Gen Y Labs

Jul 31, 2011

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Gen Y and the Scary Future of Eating

The NPD recently published a report entitled “A Look Into the Future of Eating”. The research looks at the future of the food industry and how it will be impacted by the changing tastes of modern consumers.

According to NPD, Gen Y will drive an enormous growth in Salty snacks, easy meals, center plate proteins, sweet snacks, and desserts. NPD projects that Gen Y will increase its consumption of these food groups by as much as 44% over the next decade.

To me, this is a very scary study for Gen Y. My generation is already the fattest ever, and none of the high-growth food groups are close to being healthy (a 34% spike in desserts? Really?) 

The amazing thing to me about Gen Y and food is that we just don’t care what we put into our bodies. To me, this seems to go against everything that Gen Y stands for. Every other decision that we make in our lives is carefully researched and planned. We are the generation that spends hours researching products, often going so far as to research a company’s corporate responsibility plan before buying from them.

When it comes to food however, we prefer to choose ignorance. We won’t even take the time to flip over a box of Twinkies and see the thousands of Calories that they contain.

I don’t know who to blame for this alarming trend, but I know two things:

1. Unless things magically change, Gen Y is doomed to be an obese, diabetic generation

2. It’s a great time to invest in Junk Food manufacturers. Get on the bandwagon early because Gen Y is wants to make you rich.

Facebook Growing Older. Is it On Its Deathbed?

I knew that Facebook users are getting older, but I didn’t realize the extent of the aging process until I saw that over the past year, the median age of Facebook users had increased from 26 to 33.

That’s absolutely absurd, and truly a shame.

Facebook was once a safe haven for Gen Y, a place that we had to ourselves. Facebook gave young adults a place to interact without having to worry about being watched by our elders. 

Today however, I am now Facebook friends with my mom, dad, aunt, uncle, and even my grandparents. While I am happy to have an on-line network that allows me to communicate with my family and elders, I will never forget the day when I could post things on my profile without worrying about older people seeing it.

Apparently, much of Generation Y agrees with me, as Facebook usage among young adults is slowly declining. I feel that right now Facebook is in a very dangerous situation.

Historically, Gen Y has had complete control over social networking trends, and therefore when we decide that a site is irrelevant, it is only a matter of time before it loses its power. Simply put, just as MySpace was overthrown by Facebook, it is simply a matter of time before a new social networking site comes along and captures the hearts of the Millennial.

The next year will be an incredibly interesting time for social networking, as I strongly believe that the steady flow of Gen Y users away from Facebook will cause a strong social networking competitor to emerge. 2010 should provide us the next great Social Media battle, as Facebook will have to work hard to not suffer the same fate as MySpace.

 

 

Old People Confuse Us

As Generation Y enters the work world, we are constantly shocked by the inefficiency of the office. Employers expect you to be at your desk from 9-5 (at the very least) despite the fact that you only have enough work to keep you occupied until one.

 For some reason, no generation before us has had a problem with being unproductive. They never questioned why they were sitting at their desks in the afternoon with nothing to do. They just sat there and waited for the clock to set them free. 

This mentality, that you are expected to waste your day in the office even if you finish all your work, is simply baffling to the Millenials. We believe that your job should reward you for productivity instead of punishing it. 

We're not opposed doing lots of work (infact we're always looking to make a meaningful contribution), we just don't want to be wasting time in the office when we could be doing something fun with our time.

For other Gen Y opinions on the working experience, check out the Concours Institute’s discussion of results from some recent Gen-Y focus groups.

What Gen Y Wants from a New Car

The automotive research firm AutoPacific recently published a study on what Gen Y looks for when buying a new car.

The study found that Gen Y is:

1. “more likely than the generations before them to consider purchasing a Chinese or Indian branded vehicle”

2. “more willing to accept hybrid powertrains” 

3. “more likely to want the latest entertainment technology in their vehicle”

I think that it is particularly important to note that Gen Y has become almost completely indifferent as to the source of products that we consume.

Whereas the Baby Boomers are fully willing to buy their electronics from China, but often balk at making big ticket purchases like cars from developing countries, Gen Y is willing to buy anything from anywhere in the world. We have the mentality that says: “If everything else we use is made in Asia, why shouldn’t we own a Chinese car?

The bottom line is that as a group, Gen Y doesn’t really care what the brand is or where the good comes from as long as we end up with a high-quality product at a low price. 

We’re Not Better. We’re More

Recently, Generation Y has received a relentless beating in the press for our so called sense of “entitlement”. With this in mind, I went searching for someone who is willing to defend the fine people of my generation. 

I think that Ian David Moss’ blog post “Generation Y and the Problem of “Entitlement”: A Bullet-Point Manifesto” does a pretty good job. Moss’ post states that no single individual in Gen Y is any smarter than any single person from Older generations, Gen Y just has MORE smart people.

  Gen Y has more educated people than any previous generation, causing the job market to be overwhelmed by qualified applicants. This has resulted in many Gen Y workers taking jobs that they are tremendously over-qualified for (I can name numerous finance graduates from the class of 2008 who are currently selling insurance with Baby Boomers who never spent a day in college).

  Moss brings up the great point that instead of sitting around and complaining about how over-eager and impatient Gen Y is to rise in the workplace, managers should take advantage of their more talented workforce  by installing a flexible hierarchy that allows lower level workers to contribute more to the company than they have in the past.

