Personal finance will be an “incredibly important” factor for more than half the U.S. (six in 10) during November’s presidential elections. Perhaps that’s because Americans will need the help getting them out of hot water, as consumer borrowing skyrocketed in March—up by $21.4 billion—thanks to auto financing and those locking in low interest rates on [...]
Sep 04, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Marketing, Politics, Trends | Tags: America, American millionaires, China, economic trends, Federal Reserve, India, November election, personal finance trends, recession, United States | Leave A Comment »
[Originally posted on Forbes.com.] Who’s kidding whom? Reading through my company’s latest Prosumer Report, “Aging: Moving Beyond Youth Culture,” I was struck that around three-quarters of respondents to our 19-country survey say they intend to age gracefully rather than fight it every step of the way. Yet, as the report points out, pharmacies are stocked [...]
Aug 20, 2012 | Categories:CSR, Features, Health and Wellness, Media, Trends, Youth | Tags: "Aging: Moving Beyond Youth Culture", aging, anti-aging, BCC Research, brain, brain health, Canada, communications, consumers, corporate social responsibility, CSR, Daniel Kahneman, Edward Bernays, euro rscg, Fast and Slow, Forbes.com, gratification, marketers, Marketing, Michael Bloomberg, mobility, Neuromarketing, Nobel Prize for Economics, old age, Prosumer Report, Robert Trivers, Thinking, unconscious desires, United States, Youth, youthful | Leave A Comment »
Thanks to a flood of cheap solar modules from Chinese manufacturers and the willingness of American installation companies to lease panels to customers in exchange for access to tax breaks or renewable energy credits, the number of Americans jumping on the clean energy bandwagon has more than doubled over the past two years. But not [...]
Jul 18, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Marketing, Trends | Tags: China, clean energy, Department of Commerce, electricity, Sierra Club, solar energy, solar panel installers, solar panel manufacturers, solar panels, solar systems, United States, utilities | Leave A Comment »
Over the next two years, some 200 new or updated car models will hit the road, but many of them got their first turn in the spotlight during the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition last month. Scheduled to introduce 15 new vehicles into the Chinese market by 2015, Ford debuted several models, including three SUVs intended [...]
May 29, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Trends | Tags: auto trends, automobile industry, car trends, China, Chinese moms, sport utility vehicles, SUV trends, SUVs, truck trends, United States | Leave A Comment »
Isn’t everyone online these days?! Your grandma might have joined Facebook, but there are plenty more who haven’t, reminds a new Pew poll: Though 88 percent of Americans own a cellphone, one in five adults still does not use the Internet. Nicknamed “Internet innocents,” the people least likely to have Internet access include the elderly, [...]
May 11, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: America, elderly, Internet elderly, Internet innocents, Internet trends, Internet usage, nursing homes, online trends, Pew poll, Russia, SDF, Super Dimensional Fortress, technology trends, United States, wearable computers | Leave A Comment »
In the U.S., the number of folks living alone is almost eight times greater now than in 1950. Today, when people tend to couple up and marry later and find divorce more acceptable and accessible if things don’t work out, 51 percent of Americans are single. That translates to roughly one in four living alone, [...]
May 09, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Brands, Marketing, Trends | Tags: autonomy, baby boom, demographic shift, demographic trends, depression, Eric Klinenberg, Finland, going solo, Japan, living alone, psychology, single motherhood, singleton, United States | Leave A Comment »
After Whitney Houston died in a Beverly Hilton bathtub, authorities collected several bottles of prescription drugs, including Xanax and Valium, from her hotel suite. Her official cause of death is still undetermined, but as her doctors and pharmacists are tracked down across several states, many speculate that prescription drug overdose is to blame. Not lost [...]
Mar 28, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Health and Wellness, Trends | Tags: American drug abuse, American drug problem, Brittany Murphy, Elvis Presley, Heath Ledger, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, prescription drug abuse, prescription drug overdose, United States, Valium, Whitney Houston, Xanax | Leave A Comment »
When a researcher spent a year inside three British high schools to gather material for a book on masculinity, he found straight teenage boys who were physically affectionate and emotionally expressive. He was surprised to note that the boys had blacklisted the “That’s so gay” insult that remains popular Stateside and that British teens actually [...]
