% more popular than the Winter Olympic Games. This year’s Summer Olympics will be quite a strong lead in for the start of the college and NFL football seasons. In between all of this, attention will turn to Apple to see what’s up their sleeve in the interactive TV space. Speculation has been intense since the release of the Steve Jobs biography last fall. For the iPhone, iPod, iPad-device loving college crowd, we have to pay close attention for any significant product release from the world’s most valuable consumer company.

January 10, 2012 in Culture, Digital Electronics, Television | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tags: Instant Insights, TV shows, TV trends

2012 Youth Macro Trends, Predictions & Insights

With 2012 on the horizon, we're pleased to present our annual Youth Macro Trends, Predictions & Insights report for the coming year as well as revisit a handful of trends and predictions from last year's report to see how they have played out over the course of this year. Rather than providing an exhaustive list of rather meaningless trends, our main objective is to provide a select number of actionable views that have multiple implications across various industries and product categories. If we did our job correctly, there should be something in here for everyone, and we hope that something results in a conversation starter, a strategy meeting, or if nothing else, a definitive edge on the why behind the what for all things youth-culture related.

2012 Youth Macro Trends, Predictions & Insights

The Gamification of Youth Marketing & Media

Check In & Buy

The Future of m-Commerce

Tablets Everywhere

Moving Towards The Cloud

Twitter As An Exclusive Social Alternative

Digital Entrepreneurialism

Mining Social Influence

Visual Gratification

2011 Recap: Convergence Everywhere

2011 Recap: Fashion Gets Personal & Athletic

2011 Recap: Purpose-Driven Cause Marketing

2011 Recap: Social Shopping: Click, Shop, Talk & Buy

December 15, 2011 in Campus Life, Culture, Digital Electronics, Gaming, Music, Research, Retail, Shopping, Web/Tech, Wireless | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: 2012 youth trends

Holiday Shopping Preview

363As the mega important holiday shopping season begins in earnest, we're noting a rather subtle yet consistent sense of confidence among college students. Hopefully, this sense of confidence and optimism isn't short lived. Black Friday, which at this point, might as well be considered a one-day holiday, was another huge draw for students this year. Nearly seven in ten panelists (68%) surveyed in this month's Insights Immersion reported hitting the malls and stores on Black Friday compared to about 64% last year. This equates to approximately 5.5 million college students nationally. These days of course, we can't leave out Cyber Monday. About one in five panelists (18%) said they shopped online this past Monday, compared to 15% of panelists last year.

 

It's interesting to note that about a third of panelists who shopped on Black Friday did so without having a particular item in mind they intended to purchase. In some respects, they just wanted to witness all of the excitement. Now, getting back to that whole confidence thing: slightly more than half of all panelists, some 52% said they felt like this holiday season was going to be a good one, in terms of both gifts they expected to receive and the gifts they plan on purchasing for others. Last year, the confidence percentage among participating panelists was 44%, so at least we're moving in a positive direction.

 

When it comes to planned spending though, we're actually expecting a decrease compared to last year, which we found to be a bit counterintuitive at first glance, but after further analysis, the cause of the difference became quite clear.

 

A holiday-related shopping trend of note this year among students is the concept of group gift giving. Given the fact that the majority of students live with at least two other roommates, the art of gift giving around the holiday season presents a challenge. Ultimately, there is a desire to purchase something for all close friends and significant others, yet in most cases, their respective checking accounts won't cover the expected costs. Enter group gifting. Instead of purchasing a rather nominal $15 to $20 gift for upwards of 5 close friends, a student instead will contribute between $5 and $10 with a group of five or more students to purchase a single gift for a member of the clique. Think of it as a modified game of Secret Santa where everyone pitches in for one other. This activity is one of the main reasons why total expected spending will be slightly down this year.

 

When all is said and done, average holiday-related spending among panelists, which is inclusive of gifts for parents, siblings, significant others, friends and gifts for themselves is $531, which is representative of a 7% decrease compared to last year.

December 06, 2011 in Campus Life, Retail, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: holiday shopping, holiday shopping trends

It's Halloween Time On Campus...And It's Big!

HallowshotThought Halloween was just a holiday for younger children and tweens? Think again. In relatively short order, Halloween has fast become one of the events of the year for the college crowd complete with costume parties and socials, contests, and even fundraising drives. Ultimately, it’s a well-timed mid-semester break for students to step out of their respective shells and test the boundaries of acceptable attire.  Without question, there will be plenty of costumes worn by students this weekend that will most definitely cross the line from being perceived as humorous to at least somewhat offensive by some.

Perhaps the most impactful part of Halloween among college students is the actual duration of associated activities. Although technically Halloween is just a one-day holiday for the masses, an increasing number of college students are turning the holiday into a multi-day affair. From our perspective, it’s akin to the Spring Break period whereby students have what they perceive to be a solid excuse to have a really good time for a prolonged period.

There are several different ways marketers can tap into and leverage the Halloween spirit among college students, be it a sponsored costume party or a cause-related effort. If nothing else, it’s certainly an interesting time of year to engage the audience.

