NEWSWIRE
- Research from postdoctoral scholar John Protzko indicates that successive generations of children are getting better at delaying gratification. The results come as little surprise in regard to Homelanders, who have been taught the importance of self-regulation since birth. (UC Santa Barbara)
- NH: In his famous 1968 experiment, Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel tested 5-year-olds for how long they could resist eating a marshmallow when no one else was in the room. When he tracked down the same kids fifteen years later, he found those who resisted temptation had hugely superior life outcomes--they were healthier, committed much less crime, and scored a massive 210 points higher on their SATs. Mischel's marshmallow test has since been performed by many other researchers--and his basic conclusions have been corroborated. What Protzko did in this study was compare the time kids were able to delay eating in all these studies to see if there was a trend over time. There was a trend: Kids today are able to wait roughly twice as long (6 minutes versus 3). Before releasing the findings, Prozko polled cognitive development experts and found that 80 percent expected the opposite result. Kids these days!
- A new costume craze hit the streets this past Halloween: the “Millennial mass murderer.” Wielding a bloody plastic knife and a list of industries “killed” (from golf to gambling), witty Millennials turned this played-out narrative into a punchline. (Business Insider)
- NH: This is a clever and rather cerebral costume idea which (sadly) will run into a mighty headwind so long as an occasional young man captures the headlines by committing an actual mass murder, as happened in Texas over the weekend.
- The 35- to 44-year-old homeownership rate rose nearly a full percentage point YOY to 59.3% in Q3 2017, the largest increase of any age group. Xers were hit harder by the Great Recession than any other generation—but these data indicate that the finances of late-wavers are finally starting to recover. (U.S. Census Bureau)
- NH: There is a bit of movement upward in the Q3 YOY homeownership rate, both for all ages and for the late-wave Xers. So far, though, these rises are meager. They remain well below homeownership rates in the first half of 2014, when the rates were still falling (before bottoming out in the first half of 2016).
- For $249.99, consumers can now outfit their homes with a smart lock that Amazon couriers can open. While Amazon Key means that packages will no longer have to sit unattended for hours, wary consumers may be hesitant to let Amazon (quite literally) into their homes. (MediaPost)
- Aging Boomers are driving demand for luxe, urban apartment rentals. Even as they approach (or enter) retirement, Boomers are exhibiting their taste for the finer things in life by splurging on chauffeured car services and spacious rooms. (Curbed)
- NH: Anecdotally, many realtors are reporting that smaller, upmarket, urban units being built for Millennials are instead being snapped up and occupied by downsizing Boomers. Keep in mind that, by dint of the Boomers' sheer demographic size, nearly all net growth in the number of households is now occurring in the 60+ age brackets. (And this trend has a lot further to go: According to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, an incredible one in three household heads will be 65+ by 2035.) What's more, seniors with "active and independent" lifestyles are more likely to compete for the same upscale units that appeal to Millennials. And if it's a condo for purchase, few Millennials can match the assets and borrowing power that today's seniors can bring to the table. (See: "The Graying of Wealth.")
- On average, Millennials spend $183 on Halloween candy, costumes, and decorations—compared to $70 for Xers and $23 for Boomers. Whether it’s Halloween or “Friendsgiving,” Millennials can’t pass up an opportunity to turn a holiday into a shared experience with friends. (Harris Poll)
- NH: When Boomers were young, kids did Halloween mostly on their own (sometimes tricking as much as treating) with minimal adult participation. Today, the parents of today's Millennial and Homelander children are all participating big time, dressing up themselves and often just for each other. Few kids anymore consider themselves "too old" to take part--more evidence of declining age aspiration among today's young. (See: "Meet the 'Empirical Kids.'") Predictably, many Boomers express outrage at this infantalizing trend, as does this this writer for the New York Post: "Halloween is blowing up because childhood is leaking further and further into adult life, and Millennials in particular aren’t fully sold on the idea that they’re grownups. Candy? Costumes? Silly pranks? These things should gradually start losing interest for you about the time you learn what a 401(k) is. Instead, childish behavior is losing all connotations of being embarrassing."
- Contributor Sarah Mahoney argues that, beneath the veneer of strong Q3 earnings, Amazon is facing a “culture clash” with the recently acquired Whole Foods. It’s not surprising to learn that a brand that once bore the moniker of “Whole Paycheck” may be struggling to adapt to Amazon’s cost-cutting, low-margin culture. (MediaPost)
- A new report shows that consumers born between 1980 and 2010 are responsible for 85% of the growth in global luxury sales over the past year. While some may be quick to announce the arrival of the Millennial luxury customer, take note: This age group still comprises just 30% of global luxury sales. (Bain & Company)
- NH: Caution: This dominating Millennial role is an artifact caused by choosing to look at the share of all adults comprised of those born after a fixed date. Of course, this always rises over time. If the Bain authors had looked simply at an age bracket (say, all adults under age 35), the growth share would have been much smaller. And, yes, total sales are still dominated by 50+ consumers, especially in the high-income world. Luxury sales growth last year was fastest in China (again, no surprise) and slowest in the United States. Hard luxury (especially jewelry) and accessories (especially shoes) are leading the pack. Online and off-price sales are growing faster than average; every other kind of retailing (especially department stores) is growing slower.
- Gen Xers and Millennials drove NPR’s audience growth in spring 2017, with more than one-quarter of 25- to 54-year-olds listening at least once per month. Thanks to NPR’s expansion into podcasts and Web content, public media is far from being dead. (Nielsen)
- NH: A decade ago, NPR was an endangered media brand with an aging (Boomer and older) audience and little penetration among Xers and Millennials. After a concerted effort to go digital--and with the "national" and "public" brand resonating a bit better with Millennials--NPR is connecting well with the young. Since NPR's audience leans heavily to the left, this augurs well for the Democrats.
- Fully 82% of Millennial small business owners expect their company to grow within the next year, compared to 71% of all small business owners. Though Millennials are far less entrepreneurial than portrayed by the media, the ones who have started their own businesses (in true Millennial form) expect to succeed. (First Citizens Bank)
DID YOU KNOW?
Big Booze Binges on Wellness. Alcohol-soaked industries have set their sights on a new type of customer: wellness enthusiasts. Big Beer titan AB InBev plans to earn 20 percent of its sales from no- or low-alcohol beer by 2025. Meanwhile, bartenders and distillers alike cite heavy demand for “mocktails” made from concoctions like Seedlip, which is an artisanal, nonalcoholic alternative to gin. (Seedlip is backed by Distill Ventures, a property of global distiller Diageo.) Some industry professionals have even become vocal advocates of clean living—like bar co-owner Natasha David, who steers customers toward low-ABV fare such as natural wine. What’s behind this counterintuitive strategy? It all has to do with the shifting lifestyle preferences of young consumers: Millennials are more interested in living well than getting wasted. (See: “Where the Wild Things Aren’t.”) But these teetotalers aren’t content with a simple glass of water: According to spirits industry consultant Devon Tarby, “People that choose not to drink are kind of like, hey, I want something cool and nuanced and interesting and subtle as well.”
