Beer Drinkers To Buy 21 Million Cases For Memorial Day

Millennials are more adventurous than their elders. They are much more
inclined to buy imported and craft (smaller-brewery) brands–a factor of having
grown up with a “wider flavor palette” than Boomers. “This
started back when they were kids, with the wide variety of juice boxes available
to them, and it’s continued on as they’ve aged, with today’s wider palette of
alcoholic beverages,” says Nielsen’s Nick Lake

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MediaPost Publications - Beer Drinkers To Buy 21 Million Cases For Memorial Day - 05/16/2008
For brewers, summer–not Christmas–is the most wonderful time of the year.

Memorial Day kicks off prime beer-drinking season, and this year, U.S. adults are expected to buy a whopping 21 million cases (worth $381 million retail) in major supermarkets alone during the two weeks surrounding the holiday, according to the latest category data from The Nielsen Company.

Taco Bell’s new menu goes for a cheap fill

Taco Bell is unveiling a 2008 product game plan today that could nudge folks to forget the past and instead drive into Taco Bell in droves: cheap eats. The image-challenged chain–which has slowly but methodically regained its footing following an E. coli outbreak in late 2006 and a rat infestation at a New York City unit in 2007–will roll out a “Why Pay More?” value menu with 10 products. Four of them are new–priced at 79, 89 and 99 cents.


Taco Bell’s new menu goes for a cheap fill - USATODAY.com
Taco Bell may be emerging from taco hell.

It hasn’t been easy. There was the E. coli outbreak in late 2006 that sickened 70 and closed dozens of restaurants. Then, the rat infestation at a New York City unit in 2007 that became an Internet must-see.

Why ‘Yawns’ live below their wealthy means

There is a new breed of Gen Xers and Ys, Young and Wealthy but Normal, or Yawns - who may have disposable income, but whatever they make, they live below their means in a conscious effort to tread lightly on the Earth.

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Why ‘Yawns’ live below their wealthy means - CNN.com
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) — They drive hybrid cars, if they drive at all; shop at local stores, if they shop at all; and pay off their credit cards every month, if they use them at all.

Trend-Setting Hip-Hoppers Aging, But Brand-Loyal As Ever

Young urbans at the older end of the scale share the attributes that
make marketers salivate over this overall relatively young segment of the
population: Unusually high brand loyalty; a penchant for spending their money
now on goods ranging from electronics to cars, rather than saving; and an
unusually strong influence on product and fashion trends within the broader
marketplace.

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MediaPost Publications - Trend-Setting Hip-Hoppers Aging, But Brand-Loyal As Ever - 05/09/2008
Even hip-hoppers have to age, and the demographics of this much-wooed market are indeed starting to shift, according to a new report, “The Young Urban Consumer Market in the U.S.,” from the Packaged Facts division of Marketresearch.com.

The size of the overall young, urban consumer (i.e., hip-hop)
population–about 36.8 million as of 2007–will not change
significantly by 2012, according to PF’s estimates. However, the
oldest, the 25- to-34-year-old segment within the group, is growing the
fastest.

Sports Illustrated to Take Fantasy Game to Facebook

As part of the agreement, closely held Citizen Sports, of San
Francisco, will develop the software for the fantasy game. The Sports
Illustrated sales force will sell advertising to accompany the game,
and the magazine will make articles by its writers available to
players. The game is expected to launch in July.

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Sports Illustrated to Take Fantasy Game to Facebook - WSJ.com
Sports Illustrated Group has reached an agreement with Citizen Sports Inc. to develop and promote sports-related Web content, including a fantasy-football game that will be played on the Facebook Inc. Web site.

VW Takes A Stab At Polling To Engage A Younger Consumer

VW has aimed its sights on the younger consumers. The brand is trying to justapose a young-skewing, value-oriented messages, although their modles tend to be priced in the near-premium range.

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MediaPost Publications - VW Takes A Stab At Polling To Engage A Younger Consumer - 04/30/2008
Volkswagen of America, Inc. has been supporting its populist “give the people what they want” tone with an interactive campaign.

