NO McMANSIONS FOR MILLENNIALS

"Here’s what Generation Y doesn’t want: formal living rooms, soaker bathtubs, dependence on a car.

In other words, they don’t want their parents’ homes."

At AIM, we've been saying that for a long time. Read more from a Wall Street Journal report on the National Association of Home Builders conference.

Millennials are eyeing inner ring suburbs and homes with "character" as they move into the home initiation lifephase.

We loved this comment from a Boomer parent on the WSJ blog:

Milennials want my childhood without my immigrant accented grandparents…although they were a lot of fun and I miss them….art-deco inspired small homes within walking distance to the grocer, ice cream shop, hardware store and local movie theatre all owned by my neighbors. It was a special time.

http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2011/01/13/no-mcmansions-for-millennials/

10-Year Plan for the Class of 2011

The NY Times Magazine has published a fun, fascinating, interactive Web presentation featuring audio interviews with 18 high school seniors from a San Diego high school, who were asked what they imagine the next decade will have in store for them.

A number of the young people see themselves in careers of service... Jeremy Land is identified as wanting to become an emergency medical technician. “Blood and gore and stuff has never worried me that much,” he can be heard saying. Amanda Strohauer wants to be a psychologist because "I love helping people." Damian Dumas hopes to become a school counselor. The site also features a would-be Army veterinarian, a midwife, and an elementary school teacher.

With regard to wealth, the Class of 2011 seems to have realistic expectations. They see themselves "comfortable," but "I don't see anything in my future that would really make me that wealthy," according to Elivia Freeman who wants to be a neonatal nurse.

The most interesting career objective came from Salome Zamora who would like to own a bakery. This bakery would offer not only "regular" baked goods, but also bake "weed" into food for "people who have medical-marijuana cards."

ARE BABIES THE NEW TREND FOR OLDER MILLENNIALS???

I don’t want to leapfrog the importance of the Millennials and the wedding market because we think it’s going to be important, but I must comment on another phenomenon that I observed over this past weekend.

A little background…My husband and I will soon be empty nest Baby Boomers and we are considering where we want to settle after the last child has left for college. We have already lived the “country/suburban” lifestyle in the NY Metro area and have a New England mountain/lake home where we will live for the majority of the year, but where to settle for winter and “mud season”?? We are thinking we would like to be close to a city, preferably New York, in an affordable area with some degree of charm. Since prices in Brooklyn and Hoboken are reaching into the clouds, we decided to take a look at Jersey City. We had heard a lot about gentrifying brownstones, high rises with hotel amenities and quasi-affordability. What we had not heard about was HOW YOUNG the area is and HOW OLD we seemed by comparison! It was great to see so many young people – we certainly don’t want to live solely among senior citizens – but we didn’t see ANYONE our age the whole afternoon. (Until we stopped to eat a mid afternoon prix fixe meal at a dockside restaurant…where we realized that we were taking advantage of the “Early Bird Special.” UGH! We are our parents!!)

But I digress… In light of the opportunity to observe clusters of Millennials firsthand, we sat for several hours just watching the crowds walk by. It was like a laboratory reinforcing all the trends we’ve been watching at AIM over the past several years. Here are a few of my observations:

1. Everyone was about 25 years old (and at most early 30’s)

2. The crowd was quite diverse in terms of ethnicity and couple/combinations

3. The coffee bars were packed

4. Over half of the young people were pushing baby carriages with very young babies

So is the baby thing a new trend? Is the Recession over and now it’s time to start a family? Jersey City sits squarely across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan and Wall Street. We have been hearing for over a year that the financial industry is back and strong, so maybe this baby thing is not a national trend. I’d like to hear from some people in other parts of the country. What do you think?

-Robin A @ Albing International Marketing

Click here to see what Pew Research has to say about this Trend.

10 Best New Products for Millennials at 2011 International Home and Housewares Show

The Housewares Show this week was down-to-earth, but had its share of fun, new products. These were our picks for "best of show":

1. Nespresso Pixie

2. Black + Blum Hot Pot BBQ

3. HoMedics charging bags

4. Capital Brands Baby Bullet

5. Thermos UnderArmour Hydration Bottles

6. Casabella Keith Haring

7. iSi Twist N Sparkle

8. Evolution Robotics Mint Automatic Floor Cleaner

9. Zebag Wine Caddy and Rack

10.

Dansk Light Mario Batali cast iron cookware