Melissa Levine, the presenter, started out by talking through Generation X and Generation Y – key characteristics coupled with [...]]]> Yesterday I went to The Intelligence Group’s (IG) Cassandra Report event at the Soho House and was really impressed with the trends that they presented. (If you don’t subscribe to Trendcentral by IG you’re totally missing out!)

Melissa Levine, the presenter, started out by talking through Generation X and Generation Y – key characteristics coupled with kickass movies. I couldn’t help but tweet, “long live 80s music, ferris bueller, rubix cuse, leggings & off the shoulder tees” after watching the quick movie on Gen X.

After talking about how IG defines the generations, Melissa shared some macro Gen X & Y trends that they have been seeing following the recession and now I’m sharing some of my favorites with you!

Identity Theft: No no, you’re not more at risk of getting your ID stolen online. Instead, this trend comes out of the massive loss of jobs, houses/mortgages and overall security. Even after Obama became president, 3/4 of people still feel personally affected by the recession. A lot of these people feel that their past identity has been lost – and because of this, reinvention has become a new survival skill.
- Because of this Gen Xers have become life chasers. They’ve started to explore more creative and less traditional jobs.
- Contrarily, many Gen Yers have become life stallers. They know there aren’t jobs out there, so instead they’re moving in with their parents or taking gap years to explore passion pursuits.

The Great Escape: This isn’t the Jessica Simpson spa day; this trend is referring to down n’ dirty, part Mardi Gras, part modern day Vaudeville escapes. People feel stress in their personal life and in turn are flirting with the fringe. Popular culture has exploded with vampire culture and Dexter has made us empathetic with a serial killer. Pot is back in a big way. People are looking for the grungy, cheap escape that doesn’t leave them in the gutter the next morning.
- Because of this, no one is really playing by the rules. Apparently there’s a new trend on the west coast called “snurfing” – people are taking cough syrup in a pill format to get high! Craziness!

True Blood opening credits

So – What does all of this mean for marketers? Consumers are more cynical than ever – They don’t think the recession is over yet and their wallets aren’t exactly fat. Consumers are looking for authentic experiences because experiences are just about the only thing that remain authentic. They can’t be ripped off.

Consumers are also looking towards corporations to make a difference. They feel that in their time of need, corporations with the big bucks should help out either through utility or entertainment. When brands can step in and provide meaningful content in a consumers time of need, the consumers become brand advocates. It’s a win-win situation. So c’mon brands, what are you waiting for?

(Thanks to @The2Noelle & @TheTrendCentral for the invite!)