Young Adults' Lifestyles & Social Trends

SUMMARY

Introduction

Young Adults in the US and Western Europe have a total income of US$798 billion, making them an important group to target despite their falling share of the population. There are a great many stereotypes and myths about marketing to Young Adults, but most of them are false - or at least, only true to a certain degree.

Scope

• Data and analysis on Young Adult populations and incomes, broken down by region, employment status and living arrangements
• In-depth quantitative data covering Young Adults consumption behavior across all food, drink and personal care categories
• Extensive primary research of consumers and industry players to uncover the latest thinking and reveal emerging opportunities
• Detailed action points offering practical strategies based on the trends and insights analyzed in the report

Report Highlights

Although the absolute numbers of Young Adults are barely growing and the groups relative size is declining, this does not mean that it is an unattractive group for marketers. Young Adults income dynamics are changing as well, and the news here is significantly more positive, in terms of overall and disposable incomes

The significant gap between what Young Adults do and what they claim to do creates an equally significant opportunity for marketers to address Young Adults needs by creating products and services that help them resolve this contradiction

The single most important thing that marketers targeting the Young Adults group must do is to avoid targeting Young Adults as a group. They need to work out exactly which consumer need states they are trying to address for consumers within the Young Adults age range - and therefore, exactly which individual consumers they are trying to target

Reasons to Purchase

• ・Obtain exclusive data on the spending power, working dynamics and living arrangements of Young Adults in the US and Europe
• ・Understand the attitudes driving different Young Adult groups consumption behavior
• Improve your marketing strategy by tailoring campaigns directly to the right people within the Young Adult consumer group

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Introduction
• The future decoded
• Young adults numbers are falling, but their incomes are rising
• Young Adults attitudes do not match their behavior
• Young Adults are hard to target through advertising
• Young Adults are big consumers of food, drink and personal care products
• Action points
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CHAPTER 2 THE FUTURE DECODED

• Introduction
• Trend: Young Adults make up less and less of the population
• The number of Young Adults is falling in Europe
• The proportion of Young Adults is falling everywhere
• Trend: Young Adults are getting richer - and are well worth targeting
• More and more Europeans are going into higher education
• Young Adults incomes vary significantly, but are on the rise
• High disposable incomes; wildly differing spending patterns
• Trend: friends are becoming more important than families
• Living away from home is increasingly common
• Houseshares lead in the US...
• ...but cohabiting is preferred in Europe
• Insight: Young Adult attitudes do not match behavior
• Young Adults buy brands despite claiming not to like them
• Contradictions between actions and beliefs apply across all areas of consumption
• Insight: Young Adults are hard to target through conventional advertising
• Conventional advertising resonates less well with Young Adults than other age groups
• Electronic advertising is hard to get right
• Insight: Young Adults are more receptive to indirect marketing
• Young Adults say they do not listen to recommendations
• Word-of-mouth marketing applies well to the Young Adults group
• Opinion Formers define perceptions of cool
• Adopters are the biggest influencers
• Young Adults need to believe that word-of-mouth informs rather than drives their behavior
• Insight: Young Adults are less cynical but also less ethically motivated than is stereotyped
• Young Adults are more likely to trust food and drinks claims
• Mixed trust levels towards cars and energy
• Lower-than-average trust of banks and personal care claims
• They are more likely to be involved in direct action than other groups
• ...but they are less likely to choose ethical goods
• Americans are keener to pay extra than Europeans
• Attitude is a more important factor than income
• Insight: brand loyalty is diminishing but is still significant
• Young Adults are first-time-buyers for many goods and services
• If they have a choice, Young Adults will avoid trying new products
• Young Adults are brand-promiscuous
• Insight: health is less important than it first appears
• Young Adults are aware of health issues
• They are almost as keen as average to improve health...
• ...but they are less likely than average to actually improve health
• Insight: Young Adults are high-value CPG consumers
• Drinks are the most important category for Young Adults
• Personal care is another spending priority
• Young Adults food consumption is in line with the general population
• Insight: on-the-go consumption is particularly important
• Young Adults consume a great deal of snack categories
• Soft drinks are popular across all the countries considered
• The group has a relaxed attitude to on-the-go consumption
• Insight: Young Adults are big-time beer drinkers
• Alcohol consumption among LDA-24s is well above average
• Young Adults prefer beer, then spirits, then wine
• Occasions, not consumers, are the drivers
• Insight: personal care spending is driven by image
• Haircare and fragrances are most important
• Young Adults need less make-up and skincare
• Invisible hygiene is under-targeted
• Conclusions

