Cynthia Rekar — 2 April 2009
The current financial crisis will have short and long term consequences
An interesting article in the current issue of Foreign Policy crossed my path the other day titled, “The Long Legs of the Crash” by Daniel W. Drezner. Drezner offers an interesting macro perspective about the impact of our current economy boiled down to “13 unexpected consequences of the financial crisis” covering social, political and global aspects. As a market researcher, some of these predictions popped out in particular. Here are some of them (an explanation for each is covered in the article and can be found at: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4689
1. Skirts will get longer and Playboy centerfolds will be older and rounder. In my previous life in fashion retail, skirt length trends usually got shorter in economic hard times because it requires less fabric so cost less. No comment for the Playboy centerfold.
2. There will be an increase in web advertising among newspaper agencies (among the ones still hanging on) to help deliver them from bankruptcy.
3. Boomers will stay in the workplace longer because their retirement accounts took a nose dive and can’t sustain them thus keeping jobs from the next generation longer.
4. Conferences on the crisis of capitalism, e.g. Noureil Roubini, will be on the rise as and Great Depression literature will be chic.
I was particularly interested in number 6 “your kids will be savers.” Drezner states “macroeconomic realities in your childhood have a profound effect on your financial choices later in life, regardless of how much money you make.”
This statement got me thinking and I agree with the author. Assuming they are old enough to understand, kids are listening and watching their parents carefully. They are experiencing the repercussion of credit debt and excessive consumption thus learning and building the foundation for their own values of money and saving. As marketers we should not lose sight of this phase in history, as it will likely have a lasting affect on kids’ purchase decisions in the near future and when they become adults. I don’t think we’ll see the demise in desire for video games, Wii and iPods, but kids will be more pragmatic about their purchases, weigh out more carefully what’s in their best interest, be value conscious shoppers. They may even learn to wait until they have the money saved before buying. We shall see.
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