Trendspotting 2011

Marian Salzman of Euro RSCG PR just posted her annual trends report for next year. In 11 trends and 52 pages, she offers a thorough examination on everything from current societal gender roles to public "mycasting". Definite food for thought if you're an avid trendwatcher.

Enjoy!

~ alicia

Social Media 101

I love love love this presentation on social media.

Whether you consider yourself an expert or a newbie on social networking, Paul Adams put together this awesome slide deck on how it is translating into our daily lives. It also outlines the history and psychology of human relationships, which I'm now obsessed with. Ignore the length, you'll speed right through it.

~ alicia

Newsweek and a Saturday afternoon

Just read Newsweek from January 26, 2009 and learned a lot of really applicable information for clients, trends, etc.

The first feature length article that caught my attention was "Who we are now." I was shocked to learn that Bronx county in NYC is the most diverse in America.

If you choose any two residents at random, there's an 89.7% chance that they'll be of different races or ethnicities.

This is called heterogeneity. We the People of 2009 are not the We the People of 1959, etc....

The article concludes with facts about Millennials - the more assimilated we are, the fact that we're more female, more secular, less socially conservative and more willing to describe ourselves as liberals....

And we're 75 million strong. Watch out world. :)

the next wave

What we're doing these days is sharing...our lives, our personalities, our profiles, our birthdays, our relationships, our likes/dislikes, our music, our hobbies, etc. We are building identities and sharing them with others at the same time, (not an easy task if you're in your 20s and still trying to figure out who you are), a task that Obama did perfectly with one of the most successful social media campaigns to date. Why? Because he used an integrated campaign to communicate one message: who I am and what I stand for. If only I could so intelligibly juggle Facebook, Myspace, my blog, Plannersphere, Amazon, and LinkedIn.

Brands now need to think about how to aide us in finding an identity and sharing it with others, a little weird to think about i know...

let them design

This trend caught my attention with the 1800 Tequila "Essential Artists" campaign. Now I'm watching it continue with Mountain Dew.

1800 Tequila is launching the second part of their campaign with a "Design your bottle" campaign; the winner will be featured in the 2009 campaign.

Not only does this highlight the artist in all of us, it lets us "in" a brand's world, letting us feel a part of the advertising, thus making us more receptive to it in general. I would say that campaigns like this raise consumer morale for the industry as a whole. With that in mind, we should be promoting these more. :)

Plan on.

the new consumer

doesn't consume material goods: new jeans, the latest razor, new Nikes, Mr. JoeBob's insurance policy that can get the best discount around, or even the dinner for only $9.99 at TGIF's. The new consumer consumes content: podcasts, blogs, flickr photo albums, social media conversations, text messages, YouTube videos.

Content is what we all need to be producing now. Ripe from the AP Conference, content is the new creativity. What does our audience want to consume in terms of content? In this Internet and connectivity driven world, content is "the goods." What can you produce that people will want to share? What can you produce that people will want to add to, mess with, and get their fingers in?

And that's just it, and also maybe why many companies haven't gotten on the content bandwagon, is because content can also be created by consumers, so we're all competing in the same pool. AHHHH, no control, says the stodgy, traditional company, let's just talk to them (not with).

Everyone is creating content. It will be the brands and products and companies that facilitate the creation and sharing of content that will be rewarded with loyalty, love, and customers. CUSTOMERS of content. CREATORS of content. Maybe we'll finally replace the age-old consumers with talking to the creators. That sounds nice. :)

I just read an article, i can't remember the source, that said in this post-broadcast age, retail will reign. Well just think about it: a retail environment is filled with content! A retail environment provides a context to enjoy the content within, which is even better and more conducive to retention. So what can we call customers of content? Think about it. Plan for it. It's here, the age of content.

my problem with advertising

is I'm not consuming; "bogged" down with 40+ hours of work and trying to balance my health/fitness/social goals in around work, I haven't blocked off "time to be a consumer," which is completely necessary to be at the top of my advertising game. I am out of touch with how people are shopping these days. It's the little nuances when they're in the store or talking with a store employee that capture a brand's "experience" and to which we are drawing people's attention with advertising.

Don't forget to be a consumer yourself.
Buy stuff now.

Tom Carroll or TBWA Worldwide had this to say at the 4As Planning Conference this year "There is no substitute for being out in the marketplace. Get back out there and talk to people. The good data is not in your office and it's not online."

