In our sixth annual year-end forecast of trends for the near future from global JWT intelligence, technology is the overriding theme, driving many of our trends and at the center of others. The economy also continues to be a common thread.
Trends don’t happen in isolation. They tend to intersect and work in tandem with each other, as you’ll see here. And many are extensions or outgrowths of trends we formerly spotted; after all, trends with real significance can’t be assigned to just one calendar year. The trends explored here, which we believe have significant weight and momentum, indicate shifts that are likely to be with us for a while.
JWT’s sixth annual year-end trends forecast is the result of quantitative, qualitative and desk research conducted by JWTIntelligence throughout the year.
Specifically for this report, we conducted quantitative surveys in the U.S. and the U.K. using SONAR, JWT’s proprietary online tool, surveying 1,005 adults aged 18-plus (504 Americans and 501 Britons) from Oct. 15-24; data are weighted by age and gender.
And we also interviewed experts and influencers across sectors including retail, media, technology, gaming, urban planning, psychology and academia. For the Philippine analysis, we also interviewed middle class consumers (a stay-at home mom and an OFW, for example) as well as experts in retail, gaming development and game design and travel.
We believe that trends, like any complex and dynamic human phenomenon, are not preordained—once they are spotted, they can be shaped.
We believe that foreseeing trends allows our clients to stay ahead of their competitors, meeting emerging consumer needs and wants before anyone else does.
Here are JWT’s 10 Trends for 2011.
1. All the world’s a game
Increasingly, brands will apply game mechanics (leader boards, leveling, stored value, privileges, superpowers, status indicators, etc.) to non- gaming spaces in an attempt to drive certain actions or behaviors. This is more than simply brand-sponsored games—consumers will be engaged in brand communities, content or campaigns through incentives and rewards modeled on behavioral economics.
“We play games all the time, right? School is a game. It’s just a very badly designed game. … But game dynamics aren’t consciously leveraged in any meaningful way. … If we can bring game dynamics to the world, the world will be more fun, more rewarding, we’ll be more connected to our friends, people will change their behavior to be better. But if this is going to work it has to be something that anyone can play and that everyone can build.” — Seth Priebatsch, founder of gaming company Scvngr, The New York Times, “Just Manic Enough: Seeking Perfect Entrepreneurs,” Sept. 18, 2010
Social media enabling social one-upmanship and competition: In broadcasting their behaviors, people have consciously or unconsciously started to engage in social one-upmanship (“I’m more witty, worldly, in- the-know, on-the-go, etc., than you”). The hyper-social Millennial generation is driving most of this, with 56 percent of our Millennial survey respondents in the U.S. and U.K. saying they often compare their activities, purchases, habits or behaviors with those in their social circle; nearly half say they often try to one-up those in their social circle.
•Gaming has become ingrained in culture: And Millennials have grown up in an age of ubiquitous online, video and other digital games. In the U.S., online gaming has surpassed e-mail as the second most popular Internet activity behind social networking. One in five Americans aged 6-plus now play casual social games. Zynga is leading the explosive growth in the social gaming category, with its FarmVille attracting 54 million Facebook users and FrontierVille some 28 million users.
•Instant gratification: The delayed gratification associated with traditional loyalty programs doesn’t satiate the growing expectation for instant reward and/or feedback. (Sixty-five percent of our survey respondents agreed that “with loyalty rewards programs, I feel like it takes so long to accumulate enough points to get anything worthwhile that I generally don’t bother trying.”) Gamifying life: Gamification works best when the rules of the game are aligned with the personal goals of the user. With the rise of apps culture, we’ll see more games that turn life into a game, with self-defined goals and achievements. EpicWin, an iPhone app, turns your to-do list into a fantasy quest with virtual treasure for finished tasks. Nike made the city of London into a game board for GRID, a competition that challenged individual and team runners. Foursquare’s evolving business model is rewarding users for real-world actions, beyond checking in at local businesses; a partnership with RunKeeper, for example, will create badges for users that achieve running milestones.
