Well, well, well. The year 2001 is upon us now. With the strains of Radiohead's "Idioteque" as a soundtrack for the next few moments, let's look toward a near future that seems to be presenting many more questions than last year's millennial turn.

Perhaps the most pressing question facing our society right now is how best to deal with the current sense of economic malaise that is steadily pressing its way into our collective psyche.
The implications for the market are enormous.

Pragmatic Consumerism
Fortunately, we seem to be getting increasingly better at understanding that notions of karmic balance actually DO influence even the darkest, pragmatic recesses of our economy. Let's face it... most of us know, almost innately, that the past great spell of economic goodness is destined for a balancing period of limited growth and comparatively tighter times.

With last year's tech sector retreat from wide-eyed optimism the die was being cast. There is a notion out there slowly taking hold amongst even the most mainstream of consumers that a self-inflicted tightening of the belt is always better than a tightening up that is beyond our control. The specific scope of this balancing is still up in the air but one thing we can all be fairly sure of is that the next year is going to be one defined by retrenchement in the consumerist sphere. In the long run, this is a good thing but markets are going to have to shift along with this tendency to succeed.

Instead of offerings that are 'new' and 'fast' and 'modern' and 'you just have to have it,' youth skewed brands are going to have to think about product considerations that include durability, quality consumer support, multi-purposes and images that go beyond the next trend. Trendiness will definitely play a diminished role within youth culture over the next few years. Product and/or service lines must be thought out carefully to match this youthful pragmatism. It's less about being different or now today and much more about "what this can do for me over the long run."

Do not fret. Youth will continue to make purchases (lots of them) and tend to have more disposable income available for entertainment and lifestyle purchasing than any other cohort. However, brands are going to have to make offers that speak to a more discriminating young consumer. Those that don't choose to act could be left at the wayside and, at worst, meet their demise over the next few years of what we like to call pragmatic consumerism.

This trend is going to cut across all cohorts in the near future but what are the implications for the teen and young adult sector of our soon-to-be slowed down economy?

Well, aside from the macro implication of a move away from the unbridled consumerism of the back 90's let's take a look at one major trend set to affect the youth market very hard and very soon - comfort and balance life styling.

Comfort and Balance Life Styling

Over the past few years we've been chronicling the ascendancy of simplicity and tradition within the context of this 'modern age' as a symbol for an important, youth-created search for balance in these increasingly confusing times. As things get more pragmatic and comparatively tight over the next couple years notions of comfort and balance will play a dramatically influential role within the actual young consumer market.

Using fashion as an example - watch for a resurgent interest in rugged vintage looks (old and durable sweaters, jeans, boots, ponchos, and leather) as well as a real interest in homemade anything. On the consciously retro side of things, again the vintage markets will cash in by supplying the fashion forward teen with 80's punk and new-wave styles. The real deal is much easier to get, cooler, cheaper and generally better made when bought used at a reputable second-hand store.

Rough-hewn fabrics will continue to offer the down-to-earth cachet they enjoy today but watch for this to go even further as knitting takes off as a symbolic nod to laid-back coolness in the near future. This has been a hot trend for the past year or so in Japan and (as we all know) our young Asian counter-parts continue to lay the groundwork for what is soon to be cool here across the Pacific. A purely unscientific study of gifts for Christmas 2000 amidst our office and within the NRGen community revealed a surprising level of home made wool scarves, toques and sweaters. You heard it here first folks! Start knitting.

But seriously, these new trends in fashion stand as rich metaphors for the standards that young consumers are going to be applying to all that they consider buying.

In entertainment and the personalities attached to these mega industries there will be a search for more depth and balance from those ready to consume their images and offerings. In the technology field there will be a search for products and services that offer up the basics first exceptionally well and the gizmos second. In terms of 'going out' we will see a movement soon that focuses on in-house and homemade entertainment activities. And so on.

As the next couple of years unfold it will be increasingly important for youth-targeted brands and products to address this change in thinking. This is not really a call for emergency stations in the teen and young adult market just a steady call to do what we always have told our clients to do. Namely, to think about the deeper needs of their young clientele instead of simply choking the market with the newest and the coolest. Now, more than ever, this is the consideration that will play an absolutely definitive role in our youth market.

Mike Farrell
Director, Products and Services
NRG Solutions
Mike.farrell@thenrggroup.com