Boozing Millennials, more predictions for the new year, and more to usher in 2015! We’ve got all the info on young consumers and marketing you need in the Friday don’t miss list. Enjoy!
1. Drink Up
In our round up of 2015 predictions from around the web, we looked at JWTIntelligence’s Future 100 report trend of Teetotal Millennials—though we were sure to mention that we wouldn’t call wine loving, craft beer hunting young consumers teetotallers ourselves. Don’t miss one big reason why: it turns out Millennials might just drink more than any generation before them. One study found that 28% of 21-26-year-olds say they drink wine daily, and 25% don’t care what kind of wine they drink—“they will drink anything.” Cheers!
2. The Tech (and Social) of the Future
Our roundup of ten of the biggest tech developments of 2014 included virtual reality becoming a reality, mobile solutions taking over industries, and 3D printing creeping towards the mainstream. Don’t miss these tech predictions for 2015, which include Apple Watch being a disappointment, a big Uber IPO, and some serious hacking news. This social trend forecast looks at a different part of the industry, and foresees chat as the next big social space, the end of Foursquare, and marketing dollars “flocking” to visual platforms.
3. Selling Sexism
Lego’s hyper-gendered pinkwashed toys for girls made our list of the big marketing mistakes of the year, but we made sure to note that the brand adjusted their approach after complaints, releasing a female scientist set and a new commercial featuring a young girl using her imagination to play. But you shouldn’t miss some of the other cringe-worthy examples of sexist targeting in kids products, including the now-infamous Barbie computer engineering book, Nerf’s pink sparkling guns and bows and arrows for girls, and clothing that labels boys as superheroes and girls as superheroes’ future spouses.
4. Why Brands Say Bae
Ypulse’s own predictions for 2015 told you that Millennials would be flexing their financial muscles and that U.S. teens would become major targets once more in the coming months—so it makes sense that brands would be eager to speak their language. You shouldn’t miss some of the less successful attempts being collected in the new Twitter feed Brands Saying Bae, which calls out companies trying too hard to use youthful slang in their marketing efforts. Offenders include IHOP telling followers their pancakes are “on fleek,” Taco Bell’s executive mistakingly saying “on cleek” instead of “on fleek,” and of course, Jimmy John’s calling everyone “bae.”
5. Links We’re Passing
It’s finally 2015, which to Xers and older Millennials means we have finally reached the year that Marty McFly visits in Back to the Future II. Don’t miss this look at all of the predictions the film made about this momentous year that still haven’t come to be, and of course a round up of all the things it got right. We might not have flying cars, but Nike does say they are giving us the self-lacing shoes we’ve wanted for so long. Happy New Year!
