This article in Brandweek hit home for me, being in the age group surveyed and having made some of these same decisions lately. While we have been hearing for some time now that the economy is hurting, it seems as if the reaction has been a bit delayed by consumers this age. The brand list below was startling to me, especially among a group that is as brand conscious as Gen X/Y’s. Missing from this list is a technology brand and I wonder how long it will be before this groups stops buying new computers, cell phones, music players, etc. and what kind of increased impact that will have on the economy.
“Consumers 21-39 years old are feeling the economic pinch, according to a study conducted online by the Zandl Group on May 23. Sixty-one percent of the 312 men and women surveyed said they have become more frugal of late. Almost half (48%) said they frequent bars and clubs less, 39% are driving less and 35% are eating out less…This has a severe impact on what brands they are choosing. Here is a list of what companies and categories are keeping into favor and which are falling out of favor.
Popular
- Trader Joe’s
- Walgeens
- Craigslist.org
- Forever 21
- Target
- Paperbackswap.com
- Dollar Stores
- Fuel-efficient sedans
Unpopular:
- Whole Foods
- Starbucks
- Sephora
- Room & Board
- Nordstrom
- Netflix
- American Apparel
- SUVs
Most moviegoers agree that the best movie-watching experience is on a big screen, but more and more movies are available online for viewing on our much smaller computer screens. Netflix is quickly becoming a leader in this service by offering the ability to stream movies to a Windows PC as part of consumers’ subscriptions. And, now they are offering a device that sends those movies–streaming–to your big screen TVs: the Roku Netflix Player. For our “I want instant gratification” society, this is a great service, but the quality is reportedly still not great:
According to an article in BusinessWeek–”The Roku is a small box that superficially resembles products such as Apple TV or Vudu. But while the setup is similar, the operation is completely different. Other services download the content to a hard drive for playback; Netflix is pure streaming. The quality is not as good as Apple TV or Vudu, but it’s about equal to standard-definition digital TV. Making it work smoothly requires an Internet connection that consistently delivers at least 2 megabits per second.”
The services out there for movies on-demand at home are getting better and less expensive, but you still can’t beat the experience of watching a movie on a big screen. And free is best of all. If you live in Little Rock, be sure to check out Movies in the Park this summer. Free outdoor movies–shown on the big screen–every Wednesday night for eight weeks starting June 4th with E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. Bring friends along with the beverages and snacks of your choice and hang out under the stars for an evening. It is a fantastic movie experience.
Here is the Movies in the Park schedule for the summer:
June 04, 2008 E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial
June 11, 2008 Rocky
June 18, 2008 Happy Feet
June 25, 2008 Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
July 02, 2008 Notting Hill
July 09, 2008 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
July 16, 2008 Casino Royale
July 23, 2008 The Wizard of Oz
