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“I’m surprised you aren’t mad at me… I thought you might hold it against me for killing 3 of your guys.” – John Smith., Last Man Standing, New Line Cinema (1996)

There’s been a number of girl books published recently that put down the “pre-adulthood” male (they call them guys). With trepidation, we enter into this discussion because one of the first things a married guy learns is he’s wrong…all the time! Of course, women have better role models. In the U.S., there’s Oprah, Rachel Rae, Ellen Degenerous, Julie Roberts, Katie Couric. Guys have Jerry Springer, Charlie Sheen, Will Farrell, Donald Trump, (add your favorites). Women rush to maturity, adulthood. Guys fight it as long as possible…sometimes into their 50s, 60s and beyond. Females say this is because men in their 20s are living a new kind of extended adolescence.

A Life Script
Sociologists assert there’s a “life script” for our events, stages.

Guys aren’t following the script:
– In 1970, 16% of American males 25-29 had never married
– Today, 55% haven’t
– 1st marriage mean age is about 30
– They experience a quarter-life crisis
– In 1970, 7 in 10 25-year-olds were married
– In 2000, only 1/3 had made this mistake

Everyone’s Waiting – Women are waiting longer to get married because their dads keep telling them not to marry beneath their station. Guys are waiting longer because they have too many things to do, too many things to play with to find the “station”. Source – U.S. Census Bureau

John Smith looked at the script and commented, “I thought everybody liked me. I am such a nice guy.” Contrary to the sociologists’ analysis, guys in their 20s aren’t in some limbo state — a hybrid state of semi-hormonal adolescence and responsible self-reliance. They’ve struggled with finding an acceptable adult identity since at least the mid-19th century. As John Smith said, “I was born without a conscience.” Females have the audacity to complain when guys talk about Star Wars as though it’s a movie made for people half their age. They find it unusual that a guy would like to spend an evening perfecting his eye/hand coordination with video games. Gals claim the guys are more like the kids they babysat, rather than the fathers who took them home.

Outnumbered – It should be pretty easy for guys to hook up with the right girl because they have more to choose from. Put another way, guys are in short supply. Not sure why women are so picky but marketers love the idea that guys have disposable income and they’re more predictable. Source – U.S. Census Bureau

There may be fewer males than females but guys have got, they buy stuff. That’s why companies, marketers have spent so much time learning about them.

Guys Count
eMarketer estimated there are 95.9 million males online or 48.2% of the U.S. iNet population, compared with 103.2 million females. The Players – Men – O.K., guys – get online more and spend more time per session online. Guys are more involved in sophisticated game play, product/service research and finding stuff. Source – Gallup Poll

But the scale now tips in the guys’ favor. Nielsen Online recorded an average of 60 PC sessions per male iNet user and only 54 sessions for females. In addition, they reported that males spent 4.4 hours online longer than females. Gallup found that 53% of males spent more than 1 hour per day on the Internet, compared to 42% of females. Being more active online, it’s only natural that they lead the way in using the iNet and social media to stay in contact and share information with friends.

Staying in Touch – Younger men prefer to stay in touch texting or on the phone. The other preferred option is exchanging information, ideas on Facebook. Older men prefer the old standbys – email or phone. Source – Askman.com, Ipsos

Facebook was edged out by texting as the prime way for men to stay in touch with their friends. While older men relied on email and telephone, guys showed less reliance on these communications choices. As for Twitter, 60% said they didn’t use it because they considered it worthless. Twelve percent didn’t know what it was, 8.5% said they used it “regularly.” The median number of lifetime tweets per user? One! In fact, 90% of the tweets come from 10% of the folks. True, Nielsen found that 55% of smartphone users 15-24 are female, but guys have a closer identification with their smartphone.

In addition:
– 72% use maps, GPS
– 72% also communicate with friends more with these devices
– 70% are very comfortable using location-based services

You probably think – men hunt, women gather and men want to get in/out quickly while women browse, linger.

Guys Buy
Nope…guys think, plan, research as much if not more!

Deep Thinkers – Not certain how men got tagged with the idea that they are shallow. Today’s guys think, research, plan a lot when they’re considering a new product/service. They also take advantage of online/on-phone discounts and rebates.

Guys use their phones to:
– confirm or justify purchases by getting reviews
– check for better prices
– look for coupons, use coupons they already received
– compare nutritional information, check recipes
– and increasingly, they come into the store with a picture on their phone of what they want

Marketers have to pay attention to in-store navigation to assist the male shopper (trust us, they’re not going to ask a sales person). That’s why firms have mobile-optimized sites and are integrating mobile with in-store offerings to enhance “the guy connection.” This may be why guys have a shorter path to purchase than women. They check, discuss with peers and look to spend less time in the store. This is one of the reasons in-store informative digital signage and kiosks have grown in recent years.

Infotainment -Digital signage kiosks such as the interactive kiosks shown above give guys all the information/assistance they need. This one was developed for European sportswear manufacturer ODLO to showcase their high-technology cycling undergarments. Kiosks can include complex interactive displays with multiple devices including touch screen and bar code scanning, multiple languages. Source – BrightSign

Guys are reluctant to ask clerks for information/assistance. Joe Monday responded, “We don’t pay too much attention to it here.” They use their smartphone and informational, interactive displays to get the information they want/need to make a knowledgeable buying decision.

JIT Information
With some of the more advanced WiFi-enabled signage solutions marketers, content developers and even store merchandising managers can test audio/video/text messages and rotate messages based on time of day/day of week. In real-time they can change signage messages that tie into mobile messages and quickly evaluate the message success/failure. But once the guy has made his purchasing decision, its outta’ there because there are things to do! Single guys have never been civilization’s most responsible actors…just check the movies they gotta’ see. Just don’t think of them a shallow or in that awkward pre-adult stage. Since the beginning of time, girls became women simply by reaching physical maturity.

Tough Road
Guys had to pass a test, get a job. That’s tough in today’s fierce job market. That’s why John Smith commented, “I was just as broke as when I arrived, but something would turn up. It always does.” Get the job and you can’t be too bossy, too self-confident, sensitive but not paternalistic, smart but not cocky. Guys have an uphill struggle in education, business, growing up. And who are their advisers, fellow workers, associates? They’re right by their side, guys helping guys on the way to maturity. As Hickey said, they have a vague idea of where they’re going, “I don’t want to die in Texas. Chicago, maybe… but not Texas. You can meet me there if you like.” Along the way, they buy gadgets…lots of gadgets.