Friday, June 12, 2009

Good lord, aren't their enough demographics yet?

Ad Week reports today about a hot new demographic among women ages 25 to 32 -- the "nesties." How do they define this group?

NEW YORK The Knot Inc. has identified a demographic subset of women who are going through a series of intense, mega-life-changes in a compressed period of time -- and as a result are spending as much on consumer goods as they’ve ever spent in their lives.

The digital media company, best known for its core wedding-centric site TheKnot.com, recently conducted a study in conjunction with global research firm OTX. The result was the classification of this marketing-friendly group dubbed "Nesties" -- 25-to-32-year-old women who are getting engaged, planning weddings, shopping for houses and preparing to have kids -- essentially planning for the next 20 years of their lives during a tight three- to four-year window.

According to the elaborate report, which surveyed over 6,000 women this past February, the Nesties wield a whopping $283 billion in spending power. Yet, because of the heavy expenses incurred during many of their life-changing events, finances are top of mind. as Less than a quarter claim to "only think about finances when they absolutely have to," according to the report. Half of Nesties say they are overwhelmed by financial burdens, and close to 70 percent say they are cautious about spending on non-essentials.

Despite the recession, they are still spending on major purchases like houses, wedding dresses and cribs. “They are in the market at the same time for more things than maybe any other point in their lives,” said Knot CEO David Liu.

In other news, I've identified a demographic of men ages 25 to 45 that I call the Hasties. Their defining feature? They run away with great haste whenever theymeet Nesties. Not sure about their cumulative buying power yet, but I'm certain they drink a lot of beer and often can be see wearing t-shirts by Ed Hardy and Affliction.