The old days of a household containing mum+dad+2.2 kids is history

For the last year I have been banging on about the importance to marketers of the increase in multigenerational households. The impact of the recession on employment has made the issue even more important.

It is good to see that Adage has published an article about the subject.

A more detailed an elegant analysis of the subject comes from the Pew Research Centre.

While high unemployment and housing foreclosures of the recession have played a key role in the trend it has been growing over several decades, fuelled by demographic and cultural shifts such as the rising number of immigrants and the rising average age of young-adult marriages.

Whatever the reason it’s something that marketers cannot ignored. When their target consumer is in the supermarket, bank, real estate office they will be making the purchase decision not just based on their own wants and needs but on and increasing complex inter-generational family model. Dick Stroud