Gamifying finance: Even “serious” categories like banking and personal finance are injecting elements of fun into their brand experience, especially for younger audiences. Mint.com uses game elements (like a point system that lets you compete with users who have similar financial goals) to help people achieve financial fitness and has attracted more than a million active users. Barclays has a Web game, 56 Sage Street, aimed at improving teenagers’ understanding of banking.
Scavenger hunts: As more people use location-enabled smartphones, scavenger hunts are emerging as an ideal way for game mechanics to bridge the online and offline worlds (e.g., go to location X, perform an action, win reward). Instead of simply giving away free tickets to celebrate its 10-year anniversary, for instance, JetBlue held a scavenger hunt in New York where followers of #JB10NY were asked to bring specific items— birthday cards, etc.—to specific locations at certain times.
We’re not talking about brand-sponsored games or brands integrated into games—what we’ll see may not even be games in the classic sense but tactics that rely on game mechanics to tap into primal response patterns.
Broadly, “gamification” can increase brand loyalty and engagement, drive or change consumer behavior or habits, push people to exercise influence over their peers and/or get them to consider buying something, doing something or going somewhere for the first time. We’ll see more brands encouraging competition or a competitive spirit to drive desired results, or adding a sense of play or fun into traditional promotions or everyday activities.
Gamification will also disrupt traditional loyalty program models, in which members accumulate points over time, usually in isolation of others. Gamification generally ties people’s performance to others’—we’ll see that performance being captured in real time, driving a sense of urgency to act and an immediate feedback loop.
Local Application: Consumer View: Fun in “relaxed” spending
“Mas positive ang outlook ng gobyerno, kaya mas pwedeng gumasta, pwedeng dalhin ang mga bata sa mall”
Rodelyn, stay at home mom
Expert View : Make it simple and social “Let them get into it quickly. Then medyo kulang ang feeling pag hindi mo ma-share ang game. Chismoso kasi tayo e, gusto natin nakikiusyoso tayo, we just like to let people know”
Mary Lu, game designer
Ayala offered incentives to people driving around in red cars, with receipts dated April 17 or 24, get free parking. Mench Dizon
Familiarity with games how we played them as children. For this 7-11 promo using the receipts. You have to do Picture Tiling. For every 50 peso purchase, you are given a receipt with a piece of a car’s picture. Objective is to complete the picture to win the car. Encourages competition but also resourceful team play within officemates.
Among males, aside from games of luck they want a skill challenge. Burger Avenue diners were challenged to eat a giant sized burger in a span of 5 minutes, not just luck but skill, among males is important
Some Reflections for Brands: 1.)How can you apply gaming mechanics to engage, not simply create brand sponsored games? 2)How do you currently gauge loyalty and make it more competitive? 3)How can you make it easier for people to track progress? 4)Can you incorporate gaming mechanics in your product demonstration? In this case, clues, hunts, competition for a prize was present in the development of the JWT Nokia N8 campaign “Pier Roxas”
Are there everyday activities your brand could make more fun for consumers to drive desired behaviors?
Application to C2D Consumer? Applicable with limits
Engaging the C2D consumer using gaming mechanics can help cut across the clutter. Keep it simple and engaging.
2. The Urgency Economy
Trend: As time-sensitive deals experience a renaissance among younger, hipper and more “in the know” shoppers, look for the “act now” strategy to extend beyond the Web, helping to nudge people back to their pre- recessionary, “spend-now-think-later” ways.
This is an outgrowth of our Life in Real Time trend from 2010, extending the “what’s happening now?” mind-set to include “must do it now.”
•Life in real time: The real-time Web has resulted in a greater emphasis on the immediate and the now, lending a greater sense of urgency to Internet- based behaviors. It has also helped fuel an expectation of instant gratification. With online shopping, we can get what we want when we want it. (And some companies, like Zappos, have made overnight shipping standard practice, while many e-tailers allow for local store pickup of purchases.) Increasingly, the mind-set is moving from “I want that” to “I want that now.”
•The art of the deal: We all love to brag about the deals we’ve gotten, but during the recession, with conspicuous consumption frowned upon, this became the only type of consumption people could crow about. Eighty- three percent of our survey respondents in the U.S. and U.K. said they tend to tell family and friends when they get a good deal on something. Since today’s time-sensitive promotions give a sense of “elite” or “premium” status (particularly those sent to consumers who have opted in to receive them), there’s even more to crow about.
