by Dave Zornow
Published in Cable Avails magazine, May 1993
Now that baby boomers have elected one of their own as President, market researchers have crowned a new young generation. And some experts say the teens and young adults who grew up after Woodstock and Vietnam are as different from the boomers as rock is from rap.
This new generation consists of teens and adults who were born after the baby boom, the period which includes births between 1946 and 1964. They've been called the baby busters, the post-boomers and "Generation X," with various definitions ranging from 12 to 29 years old. Because these young adults and teens have been influenced by a different set of experiences than the baby boomers, some media and advertisers are now targeting the post-boomers separately from the boomers.
"This group is pragmatic, where the boomers were idealistic," says Susan Hayward, Director of the Yankelovich Monitor. "There's been a lot written about how this generation will inherit a horrible world, but that seems to be the impression of the boomers who don't understand how anyone could survive with less opportunity and luxury than they had." Haywood says the post-boomers are practical, focusing more on the problems of the present than the boomers did at this age. Boomers always expected to have everything handed to them, but this new generation of 'twenty-somethings' knows they've got to work harder for fewer opportunities."
One misconception about the post-boomers is that they hate the boomers, because the older generation took all of the good jobs. "Based on the work we've done, I don't agree that this generation is angry or disenfranchised," says Peter Zollo, President of market research firm Teenage Research Unlimited. Instead of disliking the boomers, some teens and young adults see their behavior as 'silly.' Haywood says the post-boomers don't understand what Woodstock was about and why everyone was so excited about sloshing around in the rain and mud to hear music.
Teens are much different today than they were five years ago. According to Zollo's TRU studies, teens are less materialistic today. Fewer than one-third of teenagers agree with the statement "success means making a lot of money" compared to 61% of teens five years ago. This finding contrasts sharply with the image of the yuppie boomer driving a BMW while climbing the corporate ladder.
The baby busters are as cable ready as they come. Nielsen Media Research counts 85.8 million persons between 12 and 34, with almost seven in ten having cable in their household. So, it's no surprise they watch a lot of TV. "This group watches more Fox than CBS, and they're more likely to read Entertainment Weekly and Premiere than Good Housekeeping," says Debbie Solomon, VP Media Research at J. Walter Thompson in Chicago. Zollo adds that they've helped make several media vehicles succeed such as the Fox Network, Details and Spin magazines. "Among teens, 90210 is the biggest network show we've seen in ten years," says Zollo.
And when you think about teens, young adults, and TV, you have to include MTV. Despite dropping from a 1.3 total day rating at it's height to a .4 currently, media researchers say MTV's influence with this group is as strong as ever. "MTV has influenced everything and everyone since it first debuted," says JWT's Solomon. "It ranks right up there with disposable diapers for having significant lasting impact on the world."
Market researchers say the post-boomers have fewer fears of technology than their predecessors, having grown up with video games, VCRs, answering machines and computers. "Because this generation has been cable viewers from birth, they grew up with an explosive amount of choice," says Gwen Lipsky, VP Research and Planning at MTV. "They have always had a remote control in their hand. This group of people will lead us to the electronic superhighway of the future."
Susan Mitchell, Editor of The Boomer Report, says Generation X is very sophisticated about media. "Media is transparent to this group," says Mitchell. "They enjoy advertising which makes fun of itself and doesn't pretend to be what it is not. They also enjoy the same irreverence in programming. Comedy Central's tag line 'we're all going to die, watch Comedy Central' epitomizes this attitude."
Market Development VP Galen Jones aggrees there's a distinct generation which marketers are missing, but Comedy Central defines the new generation along different lines. "The younger boomers born after 1955 have a different set of experiences than the leading edge 'Bill and Hillary' boomers which grew up in the 50's," says Jones. This group -- which Comedy Central and research consultant Larry Rosin call the Brady Boomers because they all know the lyrics to that TV theme song -- has spent their formative years watching television. Jones estimates that the average Brady Boomer has seen 350,000 spots during their lifetime, the equivalent of watching TV 24 hours a day for six straight months.
Jones agrees with Susan Mitchell's assessment regarding media sophistication. "We try to make our programs and promos stressing all of the characteristics which appeal to this generation: honesty, intelligence, daring, originality and, of course, funny."
Is there really a generation gap between the boomers, young adults and teens? Do these post-boomers behave any differently than the boomers did when they were this age? There's no consensus on whether Generation X'ers behave differently than boomers did when they were this age, but there is agreement that the maturing boomers have different values and lifestyles than the new young adults. Just as people 18 years old have little in common with adults 49 years old, post-boomers are different from boomers. But the experts do agree on one point: the new generation has a different point of reference than the boomers, and marketers who target them as an extension of the baby boomers maybe making a serious marketing error. ##
Dave Zornow is President/TNG Research, a media research consultancy and applications development company that works with media sellers and research providers.
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