Mar 27, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Politics, Trends, Youth | Tags: Alan Simpson, British Columbia, CNN, English Football Association, European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation, gay, homophobia, homosexuality, lesbian, love and relationships, Madrid, masculinity, Rick Santorum, sexuality, soccer, United Kingdom, United States, Wheaton College | Leave A Comment »
Online ad spending in Russia swelled by 56 percent in 2011—meaning that officially, but just barely, it surpassed print advertising spending. The U.S. is also set to hit that advertising milestone this year; in 2012 American advertisers will allot an estimated $39.5 billion to online campaigns (compared with $32.03 billion last year). Who’s pocketing these [...]
Mar 20, 2012 | Categories:Advertising, Brainsnacks, Media, Social Media, Technology, Trends | Tags: Advertising, advertising trends, american association of advertising agencies, association of national advertisers, digital ads, Facebook, Google, in-view advertising, infographic, online ad spending, online ads, print advertising, Russia, social media advertising, television advertising, the interactive advertising bureau, United States | Leave A Comment »
The good news: An international team of scientists from Japan, Switzerland and the U.S. found that combining chemotherapy and immunotherapy enhances the immune system’s ability to eliminate cancer cells. Still more research indicates that it’s OK to treat a woman’s cancer while she’s pregnant and that babies exposed to chemotherapy while in utero develop just [...]
Mar 15, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Health and Wellness, Trends | Tags: appetite, cancer, cancer cells, cancer during pregnancy, cancer research, cancer trends, chemotherapy, counterfeit Avastin, hunger hormone, immunotherapy, Japan, medical news, medical trends, Switzerland, United States | Leave A Comment »
After Marianne Gingrich, Newt’s second missus, claimed that he had asked her to stay married even as he continued an affair with his now wife, the Republican presidential hopeful vehemently denied the claim—but not before the open marriage debate was sparked anew. In fact, people were far less outraged by the alleged affair (which he [...]
Feb 22, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Trends | Tags: adultery, Britain, couples, love trends, Marianne Gingrich, marriage trends, monogamy, Newt Gingrich, open marriages, Republican presidential race, sex trends, sexual mores, United States | Leave A Comment »
Don’t be surprised to find yourself invited to fewer weddings this spring—5 percent fewer, if the numbers correlate with the drop in the marriage rate in 2011. That’s the U.S., but the U.K. is seeing a marital shift, as well. Meanwhile, across Britain and the States, the divorce rate has dropped or leveled, even in [...]
Jan 26, 2012 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Trends | Tags: divorce, England, global trends, love, love and relationships, marriage, psychology, relationships, Scotland, United Kingdom, United States, Wales, wedding | Leave A Comment »
The early admissions deadline for most colleges looms next week. Can’t you just see all the thousands of diligent high school students dotting their I’s and crossing their T’s, making a surefooted approach to the mailbox to send their application to a future alma mater? If you’re nodding your head, you’re showing your age. Almost [...]
Nov 23, 2011 | Categories:Brainsnacks, Trends | Tags: college admissions, college applications, college trends, colleges, Common App, ditigal world, higher education, online trends, scholarships, the common application, tuition, U.S. education, United Kingdom, United States, universities | Leave A Comment »
It might be early August, but a part of me is already fixated on one month from today: 9/11. My head tells me it’s an important milestone, but my heart is telling me I must somehow rise to the occasion and make Sept. 11 this year something more. It’s hard not to think what a [...]
Aug 11, 2011 | Categories:B2B, Features, Insights, Social Media, Youth | Tags: 9/11, Aspen Ideas Festival, engaged, enraged, Facebook, global warming, high school, Paris, pessimism, Sept. 11, September 11, Shanksville, terrorism, TFWNF, the economy, The French Will Never Forget, Time, TV, Twin Towers, Twitter, U.S., United States, YouTube | Leave A Comment »