•Recession fatigue: Having exercised great restraint in spending over the past few years, consumers are looking—whether purposefully or unconsciously—for excuses or “permission” to spend on non-essentials again. The “act now” concept provides not only the thrill that bargain lovers seek but a sense of urgency that can help override more cautious instincts. A discount for a product you already use (or may have stopped using due to cutbacks) enhances the rationale.
•Global copycatting: Groupon clones are everywhere. In the U.S., they’re becoming more targeted, whether through specialized interests or more precise geo-targeting. Internationally, the model is spreading quickly through the BIC countries (Brazil’s Peixe Urbano signed up 1 million users in 5 months; 300 companies compete on the Groupon model in China), and Gilt Groupe imitators are cropping up in fashion-conscious quarters such as Dubai. (Though in many cases the two pioneers still command the market.)
•Social living: Today’s ever-connected lifestyle gives consumers a new and immediate outlet to receive and pass along offers at speeds that were once inconceivable. Brands already use Facebook pages and Twitter feeds to communicate with loyal customers (many of whom sign on specifically to get inside info on promotions and deals), and these communications let consumers in on deals that move quickly (like JetBlue’s “All-You-Can-Jet” offers, the latest of which sold out in less than 36 hours).
Moving from virtual to real worlds: With today’s “always on” constant communication, the possibilities to extend time-sensitive promotions from the virtual to the brick-and-mortar world are numerous. Gap’s Facebook- promoted flash sale granted a discount to people who said a certain phrase (“Flash40”) at the register; HauteLook, a flash-sale site, partnered with The Body Shop on a deal driving its members to the beauty retailer’s locations. Indeed, HauteLook senior vice president of marketing Greg Bettinelli says that moving online programs to offline activation will be a focus for the company.
While “act now” offers aren’t particularly new—Kmart with its Blue Light Special, home-shopping network QVC with its ticker counting down how many items have sold and how much time is left for a deal, and every infomercial with its “act now” offer or call-out—this approach is no longer seen as down-market. While few brands have historically wanted to be associated with such offers, in the post-recessionary economy, even higher- end brands (particularly fashion brands, which have experimented with online “flash sales”) are looking to goose sales by encouraging purchases during a limited time frame.
Any company now has the opportunity to use this strategy without cheapening the brand. Even brands that may suffer from seeming commonplace or commoditized have the chance to gain some exclusivity by offering their products via limited-time offers that can convey “in crowd” status to the buyers.
Ultimately, as HauteLook’s Greg Bettinelli told eMarketer in November, “This is a new distribution channel for brands to launch products, sell excess products and then to use them as an outlet to market more of certain styles.”
Local relevance:
“I love looking at Cebu Pacific website and it makes me excited to purchase pag sale. Even if I don’t plan on going I buy it then bahala na after”- Mench Dizon, Retail Expert
The rise of group buying sites : Awesome.ph, Buyanihan, Groupon’s Beeconomic and Cash Cash Pinoy.
Paradigm shift in looking at the mechanics of a sale. For Yugatech blogger, Abe Olandres, it is both urgent and social: ““Dati ang normal mindset, pag may sale, itatago mo pa sa iba para di ka maubusan. Dito kailangan mo magsama ng iba para makakuha niyo yung sale”
This is not as true though for technology as “newer technology might come in a day or two. Sana naghintay na lang ako”- Christian Vallez, Indie Artist.
Might not be true for those without disposable cash. “Sigurado ba kailangan ito. Baka may paglaanan pang iba”.- Rommel Quioyo, Dubai cook.
Reflections for Brands:
1. As time-sensitive deals become more prevalent across brands, how can you differentiate yours from the rest? If appropriate for your brand, how can you keep an air of exclusivity?
2. If “time-sensitive” deals aren’t right for your brand, how can you layer in excitement or a sense of urgency to your brand message?
3. Non-Commitment Culture
Trend: Reluctant to commit to big-ticket purchases, people are increasingly opting for choices that require a less-permanent commitment. Consumers will be more likely to rent goods, buy them one year and sell them the next, or share them with friends.
