"Spend Shift"

I found this article, How U.S. Consumers Are Steering the 'Spend Shift', by John Gerzeman from AdAge on how consumers have shifted their spending habits in turn of the 2008 recession.  According to Gerzeman, 55% of the American population are part of this movement and are going back to the "Great Depression" values of "self-reliance, thrift, faith, creativity, hard work and community."  


This is very interesting because I feel like I am part of this movement.  The article mentions that people now view spending as a form of power and treat each purchase as a "vote".  Personally I feel that I am just scared of the future.  I'm uncertain of what will happen and feel that I must prepare for the worst.  This may make it seem like I am paranoid but I would rather be prepared than not if the worst were to happen.

Prizm > Young Urban Renters

On Nielsen, MyBestSegments you can type in your zip code and it will segment the towns population by similar traits and demographics.  Specifically in Bozeman there is a group called Young Urban Renters and it represents people under 35 who rent homes and are at the bottom of the income level.  It is really funny the stuff they say this group does and their traits.  Some examples are; young, single, and ethnically diverse,  use check cashing services, have renter's insurance, buy hip-hop music, and read Babytalk magazine.  If you have any free time check out the website.

Baby plays with IPAD

This is pretty amazing.  This video shows a baby using an iPad for the first time and it's like she's used it for years.  This is a perfect example of how effective Steve Jobs was in creating simple technology that everyone could use.  The iPad is so simple a baby can use it.  However, I wonder how much this baby watched others use the iPad before she was able to use it.  I did YouTube some other videos about babies using the iPad and found that many two year olds can navigate through different applications.

This makes me wonder what will be the implications of a children using this technology at such a young age will be.  Before we know it children may start getting cell phones at 5 years old when they start going to school.  Or what if one day they develop a chip that they put in you and it allows you to talk with people, use the internet, and pay for goods.  That is kind of scary.

buy.ology

This video is from The Today show and interviews the writer of buy.ology, a book about how marketers use consumer behavior to sell more products.

Simple little ways that companies position a good to sell more of it.  One thing I took away from it is that people love discounts.  They will always buy more if they feel they are getting a good discount.