If you have or know a child between the ages of 12 and 18, chances are you have probably heard about, or maybe even experienced, the jumping through hoops and bending over backward that the fan base of a certain pop princess endured just to see the dreaded ‘sold out’ alert flashing on laptop and mobile phones screens across the country. Taylor herself even referred to the experience as “feeling like [they went through] several bear attacks.”

The 2021 holiday season was a time of great celebration as families and close friends were finally able to (carefully) get back to spending the festivities together post-COVID. This year, it appears that people are ready to kick that up a notch as they get back to larger parties and other holiday events with bigger groups. As recently reported by ModernRetail.com, 77% of people plan to gather in groups this season, up significantly compared to 65% planning to celebrate only with immediate family in 2020. Additionally, 29% of those surveyed are planning to host a party and 61% answered “holiday parties” when asked what kind of celebrations they missed the most.

Early enrollment numbers are in for Fall 2022 - just in time for Early Decision and Action deadlines for the class of 2023. And while early reports had experts hopeful that we’d see a rebound after the steep two-year decline in the wake of the pandemic, it appears that the overall enrollment rate has once again decreased for the fifth semester since fall 2020.

Confession: I’m 47 years old and my Instagram feed is filled with posts from college students. No, I’m not trying to relive my youth (though, I must admit it IS a fun trip down memory lane) - I have a high school senior getting ready to apply to college.

When launching a new product or marketing campaign, the first question that must be answered is, “Who is my target audience?” Most brand leaders and marketers use demographics to identify their audience - objective data like gender, age, income, and marital status - and for some brands, this may be enough. A large cosmetics and skincare company for example could simply target women and still do quite well in reaching their buyers. But what if this skincare company wanted to launch a new, luxury vegan-ingredient product line? They would still likely reach their buyers using their current demographic targeting, but would also waste dollars reaching buyers that don’t have a preference for natural products and are not willing to pay a premium for them. Gathering subjective data like values, goals, and attitudes helps narrow down the target audience - and budget - to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing efforts.