Next generation brands have bigger shoes to fill

Just read another thought-provoking presentation over at Change This.

Their latest manifesto talks about the Invisible Badge: Moving past conspicuous consumption. I find it fascinating. Upfront Rob Walker says, "What the Joneses might think is, really, beside the point. Because what you are really doing is telling that story to yourself" - a greater sense of self-fulfillment with support from consumption of goods.

Rob says "Really getting who the audience is you're trying to impress and tell your [brand] story to is freeing." I think he hits strategy on the head with this: Really what we are trying to do is get the product's selling point to fit seamlessly within people's lives, and if we truly understand WHO they are and what drives them, this should be easy, freeing, and attainable.

But what the real challenge is, he says, is "perhaps the fundamental tension of modern life: the challenge of feeling like both an individual and a part of something bigger than ourselves."

Yikes. How do we link a brand's relevance to attaining a sense of self while at the same time, linking people to the greater good? This is what a lot of brands are struggling with now: how to serve the greater good, a brand conscious that serves the individual while serving the world. Rob defines this new marketplace as finding material ways to express a connection instead of extracting a belief system from the mere fact that a lot of people purchase product X.

And this is rather revolutionary for the industry. Brands have figured out how to be brands, how to rally around an insight, and shine their uniqueness in an emotional way and drive sales. What brands need to do NOW is link people to a greater sense of something good for the world. And this will be successful because, as Rob says, "participation is its own reward."

The new marketing era of "Going green" does not only mean you should recycle more, it means think about others, think about the future, make conscious decisions to be a better person within society. And so, brands now need to "go green" and think about the greater good and not just themselves or their ROI. The world has made a cultural, life-serving investment for a long time and now it's analyzing its ROI. It's time now to give back. The Invisible Badge asks us to really reflect on who we are and what our life will mean in the great scheme of things.
Here here.

______ is the new _______

Urban is the New Mainstream is a great first person perspective on what the ad world is largely missing out on: multi-cultural targeting.

"What's most tragic -- beyond the racial implications -- is how out of touch it is with the consumer reality. We are in a business where professionals are paid to be in touch with the target -- unless that runs counter to their usual comfort zone. Brands and agencies have got to get clued in or get left behind."

We're all too comfortable sticking with what we know. I agree that we can be more intuitive about what we personally have experience with, but...coming up with a target that's "mostly" white is mostly old-school thinking. Wake up and smell the urban coffee.

A wake-up call

There's talk of a recession. This may not be surprising considering the increasing price of gasoline and what's been called the worst housing slump in 40 years. In a year when a union decides if Middle America will get its Grammy Award and Generation Y can't handle the weight it's been given, I'm not too surprised either.

What will this mean for businesses? What will this mean for consumers? What will this mean for the industry who needs to connect the two? Planners, our job will not be easy this year. Consumer confidence is decreasing daily. Brands need to prepare themselves for going out of the store, into people's lives and talking to them there, listening to them there, empathizing with them in a neutral zone.

Russell Davies talks a bit about World War II and how the recession that followed had an impact on the magazine industry here. It sounds like it was a time of innovation (that doesn't sound too bad): magazines took leaps and bounds when the "pressure from advertising" no longer hindered their creativity. A recession is a wake-up call: hello, be more innovative, expand your minds, evolve.

The Writer's Strike has been a big wake-up call to the networks and shows that haven't innovated with the community in mind. When David & John returned to their shows, they realized what it was like to be without their community. The community is more necessary now than it ever was. There is power in numbers. Why haven't the media figured this out?

David Gross has some good news:

"With each passing day, an increasing number of transactions in the global marketplace do not involve the United States. We're still a powerful engine. But the world's economy now has a set of auxiliary motors.
All of which means that American companies, entrepreneurs, middle managers, and MBA students need to become more global—or perhaps change the definition of what global means."

Change the definition of what 'community' means: it's not just the people and their houses at the end of a cul-de-sac. Community means the people, places and things that keep you functioning and living at your prime. Media neutral planning is getting a bigger play nowadays because these planners get that it's not a one-way street anymore. Keeping the media alive will not keep your business alive. Media neutral planning addresses the mindset of a community. Being available for this community and being functional for its purpose will solidify long-term success in these wary times of significance and turmoil.

It's a one-for-all attitude that's inspired this change.

