Echo Boomers

[Phil Nilsson]

Has everybody figured out a strategy for dealing with this new customer group?

Any thoughts?

[Phil Nilsson]

For those who don't know ...

Understanding the Echo Boomers;

Who They Are and How You Can Reach This Young, Affluent Market Segment ...

Who are echo boomers? They are children between the ages of 2 and 19 (many are around 25 and under, graduating college, starting careers, buying first homes) born to America's largest and wealthiest market segment, baby boomers. The echo generation is expected to create new surges of change in markets, attitudes and society over most of the twenty-first century. America is just now experiencing the first ripple of this huge wave.

Echo boomers make up 27.5 percent of the US population. They, and their annual $100 billion purchasing power, can not be ignored.

Marketing to echo boomers is not as simple as appealing to their parents. First, these children have their own money to spend. Second, since their experiences and attitudes are considerably different, the same messages will not capture them.

Diversity

The key word that best describes echo boomers is diversity. In comparison, baby boomers are relatively uniform in race, living arrangements and socio-economic classes.

Echo boomers are the first generation to seriously question all traditional racial categories. There is more interaction among races at school and socially. The minority teen culture shows incredible influence on white teens' choices in music, fashion, and language. Two-thirds of this generation are white; one out of 35 are from mixed-race backgrounds.

One-parent homes are more common today. A significant number of echo boomers (27 percent) have only one parent as compared to 12 percent of children in 1975. A 1993 study shows that 31 percent of one-parent families have never married.

Other serious issues the echo boomer faces are AIDS, crime and violence.

Gender Roles

In a reversal of roles, echo boomer males are likely to color their hair and wear jewelry. Females will try their hand at hardware as they carry out their own odd jobs around their home or apartment.

Unlike prior generations, female children are now urged to have careers and become self-reliant. The notion that marriage is the ultimate goal for a girl has faded away.

As in prior generations, females are slaves to fashion. This also applies to boys, but to a lesser extent. Both genders feel pressure to dress a certain way for acceptance within their peer groups. The short-lived fashion fads constantly challenge these children and their parents' pocketbooks.

The Technology Gap

Race and gender appear to be less of a divisive factor than technology. One-half of echo boomers with college-educated parents have a personal computer. Kids in families where the parent's education level is lower have a reduced chance (17 percent) of owning this educational tool.

Teen Power

Teens (ages 12 - 19) in this market segment have surprisingly high purchasing power. These children not only have their own money to spend, they also influence purchases made by their parents.

A report by Teenage Research Unlimited shows that boys spend $44 of their own money per week; girls spend $34 per week. This totals about $63 billion per year. In one-parent families or families where both parents work, the teens are responsible for much of the family shopping ($36 billion per year).

Teens are a powerful marketplace force. Younger children look up to these trendsetters for fashion, and adults watch them to determine what's "in."

The population of teens is now rising steadily after 16 years of decline. In 1992 there were 29 million 12 - 19 year olds; in 2010, there will be 35 million.

Know Their Minds

Teens are very knowledgeable about topics such as music, entertainment, fashion and personal care products. Therefore, parents will seek their teens' counsel before making a purchase in one of these categories.

Teens are not shy about stating what they want as gifts. Parents know if they don't buy the right brand, the item will probably be swept under the bed or remain in the closet. This understanding encourages parents to be brand-specific.

Baby boomers who were part of the anti-establishment movement are surprised to find that their children listen to them and consider them cool. These youngsters also enjoy the music that was popular when their parents were growing up.

How To Reach Them
Attitude Is Everything

Advertisers must be careful to sell to the self-perception of echo boomers. This means that advertisers must resist being hampered by their own views formed while growing up during previous generations. It may feel natural to think, "when I was 14, I wanted...." However, effective campaigns must appeal to echo boomers' specific attitudes and preferences.

Tough Audience

Marketers must understand that echo boomers are made up of subgroups with varied tastes. A campaign can be designed with this in mind. For example, when shooting a commercial, advertisers will want to produce similar versions using different music such as rap, country-western and alternative rock.

Previous advertising campaigns show that using celebrities to sell a brand is only marginally effective with this generation.

Echo boomers may reject advertisements that sell a product or service to a specific gender.

Campaigns should be designed with the knowledge that teens spend money to have fun. Shopping is an experience, not an errand. It is an event, not a chore. These teens understand and value quality; they see quality as cool and vice versa.

Maturing Audiences

Some forward thinking companies actively market adult brands to teens. Both Discover Card and Coca-Cola have aggressive marketing programs on college campuses across the country. These and other businesses such as automobile manufacturers and newspapers expect a significant pay-off when these echo boomers enter adulthood.

Print and broadcast advertising are currently the best way to reach this market. However, as more homes and schools hook up to the Internet, businesses should periodically review online opportunities for reaching this young technology-savvy generation.

Echo boomers are an attractive market segment. Businesses eager to grab a piece of this market must recognize and act on the knowledge that echo boomers' attitudes and preferences are vastly different from previous generations. They must also be ready to customize marketing efforts to match the assorted tastes found within this growing, affluent segment.

Courtesy:
© Saurage Research 1999

[clclawn]

well i started this post befor phill explained himself and i will now read it.

[Phil Nilsson]

Echo boomers make up 27.5 percent of the US population. They, and their annual $100 billion purchasing power, can not be ignored.

[Jack D.]

Developing a strategy geared towards a segment of the population which largely does not own property sounds like a brilliant plan.

Jack D. will be devising an Eminem style rap about his Green Industry Services in the hopes it will influence the Echo Boomers to tell their parents about Jack D. inc..

[clclawn]

looking over my records of were i got my customers from, a high school student has never hired me to mow his parents lawn. Last i checked if you have a highschool student they mow the lawn.

instead of marketing to kids i think i will go for the baby-boomers and the untold millions they will be inhariting from there parents. We are looking at the largest wealth transfer in our history in the next few years and phill wants us to get a plan for a bunch of spoiled kids.

[RRS]

Honestly I haven't given much thought to this matter. I can say this though, Spoiled=Lazy Lazy=$ for service business.

[MAD MOWERS]

Ahmen RRS, This is what I am seeing around here. We do know a few of these young folks whose parents have instilled some values into them and they in turn are doing fine.

Phill is right. This group (we call them generation X) will be a large force soon!

Jack D Please get some of those baggy hang to your knees pants to wear when you come up with your commercial! That would be a "hoot"

[Jack D.]

Perhaps Mr. Nilsson can elaborate on the types of Green Industry services we should be marketing to this group which predominatly consists of people who do not own property.

While the higher age bracket of the Echo Boomers falls in Jack D.'s preferred female conquest target zone and are easily succeptible to Jack D.'s charm and pimped out ride, he is unsure if this group is ripe for reaping Green Industry profits.

[Phil Nilsson]

Phill is right. This group (we call them generation X) will be a large force soon!

That's right

[cmorris]

As a fellow "Echo Boomer" I do not see my gen. using many Lawn Care services in the near future. The "Baby Boomers" however love to work hard and play hard, and when they come into my resort community, they want to play hard, so Ill work hard on their lawns while they play hard. Ill wait for my fellow "echo boomers" to catch up to me and be living in this beautiful resort community

[RRS]

[QUOTE]As a fellow "Echo Boomer" I do not see my gen. using many Lawn Care services in the near future. The "Baby Boomers" however love to work hard and play hard, and when they come into my resort community, they want to play hard, so Ill work hard on their lawns while they play hard. Ill wait for my fellow "echo boomers" to catch up to me and be living in this beautiful resort community
Reply With [Quote]

How old are you cmorris?

[Envy Lawn Service]

Preparing for this group to mature is a good stratagy. But active marketing now is a gross waste of time for this industry. But in several more years life should be good for the LCO, if they ever aquire financial responsibility.

With the aging baby boomer population nearing retirement ages, and this new generation coming on, the residential service sector should grow vastly in this industry. This new generation is the laziest bunch of sloths to ever be considered a generation. Heck most of them stay indoors so much that they are allergic to grass, ect, and sunburn easily.

I only know one around 25 that owns a home and I've already aquired that account. Most of this group still live at home or in apartments. Once they mature and dig themselves out of the financial holes they are already in, many will buy their first homes in their 30's.... and most of them will hire the LCO they know personally or the LCO that cuts next door, because they prefer convenience over all else, more so than any previous generation.

[Hawk83]

Seeing as though "echo boomers" apparently only go up to 19, i guess i'm just a tad too old for that catagory. but as 22, close enough, i agree with Cmorris..i'll be focusing on these kids' parents. After working 60hrs+ a week, they are not gunna want to spend their saturday's cutting the lawn, and their lazy, echobooming children are to cool to spend precious, peak beauty sleep hrs pushing around the craftsman, or if there lucky, making circles around the yard on an over priced HomeDepot Special homeowner's ride-on. So thats where i come in. I'll be the one taking care of the lawn, and wakeing my fellow punks outta bed at the crack of noon, with some real Echo force Good day, gentlemen
hawk