Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Tue, Jul 14 1992 Date: Tue, 14 Jul 92 05:08:58 EDT Message-ID: 07-14 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update July 14, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network SPARKLING WATER CROWDS COKE: For decades, the soft drink market has been the bastion of Coke and Pepsi and assorted niche players. Then came the glitzy '80s and a relentless pursuit of "status" products that brought designer waters in cute little bottles. Now the soft drink skirmish has become more complicated. "New-Age" beverages are flooding onto grocery shelves. (For more, see special Beverage package below.) ECO FOLLOWS NEW WAVE: Hotels offered non-smoking rooms for years. Now a Vermont company is promising mountain-fresh air and spring-quality water. ECO International of Norwich, Vt., is installing air and water filters on a two-month trial basis in selected rooms at 10 hotels. Target: Environmentally conscious guests and those with allergies or sensitive skin. HOTELS INSTALLING FILTERS: The Days Inn in downtown Wilmington has had filters in 14 non-smoking rooms since July 6. Comfort Inns in Bensalem, Pa., and Mystic, Conn., and Courtyard by Marriott in Bucks County, Pa., also have the filters. Six more hotels are expected to install the systems in the next three weeks. Filter maker ECO says the company is following the "environmentally clean wave." IOWANS USE ANSWERING MACHINE: A poll by The Des Moines Register finds that more than one third of adults in Iowa - 37% - say they use an answering machine or voice mail at home. That's nearly double the 18% who told the Iowa Poll in 1989 that they used answering devices at home. Half the 18-24 age group has a home answering machine, the poll says. Less than one in five among people 65 or older can make that claim. WOMEN SPENDING LESS ON CLOTHES: In 1960, a woman earned an average of $3,296 a year and spent $147, or 4.5% of her income, on clothes, according to Glamour magazine. By 1990, she earned $19,816 and spent $802 of that on clothing, 4% of her income. WOMENS' FEET GROWING: Trend-watchers can learn as much from numbers as from what slinks down the runway each season, according to Glamour magazine. The average woman's shoe size today is 8 1:2 B. That's up from 7 1:2 B in 1965, 6 1:2 B in 1945 and 4 1:2 in the twenties. The average bra size today is 36C. It was 34B in 1982. COUPLES MERGE THEIR NAMES: Hybrid names are cropping up as newlyweds merge their identities. New York Times columnist William Safire recently noted the marriage of Valerie Silverman and Michael Thomas Flaherty, who became the Flahermans. It all started in 1975 when Jean Westhafer and Paul Moore married to become Mr. and Mrs. Westmoore in 1975. BIG HAIR IS BACK: Hair circumference has been on the decline since the Farrah Fawcett flips of the seventies, but a new generation of styling products and coiffed models like Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer are bringing big back into style. Velcro Brand Salon Rollers, which gave impetus to this movement, are being introduced in a super size (two inches in diameter.) SPECIAL PACKAGE ON BEVERAGE: YOU ARE WHAT YOU DRINK: "New Age" liquid alternatives vary from plain water potables - some fizzy, some not - to iced teas and exotic fruit juice mixtures. Instead of root beer, orange, grape or cherry, some new flavors include: Kiwi lime, guava orange strawberry, and passion fruit. "People are being more conscious about who they are in that new-age sort of way," said Tom Pirko, a beverage consultant. NEW LABELS GROWING FAST: Some 75 labels are sparring under the new-age umbrella, with such names as Clearly Canadian, Sundance, Mistic, and Snapple. Together, these brands account for just more than 2% of the nation's $47 billion soft drink market. Yet in the first quarter of 1992, the new-age category chalked up 9% volume growth vs. 4.1% for the old faithfuls, according to figures from Beverage Digest. SMALL COMPANIES MAKE BIG PROFITS: The big brewers lost interest in the new-age beverages because they didn't produce enough profits. But for a small corporation, the category holds a lot more promise. Sundance projects it will make $300 million in sales within two years. Sundance had sales of $55 million last year; Everfresh's $120 million in sales are split between the United States and Canada. (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM