We were interested to know what Generation Y consumers (men and women between the ages of 21-34) really wanted for the holidays, so we conducted 721 in-person surveys in 22 markets around the U.S and found some results that may make your holiday shopping a little easier.

We found that 45% Millennials prefer cash gifts over gift cards while 21% of them prefer gift cards. It appears that young adults today prefer to make their own purchasing decisions rather than receiving gift items. If they were to receive a gift card, an overwhelming 66% of them would rather have a bank card versus  music download cards or restaurant gift cards.

When you're making your final holiday shopping trip and you can't figure out what to give, remember that Millennials like to keep their purchasing power even in the holidays.

This infographic summarizes the findings from a survey of 1,000 social media users​ who were asked various questions about liking and interacting with brands on Facebook.

It's worth noting that the number one reason people gave for unliking a brand on Facebook was that the brand posted too frequently. Also, the top reason given by people who say they do not like brands on Facebook was that updates from brands clutter their newsfeed.

Our friend Kristien​ said it best, "Always tell [brands] to post with purpose!"

Via Contently.

What's the difference between UX (user experience) and UI (user interface)? This handy graphic from usabilitycounts makes distinguishing between these two often confused and misused terms as simple as a bowl of cereal.

News media coverage reports that gas may hit $5 per gallon by summertime. We also know that consumers typically reduce costs where possible and focus more on saving money when necessary living expenses, such as gas, increase. This led us here at BFG to some questions. How is this trend affecting the Generation Y demographic (women and men ages 21-34) specifically? What changes are they making? And finally, what are the implications for marketers?

In typical BFG form, we went out to find the answers. We surveyed 424 "Gen Y" respondents in 22 markets to get a better picture of the changes happening in this segment and in doing so, found some pretty interesting results.

We found that people ages 21-34 are already on the ball when it comes to financial planning for the future. 41 percent of respondents were already making plans for their finances on the chance that gas prices may rise to $5 per gallon. That led us to our next question: what changes are being made?

According to our results, 36 percent of the group is putting off an "important" purchase.  New cars (21 percent) and summer travel (11 percent) are the big ticket items that they are avoiding.  However, more than two-thirds of these “important purchases” are smaller items such as tobacco, alcohol, beer and non-essential items such as shoes and gym memberships.

The implications for marketers? Living cost increases can leave a negative impact on brand loyalty in this demographic. Many of our respondents indicated that they are willing to drop their favorite brands for lower priced competitive labels based on rising gas prices.

Because of this, building a strong brand relationship is more important now than ever. Look to social platforms that fit your brand best to start and strengthen...

Something for your inner typophile. Found on Daily Inforgraphic.