I got a kick out of reading this writeup on the recent Int'l Housewares Show. Midway through the article was this gem of analysis:
Younger customers, say marketers, are decidedly less fussy about cleaning, and looking for ways to make the whole process faster and easier. George Foreman Jr., the 30-year-old son of the boxing champion turned grillmaster, was at the show promoting the new George Foreman grill-cleaning spray. "I have a lot of friends who aren't married yet, and they grill something quick when they get home," Foreman says. "Some of the guys are lazy and might not clean their grills right away. This new spray cleaner will help them."
I've owned a GF grill for several years. There is nothing easier to clean in the world. How lazy can one get?
However, you don't have to be lazy to appreciate products like the Roomba. Ms. TSMR and I bought one for her sister this past Christmas. And while it requires little effort to operate, the real appeal to her family is that it's fun to watch. And it's apparently hysterical to watch pets interact with it.
Putting together what we know (or assume) to be the characteristics of the Echo Boomer market (kids of Boomers), is it time for some enterprising entreprenuer to launch "The Lazy Show"? Of course, if you market to lazy consumers, you run the risk of them being too lazy to show up.
NB - One unrelated complaint about the article - and it's pervasive throughout media. That is the use of "Starbucks-quality coffee" or the use of Starbucks as universal code for coffee shop. In the opening paragraph of the article it appears the author's use of "Starbucks-quality" means "good", when much of the coffee-drinking universe would consider that "average". Starbucks is not a synonym or meme for coffee. Starbucks is only a synonym for the over-roasted beans and $4 milkshakes they serve at Starbucks. Let's please stop this lazy journalism.
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