generations

From Boomers and Gen-Xers to Millennials and Digital Natives

Our generational focus started with kids. We’ve always been involved with youth research, going back … well, going back more than a generation. We started KidzEyes.com—our first online panel—soon followed by TeensEyes.com. It was the beginning of a new level of purpose as we started to tackle the special issues of child development and family dynamics, and how those relate to family marketing. Soon, we were dealing with kids, tweens, teens, young adults, younger parents, older parents, one, two, three or more kids in the household, older and younger siblings, multi-family households, grandparents and blended households. Well, all the variety of the families in the modern world!

When we began KidzEyes, parents mostly meant Boomers, the huge post-war generation who grew up in a rapidly expanding economy and developed a unique sense of self and their importance in the scheme of things. Some were Gen-Xers who were originally seen as little more than unknowns—the “not-Boomers.”  Soon enough, we were introduced to the generation that followed “X,” the Gen-Yers, some of whom were kids or teens themselves back when we originally met them, and their younger siblings, the Internet Generation or Digital Natives.

We’ve been following the Boomers since their kids were young, and we’re following them now as they begin to retire and move into a new, more Mature phase of their lives.  And we’re following the generations that were born when the Internet came of age and grew up without ever knowing a world that wasn’t global, always on, and always connected , the Millennials and Digital Natives.

We started with kids and parents and ended up with a whole new focus: Generations.