By MARK PENN with E. KINNEY ZALESNE
From The Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column
Doom and gloom are in, optimism is out.
The fact that the stock market appears to have righted itself after the steep declines late last year seems out of step with the daily water-cooler talk about what is going to happen next. Fear about […]

[Read more →]

By MARK PENN with E. KINNEY ZALESNE
From The Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column
Guys are simply falling behind these days.
We may not yet have the first woman president, but a look at what is happening with the next generation shows that women are succeeding in an ever-widening range of areas, while there is a statistically significant […]

[Read more →]

By MARK PENN with E. KINNEY ZALESNE
From The Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column
Not long ago, everyone in America wanted to be a member of the “middle class.” In fact, as many as 53% of Americans described themselves that way to pollsters.
But with the information age and the rise of two-career incomes, being just middle class […]

[Read more →]

By MARK PENN with E. KINNEY ZALESNE
From The Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column
A closer look into the accelerating trend of buying hybrid vehicles
Unless you are willing to buy a windmill, the biggest green purchase out there is buying a hybrid car. Recently, the 1 millionth hybrid in the U.S. was sold, out of 135 million […]

[Read more →]

Mark Penn Responds:
People have raised questions about the calculations on the numbers of bloggers for hire. First, I was surprised at how few studies there are on this and I believe there definitely should be more. So perhaps in the future I will do some original research, but for this piece we took the best […]

[Read more →]

By MARK PENN with E. KINNEY ZALESNE
From The Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column
Until recently, being green was the best way for companies to demonstrate a sense of social responsibility, and for consumers to feel good about their purchases. Healthy food, hybrid cars, energy efficiency — these were the attributes that burnished brands.
But now green is […]

[Read more →]

By MARK PENN with E. KINNEY ZALESNE
From The Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column
With all the concern about America’s manufacturing sector losing jobs, it is easy to miss that the newest phenomenon is the wholesale loss of professional jobs, the very jobs that fueled America’s economic resurgence and political realignment over the last decade.
America has been […]

[Read more →]

By MARK PENN with E. KINNEY ZALESNE
From The Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column
Presidents and politicians no longer talk about simply creating jobs — now they are creating “green jobs.” Just in the stimulus bill alone, there are said to be four million new green jobs. It’s a great term — it conjures up neatly dressed […]

[Read more →]

By MARK PENN with E. KINNEY ZALESNE
From The Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column
With all the stimulus ready to go into more broadband, bigger tax cuts and infrastructure, some of America’s most expensive societal investments are also on the decline and in need of a bailout — getting married.
Marriage in America is on the rocks. People […]

[Read more →]

By MARK PENN with E. KINNEY ZALESNE
From The Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column
With so much attention on psychological marketing these days — finding new ways to tap into people’s heads — perhaps the single most neglected trend out there is the move towards more hard-nosed information-based shopping and purchasing.
While elites were busy shoveling money into […]

[Read more →]