Kenneth W. Gronbach

Kenneth W. Gronbach is Futurist, a gifted public speaker and a nationally recognized expert in the field of Demography and Generational Marketing. Ken entertains his audiences with his own special brand of wit, humor and clear communication. He makes the science of shifting demography come alive with real life examples that make it relevant to today's culture, business climate and economy.  In his new book "The Age Curve, How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Storm", published by The American Management Association, Ken takes you through a fascinating common sense understanding of shifting demography and the related opportunities and challenges.The demographic landscape in the United States is made up a series of waves that are about twenty years in duration. It would follow that business will rise and fall according to the critical mass of customers heading toward it. You will enjoy extraordinary success if you are prepared and in front of the wave.  

 Ken's perspective is macro, a view from 30,000 feet, and very big picture. Demographers are able to forecast markets, societal phenomena, and economics with uncanny accuracy because they count people, not money or things. For example crime has been down in the United States for the last twenty years because the number of high risk crime committers (men 15 to 30 years old) has been low and fully employed. This is because the fertility in the United States dipped sharply between 1965 and 1984 creating a deficit in our population of about nine million people. This shortage of young people in the labor force also drove labor costs up and manufacturing off shore.  

Ken talks about how manufacturing will return to the United States with a vengeance because the United States is the only industrialized nation with a huge young highly skilled workforce, Generation Y, born 1985 to 2004. Generation Y is bigger than the Baby Boomers. The United States is the only industrialized nation with above replacement level fertility of 2.2 children per couple. The United States is on the only continent that can both produce and consume within its borders. The European Union has experienced below replacement level fertility for decades and has crippled it's labor force and internal consumer demand. China has "prevented" 400,000,000 live births in the last three decades because of it's ill-fated one child only policy and will not be able to feed itself in ten to fifteen years, let alone be a manufacturing force.  Demographically China is history destined to get old before it gets rich. 

Ken speaks about how the employee's market of the last twenty years is about to be reversed. For twenty years the tiny Generation X, born 1965 to 1984, has not supplied enough entry level labor to the work force to meet the demand. The Huge Generation Y born 1985 to 2004 will change all that and the United States will experience an employer's market for the first time in twenty years. Keeping employees motivated will be easy. It will be a condition of employment. Employers will be able to hire the best and brightest employees at will at very competitive rates.

Partial list of subjects/topics

 Ken Gronbach

Charting the Course through Demographic Change

The Return of Small Business

• The demise of Wal-Mart and other big boxes 
• The myth of too big to fail
• Why mom and pop shops will prevail 
• The new face of retail and manufacturing
• Community banks and credit unions come of age   

Marketing to Generation Y, Forget What You Think You Know

Generations Y and Z will be 100 million strong in 2010.

• A. Unprecedented influence on consumer spending
• B. Go Green or go home
• C. Never underestimate social networking
• D. Why there is a media mix mystery for Generation Y
• E. The secret of snail mail and outdoor advertising
• F. Plumage and the return of fashion

Marketing to the Baby Boomer, the New Demand

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the bloom is off the rose for Boomer spending.

• A. Consumption in freefall
• B. Where will the remaining Boomer dollars go?
• C. What is left of the largest inheritance in the history of the world?
• The new Boomer consumer 

The Myth of "the Graying of America"

The Silent Generation born 1925 to 1944, the smallest generation of the last one hundred years, is the next generation in line to become elderly.

• A. Where did all the old people go?
• B. Baby Boomers technically won't be elderly for twenty years and even then they will be the youngest old people in US history

Boomers and Retirement Redefined

Boomers, born 1945 to 1964, have resisted aging more than any generation in US history.

• A. Sixty is the new forty
• B. How many marriages are too many?
• C. Run-a-way demand for the over fifty-five community
• D. Inheriting their parents savings and buying starter castles

The New Latino Market

The US Census will put the number of Latino immigrants in the US at over fifty million in 2010.

• A. How do they consume and what are they buying?
• B. Branding Latinos with conventional media, especially radio.
• C. Rapid assimilation into US culture
• D. Career advancement and the American Dream

The new African American

Is the African American culture finally mainstream?

• The profound effects of the Obama Whitehouse
• The bigots are almost all dead
• Generations that don't see color

Reaching the Generations-Why Internet Advertising Isn't Working

There are five generations of consumers in the US. Reaching them is a science.

• A. Defining your audience
• B. Creating creative that matches your target
• C. Picking the correct media
• D. The pitfalls of the web

The Heartbreak of Generation X

Generation X , born 1965 to 1984, is eleven percent smaller than the Boomer generation it follows

• A. Generation X's disappointing performance
• B. The market that never was
• C. Closing public schools and shutting down motorcycle dealerships
• D. The end of Tax heaven

The New Housing Market and How to Cash in

There are five new housing markets in the US.

• A. The shattering of the glass ceiling and the new woman CEO
• B. The new very young Generation Y entrepreneur
• C. Latino and African American middle management
• D. The exodus from the city
• E. Generation Y's starter house and one carrot diamond

Japan and Detroit, Who is Winning and Why?

Generation Y is hot-rodding Japanese cars. Has anyone noticed?

• A. Building for the emerging market
• B. Why aren't kids driving SUVs?
• C. Hot rod Hondas- The underlying message
• D. A wake-up call for Detroit

Generation Y and the Real Meaning of Green

If you don't have a green story relative to your product or service you have rocks in your head.

• A. You can't fake company culture
• B. No green washing allowed
• C. Giving back is the new black
• D. Generation Y is THE emerging market- go green or go home

Why Manufacturing will Return to the United States

• A. The worlds biggest market will once again be the world's biggest manufacturer
• B. The changing US labor market
• C. Labor, money, technology, resources and energy
• D. A nation of immigrants and entrepreneurs

Why China is a Paper Tiger and Doomed to Fail

• A. The ill-fated one child policy
• B. Where is the water?
• C. A diseased national culture
• D. No labor no work
• E. The looming implosion

The Demographic Solution to Managements Perfect Storm

• A. The shortage of qualified middle management
• B. Immigrants to the rescue
• C. Education's greatest challenge

Generations in the Workplace - It's a New Ball game

• A. Boomers are retiring at the rate of one every eight seconds
• B. Supply and demand and the Generation X attitude
• C. Generation Y is entering the work force at the rate of one every seven seconds
• D. The clash between Y, X and Boomers

Generation Y, Leaving the World Better than You Found It

• A. The real kinder gentler generation
• B. Polluters beware
• C. Can you be kind to animals and still eat them
• •   D.   So, what is your carbon footprint number? 

Where did all the criminals come from?

Is the twenty year decline in crime over?

• A. Are our cities safe?
• B. Unemployment, unrest and the young American male.
• C. The new Robo Cop
• D. High risk immigrants and minorities
• E. Recruiting for the armed forces