humankind 2012: the transformation of aspiration

january

TheTransformation of Aspiration

HumanKind 2012

TheTransformation of AspirationA Big Life Of Small Plans

Once upon a time, there was a Big Plan. This Big Plan told us that good things would happen if we followed its instructions. All we had to do grow up, go to school, get married, have kids, and climb the corporate ladder. Sadly, the Big Plan died. It was mourned by educated men standing in the unemployment line. Oh well. It was a good run.

The end of the Big Plan means that we can’t plan our lives like we used to.

There’s no more taking the pain in the short term so we can do fancy things

later, like shopping at Whole Foods while wearing white pants. There’s no

working hard now to reap rewards in the scheduled future—the bar bands

don’t want to play “everybody’s working for the weekend” anymore. Because

life isn’t too unpredictable anymore. So we transformed our lives.

Our transformations are a reaction—an adaptation—to our environment.

And they sound like a bad movie trailer: Imagine a world in which the rich

and the poor are suspicious of each other. Where no one is married and no

one has a family as we know it. A world where women go to work and men

stay home to raise children.

Such is America in 2012. We make our own Big Plan to fit our own needs,

and damn what anyone else thinks. We enrich our lives from custom-made

plans because we know that the good times are not something to look

foward to. We recognize opportunities as they pop up and pounce. Now,

absent the Big Plan, we don’t want like we used to want. It’s the

transformation of aspiration. With our new expectations bolted to the

horizon, we make a big life of small plans.

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The Transformation of Aspiration january 2012 HumanKind 2012HumanKind 2012

probably best to file that question under “where to begin.”

But the real surprise isn’t that we’re sad but the fact that

we were happy a few short years ago. Traditionally, Americans

have been optimistic people—even our poor. Not any more.

Not since the recession.

Not since income inequality spawned the “Occupy” movement. No matter how

Occupy’s founding intentions buckle under the professional protesters who

hijacked its cause, the fall-out is a huge catch phrase. “We are the 99 percent”

is raking its fingernails across the chalkboard of the mind, and it’s not going to

die for a while. That’s why our poor don’t just suspect the system isn’t fair:

They’ve confirmed it. They know they are powerless to change the system. All

they can do is find out who will treat them as well as anyone else. The people

and companies that make everyone feel at home will get somewhere.

Why So Sad America?

,

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We Live WithWho We Love.

We make a family in our own image: Forty percent of all kids today are born to an unwed mother. And it’s no big deal.

But make no mistake, the idea of the 2.2 kids and the white picket

fence isn’t extinct. It’s not even on the endangered species list.

What’s changed is that traditional vision of the family no longer

serves as a blueprint for us. It’s not an ideal. There is no ideal.

It’s open season on defining what our family should look like.

And yet most of the media has been slow to catch up to the

reality. We’re force-fed a steady diet of traditional family images

when we could be bi-racial, single parents, gay, unmarried, or

some combination. The companies that hold up a mirror to real

family life can find affinity from us. Even if we’re the single gay

parent of an adopted kid of a different race.

60% of married

coupleslive together

first

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40% of kids today

are born to unmarried

moms

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of all different kinds. while a lot of america’s men worship at the temple of steve mcqueen and peyton manning, lots of guys are too busy chasing toddlers with a wet wipe and chiseling macaroni off the couch.

Sure, there are plenty of our men butchering the

corporate pig to carry home the bacon parts.

But we’re increasingly surrendering that role to

the women in our lives. Women outnumber us in

many professional college degree programs.

They are catching up in earning potential. And we’re

fine with that. If our women are better hunters,

let ’em hunt. Most of us are OK spending our days

at play dates and storytimes. The companies that

implore us to “man up” don’t understand that

masculinity is what we say it is. The companies are

better off showing that men are ever-changing beings

with a variety of identities. We’re sensitive like that.

Men Aren’tWhatThey Used To Be.

Men account for 2/3 of

recessionary job losses


78% of men don’t care abouttraditional

gender roles

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Americans eat big, bad, and often. That’s not news. What’s news is that almost half of us want healthy choices on every menu—but only 23 percent actually the healthy stuff.

According to our studies of American culture, people are increasingly telling us that cheeseburgers taste better than salad. But choosing to eat poorly is a bigger issue, because a cheeseburger is much more than

Healthy is what we say it is

lunch. It’s an affordable luxury—something that gives us five minutes of happiness amid the new uncertainty and unhappiness that surrounds us. We can’t afford the big luxuries any more. So we’ll settle for smaller ones—whether it’s food or something else.

The people who bring us pocket size luxuries are going to get some business from us. Which is why there’s a “value menu” plastered to every drive through in the nation.

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47% want healthy

food on menus

but only 23%actually

order thehealthy stuff

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The Transformation of Aspiration january 2012 HumanKind 2012

Every ConsumerIs A Shark.We don’t pay retail anymore. We used to know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy. But we don’t need to endure the polyester shirts and and fresh-off-the-truck deals anymore.

We have the daily deal in our inbox. There’s a few

every day. So we’ll pass on the laser hair removal

and wait for the next one. We’re smarter now.

We know to be patient and wait for what we

want. We know how to sniff out a deal with flash

buying, social shopping, and online shopping

clubs. So we know how much our business

matters. No longer does the cable company

doesn’t threaten to cut us off: We threaten to cut

them off. The companies that integrate special

incentives and deals and loyalty programs to

heavy users are going to thrive. And if they don’t,

we’ll show no mercy: by ignoring them.

DIGITAL COUPONS OUTPACED NEWSPAPER COUPONS

6:1

HumanKind 2012

58% follow brands

for deals


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That giant number adds up to the populations of New York and Los

Angeles combined. And 20 million new smartphones means more of us

checking the scores while sitting at the table — or worse. But it also

means video chatting in the back of a cab, Facebook updates while the

plane is on the runway, watching movies in class, and working on our own

terms. Lots of us have already got a fancy phone and demand a lot from

it. So the people who don’t yet have a smartphone expect a lot. Anything

that comes to our phone had better be useful. We want to deal with

companies that bring practical stuff to our phones. If something hits our

phone, and it doesn’t make life easier or fun, it’s garbage.

Twenty million more of us are going to be smartphone users in 2012.


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Everyone KnowsThere’s An App For That.

The Transformation of Aspiration january 2012 HumanKind 2012

HumanKind 2012

HumanKind 2012

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humankind 2012: the transformation of aspiration

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