What’s been interesting for YouthBeat® to observe over the last couple of years is how technology development has changed course. For most of the 20-tens, the race was on for toy and technology companies to introduce coding toys to increasingly younger children. Now that such options exist even for preschoolers, manufacturers are turning their attention to the ambience of the technology experience for kids and families.
The turning of one year into another is a good time to reflect—in a child’s world in the U.S., the advancing of the school year over the summer may be the more relevant measure of milestones, but we old fogies at YouthBeat® like to check in on the calendar as well. 2019 has been a dynamic year in youth culture, and one that portends importance for the coming year and years further in the future.
The YouthBeat squad descended on Navy Pier in Chicago recently for the annual Chicago Toy and Game Week (ChiTAG). In comparison to the international Toy Fair event in New York every year, the experience in Chicago is much more approachable in three ways:
This year, much like 2018, marked continuous evolution, even upheaval, in retail environments for youth. In the summer, Amazon once again hosted Prime Days, also known as “Black Friday in July,” which accelerated the Back-to-School Shopping season. Other top retailers, such as Target, Walmart, and 200 other companies, jumped on the bandwagon with some offering up to a week’s worth of bargains. In the fall, Gamestop announced the closing of upwards of 200 stores.
We’ve had Millennials in our panels since they were teens; Gen Z and Gen Alpha since they were toddlers, along with their parents, making the YouthBeat® team experts on Generations. Our consultants craft custom foundational presentations for clients who need a Generation 101 overview for brand inspiration or to kick off a research or development initiative. Our holistic YouthBeat® data applies to a wide variety of industries—food + beverage, media, shopping, giving, and much, much more.
We’ve had Millennials in our panels since they were teens; Gen Z and Gen Alpha since they were toddlers, along with their parents, making the YouthBeat® team experts on Generations. Our consultants craft custom foundational presentations for clients who need a Generation 101 overview for brand inspiration or to kick off a research or development initiative.
This magical time of year is one of our favorites here at YouthBeat®. It’s nonreligious (therefore non-exclusive to large groups of the youth population) and involves excuses for giving and receiving treats—a true celebration of youth of all ages. Our colleague Derek Bertelsen here at C+R wrote a fantastic thought piece on the history, modernity, and fun facts of Halloween for adults, which you can check out here.
