Active Generation X: Gamers and Slackers No Longer
Thinking Big
Once dubbed the Slacker Generation, Generation X grew up spending their leisure time sitting still playing video games, watching MTV and eating fast food. So how have these formerly sedentary youths turned out as they enter their middle-aged years? Healthy, wealthy and wise, these fit and active 35 to 50-year-olds are aging, but haven’t slowed down the pace of their lives or their fitness routines. And they are spending their hard-earned money — currently in their peak career years — on products that help them stay fit and active. Yet as consumer brands trip over themselves to court and win over the shiny Millennial generation, the mighty yet stoic Generation X pushes forward with business as usual.
In BVK’s recent proprietary nationwide study of 1,000 active and health-conscious Generation Xers, we uncovered data that not only shed new light on the sheer size of this powerful generation but underscored the immediate need for active lifestyle and wellness/fitness brands to take strategic action to swoon them.
More than half of this demographic report that they are committed to a regular routine of exercise and/or rigorous outdoor hobbies, spending an average of 39 hours per month doing their preferred activities. This active Generation X cohort skews female, highly educated, married, with dependent children and within high-income households. So despite having a busier-than-average life, these middle-aged professionals are still finding the time to stay active, fit and healthy as they achieve high levels of success in many other aspects of their time-starved lifestyles. These achievers also have high expectations of the products they purchase to help them stay active.
Injuries and aging joints drive them to take on new and more varied physical activities, requiring plenty of new gear. And many say they are willing to shell out upwards of $1000 per year to get up and running with the equipment they need. Why? Because they can afford to. But they want that gear to fit them well and hold up well against wear and tear.
Brands in the fitness, sports, wellness and health food industries have a time-sensitive opportunity to dig deeper to understand the motivations and behaviors of this lucrative target audience. BVK has the data to help in that effort. For an in-depth review of our research findings, please contact us here.
