• by Tanya Gazdik , June 29, 2023

Gen X consumers are juggling multiple responsibilities, and are looking to brands for help in relieving stress.

Enter Crayola, YouTube, Netflix and other brands that are being reframed as a relaxation tool. 

Thirty-one percent of Gen-Xers say improving their mental health/emotional wellbeing is an area of their focus; and 54% of the segment wishes the topic of mental health was more normalized and discussed more in society, according to a recent study by the Collage Group, which ranked 480 brands. 

Rounding out the top 10 of Gen X top brands are Band-Aid, YouTube, Dawn, Amazon, Clorox, Netflix and Snickers.

Lego, which is ranked 45 on the list, in particular has also been successful in marketing its product to both Gen-Xers and to the children of Ge- Xers, per the study.  Now in the age range of 44 to 58, many of those who make up the segment are in the midst of juggling homeownership, parenthood and caretaking responsibilities. 

The new report examining this group provides a number of unique revelations, such as their love for animals (69% of Gen -ers are pet owners), and their concerns for the environment (58% say climate change is a serious or very serious problem).  

Gen X is the first generation where women outperformed men in terms of higher education, as 39% of Gen X women earned at least a bachelor’s degree vs. 34% of Gen X men. Thus far, the trend has continued with millennials and Gen-Zers. Gen-Xers are presently within their peak earning years, and are the second largest generation in the workforce.

Collage Group measures the performance of hundreds of brands per year on cultural fluency and a variety of other metrics, using consumer surveys obtained through a number of sample platforms.  Surveys of 60-100 brands take place monthly and includes responses from approximately 1,200 consumers, with significant overrepresentation from multicultural and LGBTQ+ populations.  Collage’s Top Ten methodology extracts the top ten brands from the last 12 months, on a rolling basis.