The Future Laboratory identified our Guardian consumer market in their Spring Trend Briefing Dossier 2006, they called them 'Generation Jones':
Better determined by the ways that they think than by traditional gauges of classes, income and ethnicity… they share neither the sense of tradition, community, idealism or the general trust of government that the Baby Boomers had, nor the cynicism or me-me-me ethos of Generation X. Above all they are practical, seeking the best deals and less fixed in their opinions than others. They give equal value to their finances and a meaningful life philosophy.
Generation Jones' thinking has shifted from ‘everything is crap’ to ‘everything is crap but it doesn’t have to be that way’… it believes in the possibility of change…
These are the group that were the first students to graduate, but with no guarantee of jobs, brought up to believe they could have it all before abruptly discovering that they couldn’t… they are affluent but unsatisfied with that ‘now or never’ attitude. Their ironic, sarcastic (rather than edgy) humour requires a suitable tone.
Jonesers appreciate high production values, style, design and technology, but they have well honed bullshit detectors… they want honesty. Jonesers firmly believe ‘they deserve it’ and expect brands to deliver. These are the demographic who work long hours, have delayed marriages, and may have school aged children and aging parents who need care. In this sense, they crave simplicity. (The average age of marriage in the UK is now 29, with first mortgages taken out at 34…)
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Anterior:Insight also pin-points our target market in their dossier, The Future of Luxury (Volume One) describing them as,
‘… collectors and critics, archivists and connoisseurs, experts and opinionated.’
Their luxury directive is about using money to pursue intellectual and cultural passions as opposed to flaunting wealth.
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VIEWPOINT #21 PRESENTS THE ‘THIRTYFIVEUP’ DEMOGRAPHIC:
Less cynical about the notion of family, ThirtyFiveUps might still wear the current ‘The’ band t-shirt – The Kills, The Strokes etc… they also count both pension and Playstation amoung their expenditure - an interesting mix, I find. They like the internet and notions of being connected, using their loose social networks to sort out tickets, difficult-to-obtain brands and hard-to-find vinyl covers. These are the people who place words such as ‘family’, ‘real’, ‘friends, ‘ simple’ and ‘authentic’ of high value, leaving ‘synthetic’, ‘fashionable’ and ‘hectic’ at the bottom of the pile.
The result of our always-on, always-connected lifestyle is that it’s easier to stay in the loop and indulge a variety of interests (downloading music, watching videos, reading blogs etc.) yet still keeping up with current affairs, mortgage payments and grocery shopping.
This group is disillusioned by our current consumer society, fast fashion, fast retail, continuous re-buy and have a strong refusal to leave behind the time when penny chews still cost a penny…
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Our female consumer was also profiled by The Future Laboratory, albeit in their Spring 2005 Dossier, and they’ve called her Heidi – Highly Educated, Independent, Degree-carrying Individual
Heidi’s have achieved great things at school and college, are confident behind the wheel, and have progressed very nicely, thanks, in their career.
Heidi is university educated, with an average income of £25K. It’s more than likely that she is single as she’s having far too much fun spending her money to get hitched. She’s sexually confident, go-getting, career-driven and flirtatious… she’s the opinionated, decision maker.