Expert View: Collaborative Consumption itself is about how technology is taking us back to old market behaviors, like swapping and bartering and lending, but they’re being reinvented on a scale that’s never been possible before. In the same way that we used to be able to stand in a village square and shake hands and form trust face-to-face, we’re mimicking that in the virtual world, because we now live in a global village, so to speak.” ” —RACHEL BOTSMAN, Co-Author of What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption
Key Drivers: The paradox of choice: With brands constantly updating and refurbishing products and services, consumers have been trained to expect newer, better versions of products to come along. In turn, they’re more skittish and less likely to be loyal as they become more comfortable with temporary alternatives. Eco-consciousness: People are becoming increasingly conscious of the impact of their everyday consumption on the environment. Owning or using fewer goods/resources or divvying up consumption with others is seen as helping the planet. A temporary experience for these consumers means making the earth’s resources longer-lasting.
Digitization: As goods become digitized or virtualized, there’s frequently less satisfaction in owning physical objects. For example, living rooms may no longer showcase books and CDs. It’s not even necessary to own a digital track, as people grow accustomed to obtaining music from services such as Pandora and Spotify. According to research firm BTIG, spending on rental kiosks like Netflix and Redbox rose 55 percent over the first three quarters of 2010, while brick-and-mortar sales fell by about 31.4 percent in the same time period, year-over-year. This move away from traditional ownership is making consumers more open to the idea of transitory goods in their lives. Temporary car ownership: We’re seeing a rise in membership services that allow people to own mobility instead of cars, whether for financial, environmental or practical concerns (finding parking, dealing with expensive repairs). There’s Zipcar and many similar services worldwide; there are a growing number of peer-to-peer car-sharing services like RelayRides; and, with experiments like Car2go from Daimler and BMW on Demand, automotive companies are entering the space as well. Ikea Sweden’s secondhand site: Ikea Sweden provides an online platform for consumers to buy and sell secondhand Ikea furniture. The brand says it’s making an effort to be green and to inspire its consumers to follow suit. While this could clearly hurt new product sales, Ikea is arguably spotlighting its brand in a process that would likely have taken place regardless. And by immersing itself in non-commitment culture, the brand positions its furniture as durable enough for more than one owner. Pop-up shops: These temporary stores provide a way for brands to dial down their retail space commitments while offering refreshing and unexpected ways for consumers to engage with their products or services. Recent examples include Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts in New York’s Times Square and Hermès’ pop-up in the Liberty store in London, and the Mac Temporary Store in Trinoma.
Contracts for the commitment-shy: Ford Advantage Plan: offers job loss protection for new Ford vehicles. Brands have been creating ways to lure consumers by requiring fewer commitments or taking the risk out of commitment. In the U.S., where long-term cell-phone contracts are the norm, U.S. Cellular's “Belief Project” offers “One-and-Done" contracts, which eliminate the need for a new contract once the initial two-year commitment expires. Moreover, a customer continues to get rewards, including faster phone upgrades, new ringtones and other accessories, for up to 18 months without a contract renewal
Local Consumer View: 1. Mid to upper SECs cite hygieneand upkeep for possessions as discomfort in sharing items 2. “Lesser commitment to the provider, pwedeng papalit-palit” “Buy a 5 peso disc from CDR King vs. National na 25 pesos”
Mary Lu, Game Developer
3. Technology and the Uncertain Future “Technology opens a world of opportunities for people making them not want to commit yet: not settling down, pursuing new educational degrees”
Nikki Martinez, Travel Writer Reflections for Brands: Is there a non-commitment value to your brand, if any? Could you use it as a sampling or demonstration tool? Could you use the anti-trend of nostalgia, to drive commitment? Could you use other value-added counter-attacks, like cutting-edge technology?
4. Eat, Pray, Tech
Trend: If there’s one category in which consumers are willing to commit, it’s technology. Tech devices and services are increasingly central to our lives. In an interconnected, tech-driven and -enabled marketplace, the latest technology will be more than just a luxury or a guilty pleasure.
