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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

2011 Youth Macro Trends & Predictions

Insightsmediumsizelogo Out with the old and in the new. With 2011 now in the horizon, we're pleased to present our annual Youth Macro Trends & Predictions report for the coming year as well as revisit a handful of trends and topics from last year's report to see how they've played out over the course of this year. Instead of providing an esoteric and rather exhaustive list of trends, the main objective with Youth Macro Trends & Predictions is to provide actionable views that have multiple implications across various industries and product categories. Ultimately, there should be something in this report for everyone. That something will hopefully result in a conversation starter, a strategy re-visit and an indelible edge on the why behind the what when it comes to all things youth-culture related. You can view the table of contents here

December 23, 2010 in Campus Life, Culture, Fashion, Gaming, Research, Retail, Shopping, Web/Tech, Wireless | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: 2011 predictions, 2011 trends, youth trends

Spring & Summer Fashion & Style Highlights

Summerfashionshot The latest wave of Spring & Summer Fashion & Style is out. The objective with this seasonal supplement is to get a solid read on the items the audience intends to purchase, whether they plan to spend more money on these items this year compared to last year and finally, which retailer or brand they find most appealing for each individual product category or item.

From a spending perspective, within the basic items category, 17% of respondents plan to spend more on jeans this year compared to last year, while 15% say they plan to spend more on graphic's t's. Within the seasonal category, and this should come as some welcome news, more than one in four respondents (27%) say they plan to spend more money on swimwear this year compared to last year, while 58% said they plan on spending about the same amount. 20% of female respondents said they plan on spending more money on skirts and summer dresses as well. So all in all, the planned spending picture looks pretty good, especially compared to last year.

The most appealing brand or retailer for the spring and summer season among male respondents was American Eagle Outfitters, while the young ladies gave Forever 21 the nod. The most appealing swimwear brands were Quiksilver among males and Roxy among females. Rainbow was the top mention in the sandals and flip flop category and Ray-Ban and Forever 21 were tops in the accessories category.

For additional background on the Spring & Summer wave of Fashion & Style and to read the full table of contents, visit the YT Research site.

April 14, 2010 in Campus Life, Fashion, Money | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tags: campus life, fashion trends, retail trends, style trends

Q1 2010 College Top Ten List Report Highlights

Jan10toptenimage Another quarter is almost complete and that brings us a new wave of Top Ten. College is the first to come out this week followed by Kids and Teens next Monday. For some reason, may be it's just the simplicity of the report, Top Ten garners more press mentions than any other YT report, go figure, but I think the concept of ranking against a particular topic is something that most everyone can relate to pretty easily.

Moving onward here, the Q1 wave of College Top Ten was tweaked a bit as the celeb category was broken out by more general Hollywood celeb personalities and sports-specific personalities. We'll also continue to rotate between most socially responsible companies/brands and favorite sports-related activities. When all is said, we covered a total of 12 individual categories including favorite TV shows, magazine titles, musical artists, movie & DVD titles, male Hollywood celebs, female Hollywood celebs, sports celebs, video game titles, web destinations, clothing retailers/brands, footwear brands and sports-related activities. To read the full background and view the table of contents, click here. For non Youth Trends subscribers, Top Ten can be downloaded/purchased for $399.

Some topline highlights:

- TV: relatively unchanged at the top compared to Q4 '09, White Collar debuts among males and American Idol makes a surprise appearance among females

- Mag titles: six of the top ten titles among females are trending downwards on a sequential basis, sorta sums of the category's picture fairly well

- Musical artists: goo goo for Gaga and welcome to the list NeedToBreathe

- Movies & DVDs: V-Day performs as expected, no let up for The Hangover

- Hollywood/sports celebs: Jessica's back at the top, LeBron is still king and Elisha debuts for the first time

- Video game titles: COD Modern Warfare 2, 'nuff said

- Web sites: check out Sporcle, it's legit...

March 24, 2010 in Campus Life, Celebrities, Culture, Fashion, Film, Gaming, Movies and DVDs, Music, Print Media, Research, Retail, Sports, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: College, Pop Culture Trends

Youth Retail Winners: Aeropostale & The Buckle

Thebuckle As the major youth specialty retailers unveil their fourth quarter results one thing remains crystal clear: the value trend isn't ready to leave us just yet.

