NEWSWIRE: 8/29/17
- Applebee’s is reversing course on a Millennial-friendly rebrand that it says alienated its existing customers. Much like many of its peers, Applebee’s went all-out to acquire a youthful vibe only to discover that Millennials simply aren’t interested in casual dining chains—even ones that sell sriracha-lime turkey sandwiches. (The Washington Post)
- NH: When times are tough across the board--and in the restaurant industry, most sales-tracking indexes look pretty grim right now--the first lesson is to not alienate your core customer. Especially when your core customer (>55: Boomers) has actually generated more restaurant sales growth than the alternative (<35: Millennials) since the Great Recession. Besides, many chains get the whole "Millennial makeover" thing wrong: Yes, young adults want better food at lower prices in friendlier settings, but the whole metro/cool vibe redo does little for them, especially in suburbia (where most Applebee's are located).
- Last week, the Federal Trade Commission cleared Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods. While many forecasters believe this deal signals a turning point for Amazon, the retailer still has a long way to go in order to catch up to Walmart’s brick-and-mortar grocery dominance. (The Washington Post)
- NH: The grocery giants shuddered yesterday when Amazon announced deep cuts in Whole Foods prices. Great. Here's one more sector where Amazon hopes to gain market share in return for lowering its profit margin to zero (or below). Let's add some scale to those losses! To judge from the huge popularity of an article (title: "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox") written by a recent Yale grad, progressives are starting to crusade for a stricter antitrust policy. And, yes, here Donald Trump and Margaret Warren make for strange bedfellows. Yet while the anticompetitive consequences of growing market concentration is a legitimate issue, Amazon is a poor example of the sort of company (one with imbedded regulatory advantages and crushingly dominant market share) policymakers ought to be most worried about.
- Author Kurt Andersen says our national “post-truth moment” is not a sudden phenomenon, but one decades in the making. He wisely points out that America’s founding credo of personal and intellectual freedom opened the door for alternative facts—before the Boomer-led New Age movement in the 1960s helped to blast the door wide open. (The Atlantic)
- NH: This essay is worth reading. As Lord Chesterton (a Christian apologist back in the 1920s) once wrote: "When people no longer believe in something, they will believe in anything." We may be just about there in America. You have your "truth," and I will keep my "truth." The late Pat Moynihan once famously declared that "everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts." Pat did not live to hear the introduction of "truthiness" (thanks, Steve Colbert) into the English language.
- Just 78% of Xers who submitted a rental application in Q1 2017 were approved, the lowest share of any generation. Xers’ heavy debt burdens and poor credit histories are still keeping many of them unhoused nearly a decade after the Great Recession. (RENTCafé)
- Georgetown University is hosting a “Millennial Day” at its men’s soccer game on September 4. The lighthearted event, which pokes fun at many generational stereotypes, will feature everything from a cable cord-cutting station to a participation trophy giveaway. (The Washington Post)
- NH: In his trial-and-error efforts to create this event, the Gen-X organizer had a revealing generational epiphany: “I did a Dumb and Dumber day two years ago, and I didn’t research my audience enough. Our target audience was students and the students had never watched the movie before, because I’m so old."
- One in eight Millennial workers would prefer being fired via text or instant message, compared to just one in thirteen total workers. When it comes to having this difficult conversation, many Millennials believe—just as they do for normal day-to-day interactions—that a text will suffice. (Cyberlink)
- NH: Now we know that Kelly (Liam Kyle Sullivan) was wrong in her 2006 hit song, "You Can't Txt Msg Brkup." When it comes to bosses, Millennials apparently prefer it that way.
- Budgetary cutbacks at CPG companies are hurting the advertising and media firms that depend on their ad dollars. As consumer tastes continue to shift away from the center aisles of the grocery store, it’s hardly a surprise that all parties involved are feeling the pinch. (The Wall Street Journal)
- NH: With the big CPG firms seeing their brand equity evaporating, big ad spends no longer make sense. And this isn't just about TV. Digital is getting hit by this as well.
- Fully 36% of 18- to 29-year-olds say they will likely pay for Disney’s forthcoming streaming service in 2019, compared to just 23% of all consumers. Despite their reputation as a generation of content stealers, Millennials are clearly willing to pay for essential programming if it will help them cut the cord. (TechCrunch)
- Contributor Betsy Rust argues that despite a rapidly aging population, nursing homes will become a relic of the past. She makes a solid point: Boomers adamant to age in place have more options for at-home health care than ever before. (MarketWatch)
- NH: The negative trend in long-term care (LTC) residents began long before Boomers. The ratio of LTC residents to the elderly population peaked in the mid-1980s, back when the reclusive "Lost" Generation filled the ranks of 85+. And the absolute number of LTC residents has been declining gradually since the late 1990s--despite the recent surging growth in the senior population. Most states are planning for zero additions in the foreseeable future. Aging in place, intentional communities, home health care, and multigenerational living are among the many "late elderly" lifestyles taking the place of nursing homes.
- Columnist Lauren Hamer offers a list of the eight worst things you could say to a Millennial in this economy. The list covers a wide range of criticisms that elders have hurled at Millennials, regarding everything from work ethic (“You’d find a job sooner if you weren’t so entitled”) to personal finance (“You don’t save your money like we used to”). (The Cheat Sheet)
- NH: My favorite tweets: "Baby Boomers be making 170K a year and don't know how to rotate PDFs." "There should be a Millennial version of Monopoly, where you just wander around the board paying rent, never able to buy anything." And this: "BOOMER: I'm *never* going to retire. MILLENNIAL: I'm never going to retire."
DID YOU KNOW?
If at First You Don't Succeed. Nobody likes to fail. But a growing number of brands are attempting to turn failure into a badge of honor. One is Gatorade: The brand’s new commercial features a number of star athletes—from Michael Jordan to Matt Ryan—each telling the audience that the secret to victory is defeat. Samsung New Zealand recently released a short film in which BMX rider Sarah Walker tells viewers not to let hurdles stop them from achieving their goals. (Walker herself failed to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics after getting injured.) Canadian retailer Sport Chek’s pointed ad spot features a montage of Olympic athletes stumbling, slipping, and failing, with a voiceover proclaiming, “We hope that every athlete is better, more determined than you… We wish this misery upon you because it gives birth to brilliance.” Failure porn works for Xers. But, as we’ve written before, brands have their work cut out for them in convincing risk-averse Millennials that failure is to be celebrated.