Key Drivers: 1.More tools to empower. The proliferation of tools and devices is creating a sense of need or want among more types of consumers. Bookish types may gravitate to e-readers, parents to smartphones that can keep kids preoccupied, salespeople to tablets that complement their pitches. Tech empowers, so more low-income consumers are looking to jump in: Connected devices open up worlds of possibilities, and people from rural India and Africa to struggling Americans are coming to understand that technology can help them survive and thrive. 2.Mobile devices are becoming Everything Hubs (combining business/personal/entertainment functions) for more and more consumers worldwide, and connectivity is increasingly essential to work and pleasure. It’s not just phones, though: More people will need or want more gadgets, whether a tablet, laptop, desktop, e-reader, Internet- connected television, etc.
Expert View: “They’re not just gadgets, they’re products through which we experience things that are very relevant to us, whether it’s watching a movie or having a conversation. You can compare them more to travel than to a watch or a piece of jewelry; they’re basically gateways to experiences.” —MILTON F. PEDRAZA, Founder and CEO, Luxury Institute
Manifestation: 1. “I'm homeless, very homeless, dirt broke and all, but I still own an iPad and a MSI Wind u130 netbook. These, I feel, are essential tools. ... Being without a home is not that big a deal in today's world, but having connections to the rest of the world is pretty important.” —“Vagabond Paris,” the Facebook name of a writer who described to Gizmodo.com why he prefers high tech to a home
2. Planners for the local JWT study even witnessed a guy in a jeepney in Tandang Sora Quezon City having his Eminem video break over Youtube on his cellphone.
3. Rise of Foursquare.
Local manifestation: Enhances productivity
1. “I get followers of my blog to comment my play drafts then incorporate, they will be the ones to watch my play anyway” —CHRISTIAN VALLEZ, INDIE ARTIST juanekis.blogspot.com
2. Application to the C2D consumer: Sun, Globe and Smart prepaid sachet/”tingi” internet makes it accessible and customizable 30pesos an hour on SmartBro for email only vs. 100 pesos unlimited for two days for youtube entertainment
Reflections for Brands:
If your category isn’t technology, how can you make it tech-enabled? Can non-tech categories find relevant collaborations with high-tech brands?
5. De-Teching
Trend: More people will choose to log off—at least temporarily—or engage in one tech activity at a time in an effort to re-engage in the offline present and/or to rewire their brains to be more effective.
Expert View: “What I think the Net is doing is turning us all into chronic scatterbrains ... we’re losing our capacity for more attentive, deeper thinking.” —NICHOLAS CARR, author, The Shallows:: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
Key Drivers: 1. 25-hour workdays The 25 hour work cycle with our laptops, tablets or mobiles We haven’t lived in a nine-to-five world for some time. But today, our work demands constant attention—late-night e-mails picked up on smartphones, early- morning Skyping with global partners, catching up on industry reports via mobile screens while on the go—and there are fewer places beyond the reach of Wi-Fi or mobile reception. The good news is we have all day and night to get to it all; that’s also the bad news.
2. An era of mindfulness. Because the Internet is filled with reports of what too much of everything can do to our bodies, brains and thinking, people have become more mindful of what we ingest, being more aware of the moment.
Manifestations: 1. Less time for reflection and friendships Where once we settled in with reading/viewing material or with friends for stretches of time, we now surf along multiple currents. We open our laptops while watching TV, we social-network while out with friends. Our talents for reading comprehension suffer, there’s no time for self- reflection, and we only half-focus on relationships.
2. Offlining: People have begun voluntarily abstaining from digital media and in some cases initiating unplugging drives. A software program called “Freedom” allows users to block their Internet access for up to eight hours at a time. Arianna Huffington and Health magazine have issued an Unplug and Recharge Challenge, while ad men Mark DiMassimo and Eric Yaverbaum started Offlining, a campaign to persuade Americans to unplug—first on Father’s Day 2010 and then on Yom Kippur and then on Thanksgiving. Jewish tastemaker Dan Rollman is behind the Sabbath Manifesto and the idea of a National Day of Unplugging every March.
