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

Holiday Shopping Preview

As 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.

Popular Looks & Styles For Back To School 2011

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:

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  

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.

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.

Q1 2010 College Top Ten List Report Highlights

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...

Fall '09 College Shopper Insights

Not to be outdone by College Internet Life, the latest wave of College Shopper Insights is also available. Even though digital media and mobile continue to be the most discussed areas of interest, Shopper Insights certainly helps put a lot of context behind the decision making process and parallel behaviors the audience demonstrate across multiple categories.

Honestly, can you think of anything that's more competitive and cut-throat than the retail sector? Shopper Insights enables retailers and brands to essentially take a step back from the day-to-day and review a thoughtful depiction of what the audience is actually purchasing (and what they aren't), why they're purchasing particular brands, their brand loyalty, and the key influences that take hold in the purchase decision making process. If anything, we're observing a more educated and value-oriented college consumer who may still very well yearn for those pricey items, but demonstrate a measurable level of patience that was not readily present back in 2006 or '07. Which retailers are the most appealing and which are the most aspirational--it's all in the new wave of Shopper Insights. You can review the full table of contents of the new wave here.

2010 Youth Macro Trends & Predictions

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

Counterintuitive Approach: Hip Streetwear Retailer Metropark Files For Public Offering

This definitely caught my eye. How about this for bucking against the grain of an overall retail environment that shall we say...is currently operating in the doldrums? The retailer is Metropark, the brainchild child Orval Madden whose Hot Topic was once the love of emo tots nationwide. Metropark is capitalizing on targeting what they consider to be an undeserved demographic segment (no argument here): 20 to 35 year olds with hipster street brands like Affliction and Obey, among other premium labels. They've grown like a weed in the past couple of years and now have 43 stores, 14 of which are in the hipster fiefdom of California. I had some time to kill before a meeting and ended up in the Metropark store in Irvine not so long ago. I've got to tell you, with their whole shtick, they're definitely on to something. It's not so much the blaring music you'd find at A&F, but it's the whole package--a sorta hybrid of music and entertainment and the fashion items that go along with it. Although they say it's the 20 to 35 year olds they're really after, it looked like many of the shoppers in the Irvine location were no older than 17, of course it's California, so they were actually probably 15 or 16. You could see this type of environment working really well in markets around NYC, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, Portland, Seattle and pretty much anywhere in So Cal. I'd think they probably veer away from conservative New England and the interior U.S. Regardless of what I think, it's great to see someone targeting a younger demographic in an industry that has been taking a beating really perform. You'd also have to think Metropark can make a splash in international hipster markets a la Tokyo, London etc. with their new found capital from their offering. We'll see...