GenDigital

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

Back To School 2011 Highlights

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.

Tween Online Life Highlights

The latest wave of Tweens Online has just been released. Suffice to say, they're a pretty interesting bunch and apparently a bunch that would prefer not to be left out of the social media game. Rules are rules...right? It's no secret that users need to be at least 13 years of age to be able to register for social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and others. And it certainly doesn't take an advanced tween to figure out all they need to do is fib their birth date by a year or two in order to successfully register. That said, according to the new wave of Tween Online Life, nearly one in four respondents (23% to be exact) said they had a profile page on Facebook, while about one in ten (9%) had a profile page on MySpace.

Beyond gaming the social media ecosystem, it's fair to say you can sum up the online habits of tweens in just one word. That one word is gaming. This is quite impressive - nearly nine in ten tweens regularly participate (once a month or more often) in some sort of online gaming whether it's casual online play, multi-player online play or console-based online play. This participation level is even more robust than tweens and blows away with what we see with the college segment. The reason is simple, gaming at its most basic level for tweens is almost gender neutral. The transition towards the male skew really doesn't begin until about age 13 or 14.

YouTube, ESPN, Google and AddictingGames are among the most popular and most visited sites among tween boys, while tween female favorites include YouTube, Disney, Yahoo and yes...Facebook. More than six in ten (62%) tweens said they streamed at least one video clip on YouTube during the past month while about one in six said they watched a TV show or movie for free on Hulu.

More highlights to follow shortly...

Most Socially Responsible Companies & Brands

Environmental and social responsibility continues to be a focal point for college students. Students are showing a greater commitment towards those brands that are continually improving and contributing to the social issues they care about most. For an increasing number of students, social consciousness plays a part in purchase intent and brand loyalty. While two thirds of students believe it's important for everyone to become more eco-friendly and aware of environmental issues about six in ten students say they're actually interested in purchasing more eco-friendly and sustainable products. Generally speaking, the definition of social responsibility can mean lots of different things to students. With that said, as a follow up to last year's social responsibility Immersion we asked students once again to tell us what social responsibility means to them. Moreover, we also asked students to tell us who they thought the three most socially responsible companies and brands were.

Top Characteristics Of Socially Responsible Behaviors:

Eco-friendly/"green" practices - 84%

Ethical/responsible business practices - 73%

Charitable contributions/philanthropy - 71%

Community outreach - 56%

Hiring/labor practices - 47%

Most Socially Responsible Companies & Brands (First Mention)

1. Ben & Jerry's - 16%

2. Burt's Bees - 12%

3. Coca-Cola - 10%

4. Starbucks - 8%

5. Whole Foods Market - 7%

6. Patagonia - 6%

7. Kashi - 4%

8. Stonyfield Farm - 4%

9. Timberland - 3%

10. Seventh Generation - 3%

2011 Youth Macro Trends & Predictions

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

Back To School '10 Highlights

We're pleased to announce the release of our annual Back To School Retail & Shopping report. You can review an exec summary and full table of contents over at the YT site. The report includes an thematical overview of key shopping trends and behaviors, a series of attitudinal measurements, fashion trends, and hard metrics as it relates to spending (by category) and shopping visits (by store type and retailer).

Here's an excerpt:

While the underlying theme of last year's back to school shopping season was one of frugality, this year we've identified a new shopping theme we're calling "here today, gone tomorrow." Simply put, students and their parents are out in the physical and digital marketplaces seeking out that great deal. And with respect to purchase behaviors, what a difference a year has made. The concepts of group shopping, deal a day offerings, digital and mobile coupons and invite-only channels, all of which could have easily been classified as being quite niche in nature have all in some level or another gone mainstream and gained significant traction. This theme is something we suspect is here to stay with us at least through the upcoming holiday shopping season.

World Cup 2010

Ok, let's be honest here, up until a few weeks ago, how many of you were familiar with a vuvuzela? Undoubtedly, even we were surprised to see how World Cup fever has gripped this country's youth audience especially in between proms, graduation parties and the start of summer break. The bulk of the audience's TV sports consumption is dominated by football, basketball and baseball, so to see an event like the World Cup rate so highly in this month's Insights Immersion is significant. At least part of the excitement can be linked directly to two factors: coverage and technology and clearly there are synergies between the two factors.

June is kind of a funny month for sports coverage as the NBA wraps up its season, while baseball approaches the mid-season mark. That said, it's fair to say there is a bit of a void so the timing of this year's World Cup is super strategic. The coverage on-air, online and even via mobile devices is reminiscent of an Olympic Games: thoroughly comprehensive and seemingly never ending. If you're a sports fan, it's almost as if you have to tune-in at some point. And that's exactly what the audience has been doing as noted by this month's findings.