Local Consumer View:
On the other hand, offlining may mean missing opportunities. “ Kung nasa bahay naman ako at naka-off ang internet, baka may ma-miss akong order ng supplier or tawag ng kamag-anak. Pag nasa grocery naman, baka may bilin yung anak ko” —RODELYN GARCHITORENA, Stay at Home Mom, Businesswoman
Application to local C2D consumer: More into up-teching, rather than de-teching.
Reflections for Brands: 1. How can brands and consumers use de-teching to enable consumers and employees to come back refreshed, recommitted and inspired? 2. Can your brand align itself with real human connection in a fresh new way? i.e. Kenny Rogers’ “Real” TVC which used real face to face connection and real food.
6. Retail as Third Space
Trend: Retail spaces will increasingly serve as a “third space” that’s only partly about shopping. It will be as much about experiences, unique environments and customer service as it is about the merchandise.
Manifestation:
1. Learning something useful. Like local Apple workshops on design. At Levi’s you also learn design. Consumers are into learning new skills and demo the product. Just think, if you are a local beer brand here, would it be a good idea to create a place for men to bond and trade or create work contacts, helpful brotherhood among men is strategic to the brand’s equities?
3. Immersive experiences Ikea being the Disneyland of Home Experiences. In China they don’t wake you up if you spend time napping in their couch. Locally, Burger King with Charging stations and movies on LCD screens, gaming stations and an in-resto masseuse. Singapore’s OCBC Bank has Sunday Banking at many branches, with family workshops offering activities such as making a lantern for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Ok ang may ibang activities sa store na may natutunan ka pa, basta nahahawakan ko at na-e-explain sa akin yung produkto” - Rodelyn, mother
4. Locally, from large to quaint: Examples:
Ayala Triangle. Burgos Circle. McKinley Piazza. The Collective (Malugay) (From Mench Dizon, Ayala Retail expert and Loris Pena, Status magazine editor.)
5. Multi-sensory experiences: To some local consumers, these stores are upping the ante with their sensory experiences: SM Department Store, ROX, High Street. Music Stores, Listening Studios and Fully Booked
Reflections for Brands
Beyond what you offer customers with services or merchandise, what can you offer as an added benefit? A place to relax, congregate, enjoy food and drink?
8. Worlds Colliding
Trend: The borders between the online world and the physical world are becoming increasingly fuzzy. Mobile gadgets are bridging the two worlds and all kinds of objects/devices are becoming Internet-enabled.
Expert View: The Internet of Things links the objects of the real world with the virtual world, thus enabling anytime, anyplace connectivity for anything and not only for anyone.” —GÉRALD SANTUCCI, head of Enterprise Networking and RFID at the European Commission, “The Internet of Things:
Manifestation: 1. Adding digital to real. Last summer, Calvin Klein replaced its usually racy images on billboards in New York and Los Angeles with bright red QR codes under the line “Get It Uncensored.” Reading the codes with a mobile phone took the user to an uncensored 40-second jeans commercial featuring model Lara Stone. After watching the spot, viewers could share the code with their Facebook and Twitter networks.
2. Augmented reality One example from Ben & Jerry’s: An app from the brand plays off a campaign called “It’s what’s inside that counts” with an augmented reality feature that gives the inside scoop (so to speak) on how ingredients are sourced when users hold an iPhone over the lids of various cartons.
Local Inspiration:
Greenfield Development’s Twin Oaks offers interconnected homes vis fiber optic technology.
Local C2D consumer application: More access to the internet means empowered with information and connection to the wider world
Reflections for Brands: How can you better reflect the digital native’s lifestyle, seamlessly bridging the virtual and real worlds with little distinction in your communications, products, tools, etc?
9. Hyper-Personalization
Trend: Tomorrow’s consumers will expect a personalized digital realm that offers up what they are most likely to need or want based on location, interests, demographic, social network and so on.