It's all for the consumer

Yesterday, a co-worker was fancying a new pair of sandals he bought online > "it was such a good deal, how could I pass it up?" The pair was a half size smaller than what he normally wears so he was apprehensive about being 100% sure of his purchase. He paced back and forth, admiring them from time to time and thinking...what to do? The "possibility to return" looming over his decision: "It's so hard to decide," he said. I tried to comfort him with the consumer community he's actively a part of: "It's not easy being a consumer."

And did you know?: Borders will accept returned magazines. Yes, really. "So, I can go home and read this magazine and then return it when I'm done?" The sales associate confirmed it was possible if the magazine was in the exact same condition that I bought it in. At home, after flipping through the magazine, I found it hard to fully enjoy the content because the "possibility to return" was looming over my head. I could get my money back! This magazine could be free! But the convenience factor chimed in: returning it takes time. Yeah, but you could get your money back!

Now, if Borders did the same type of branding spots as Sony did there would be no question. The product would be worth my money and even if it mal-functioned, and I had to inconvenience myself to return it, I wouldn't mind. Any interaction with such an awesome brand would be enjoyed. Over at Only Dead Fish, watch the teaser first and then enjoy Sony's latest addition to the Like.No.Other branding campaign.

And taking the idea of like no other into the plannersphere is Planning for Good (the link will take you to their Facebook page). The latest news from them is a listing of all the new PFG City Groups, Leaders & Participants:

• 31 city groups globally:
  
  3 groups in Asia/Oceania
  21 groups in North America
  7 groups in Europe

So start your day with a little consumer love in mind > it's not easy being them. When it comes to branding, strive to be like no other. And Planners, when it's our job to differentiate each brand by identifying a consumer need, each project should be thought of as planning for good. Because it's all for the consumer. Plan on!

consumer responsibility

wanted to share a response I gave at Now in Colour. Andy talks about the choice consumers have to pay what they want for the new Radiohead album and asks: if you decide to be tight, are you cheating the musicians, or yourself?

• Great post! I love that I don't have an answer. I think this topic comes at a good time in the history of consumer-honesty (with themselves). It's sort of like Planning for Good on Facebook (more here) or All Day Buffet. People want to do the right thing; they'd like to imagine they have good intentions; at the end of the day, they want to be happy and feel good.

• Planning has a huge role to play here (I think). If we can properly identify what consumers' needs really are, then we're one step closer to making them feel good and happy about themselves and their purchases.

• When I saw the Radiohead news a while back, I thought Cool! But I think I thought cool, only because it's so unique. Go Radiohead! If we give consumers the responsibility to think for themselves before they're ready to, then we might be opening a huge can of worms. People love to place blame and find fault (is it really human nature?) and this kind of free-for-all sounds like it might have loopholes. Who knows. I don't.

• Anyway, still don't have an answer. I really liked your thinking process. So keep it up!

consumer reaction time

I was having a G-chat (Gmail) with a family member: Messages are flying back and forth. He's typing, I'm typing, a date & time are entered for reference, etc. etc.

This made me think about a "consumer reaction time" section for briefs. If you think about media and markets, there are different times allotted for messages to attract, sink in and motivate. Not only that, but we all live in different communities, each with its own communication intensity level. New York would be a 10 on this scale, Langlois, Oregon (where?) would be a 1.

Media Planners/Connections Planners/Engagement Planners, whathaveyou, are slowly etching their importance in regards to this communications environment. Time is of the utmost importance in this (American) culture. Time is probably really important to Yugoslavians too, but America exacerbates 24/7 to an exciting (and overwhelming) degree. To stay on the positive side of things, we all want to be happy and give our attention to the things that will give us the most pleasure. Our culture has groomed us to look for the things (all-encompassing term) that will give us gratification quickly, hence the term instant gratification.

G-chat is the perfect example of instant gratification; along with text-messaging, these two environments can quickly make us happy: just like Google or TiVo or redeemable in-store coupons (what's going on here these days?).

Thinking about a consumer-reaction time means we've taken their messaging environment into consideration. And it makes us a bit smarter. I don't know if this has any merit, just an idea I'm hashing out. Time is precious to all of us. Advertising competes for our attention. Attention takes time. I think it's about time (damn play on words) that we consider "reaction time" in our strategizing. Anybody with me?

symbolism of a smile

The smile is crazy. Whether you see someone on the street smiling to themselves, or you're looking at a baby and you smile to solicitate the same response from the infant, the smile my friends is a powerful thing.