World Cup Viewer and Fan Statistics:

- watched at least one game: 27% (37% of males/16% of females)

- watched more than one game: 20% (28% of males/12% of females)

- watched the U.S. team play: 26% (35% of males/16% of females)

- streamed a game online: 16% (24% of males/8% of females)

- streamed game highlights or interviews online: 23% (34% of males/11% of females)

- watched a game on a mobile device: 3% (6% of males/1% of females)

- watched game highlights or interviews on a mobile device: 5% (10% of males/1% of females)

- visited websites like ESPN Soccernet or Yahoo! Sports for World Cup info: 29% (41% of males/17% of females)

- Used Facebook or Twitter to follow World Cup-related activities: 16% (22% of males/10% of females)

Online Video Insights: Paying For Video Content

We recently wrapped up our latest Online Video Insights supplement exploring audience preference and interest as it relates to professional video content a la TV shows and movies. Online Video Insights is a supplementary component of the comprehensive Youth Trends Emerging Media & Entertainment portfolio. Findings for the latest wave (Q1 2010) were based on interviews completed the week of March 15th. The interviews were conducted with just over a thousand members of the Youth Trends Digital Media panel. All of the participating panelists had to stream at least one free or paid TV show or movie during the past month. That was the main qualifier for participation.

Here are some of the key findings:

By a pretty healthy margin, participants were most likely to stream an episode of one of their favorite TV shows they missed on-air. While on-demand viewing and other time-shifted options (DVR viewing) were indicated, it's online streaming that comes out as the most common behavior.

The participants tend to demonstrate a greater willingness to pay for online video content, both TV shows and movies via a monthly subscription fee as opposed to a pay-per-view option. More than one in four participants (27%) said they would at least consider paying $0.99 to stream an episode of one of their favorite TV shows, while about 30% said they would at least consider paying $9.99 a month for unlimited access to their favorite TV shows online.

Exactly a third of participants would at least consider paying $2.99 to stream a full-length movie, while 26% said they would at least consider paying $4.99. Clearly, price is a determining factor for many of the participants. Interestingly enough, more than a third of participants (36%) said they would be more likely to pay for online video content if the videos themselves, contained no advertisements or commercials.

The initial read left price and video type out as variables--about one in ten participants said they would definitely pay for video content online if it was no longer accessible for free. Another 16% said they would consider paying for it. Keep in mind, these are young people who have already demonstrated a propensity to stream content online, so if anything these guys represent more of a targeted potential customer base than that of the overall teen and young adult population. Clearly, interest levels adjust when you start throwing out pricing and different types of accessibility, but at this basic level, you're left with a not so small percentage who will at least consider paying for something that they're not typically accustomed to. YT client subscribers will be able to download the full report tomorrow.

Urbanspoon Moves Into Top Ten Downloaded Apps

For the thirty seven percent of teens and college students who own an iPhone or iPod Touch, here's an interesting new tidbit from our App tracking panel, the restaurant review and recommendation service Urbanspoon is now among the top most downloaded free apps. Based on last month's tracking data, more than one in four members (42%) have downloaded the app to date, proving that young people are beginning to use their connected Apple devices to do more than just download and play games. The Urbanspoon app has some pretty cool functionality. To look for recommendations, users shake their devices and in turn the app spits out some nearby locations. It's intuitive and some simple fun at the same time and enough to make Urbanspoon our app of the month.

Will The iPad Kill? Not So Much Initially, At Least Among Students

Last month, Apple unveiled its latest device to the world, the iPad. Apple is touting the "educational benefits" of the $499 device, but the real question is, will students respond with the same verve as they have with other Apple products in the past? Already a small Pennsylvania college, Seton Hill, announced that it will provide iPads to all of their full-time students next fall. With an enrollment of just over 2,000 students it's a start for the Apple machine, albeit it's not and Ohio State or Univ of Minnesota with 40,000 and 50,000 undergrads.

Clearly Apple has the education market in mind with the iPad as partnerships have also been trickling out with leading textbook publishers including Macmillan and McGraw Hill, among others. The basic concept is that students, as tech savvy as they are, will be more comfortable and adept in consuming their academic material via a multi-touch interactive e-reader device like the iPad as opposed to a more cumbersome (and heavy) 500 page textbook.

Besides the interactive e-reader capabilities, the iPad is really nothing more than oversized version of the already wildly popular iTouch. So, in other words, beyond the supposed convenience of an e-reader device, and a fairly pricey one at that, do students really desire having one more device that already offers many of the same features and functionality they're well accustomed to? The initial vote from our college student panelists is a resounding nay.

As much buzz as the broader e-reader market is receiving, when it comes to the actual end user level of students, awareness, let alone interest is quite weak. And, as can be expected, when you throw in a price tag of $499 (plus data plan costs) interest and intent among students drops even further.

Based on this initial feedback, the strategy to drive immediate adoption would be an institutional type sales approach where Apple would sell iPads in bulk to specific colleges and universities. We suspect the schools would then have to pass along the costs through various student access and tech fees. That said, other than the super tech schools like MIT and Stanford, it's pretty unlikely to see major state-funded institutions sign on quickly (fall 2010) as many are still very much struggling with budget and capital expenditure problems of their own. Chances are, the last thing they want to do is add on one more fee for their students.