December 30, 2009 – 11:34 am
by Cree McCree WHAT’S HAPPENING Think small. That’s the Millennial mantra when it come to cars. Half of today’s young adults are buying compacts or subcompacts, while only one in five are choosing a midsize model (New York Times 11.19.09). With Millennials poised to become the largest car-buying cohort, Ford is betting its future on [...]
December 30, 2009 – 8:18 am
by Charlotte Beal OK, so the Aughts haven’t ended on a particularly high note. It’s been a decade of extreme volatility, but through better and worse, since 2002 Iconoculture has been getting at the why’s behind consumer desires and actions. This week, we’re looking back at the most interesting, powerful and insightful pieces of content [...]
December 29, 2009 – 10:40 am
by Abelardo de la Peña Jr. WHAT’S HAPPENING Gift exchanging gets a thrifty twist at a Mexican American family’s annual Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) get together. A high-spirited game of Lotería, where gift cards are the prizes and participation is voluntary, keeps spirits soaring amidst the eating and gossiping (Iconoculture observation 12.24.08). As the family [...]
By Iconoculture
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Posted in Consumers, Latino, Retail
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Tagged Abelardo de la Peña Jr., Consumer trends, Gift cards, Gift trading, Great Recession, Holiday giving, Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Latino families, Lotería
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December 28, 2009 – 10:21 am
by Cree McCree WHAT’S HAPPENING Home Depot may be struggling, but it owns a lot of land — up to 15 acres per store, including vast parking lots. Now it hopes to cash in on all that sprawling vacant asphalt by selling off lots to other retailers (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 11.10.09). To lure potential tenants during a [...]
December 24, 2009 – 8:17 am
by Sarah Fazio WHAT’S HAPPENING As an alternative to felled foliage, some West Coast consumers are renting live, potted Christmas trees. The service started in Portland, OR, by the aptly named Original Living Christmas Tree Co. Eighty bucks brings a tree home with delivery and pick-up via Zipcars (LATimesBlogs.LATimes.com 11.30.09). Last year we told you [...]
By Iconoculture
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Posted in Consumer Trend, Green
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Tagged Adopt a Christmas Tree, Consumer trends, Friends of the Urban Forest, Green Christmas, Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Ikea Seattle, Living Christmast Company, Original Living Christmas Tree Company, Renting Christmas trees, Sarah Fazio
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December 22, 2009 – 1:19 pm
by Nissa Hanna I’m not sure how it happened, but gifts for myself found their way into my shopping bags this holiday season. I checked my list twice and, nope, personal presents were nowhere to be found; but somehow I walked away with a few things that would bypass the tree and go straight to [...]
December 22, 2009 – 6:20 am
by Rocio Zamora Arzola WHAT’S HAPPENING When it comes to clinical studies, Latinos typically stay away. Seeking participants for an Alzheimer’s study, Phoenix’s St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center found a ready-made group: El Grupo, composed of male Latino alumni from Phoenix Union High School. The group of seniors meets monthly at a local restaurant, [...]
By Iconoculture
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Posted in Health, Latino
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Tagged Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Consumer trends, Rocio Zamora Arzola, Latino seniors, El Grupo, Phoenix Union High Shcool, St. Joseph's Hospital, Alzheimer's, Latino beehiving
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December 21, 2009 – 6:17 am
by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING A recent survey conducted in Britain by iForce found that shipping options are complicating online shopping. The Delivery Options survey looked at 70 top e-retailers and learned that less than 10% let shoppers choose to receive their packages in either the morning or evening (InternetRetailing.net 12.1.09). Shipping cost clarity is [...]
December 18, 2009 – 6:46 am
by Reed Robinson WHAT’S HAPPENING Helicopter parents, start your engines! With the release of their first iPhone application — iCurfew — Radical Parenting offers Mom and Dad a real-time mobile platform to track their child’s location. For 99 cents, iCurfew seamlessly connects guardians with their brood via a combination of GPS and Google maps. The [...]
By Iconoculture
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Posted in Consumer Trend, Parents, Technology
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Tagged Connected kids, GPS tracking, Helicopter parents, Iconoculture, Iconowatch, iCurfew, iPhone applications, Radical Parenting, Reed Robinson
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December 17, 2009 – 3:10 pm
Gregg Archibald, Derek Stubbs and Hans Eisenbeis discuss signs of recovery, holiday shopping, and what’s in store for the consumer economy in 2010. Download December’s economic podcast here: Financial Innovation: Bottoms Up Week 30 29 min., 42 sec.
By Iconoculture
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Posted in Consumer Trend, Economy, Podcasts
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Tagged Consumer economy, Consumer spending, Derek Stubbs, Economic outlook 2010, economic recovery, Great Recession, Gregg Archibald, Hans Eisenbeis, Holiday shopping
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December 17, 2009 – 6:42 am
by Hans Eisenbeis WHAT’S HAPPENING Anecdotally, we’ve known times are tough for Millennials. If they’ve been to college, they carry mountains of debt, and they’ve been hit harder than any other generation in the area of unemployment. Now the Pew Center and the U.S. Census confirm that many are dealing with the economy by heading [...]
December 16, 2009 – 9:39 am
by Rob van Alstyne As an admitted television junkie, I grab my fix whenever and wherever I can. But with the recent news that yet another round of rate hikes will be coming to my cable service, I’m considering the formerly unthinkable: cutting the cord and going cable-TV-free for the first time since my college [...]
December 15, 2009 – 2:33 pm
-A self-proclaimed overly simplified—but admittedly welcome—cheat sheet for the climate conference. -Yesterday’s news from the U.N.’s official site. -Interactive tools: Google Earth shows climate change scenarios and “tours” the world; CNN and YouTube launched the COP15 channel taking questions from around the globe for a panel in Copenhagen to answer live today. -President Obama has [...]
December 15, 2009 – 6:40 am
WHAT’S HAPPENING Mexicans leave their home country to seek work in the U.S. The money they send home sustains families left behind. What happens when the jobs, and the salaries, dry up? Money starts flowing north. According to government officials, money-transfer operators, immigration experts and relatives of out-of-work migrants, families are scraping together pesos to [...]
By Iconoculture
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Posted in Consumer Trend, Latino, Money/Spending
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Tagged Abelardo de la Peña Jr., Consumer trends, Great Recession, Iconoculture, Iconowatch, Immigrant support, Mexican families, Money transfers, Reverse remittance
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