Essentials of Gen X Consumers

Collage Group’s Essentials of Gen X consumers presentation explores three areas of our consumer fundamentals research: demographics and economic opportunity, identity related marketing expectations, and Cultural Traits.

Read below for several key insights and then download the presentation and recorded webinar to go deeper into our Gen X Cultural Traits.

Collage Group’s Essentials of Gen X consumers presentation explores three areas of our consumer fundamentals research: demographics and economic opportunity, identity related marketing expectations, and Cultural Traits. Read below for several key insights and then download the presentation and recorded webinar to go deeper into our Gen X Cultural Traits.

1. Gen X (aged between 42-56 years old in 2021) are less diverse than Millennials and Gen Z, but they’re significantly more diverse than the Baby Boomer cohort.

40% of the generation are people of color, much more than the 29% of Boomers. In fact, the rate of change in diversity between Baby Boomers and Gen X is much higher than from Gen X to Millennials or Millennials to Gen Z, showing how Gen X has led the way into the era of intrinsic generational diversity that exists today.

2. Despite being the smallest generation by population size, in 2019 Gen X was both the highest-earning and highest-spending generation of them all.

Due to their current life stage, Xers have reached the peak of their income potential in high-powered career positions and incur high costs for things like taking care of family and paying steep tuition prices for their college-bound kids. The Millennial and Gen X Segments Are Most Likely to Hold this View.

3. Gen Xers are most likely to go out of their way to support brands that are inclusive of people with physical disabilities, perhaps because they came of age during the fight for disability rights and the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.

Uniquely, Gen X was the only generation that included looking for brands that support Christians in their top five priorities, although this statistic was driven by white Gen Xers and is less prominent for multicultural Gen Xers.

4. As a smaller generation positioned between two larger cohorts, Gen X often finds themselves bridging gaps in society.

Growing up, they bridged the divide between analog and digital, and transitioned into the post-Cold War world. Gen X often feels caught in the middle and has been called the “sandwich” generation.

5. Brands can better connect with Gen X by leveraging the cohort’s Cultural Traits. Four important traits are: Self-Reliance, Enterprising, Optimism, and Traditional.

These traits can be used to create more authentic advertising, identify efficiencies to connect across cohorts through shared traits, and identify how to best position your brand.

Essentials of Gen X Consumers

Collage Group’s Essentials of Gen X consumers presentation explores three areas of our consumer fundamentals research: demographics and economic opportunity, identity related marketing expectations, and Cultural Traits.

1. Gen X (aged between 42-56 years old in 2021) are less diverse than Millennials and Gen Z, but they’re significantly more diverse than the Baby Boomer cohort.

2. Despite being the smallest generation by population size, in 2019 Gen X was both the highest-earning and highest-spending generation of them all.

3. Gen Xers are most likely to go out of their way to support brands that are inclusive of people with physical disabilities, perhaps because they came of age during the fight for disability rights and the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.

4. As a smaller generation positioned between two larger cohorts, Gen X often finds themselves bridging gaps in society.

5. Brands can better connect with Gen X by leveraging the cohort’s Cultural Traits. Four important traits are: Self-Reliance, Enterprising, Optimism, and Traditional.

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