Comparatively, the notion that the teen and young adult market is fickle in nature is certainly accurate to a point, but as it relates to their general shopping habits as opposed to specific fashion styles and looks, the concept of a value-driven youth consumer, or perhaps more acutely, the value-driven approached demonstrated by their parents continues to benefit a select few, like Aeropostale, while other remain in a wild game of limbo.

Generally speaking, most youth retailers are experiencing improving sales trends, but there remains this sort of dark cloud hanging overhead that ultimately puts a damper on a more immediate return to profitable growth. It's almost as if they expect to encounter a few more bumps in the road before reaching a smoother track. That said, forecasts for many of the major chains remain rather conservative through the first quarter and quite possibly through the first half of the year.

Much like the back to school '09 shopping season, there are two winners that came out of the fourth quarter: Aeropostale and The Buckle. Let's start with The Buckle.

For those of you not familiar with the Youth Trends research product, The Buckle was the top retailer based on the 2009 Youth Trends Back To School Retail & Shopping Report. Take away the impressive financials they posted in the 4th quarter, the one thing The Buckle has going for it is the intangible measure of a superior coolness factor among its target audience. In fact, based on the latest Youth Trends Teen & College Lifestyle Report, The Buckle ranks among the top three coolest or trendiest retailers to shop at right now. That's more than commendable considering its retail footprint is quite a bit smaller than much larger and better known chains. The Buckle's fourth quarter profit increased 23% compared to a year ago as its net beat Wall St. analyst expectations by six cents.

The Buckle has a good thing going for it in that it offers an array of premium brands the audience and their parents are still very much willing to pay for. These brands include Affliction, Big Star and Rebel Spirit, among others. These brands also represent the macro "tough guy" youth fashion trend which continues to increase in popularity among the masses.

The more value oriented Aeropostale also continues to be one of the bright sports in the youth retail sector as they demonstrated once again with their latest financial results. Their fourth quarter net jumped 42% as sales hit more than $800 million. Same stores sales also increased 9%. Financially speaking, things will get more difficult for Aeropostale in the short term as prior year comparisons will come into play in the first and second quarters.

From the audience's perspective though, it seems as if the picture has never been brighter. Store traffic and several perception-based data points all hit record highs based on the Fall '09 Youth Trends Teen & College Lifestyle Report, and for the first time, more members of the audience said Aeropostale was cooler to shop at than Abercrombie & Fitch. The value of that perception should not be underestimated.

The other facet of Aeropostale's business that is flying a bit under the radar is their relatively new kid's concept store P.S. Aeropostale has plans to add up to 30 new P.S. stores this year. With a bit of a void in the children's and kid's sector for forward thinking fashionable designs, P.S. could be in a rather good position to experience to some immediate success, which in turn will bolster Aeropostale's broader results during the first half of this year. 

March 15, 2010 in Campus Life, Fashion, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Aeropostale, teen fashion, The Buckle

Fashion Trends: The Sophisticated Look Returns To Campus

Ftcampus As the spring semester moves along, we've picked up on an interesting fashion trend popping up on campuses around the country. Trendsetting fashionistas on campus are not only getting dressed up when they go out at night, but an increasing number of them are getting dressed up during the daytime hours as well. The "dress up" look, which is clearly a female-driven trend, is inclusive of embellished "hipster" denim, designer flats and/or ballet slippers, premium sweater sets, and perhaps most interesting to us, full make-up and hair. Of course, there are still many students who may dismiss the daytime "dress up" look as a waste of time during the precious morning hours, but it's clear to us based on panelist diaries and photos that dressing up and dressing well all of the time is of growing importance for an increasing number of younger women, especially those who are 21+.

So what's in the closet of a trendsetting fashionista on campus this semester? Here's a quick look at some of the "dress up" staples:

- Apparel: hipster-like skinny jeans are all the rage right now, the darker the denim and the lower the waist, the better

- Footwear: in most cases, the heels are still left for nighttime social activities, but that's not to say daytime footwear is any less sophisticated in appearance though. Stylish slippers and flats from Tory Bruch and Me Too are among the most coveted brands of the moment

- Accessories: it's practicality coupled with some glamor, that's essentially the modus operandi here. Students say finding the right tote is just as difficult if not more difficult than finding the right pair of skinny jeans, so that is certainly saying a lot. The bag has to be versatile enough to handle a laptop, textbooks as well as all the other necessities like the mobile phone, cosmetics and of course the Sigg. The popularity of Coach bags have been upstaged of late by totes from Tory Burch and Marc Jacobs.

