I bet someone heard the word sonic boom and crafted the word echo boom... For a marketer the Echo Boomers (born between 1979-1989) are a $2.45 Trillion opportunity. An article in this morning's MediaPost talks about the attitudes, behaviors and personalities.
Some nuggets from the article: Visa Tells Marketers: Turn Your Attention To Echo Boomers
- Echos are more practical and mature in their spending habits and more generous to others
- Echos are are concerned about saving for retirement
- Echos see having money as a way to give back to others, especially family members and charities
- Nearly half of Echo Boomers (48%) describe themselves as savers
- When it comes to shopping, Echo Boomers are focused on getting more value for their money: 69% consider themselves wait-and-see shoppers, and 83% say they are bargain shoppers
- 80% of Echo Boomers stick to a strict budget when making purchases, and 81% describe themselves as trying to cut back on what they spend
- Even at their young age, more than 70% of Echo Boomers are concerned about having enough money for retirement, a degree of concern similar to the about-to-retire Baby Boomers (78%)
- 65% of Echo Boomers believe their generation is falling behind economically
- 81% do not believe their generation is spending more responsibly
- 88% of Echo Boomers like to buy things for others more often than buying things just for themselves
- If they had extra or discretionary money to spend, 63% of Echo Boomers would most likely spend that money on something for others
- Approximately 81% of Echo Boomers say they are giving what they can to charities
- Only 25% of Baby Boomers describe the Echo Boomers as an admirable generation compared to 68% of Echo Boomers who admire Baby Boomers
- Approximately 68% of Baby Boomers believe Echo Boomers are too self-centered and focused upon themselves
- While Baby Boomers have a desire for youth, only 7% would prefer to be a member of the Echo Boomer generation
Additional highlights from "How America Spends" include:
- According to the Yankelovich Monitor, being seen as "financially successful" is important to 49% of Echo Boomers, a 13% increase since 2002
- Echo Boomers (77%) more often feel the need to manage their spending better than Baby Boomers (66%)
- Echo Boomers believe they have more stress and anxieties compared to other generations (71%)
- Nearly half of Echo Boomers (49%) think that they do not have a better life compared to other generations
