Branding and Marketing

Posted by Chris Brown on November 10th, 2008 in Marketing

I was thinking about the toy buying experience this weekend. The holiday selling season is fully upon us in the stores. Now that Halloween is out of the way, the stores are filled with wrapping paper, gifts, and Christmas music piped over the PA. I could swear that I was even the smelling cinnamon, cloves and mulled cider wafting in the air. All of this was intended to incite spending, I’m sure.

It’s been more than 10 years since I left the toy industry, and I can’t help but think about how things have changed. I was wondering how internet marketers are addressing the two generations of moms who are buying for their young children: GenX and GenY.

Each group has their share of toddlers, preschoolers, young children and tweens. These are the groups of women born between these years:

Gen X born: 1965 to 1982 (43 years old to 26 years old)
Gen Y born: 1982 to 1994 (26 years old to 14 years old)

According to the US Census bureau, most babies in the US are born to women ages 25-29. Which means that in the next couple of years, the shift from Gen X moms to Gen Y moms is here. It seems like this would be something of interest to marketers. This could be especially significant since the GenY group is a much larger group than the GenX… sometimes called the Echo Boom or Boomlet.

I found one study from Parenting.com’s survey of over 800 moms that explains how the two groups use the internet differently. GenY sees online activities much more integrated into their life, whereas GenX moms seem to use it more for specific tasks. Makes sense.

With the uncertain economy, it’s predicted that many consumers are tightening up their spending this year.

I predict that marketers whose products are sold to moms and have authentically embraced the age of conversation, web2.0, blogging, twittering, facebook and social networking with the the GenY moms are going to have a much more successful “selling season” this year. Marketers who insist on selling via TV advertising, printed holiday flyers mailed into the mailbox — and are wondering what the difference between Twitter & TweetDeck is — will find their numbers slipping.

Let me know if you see any studies or know of a group studying this phenomonen.