This post was influenced by the smiles I frequently saw in educational advertising on the subways in New York: Maybe the students were in cap & gown like above, or maybe they were in another situation, but the ads seemed to communicate that the educational system gave them a smile (i.e. gave them a reason to smile.) The smile communicates a list of positive, possible emotions: happiness, success, pleasure, achievement, glee, euphoria, etc. But in ads; smile=happiness=success=education=you gotta have this product in order to get a smile. Hmmm, what about the other emotions that are part of the personal development process that education also rewards you with?

The symbolism of a smile: I Googled this phrase and the first thing to come up was a website about Art Direction & the Web. My first Smile Point revolves around the smile as communication:

• An art director would perhaps come up with a concept which communicates the importance of the smile. What does a smile communicate? Power? Confidence? Happiness? Amusement? All of the above? The art director might choose to delve into the smile as a symbol of healthy teeth and gums. She might even choose to categorize types of smiles and relate these to types of toothpaste, exaggerating the images used to portray the toothpaste types:

• Cool Minty Fresh: the smile of a climber on Mount Everest.
• Extra Sensitive: the smile of Dr. Phil.
• Extra Strength: the smile of Dracula.

• Smiles of “power people” paired with success stories. Smiles of comedians — laughter is the best medicine. The smile as an international language of friendship. Why not develop our own “smilies” or emoticons?

"The smile as an international language of friendship" leads me to my second Smile Point: that of seeing a smile and wanting to smile in return. We do this with babies and even other people, trying to get them to smile by smiling ourselves. "Smile and whole world smiles with you" has a nice community/networking aspect to it. Want to learn how to smile? Yeah, there's a website for that too.

The smile is infectious. The smile is a phenomenon. It's been a fad with the ever popular Smiley face (yellow background, black eyes and smile). Emoticons have given us the ability to smile online. Smiling, backed by scientific support, actually has the power to make you happier if you force one to your face.

There's even a bit of disgruntlement (ok, this is personal) when someone requests a smile. This typically seems to happen with a man making the request to a female: smile more, can I get a smile? I think this is a bit out-dated: the idea that women should be constantly happy and smiling is...sexism and to say the least, highly unlikely a state to occur round the clock.

Anyway, I like smiling. Smiling is good. Advertising is a powerful industry to take advantage of such such an innocent thing. Let's make sure we're using our smiles in an honest way.

Consumption Consumption

"What the World Eats" was an exhibit I saw last year at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. It detailed what a family eats in ONE WEEK, photos and exact foods are listed for 24 different families in different regions of the world.

You can read more at NPR.

consumer generated content

We give them advertising and they give us:
#1 - "Whores"
#2 - Child: "Help" Father: "This is turning me on."
#3 - notice the line drawn on the tennis player, or maybe Chase bank wanted to emphasize the buttocks...?

Then there's this link to Blograffiti. The images drawn are repulsive & disgusting. Who draws these and why doesn't Blograffiti say anything about it?

I don't have much to say about this point, merely to note it and draw attention to the other side of cgc - the one where they add their thoughts to a message v. creating their own. I guess in a world of messages everyone's looking to make their mark (literally). In an industry that emphasizes "engagement" these days, I don't think this is quite what we're going for. :p

different media habits for different generations

Looks like we ALL don't use media the same! What a surprise, right? It shouldn't be.

• Millenials - embrace new tech like instant messaging, texting and uploading their own videos to the internet. They are at the forefront of the social networking and user-generated content trends.
  
• Xers - embrace digital video recorders and are the most likely group to watch TV-shows online.
  
• Boomers - browse the web the most, still read newspaper and care about local news and weather content.
• Matures - use the web for personal use and make frequent online purchases. They care about national and world news content in addition to financial information.
  

Consumer Reviews

Research done by Spendallyourmoneyhere-Mart says:

• 80% of shoppers have more trust in brands that feature reviews and that 75% of shoppers say it's extremely or very important to read customer reviews before making a purchase. Peer reviews are preferred over expert reviews by a margin of 6 to 1. (adagemobile)

Stick this in the back of your mind and take a trot around the internet. More companies these days are welcoming customer feedback (not Sprint) and are creating online platforms for user reviews. Yelp.com is fast-emerging as user-friendly and fun.