CHAPTER 3 ACTION POINTS

• Introduction
• Position brands to address Young Adults need states
• Address the needs of people living away from home for the first time
• Marketers need to reduce consumer anxiety
• Trialability drives product experimentation among Young Adults
• Help Young Adults transition towards the Mid-Life stage
• Increase and improve word-of-mouth and viral marketing
• Target Opinion Formers and Adopters
• Integrate viral messages with mainstream branding
• Case study: Magnum Seven Deadly Sins
• The route to successful V&WOM marketing
• Case study: Dyson
• Make ethical products appeal to Young Adults
• Replace puritan images with more credible marketing
• Case study: Innocent Drinks
• Market products based around affinity groups
• Case study: Amnesty/Co-operative Bank
• Affinity alliances work best when organizations have common goals
• Target Young Adults health concerns in food and drinks
• Take healthy products out of the diet ghetto
• Case study: Coca-Cola Zero
• Continue trend towards less fattening alcoholic drinks
• Target European Young Adults with low-cal beers
• Market low-cal RTDs, wine and cider at Young Adult women
• Tailor on-the-go products to match Young Adults requirements
• Create student-focused on the go products
• Target employed Young Adults workplace consumption
• Encouraging a planned impulse strategy
• Use vending machines to improve presence in the workplace
• Target the social aspect of workplace consumption
• Drive value rather than volume in alcoholic drinks
• Promote responsible drinking to Young Adults
• Avoid associating alcohol with sex and violence
• Actively promote a sensible drinking message
• Trade Young Adults up to higher value drinks
• Create premium drinks that appeal to Young Adults
• Use on-trade presence to keep consumer interest high
• Build Young Adults consumption of hygiene products
• Use aspirational marketing tactics for hygiene products
• Extend brands into hygiene categories