  The bottom line: Gen Y wants to work hard and contribute. Why not let them?

 

Gen-Y's Twist On Networking

For Gen-Y, networking has a very stuffy and formal connotation. When we hear about networking, we think about schmoozing over drinks at a boring industry convention. It just doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. That is not to say that we are not willing to participate in networking; we just look at it as a cost of doing business instead of a good opportunity to meet new people.

  But who says networking can’t be an enjoyable experience? There is an interesting article about a group of 20-somethings in Richmond, Virginia who set up networking events in a Wafflehouse Restaurant. The concept: get together and expand your network in a casual atmosphere (with lots of artery-clogging food!).

  While traditional business networking will always remain, I think that in the coming years Gen-Y will do an increasing amount of networking in casual situations. Gen-Y feels much better about networking when we feel that we are making genuine friends instead of just making connections that you will be able to use to your advantage in the future. Networking in casual situations will allow us to make important connections without getting the feeling that we are making “fake” friendships.

Gen Y Refuses To Join The Twitterverse

Here’s a news flash for all of you out in Twitterland: Gen-Y doesn’t Tweet.

That’s right, GEN Y DOES NOT USE TWITTER!

A recent study done by the Participatory Marketing Network shows that only 22 percent of Gen Y uses twitter.

While many people believe that Twitter has incredible growth potential in the Gen Y demographic, I strongly disagree. It is my opinion that the Twitter craze will simply never catch on with Gen Y.

The fact of the matter is that Gen Y already has access to every feature that Twitter offers from other social media sources. If we truly feel that need to express our emotions in 180 words, we have text messaging and social networking websites (Facebook’s status updates were around before Twitter existed) that are more than capable of fulfilling our needs.

Furthermore, I just don’t feel that Twitter has the same appeal to my generation as it does to older people. Millenials grew up chatting on instant messenger and have communicated in short, choppy, and more or less nonsensical sentences for our entire lives. Therefore, we simply don’t get the same rush that Gen Xers and Baby Boomers do from communicating using shorthand phrases (My Mom is absolutely obsessed with using abbreviations and emoticons).

I think that the final reason that Gen Y will never adopt Twitter is because we quite frankly think that the whole concept is just a little bit rediculous. The idea of tweeting about what you had for breakfast this morning is just strange. Don’t get me wrong, Gen Y is all about having access to as much information as possible, but there are just some things that don’t need to be told to the entire world.

Social Networking Makes Gen Y More Productive

Social Networking is a touchy subject among many employers these days. Many older managers feel that Social Networking software can do no good, and simply leads to a less productive work force. For this reason, I imagine that many of you work in offices (I know I did all summer) where social networking tools have been banned.

But is social networking really such a negative influence on our productivity? A recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle discusses not only the positive impacts that social networking can have on productivity, but its necessary place in an office full of Gen Y workers who demand constant connectivity.

The article makes 2 great points:

1. Gen Y is more comfortable using social media instead of traditional communication channels  

2. Encouraging social networking usage in the work place is a great way to attract top quality talent to your organization. Gen-Y wants to work for “cool” companies, and promoting social networking use is a great way to improve your corporate image.     

By encouraging social networking use in the office, you kill two birds with one stone. You improve your young employees’ productivity while making them happier. Seems like a good idea to me.

$0.99: Gen-Y's Golden Price for Digital Content

As I was sitting around my dorm today, everyone was talking about the new Jay-Z album.  The record is without a doubt one of the best of the year, and should be in contention for best album when the Grammy awards come around. As good as the Jay-Z album is however, I could only find one person in my dorm that bought a copy of it.

This led me to the interesting question:

 “Why has nobody in college bought the album of the year?”

 It turns out that a big part of this is the recent ITunes Store price increase. In April, Apple announced it would increase the price of “in-demand” songs from $0.99 to $1.29  in an effort to boost revenues.

Apple’s new pricing structure has angered many loyal customers (Gen-Y in particular, but more on that in a second), cutting sales by roughly 12% since February. Apple however is claiming success for its new pricing plan, as Billboard reported that revenues are up despite lower sales.

Despite the fact that Apple and the record industry raised their revenues, I feel that they have made a huge long-term mistake by abandoning their $0.99 pricing strategy.

A recent Gen-Y Labs informal survey of college students across the country shows that $0.99 has become a magical price in the eyes of Generation Y. In fact, 85% believe that $0.99 is a fair price for digital music.

 A further question reveals that roughly 70% of responders are willing to pay for digital music when songs are priced at $0.99. When the price is bumped above one dollar however, we see a completely different story. Only about 1 in 10 responders agree that $1.29 represents a fair price for digital music, and only 1 in 3 survey respondents would choose to pay $1.29 instead of downloading content illegally.

The creation of ITunes was a gift to both Gen Y and the record industry.  It provided consumers with music that was cheaper than in stores, and thus encouraged people to buy their music instead of pirate it.  Through low prices, the ITunes store created good will between the consumer and the record labels for the first time since the beginning of the internet, and as the years have gone on more and more young adults choose to buy their music instead of steal it.

 By raising prices, the record companies have totally ruined any progress that they had made in convincing Generation Y to pay for media content instead of pirate it. This is a horrible decision, because in 10-15 years the music industry’s bottom line will be completely dependent on Gen-Y paying for content instead of using online sources to pirate it. It is my belief that any pricing policy that encourages piracy now will simply cause bigger troubles for the music industry down the line.

What do you think?