Last Sunday, when we were at Tyler's house, we went for a test drive in
his new Scion. It's a small car made by Toyota, and it get 38
miles to the gallon. I'd never seen one before. It is cute
and drives well. I was thinking maybe it's time to get a new car
with better mileage. I have a 1996 Nissan Maxima.
That night, Robert and I saw on TV a special on 60 Minutes talking
about the new generation that makes up 30% of the US population. They
are the offspring of the Baby Boomers, and are anywhere from 10 to
grammar school age.
Marketers are studying them as a huge consumer market--and calling them
variously, The Echo Boomers or the Millennials. The program
showed them being interviewed in a marketing focus group--asking them
questions about who they are, and what their values are. Born to
parents who really valued children and tried to give them every
advantage and self-confidence boosting upbringing, they are now getting
ready to enter the adult job market and life. They are not
rebellious ("We love our parents.") and they are not competitive ("I
have a row of trophies from kindergarten on up, just for being in the
class. ") They are more interested in fitting into to their
group. They buy by word of mouth, so marketers are not trying to
reach them by television. They are plugged into the Internet and
buy on buzz. 60 Minutes showed an example of this. The
product they chose was the Scion! This is the car they are hoping
to sell to the young people.
I will be out of the office until Friday. I'm going to Lake Tahoe with Gunther, Eliza, Anders, and August.
Talk to you later.
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