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My Research

Some of my research was based on the consumers and understanding the different kinds. The following are a list of the different generations from the Baby Boomers to Gen X. Below you'll find their characteristics and how they are used for marketers.

  • Baby Boomers
    Birth Years: 1944 to 1964 Current Age: 55 to 75 Size: 76 Million Media Consumption: Highest consumers of traditional media. Shaping Events: Post World War II optimism. Finances: Managing retirement with expectations on the rise. General Electric or GE is a company that was once a highly trusted appliance company by people because of its legacy and history. GE is a merge of the Thomas Edison's Edison Electric Company and the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in 1892. From then, they are able to do so much more than just use electricity, as of 2018 they specialized in aviation, healthcare, power, renewable energy, digital industry, additive manufacturing, venture capital and finance, and lighting. So with this many specialties, what made people less aware of them now? It might be because of its constant stock rises and crashes causing current generations to not engage much in it. It might also because of the increasing competition as generations evolve but to anyone who knows the company, it's still one of the most trusted and reliable companies able to strive now.
  • Generation X
    Birth Years: 1965 to 1979 Current Age: 40 to 54 Size: 82 Million Media Consumption: Heavy TV and Facebook users. Shaping Events: The Cold War and the rise of personal computing. Finances: Carrying the highest debt load while still raising children and planning for retirement. One brand that this generation helped grow was Gap, named as a reference to the concept of generation gaps which seems ironic now since as the generations grow, the company continues to decline. During its most popular era in the 1990s to 2000s, Gaps' vibrant marketing campaigns with celebrity-filled commercials made it the brand. People would wear their logoed shirts and sweatshirts fitting in with everyone else, becoming the social norm. But this was also a marketing technique, these customers were paying Gap to promote Gap by having their huge logo printed on their clothing.
  • Millennials
    Birth Years: 1980 to 1994 Current Age: 25 to 39 Size: 95 Million Media Consumption: Cutting cable in favor of streaming options. Shaping Events: Explosion of the internet and the great recession. Finances: Massive student debt causes this generation to delay major life purchases. Sweetgreen is a salad company with a mission to "inspire healthier communities by connecting people to real food" something that targets the millennial generation. This generation wants to associate with things that have a purpose. Their food is considered to be healthy, their values are good with compostable bowls, napkins, and utensils. Sweetgreen has also collaborated with major celebrities and chefs including Dan Barber and Blue Hill creating the wastED salad which uses food scraps that are commonly thrown away with a purpose of the collaboration was to teach consumers about the country's food waste problem and encourage people to use plant parts that are often wasted. Sweetgreen also collaborated with musician Kendrick Lamar, the salad, "Beets Don't Kale My Vibe," was a pun playing off one of Lamar's most well-known lyrics. The collaboration received an enormous amount of press and coverage with over 100 articles featuring the salad, and 10% of proceeds from the salad went to FoodCorps to connect kids to real food. Sweetgreen is able to market based on the ways of giving back and doing good.
  • Generation Z
    Birth Years: 1995 to 2020 Current Age: 0 to 24 Size: 25% of the population Media Consumption: Heavy users of mobile devices. Shaping Events: Internet access at a young age. Finances: Similar to Gen X (their parents) in financial attitudes, but wanting to avoid debt after seeing Millennials struggle. Supreme is a brand that has built its success on Generation Z. A brand that started in 1994, made by skaters for skaters blew up to be considered a high fashion streetwear brand now. With its famous logo of a red ​rectangle and white lettering originally from Barbra Krugers' artwork. This brand used to sell items at a low price but now because of its popularity among the youth, it's resold value is astronomical. They have managed to live by the law of limited supply and high demand. Individuals buying from Supreme are also buying for an experience like Gap customers and are also able to market from it.

An example is Coca-Cola. The drink, introduced in 1886, it's still something that people reach for and live on daily.

Why and how is that?

Well, there are many ways that the brand is able to

keep its recognition. 

 - The font of the logo

 - The lack of price increases

  - Great branding and marketing

 -  What it offers to it's new generations

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