Publications & Reports

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Konrad Lorenz famously became “mom” to a flock of baby geese to demonstrate that lifelong behavior can be subconsciously imprinted in the young at critical moments.

On a more complex scale, people growing up at about the same time and witnessing the same societal events experience generational imprinting – including, in consumer cultures, by brands, products and advertising.

Thousands of cultural and societal touchstones are imprinted in consumers’ unconscious minds over the years – both by personal experience and as received history from previous generations. Inevitably, brand and product perceptions today are rooted in a faded past that still shapes consumers’ feelings in ways they cannot fully remember, understand or explain in conventional surveys.

Brands evolve and reinvent, but their messaging is still filtered through the silent languages of consumer imprinting in which fluency is key to true engagement.

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2021 Portfolio: Free Content

Exclusions: Content is not available to market research or consulting companies. However, we entertain joint ventures: contact to discuss.

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Photo-Survey: Millennial and Gen X Women Embrace the America Dream

1,000 women aged 18-49 reveal what “The American Dream” means to them. We went beyond the easy headlines to find that, rather than dwell on social inequality, 70% feel they have either achieved it or are confident they will.

In fact, these typical American women explain and experience The Dream in unexpected, heartwarming ways rooted in down-to-earth everyday life culture.

Free report: 40 page overview of findings from this remarkable study. The full report is available to licensed subscribers only. CLICK to request.

Culture Clash: Boomer Moms and Humble American Cupholders vs. European Automakers

Thanks to their indulgent Boomer moms, American Millennials grew up in cars with cupholders which, after debuting in Lee Iacocca’s minivan twins, Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan (1983) went viral.

Euro-car brands dissed this down-market disconnect from autobahn élan until, forced to learn U.S. coffee and soft drink culture, they yielded to the proletarian tide. In the meantime, a lack of cultural sensitivity cost them untold millions – even billions – of dollars.

Free report: CLICK to request.

Frontiers of Boomer Culture: Granola Bars, Running Shoes & SUVs

20th century emphasis on expansion and personal reinvention coalesced in crazy-cool California.

Under the radar, hip young West Coast Boomers channeled counterculture to connect “radical fringe” attitudes, brands and products that – with help from Gen X – would become the cultural norm for Millennials and Gen Z.

Secret Boomer imprinting, powerful as ever, still shapes the behavior of their children and grandchildren.

Free report: CLICK to request.

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2021 Portfolio: Licensed Content

Exclusions: Content is not available to market research or consulting companies. However, we entertain joint ventures: contact to discuss.

Crossing the Groupthink Chasm to the Worlds #3 Economy

Americans 50+ represent the world’s #3 economy behind the U.S. itself and China but receive less than 10% of the U.S. ad spend. Obsolete groupthink claims they do not adapt, are easy to engage and damage brand image – memes perpetuated by a socio-cultural mismatch between advertisers and consumer-world.

We guide visionaries across this costly chasm to grab brand share from incurious laggards who cling to old Mad Men myths because, well, everyone else does.

Single subscriber: $950 (1-10 downloads). Enterprise price: $1,150   CLICK for information or to order.

Volkswagen, Cadillac and the Failure of Thinking Small 

Textbooks laud VW’s 1960s Think Small advertising campaign. In fact, it programmed Boomers in ways that almost destroyed the brand and, 40 years on, Cadillac as well.

This expert analysis reveals how lack of curiosity about the 50+ demo can devastate over-confident brands. As Millennials finally buy new autos and Gen X moves up to luxury, imprinted Boomer attitudes – hidden and undervalued – still wield awesome power over brand perceptions, priorities and pecking order among younger generations.

Single subscriber: $1,200 (1-10 downloads). Enterprise price: $1,475   CLICK for information or to order.

Generation X: Misunderstood eXiles on Main Street

Long misrepresented as slackers and no-hopers, Gen X has assumed real power everywhere – except in brand world. Each year, 4 million high income Xers, recast as “old,” are exiled from ad targeting at age 50, replaced in the 18-49 demo by low-income/no-income teens.

Data rich and highly visual, eXiles on Main Street is THE definitive clarification of Gen X identity, socio-cultural software, buying power and purchase priorities.

Single subscriber: $950 (1-10 downloads). Enterprise price: $1,150   CLICK for information or to order.

Brand Courtship in the 50+ Demographic: Do’s and Don’ts

Brands are like suitors whose intended partners want to be courted not just desired. Instead, this national survey found too many over 50 feel disparaged by advertisers as old, sick and needy.

Contents: everyday life attitudes, aspirations and motivations behind the Brand Courtship Scores™ of 40 top brands, 20 of them automotive. Listings: winners who reject obsolete myths and losers who should.

Single subscriber: $1,200 (1-10 downloads). Enterprise price: $1,475   CLICK for information or to order.

Car Interior Scenes & Secrets of Millennials and Gen X Drivers

Why 88% of Millennials and Gen Xers want improved vehicle interior storage solutions

Updated 2021: UX study digs beneath what drivers say about vehicle interiors to photo-document reality.

• Unlike traditional UX studies in which consumers typically prepare for the arrival of the research team, our unique Interior Archeology technique avoids artificiality by catching drivers off guard and unprepared.
• Survey data from 600 Millennials and Gen Xers and 100 in-depth photo-documented vehicle excavations.

Authored by consumer behavior experts for automakers, suppliers, product planners, brand strategists and advertising agencies, this 230 page report documents vehicles as problematic mobile habitats that bear little resemblance to the idealized interiors of design studios and promotional materials.

Report topics include:

• Behavioral data from a national sample of  600 Millennial and Gen X drivers
• 100 in-depth vehicle excavations and storage feature/area inventories
• Comprehensive interior photo gallery – cargo and “stuff” to children and pets
• Storage feature importance in vehicle choice, current vs. next vehicle
• Food and drink in the vehicle: impacts & implications
• Socio-cultural dynamics shaping driver usage, attitudes and behavior
• Millennial moms – under the most pressure, needing the most help
• Interior UX optimization: solutions and suggestions

Single subscriber: $3,200 (1-10 downloads). Enterprise price: $3,950  CLICK for information or to order.

Free for interested parties: Fast Facts & Photos

• The Manager’s Dilemma: Is What Consumers Say in Surveys Really True?
• Pets on The Loose: Not Cute – Unsafe
• Stuffed Cupholders Carry Far More “Stuff” Than Cups

CLICK to request Fast Facts & Photos download

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