- Beauty: just in case this wasn't clear earlier, the total full make up look is totally in right now with designer lip gloss from MAC and Stila among the favorite brands. Have to admit, a few giggles erupted as some young women on campus were sporting their own version of the Lady Gaga inspired "glam look." This certainly bodes well for all of the prestige brands moving forward...

March 11, 2010 in Beauty, Campus Life, Fashion | Permalink | Comments (0)

Q4 '09 College Top Ten List Highlights

Oct09collegetopten The Q4 '09 wave of College Top Ten is out and available to download. You can view the report background and full table of contents here. Top Ten provides an authentic top of mind look of what's most popular among young people (college students in this case) with respect to pop culture topics including TV shows, musical artists, video game titles, web destinations, celebrities and other lifestyle-related areas.

A few brief highlights: in the realm of TV, for the third straight wave, The Office was the top pick among college males, while Grey's was once again the top show among females. Glee debuted as the third most popular TV show among females, while MTV's Jersey Shore came in 9th among males and 6th among females.

For the second straight wave Taylor Swift was the most popular musical artist among all students, while Breaking Benjamin, Lady Antebellum and Justin Bieber appeared for the first time. Twilight stars continue to dominate the celebrity rankings with Robert Pattinson leading the way along with Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart.

On the retail front, fast fashion is still where it's at as evidenced by the performance of Forever 21, but Urban Outfitters is picking up momentum as well as premium yoga wear retailer lululemon. Finally, we included a new measurement for the Q4 wave as college respondents provided their choices for the most socially responsible companies or brands. Leading the socially responsible pack was Ben & Jerry's followed by Burt's Bees and Coca-Cola.

To learn more about Top Ten, you can visit the Youth Trends site.

February 09, 2010 in Campus Life, Celebrities, Culture, Fashion, Gaming, Movies and DVDs, Music, Research, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

2010 Youth Macro Trends & Predictions

Crystalball With 2009 nearly in the books, it's time once again to take stock of what has been a highly eventful year in media, marketing, entertainment and technology. As we prepare to say goodbye to 2009 and welcome in 2010, we are pleased to present the lone qualitative deliverable within the Youth Trends portfolio: the annual Youth Macro Trends & Predictions report for 2010.

The 2010 Youth Macro Trends & Predictions hones in on 12 large scale consumer trends that will shape youth behavior in the year to come. Here's a quick look at the 12 featured in the report. Visit the Youth Trends store to learn more or download a copy.

2010 Youth Macro Trends & Predictions:

- Media & Marketing: Quality over Quantity

- Media Consumption: The CDC (context, distribution and customization)

- Mobile Mainstreaming

- Crowdsourcing

- Values-Driven Discretionary Purchasing

- Controller-Free Video Gaming

- QR Codes

- Exclusive Lifecasting

- All Packed Raring To Go

- Quarterlife Crisis

- Subtle & Softer Fashion

- Eco-Instant Gratification

December 17, 2009 in Culture, Fashion, Gaming, Research, Retail, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Looking For the Next Big Thing, Fashion Makers Head East...The Far East That Is

TrendsettershotInteresting write up in the online edition of Business Week talking about the taste making prowess of Japan's youth and young adult market. It seems everyone from H&M to Abercrombie & Fitch are looking to Japan's youth to seize the latest global fashion trends. For its part, the facilitation of trend watching has sparked a new and growing business in Japan. For about $1,000 a day, companies can send their international buyers to Tokyo to shadow a Japanese fashion experts as they visit the hottest boutiques in the city. Armed with generous spending accounts, the foreign buyers snap up goods and send them back to headquarters for production and distribution. It sound a little bit like what all those knock off dress companies do on Oscar Night. Funny thing is, I don't think it's been too much of a secret that a number of global trends be it fashion or technology-related have their roots in the Land of the Rising Sun. So to say Japan is a "pilot" market for global trends is like saying A Rod (unlike the rest of the team) is having a good April, we kinda already know that.

April 30, 2007 in Fashion | Permalink | Comments (0)

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