When all is said and done, nearly eight in ten panelists said they plan on dressing up for Halloween this year, compared to about three in four last year. The most popular costume ideas mentioned by students this year include: pop stars Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj, the new royal power couple of Prince William and Kate, a ballet star inspired by the movie “Black Swan,” a character from the super popular Angry Birds game franchise and any character from the reality TV series hit “Jersey Shore.”

Overall, students say they will spend an average of $71 on costumes, make-up, decorations and candy for Halloween this year. Beyond dressing up, a record number of college students plan to participate in variety of Halloween-related activities throughout the weekend:

- 83% plan to attend at least one Halloween theme party

- 78% plan to be in costume for at least one Halloween-related event or party

- 55% plan to attend a Halloween theme party hosted by a local club or bar

- 45% plan to participate in a Halloween costume contest

- 44% plan to attend multiple Halloween theme parties 

- 39% say Halloween is their favorite holiday of the year

- 36% plan to attend a Halloween theme party hosted by a fraternity or sorority

October 31, 2011 in Campus Life, Current Affairs, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: College Students & Halloween, Halloween On Campus, Halloween Parties, Popular Halloween Costumes

Popular Looks & Styles For Back To School 2011

Summerfashionshot So what will be the popular looks and styles on campuses later this summer and into the fall season? For the ladies, it willbe a somewhat casual look topped off with a lot of accessories. The super college preppie look will be in vogue for the guys. Here is look at some of the more popular fashion trends among students as well as the stores they plan on shopping at the most for back to school:

Chiffon Female Fashion Trends:

- Clothing: super skinny jeans, bleached jeans, "boyfriend" jeans, cropped jeans, neon colored pants and leggings, yoga pants, tribal printed camis and tanks, floral printed camis and tanks, chiffon skirts and dresses and leather jackets 

Top mentioned clothing brands and retailers: Forever 21, Nordstrom, H&M, American Eagle Outfitters, 7 For All Mankind, Urban Outfitters, Marc Jacobs and Victoria's Secret

 

- Accessories: layered necklaces, large/chunky rings, vintage hair pieces and clips, printed scarves, beanie caps and floral totes and bags

 

Top mentioned accessory brands and retailers: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Forever 21, Vera Bradley, Coach and Marc Jacobs

 

- Footwear: customized flip flops, moccasins, animal printed flats and ballet slippers and full-length leather boots

 

Top mentioned footwear brands and retailers: Havaianas, Forever 21, TOMS, Steve Madden, Lucky Brand, Rainbow and Minnetonka  

August 15, 2011 in Campus Life, Fashion, Retail, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: back to school, fashion

Back To School 2011 Highlights

Backtoschoolshot If we had to use just one word to describe the climate surrounding this year's back to school shopping season, we would use the word restraint. This is not to say that all of the air is out of the balloon, but it wouldn't hurt if it was propped up a bit. It's restraint, mainly in the form of moderation that's the big story for back to school this year. This year, students and their parents plan to spend an average of $608 on back to school-related purchases, representative of a 10% decrease compared to last year. Incoming freshmen lead the way in terms of planned spending, which can be expected to a certain extent, while an increasing number of returning students intend to make do with several items they already own.

 

For the most part, the decrease in planned spending is a direct result of the high level of uncertainty related to the broader economy.  In fact, more than seven in ten respondents who participated in this year's back to school shopping insights immersion said the economy will impact their shopping and spending plans. Consequently, an increasing number of students will be out in the marketplace looking to buy more for less. The onus will fall back to the key youth-facing retailers to be extremely creative with their promotions in order to seize the attention of students whether they're shopping in a mall or in front of a computer.

 

Several leading retailers have moved up the start of their back to school sales and promotional programs in lieu of all this shopper uncertainty. We even saw a few of these programs up and running in early June. From the perspective of the retailers, the concept of front-running is a prudent move that offers up at least the opportunity to secure dollars earmarked for back to school early, with the idea that those funds just may not be readily available come late August or through the month of September.

 

With that said, this year we've seen an increase in the number of students who said they already started purchasing items specifically for their return to campus later this summer. At the same time, more students are telling us they're out in the marketplace looking for a good deal, especially those that are tailored specifically for the college set. Promotions and rewards offers tied to the presentation of a valid student ID is something an increasing number of students have become attuned to. Fewer students are willing to experiment and branch out with purchasing new brands this season. On the other hand, more students say they plan to stick with their original back to school shopping list and refrain from making any additional impulse type purchases.

August 11, 2011 in Campus Life, Culture, Digital Electronics, Fashion, Research, Retail, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: back to school 2011, campus trends, retail, shopping

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  • Gaming On Facebook
  • Top Celebrities & Athletes - Q4 2011
  • Shopper Insights: Specialty Clothing Retail Pulse
  • Top Ten TV Shows - Q4 2011
  • Youth Trends Instant Insights: It's All About TV...Content
  • 2012 Youth Macro Trends, Predictions & Insights
  • Holiday Shopping Preview
  • It's Halloween Time On Campus...And It's Big!
  • Popular Looks & Styles For Back To School 2011
  • Back To School 2011 Highlights

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