• Yelp is part social network, part localized review site - think Facebook meets Zagat - and it's fast becoming the web's gift to small business.
• When we discover something wonderful (or horrible), we love to tell our friends about it. We also turn to people we trust when we need a good recommendation. Yelp is enabling those conversations to happen on a massive scale. (money.cnn.com)

Yelp is quickly blending the boarders between a consumer review site (amazon, consumerreports, or epinions) and a social networking function (myspace & facebook). Web browsers (I'm referring to the people) are of course looking for convenience online as well as off. If a site can provide information as well as community, then it's good to go > or at least live on someone's toolbar for a while.

The question on companies' lips is: Will social networking sites make people buy more products? Answer: No, via Jupiter Research. But maybe the question should be: Will social networking sites make my products better, in turn creating greater customer love and loyalty? Answer: Yes.

• “Your customers are out there saying things about you, whether it’s on Yelp or on some blog. The faster you can fix problems, the better you’re going to do. Customer service is the new marketing.” (itbusinessedge)

Hip, Hip, Design!

Glad someone else is saying it too...

"Innovation is no longer just about new technology per se. It is about new models of organization. Design is no longer just about form anymore but is a method of thinking that can let you to see around corners. And the high tech breakthroughs that do count today are not about speed and performance but about collaboration, conversation and co-creation. If you are in the co-creation business today—and you’d better be in this age of social networking—then you have to think of design. Indeed, your brand is increasingly shaped and defined by network communities, not your ad agency. Brand manager? Forget about it. Brand curator maybe."

"Design and design thinking—or innovation if you like--are the fresh, new variables that can bring advantage and fat profit margins to global corporations. In today’s global marketplace, being able to understand the consumer, prototype possible new products, services and experiences, quickly filter the good, the bad and the ugly and deliver them to people who want them—well, that is an attractive management methodology."

And that's just what agencies with a new-type of model are doing. Thank you Anomaly. Thank you Mother. Thank you Undercurrent. And many more are getting closer to the real issue between consumers and companies: that of disconnection & distrust.

Consumers demand more honesty in the commercial realm, and the internet puts accountability at the front and center of conversations nowadays. Think smart. Think consumer. Listen to them. Innovate as needed. Proceed with confidence and conversation. Design/planning/strategy, whatever you want to call it, it's a necessary component if you want to be a smart company and make smart decisions. My philosophy is that it's about making ALL of the elements make sense and fit together in a seamless, authentic, honest way.

new economy: a happiness index

Here it is, my first book review for junior planner i am: Deep Economy by Bill McKibben. In a well-written, short and easy read, he spends time talking about resource-use, energy production, economic happiness, community conversations and shopping local. These are some points I'd like to highlight:

• We are beginning to assess 'satisfaction' differently, he says. Americans have emphasized hyper-individualism for too long. Making something of yourself is more of an economic task; More is not necessarily better. We need a different view of the economy.
• We have a surplus of individualism and a deficit of companionship, and so the second becomes more valuable." His statistic: Consumers have 10x more conversations at farmer's markets than they do at supermarkets. (i.e. where you shop affects your social life.)
• Branding works its magic only up to the point of sale, and then actual human need returns, unfulfilled. *time for a new strategy!*
• In a changed world, comfort will come less from ownership than from membership. We need to once again depend on those around us for something real. One-tenth the energy; ten times the conversations - that's an equation worth contemplating.
  
• With the American syndrome of private, the car is the ultimate expression of individualism; a crosswalk is about community.
  
• McKibben spends time talking to a rabbit farmer in China whose mission is to make a family become more positive instead of passive. A passive attitude can be changed. The key is they have to have a dream for the future, develop a mission. *where planning could have a big play*
  
• Bhutan, a Himalayan mountain kingdom, has stopped calculating GNP and replaced it with a "happiness index," saying that we have to think of human well-being in broader terms beyond levels of possession.
• And to end, Americans have grown steadily less satisfied with their lives. Statistic: The percentage of of Europeans predominantly satisfied with their lives has increased from 79 to 83%. The decline in happiness (or social capital) is largely an American phenomenon.

The book quickly references Branded Nations by James Twitchell, giving a nod to brands that create communities but then shaming them for dropping the consumer with just a product. I think though with the increasing focus on contextual-based marketing > creating an experience for consumers, customers, audience, people to be a part of > in combination with social networking and media > we should see a natural, organic, inherently built-in increase in social capital. No? I'd like to think so.

And if reading isn't your thing, there's sure to be a movie about it soon...