Expert View: “You're starting to see it now, and you'll start to see it over the next three to five years, where this is just going to be the norm. You're going to go to sites and experiences and television shows that are going to be personalized to you. And your advertisements too, they're going to be personalized to your experiences and the things you've clicked on and the things you haven’t.” —NICK BILTON, lead technology writer/reporter, The New York Times Bits Blog; author, I Live in the Future & Here’s How It Works
Manifestations:
1. Personalized search: Google started personalizing search for all users in December 2009, prioritizing results based on a user’s prior habits (e.g., a frequent Amazon visitor is more likely to see Amazon results). Its vision is that search results will start diverging more widely for each person based on factors including location and social network. The next step is what’s been termed autonomous search, which CEO Eric Schmidt calls the “Serendipity Engine”; this would “tell me things I didn’t know but am probably interested in” while mobile (a sushi fan, for example, might get notified that a popular sushi restaurant is in the vicinity).
2. Interest and Taste Graphs “Hunch is a personalization engine for the Internet. And what that means is, we are building case profiles for each person on the Internet and—it’s a very ambitious undertaking—we want to map it to every entity on the Internet and figure out the person’s affinity for that entity: Would they like this or not?” —CATERINA FAKE, co-founder, Hunch
3. Personalized Videos The famous video is when the Old Spice guy proposed to a girl at the specific request of a fan.
4. New Product Just in the news this week, Tuesday, Kraft came out with MIO, a customized liquid water enhancer for consumers’ customized water experiences . Zero calorie allowing consumers to customize their water, with flavors like Berry Pomegranate.
Local Example: An example of Hyper-Personalization is JWT’s Miracle Machine for Kraft’s Miracle Whip all purpose dressing. For upper to middle income consumers who participated, they liked that they could customize the kind of generosity and miracles based on their available resources, time and interests ( a dog lover could donate to a shelter for animals).
Reflections for Brands: As you build up profiles of your customers and employees, how can you make everything about the experience more personalized?
10. Outsourcing Self-Control
Trend: Beset by more temptations than ever—whether it’s opportunities to spend, to overeat/drink, to get digitally distracted (by social networks, texts or online games), etc.—people will increasingly look to third parties to help them exercise self-discipline.
Expert View: Research shows people still have the same self-control as in decades past, but we are bombarded more and more with temptations. Our psychological system is not set up to deal with all the potential immediate gratification.
Kathleen D. Vohs, associate professor of marketing, Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, The New York Times, “Pumping Up the Self-Control in the Age of Temptations,” Oct. 8, 2010
Manifestation: 1. NOTXT n’ Drive: This BlackBerry app shuts off texting and e- mailing on a mobile device once a vehicle hits 10 miles per hour. When drivers arrive at a full stop, their smartphone functions as normal and they receive any messages that were on hold while the car was in motion. Inventor George Distler says the company has had downloads from Brazil to Great Britain, and fans on its Facebook page hail from 32 countries.
2. IN-CAR-Analyzers In-car breathalyzers are interlock devices connected to the ignition. They require a breath sample before the engine will start; if a certain amount of alcohol is measured, the car will not drive. Brands like Ford, GM, Toyota and BMW are exploring innovative non-invasive ways of measuring alcohol levels (e.g., through the light from the driver’s retina), according to AOL Autos.
3. Control Drunken Remorse Preventing drunken digital remorse: More tools are popping up to prevent drunken foolishness in a digital world that never forgets. The concept surfaced in 2008 when Google Labs introduced Mail Goggles, which, once activated in Gmail, requires users to answer math questions before transmitting their e-mails late at night. The app world has jumped on the bandwagon with the likes of “Don’t Dial!” and “The Bad Decision Blocker” (each 99 cents on the iPhone). Both applications enable users to select the contact information they’d like to block from themselves and for how long.
4. New Consumer used to outsourcing MasterCard’s inControl: Available on credit and debit cards, inControl protects people from fraud and even from themselves. Once a set budget has been met, the card rejects further purchases. Cardholders with a habit they want to curb, like dining out, can adjust their settings to limit specific expenses. The service, accessible by Barclaycard holders in the U.K. and soon those of Citi MasterCard in the U.S., keeps consumers abreast of their spending behavior with real-time alerts.
Local example: Electronic cigarette brands help curb impulses
Reflections for Brands:
Do your brands already possess the kinds of properties that could help today’s tempted and overwhelmed consumer and how can you leverage it?
For a customized presentation for your company or brand, please email [email protected]