Bospar Study: Will 2020 Kick Off a Reboot of the Roaring Twenties?

And how much should you tip?

SAN FRANCISCO—January 1, 2020—Bospar, the boutique PR firm that puts tech companies on the map, wanted to know: how will the year 2020 be branded? Historians claim the original Roaring Twenties got its name somewhere between 1925 to 1930, as an allusion to a roaring economy set against the background of celebrating the end of World War I while also embracing jazz, radio and non-traditional thinking and mores.

One out of every ten American thinks that the 2020s will also be dubbed the “Roaring 20s.” But twice as many (22.2%) believe the decade will be known as the 2020s. Meanwhile, a third of Americans (31.6%) think it’s too early to prognosticate.

An even larger group of Americans (32.3%) believes that this new year will be bigger than before, since “2020” has a nice ring to it. Nearly one in five (17.6%) believes it will be smaller due to concerns over an economic slowdown. Nearly half (43%) believe it will be the same as last year, while only 7.1% think it will be overshadowed by impeachment news.

When it comes to PR in 2020, the biggest expectation Americans have is that it will be tied to news related to President Trump, followed by more fake news and more election news. Americans already named President Trump the biggest PR winner of 2019…and its biggest loser.

Most Americans said the impeachment proceedings would not distract them from their holiday spirit, shopping or drinking. When asked how much alcohol they planned to drink this holiday season, a majority (51.9%) said they would drink the same, while 15.6% said more, and 32.6% said less.

But most importantly, Bospar wanted to know this: how much should you tip your waiter – especially if you go out for a New Year’s meal? The number one choice by nearly a third of Americans was a 20% tip. A slightly smaller percentage (27.2%) said they tip 15%. A smaller group (15.8%) said they give 10%, and about one in ten Americans (11.5%) only gives a 5% tip. A smaller group (10.9%) gives a 25% tip, while only 2.2% of Americans admitted to giving no tip at all.

“Branding a decade is one of the most enduring PR exercises,” said Curtis Sparrer, a principal of Bospar. “While we are hoping that this decade ‘roars’ as much as the last one, we are also hoping it doesn’t end as badly. And while we’re at it, tip your waiter – no matter what. It will bring you good luck in the years to come.”

About Propeller Insights
Propeller Insights is a full-service market research firm based in Los Angeles. Using quantitative and qualitative methodologies to measure and analyze marketplace and consumer opinions, they work extensively across industries such as travel, brand intelligence, entertainment/media, retail, and consumer packaged goods. Propeller conducted its national online survey for Bospar of 1,105 U.S. adults between November 9 and November 11, 2019. Survey responses were nationally representative of the U.S. population for age, gender, region, and ethnicity. The maximum margin of sampling error was +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

About Bospar
Bospar is a boutique tech PR firm featuring a team of highly seasoned professionals who exist to put tech companies on the map. Bospar’s principals include a long-time PR and tech industry guru, a former broadcast TV producer and award-winning media maven, a standout PR agency manager from the corporate side of a leading global law firm, and an experienced executive with both agency and public company credentials. Bospar’s larger team includes experts in both social and traditional media, as well as financial and analyst relations and public affairs.

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About Bospar

Bospar is the award-winning “politely pushy” tech and health public relations and marketing agency. The firm, which launched in 2015, provides clients with national support thanks to its distributed agency model. Bospar’s staff includes marketing and PR experts and veteran journalists from top-tier tech and business media. The agency’s strategic and creative thinkers excel in earned and social media, analyst and investor relations, content creation and placement, and public affairs. Leaders from brands – including Alkermes, Standigm, Marqeta, Snowflake and Unisys – trust Bospar to drive category leadership for disruptive technologies and solutions.

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