Every morning, my lovely, wonderful wife brings me my morning cup of joe, so I can concentrate on my reading and writing. I love that service, her, and the coffee. As it turns out, far from being unhealthy, that java feed just might be good for me, really good for me.
- Drinking moderate amounts of coffee is linked to lower rates of pretty much all cardiovascular disease, contrary to what many might have heard about the dangers of coffee or caffeine. Even consumers on the very high end of the spectrum appear to have minimal, if any, ill effects.
Just sayin’ … As more folks, especially young folks, come to know about the above, the bigger the coffee industry grows. Speaking of young folks, and their transition into political power and captains of industry …
- The decline has been propelled in part by generational change, as relatively non-Christian millennials reach adulthood and gradually replace the oldest and most Christian adults.
The decline mentioned above is about religious affiliation. Now, that is not the important point, nor the relevant point, although there are major social ramifications to the reality. The takeaway from the statement is the young are replacing the old in all facets of society, and as they do so, the context changes. We are seeing this now as Millennials take the reins of power.
- Younger adults have been particularly likely to join the unaffiliated in recent years. In 2007, 25 percent of 18-to-26-year-olds were unaffiliated; now 34 percent of the same cohort is unaffiliated.
And as I pointed out yesterday, the Millennials are truly the digital generation, and, as such, they are the target of mobile everything, including the most potent of all forces – advertising.
- Google not only is the world’s biggest media company, it’s leaving everyone else in the dust. In terms of revenue, the search engine giant is now 136% bigger than its nearest competitor, Walt Disney (DIS), owner of ESPN and Marvel Studios.
- And if that isn’t enough to make a TV executive cry, it’s bigger than a combined Disney and Comcast (CMCSA), owner of Universal Studios and NBC, according to a report from ZenithOptimedia that ranks companies by revenue from businesses that support advertising.
There it is – advertising. What once was the domain of the big three TV companies (CBS, NBC, ABC) is now the domain of the amoeba-like company that is swallowing the world – Google.
- Google’s ascendancy is due in part to the proliferation of smartphone and tablets, which rely on the company’s search engine to feed mobile consumers the information they need to make purchases large and small, said the ZenithOptimedia report published on Monday. Using information about location and preference, Google is able to target consumers with relevant display ads.
And there you have it again. The digital generation and their mobile computing inclination is the target, the really big target, as traditional advertising is moribund, just as the traditional modalities of entertainment are moribund, just as traditional affiliations with religion are slowly ebbing away. And the important implications of this, as I wrote a moment ago, are social, for sure, but even more so, as the old replaces the new in society, markets change.
As markets change, so should your money move. For example, several years ago, two close friends told me they had most of their money in one stock – AT&T. Now, that itself is a not a wise thing to do, but even more so, as I told them, unless that dinosaur morphs, it has a weak future. Back them it was still banking on the hardwiring into the home, and, as it was doing so, its customer base was falling off (think Millenials). Markets change.
AT&T was once the amoeba swallowing the world, and now it is Google, although, I must admit, Google is swallowing the world in a much more comprehensive way than AT&T ever did. Point being, look to Google to see what interests them and you might see the next hot thing for the Millennials, you know, the folks starting to take the wheel from their parents.
Granted, taking the wheel is fast becoming an antiquated notion as Google, Tesla, Apple, and I imagine a host of others are developing the driverless car as I write. Yes, everything is changing.
Trade in the day; invest in your life …
