The Hustle Goes Mainstream: Urban Hustle Study

Some interesting "Hustle" news From Today's Brandweek...Now mainstream advertisers, and marketers have a chance to look at the numbers associated with what we've been doing for years. Hopefully, they can understand that the Hustle is bigger than Crack Slanggin', and petty crime.. Today's Hustle is about building the LIFE of your dreams through the work of your dreams...Not just a career or a job but an entire life of doing what you love and getting paid to do it. Previous generations did what they HAD to do to get BY. This is the generation of being YOU and Getting IT.

According to Alloy Access in New York, Urban Hustlers, as it's dubbing this emerging group of 12-34-year-olds influenced by hip-hop lifestyle, is a powerful consumer market. Its emulation of [Bill] Gates and other entrepreneurs betokens the scope of its ambition and purchasing — these are hardcore shoppers. The "Urban Hustler" segment isn't defined by racial, geographic or other such demographics, but instead by "a shared mindset born out of the unique energy, creativity and diversity of America's urban centers and a shared aspiration for a lifestyle linked by social status and entrepreneurial and prosperous pursuits." The study was conducted with Harris Interactive; Alloy Access is the multicultural marketing division of Alloy Media + Marketing. Current figures verify this trend as no longer confined to inner-city zip codes. Almost 40% of Urban Hustlers live in suburban areas, and close to 40% of them are white. What further distinguishes them is a shared belief in their own influence. Three out of four Urban Hustlers (75%) characterize themselves as someone their friends seek out for advice on the latest trends.

"They are the producers of content and information and trends," said Alloy Access president Tru Pettigrew. "They're not only looking to receive information about what's hot and new, but also produce and create and flip it. It doesn't matter where you start from. You've got the kid who doesn't have a pot to piss in, and Kanye [West], whose mother is a professor but he still has that mindset."

read entire article at www.brandweek.com