The national polling program via GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media isn’t about politics, but rather about preferences. The effort supports VW’s ad platform, “Das Auto,” featuring a talking vintage Beetle. It allows people to vote online and via mobile, and also to enter issues on which to vote. The effort is centered at vw.com/whatthepeoplewant.

Not-So-Personal Finance

Those under 35 find taking openly about personal finance something that is not taboo, unlike their over 35 counterparts.

While salaries may be disclosed casually among friends, that doesn’t
mean most young professionals brag about their incomes at a cocktail
party. There is still an etiquette to sharing the information — a
proper way to divulge.

For instance, most young people don’t
tell their cubicle mates, according to a 2007 study for Money magazine
by the sociologist Jeanne Fleming and the writer Leonard Schwarz.

Still,
young workers seem somewhat less likely to adhere to this convention
than older ones. The study found that 90 percent of those over 35 who
were surveyed agreed with the statement “you should never let your
co-workers know how much you make,” while 84 percent of subjects under
35 agreed.

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Sharing Salary Figures on Facebook - New York Times
ARIELLE GREEN, a publicist in Manhattan, knows what most of her friends earn, whether it is $28,000 a year or $100,000. And she does not seem particularly shy about disclosing her income ($30,000 a year, plus overtime).

At 22, Ms. Green, like her friends, is less afraid to flirt with what
many over 35 consider the last taboo in American life: discussing
salary openly with friends and colleagues. “There’s just more of a
feeling of openness in discussing what you make,” Ms. Green said.

As Barbie Sales Fall, Mattel Looks To Simplify Its Iconic Line

Mattel’s struggle to breathe life back into Barbie–more than a year after problems surfaced–shows the ongoing challenge the toy industry faces in attracting the fickle attention of young girls.

In many of last year’s Barbie lines, for example, the company sought to modernize the doll with more electronic features. But attempts to
address the competition posed by iPods and other electronic items have only
confused its young customers.

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As Barbie Sales Fall, Mattel Looks To Simplify Its Iconic Line - WSJ.com
For Mattel Inc. and its flagship icon Barbie, chasing the ever-changing tastes of American girls is turning out to be more difficult than expected.

Amid a rare quarterly loss reported Monday, the El Segundo, Calif., company reported flat world-wide sales for the Barbie brand. That reflects a 12% decline in the U.S., repeating a pattern the company struggled with last year, when domestic Barbie sales declined as foreign sales increased.

Bar Code Sales Tool Is Failing Campus Test

In parts of Asia and Europe, marketers have been using bar code
technology to help sell things to people on their cellphones. In the
United States the technique doesn’t appear ready for widespread use.

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Bar Code Sales Tool Is Failing Campus Test - New York Times
IN parts of Asia and Europe, marketers have been using bar code technology to help sell things to people on their cellphones. A consumer can point a phone at something intriguing that bears a signature black-and-white square, then get information about a product or service or an offer to purchase it.

In the United States, the spread of this technology has been slow, in
part because cellphones here are not equipped with the necessary
software. There have been a few small-scale tests, but judging from the
experience of one under way at Case Western Reserve University in
Cleveland, the technique is nowhere near ready for widespread use.

Younger Workers More Likely to Break Corporate Rules for Web Apps

Before jumping in - I thought I’d mention that I am sitting right now at my desk at the office…

A new study released by Symantec reveals something that the young office workers didn’t want anyone to know - they are on social networking sites, streaming music in iTunes, chatting on IM, and sometimes even playing games online while at work. The interesting part is that Gen Y is so good at multitaksing that their web habits tend not to interfere with their productivity.

With so many people comfortable with Web 2.0 applications Symantec is asking why companies are not choosing office applications that use the skills Gen Y has aquired.

Younger Workers More Likely to Break Corporate Rules for Web Apps

Growing up in the digital age, Millennials (those born after 1980) are far less likely to leave their preference of technology, specifically Web 2.0 applications, behind as they head to work.

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