CHAPTER 4 APPENDIX

• Supplementary data
• Definitions
• General definitions
• Employment group definitions
• Living arrangement definitions
• Research methodology
• Future readings
• Report writing team
• How to contact experts in your industry
• List of Tables
• Table 1: Population aged 18-24, by country, Europe and US, 1999-2009 (millions)
• Table 2: 18-24 year olds as proportion of total population, by country, Europe and US, 1999-2009 (%)
• Table 3: Population aged 18-24, by employment group, Europe and US, 1999-2009 (millions)
• Table 4: Total income of 18-24 year olds, by employment group, Europe and US, 1999-2009 (US$bn)
• Table 5: Per head income of 18-24 year olds, by employment group, Europe and US, 1999-2009 (US$)
• Table 6: Population aged 18-24, by living arrangements, Europe and US, 1999-2009 (millions)
• Table 7: Young Adults brand-related need states and behaviors (% difference in score relative to overall adult population), Europe and US, 2004
• Table 8: Young Adults attitudes to debt (% difference in score relative to overall adult population), Europe and US, 2004
• Table 9: Proportion of consumers holding a non-mortgage loan, by age group, UK, 2004
• Table 10: Frequency with which consumers listen to recommendations when choosing goods & services, Europe and US, 2004
• Table 11: Frequency with which consumers solicit recommendations when choosing goods & services, Europe and US, 2004
• Table 12: Young Adults frequency of telling people about products and services that they have used (% difference in score relative to overall adult population), Europe and US, 2004
• Table 13: Young Adults willingness to trust corporate claims (% difference in score relative to overall adult population), Europe & US, 2004
• Table 14: Willingness of consumers to pay extra for ethically produced food, drink and personal care products, Europe and US, 2004
• Table 15: Willingness of consumers to pay extra for environmentally-friendly energy, Europe and US, 2004
• Table 16: Relative importance of different CPG categories as Young Adults move away from home
• Table 17: Young Adults attitudes to trying new products and experiences (% difference in score relative to overall adult population), Europe and US, 2004
• Table 18: Young Adults health-related attitudes and behaviors (% difference in score relative to overall adult population), Europe and US, 2004
• Table 19: Percentage of overweight and obese children, Europe and US, 1999-2009
• Table 20: Young Adults value of food, drink and personal care consumption per head, Europe and US, 2004 (US$ )
• Table 21: Young Adults value of snack food consumption per head, Europe and US, 2004 (US$)
• Table 22: Young Adults value of soft drinks consumption per head, Europe and US, 2004 (US$ )
• Table 23: Young Adults value of alcoholic drinks consumption per head*, Europe and US, 2004 (US$ )
• Table 24: Young Adults personal care consumption per head, Europe and US, 2004 (US$)
• Table 25: Young Adults value of food consumption per head, Europe, 2004 (US$)
• Table 26: Young Adults value of food consumption per head, US, 2004 (US$)
• Table 27: Young Adults value of drinks consumption per head, Europe, 2004 (US$)
• Table 28: Young Adults value of drinks consumption per head, US, 2004 (US$)
• Table 29: Young Adults value of personal care consumption per head, Europe, 2004 (US$)
• Table 30: Young Adults personal care consumption per head in the US, 2004 (US$)
• Table 31: Survey data - Young Adults need states (score out of 5; % difference in score relative to overall adult population), Europe and US, 2004
• Table 32: Survey data - Young Adults attitudes (score out of 5; % difference in score relative to overall adult population), Europe and US, 2004
• Table 33: Survey data - changes in Young Adults behaviors over past 12 months (1 = much less; 5 = much more; % difference in score relative to overall adult population) , Europe and US, 2004
• List of Figures
• Figure 1: Individuality and bonding are the most important need states for Young Adults
• Figure 2: Conventional advertising media has a poor success rate at targeting Young Adults
• Figure 3: Opinion Formers and Adopters are vital in driving new products mainstream adoption
• Figure 4: On-the-go consumption encompasses areas where consuming food and drink is the secondary activity
• Figure 5: Beer is the form of alcohol most appropriate to Young Adults pattern of social occasions
• Figure 6: Cadburys Almond Biscotti Dream is an upscale confectionery product targeted at adult female consumers
• Figure 7: Depending on product type, markets must target Opinion Formers, Adopters or a combination of the two
• Figure 8: The Magnum Seven Deadly Sins online campaign is a successful example of viral marketing
• Figure 9: The Dyson game is an example of successful viral marketing outside obvious product categories
• Figure 10: Innocent Drinks has used its natural and ethical credentials to build a cool, alternative brand
• Figure 11: The Co-operative Banks Amnesty International credit card aligns the values of the affinity group and the company
• Figure 12: Coca-Cola Zero aims to overcome Young Adults reservations about health-related products
• Figure 13: Bacardi Island Breeze and Diet Lambrini are targeted at female Young Adults who want to drink while minimizing calorie consumption
• Figure 14: Walkers Great British Takeaways chips appeal to male Young Adults lifestyle patterns and sense of humor
• Figure 15: Many countries have voluntary codes that deter manufacturers from marketing drinks irresponsibly
• Figure 16: Absolut Cut is a premium-branded RTD that aims to attract drinkers away from cheaper pre-mixed spirits
• Figure 17: Mentadent Xperiences innovative packaging and marketing is closely targeted at male Young Adults
• Figure 18: Avons Mark product line is a cross-category range to be used throughout female Young Adults beauty regimes