With the outlook for 2012 not exactly optimistic, I’ve dusted off my crystal ball to try and see what the next year hold for brands, marketers and consumers.
The continued economic trouble will see will see consumers continuing to become more careful - which for people with little will mean an everyday focus on best value and for the better off will be more thrift and localism. Everyone will be looking for comfort or escape as well as some sense of hope. I think people will become quite cynical and will wish for a greater sense of community and support but will look after number one - this will translate into even further decreasing brand loyalty and continued "forced experimentation" to get the most from your cash.
Supermarkets will maintain their push to appear on the side of the consumer, with the public either sticking with supermarket closest to them because they will be less able to afford to drive to a cheaper one or favouring the more budget supermarkets if they are within close proximity. We anticipate a return to make it yourself food and there may be a push to support local shops in the light of the recent Portas Report, provided the price differential isn’t too great.
As times get tougher mental health may become more significant for the mainstream and brands might reflect this - expect wellbeing to emerge with a harder more urgent edge - functional foods for the mind (fighting depression and dementia as much as cholesterol and cancer).
We also see brands that continue to innovate and add interest in small areas (new flavours. new tastes, new ways of cooking) appealing to consumers as a way of spicing up their everyday lives in small (cheap) ways and as alternatives to more costly eating out. Brands in some categories may have to rethink how and why consumers buy their products and adjust to ensure they ride the tough times.
Culturally we will continue to be increasingly mobile, less patient and more stressed. The mobility will increase. The fact that I can put money on my pay as you go mobile phone and pay for shopping with it also means brands should be able track exactly what consumers are doing and therefore more accurately market their products.
Brands will need to stay close to their consumers and to see where consumers are lapsing in their purchasing. It may be a time for brands to revisit fundamental questions about their relationship with their consumers in an effort to consolidate existing customers but more importantly build a new base as well. Research into why buyers buy, why people stay loyal or move away from certain brands during periods of austerity and why some people have never bought particular brand will provide a level consumer understanding that could inform post-recession planning now.
In the marketing and research sectors we anticipate pressure to drive more value from every project; engaging consumers to get better data and therefore understanding, which ultimately enables us to inspire marketing teams with our 'voice of the consumer' to make better, more successful products. In a recession price becomes a dominating factor, leading to further heavy promotions. Brands, though, can be better served understanding the more subtle drivers of purchase to be more profitable, as well as the obvious BOGGINGOFF that we know and love. We are likely to see brands going into more in depth in their understanding of consumer drivers of purchase.
Apparently there’s also going to be a big sporting event in 2012. We will see lots of Britishness coinciding with the Olympics and I think brands will interpret this in lots of different ways from the reactionary (Rule Britannia nostalgic values) through the inclusive (modern multi-cultural Britain) to the purely aesthetic (Union Jack everywhere) also linked with our floating off into the Atlantic away from the EU. But the Brit's love affair with exotic products, tastes and new brand experiences will continue so innovation will remain key - it is a constant in the nation's ever evolving DNA. The biggest game, though, may be to spot the brand with no link to the Olympic Games and to see whether anyone really suffers because of non-association.
Tuesday 20 December 2011
Monday 5 December 2011
BRITONS FOCUSING ON HOPE AND TRADITIONAL VALUES AS WE PREPARE FOR AN AUSTERITY CHRISTMAS.
A new qualitative research study that we will publish this week shows how Britons plan to reject traditional consumption and spend Christmas reconnecting with the things and people that matter most and are closest to them.
The study paints an emotional picture of a traditional Christmas as respondents talk about sending cards to and buying gifts for a closer set of people than normal; people they care about rather than gifts as random tokens and looking forward to “just spending time” with those close to them.
We found that consumers are viewing this Christmas as a buffer against a painful present, a time to recharge batteries, and to reconnect with matters they view as genuinely important. Consumers seem less concerned with magic and spontaneity, more with practicality and planning. There is more emphasis this year on planning and buying early as a way of budgeting at a time when thrift has become more than merely a lifestyle choice.
Linked to this is feedback that being savvy is not only a necessity but also something that can be genuinely rewarding. Greater effort is being invested in finding a bargain or in doubling up vouchers, finding a discount code, collecting and using points across all purchases, really checking deals in order to make hard earned money work harder and go further.
Christmas is obviously about enjoyment and escape, and a certain degree of excess is traditional but, in keeping with the subdued times, our respondents have said that a sense of modesty and restraint is the order of the season.
This Christmas will be about reconnecting, being playful rather than
over-indulging, and a more careful and thoughtful, rather than excessive, consumption of products, food and drink. This will be the Christmas of only moderate excess.
And in response to the prevailing sense of economic gloom, consumers appear to be responding best to brands which are using their advertising and marketing activity to capture the traditional spirit of Christmas.
Consumers seem also to be tapping into the power and comfort of ritual. In these times of uncertainty the comfort of rituals is very appealing. Most respondents saidthey were looking forward to “the day” and “the people” rather than “the things” and are being attracted by brands which convey that.”
In terms of brand advertising, the John Lewis advertisement, which revolves around a playful inversion of the classic ritual of waiting for Christmas day, has tapped most particularly into our desire for a return to a traditional sense of giving. But the advertisement that was cited most often was Coca-Cola’s “Holidays are Coming” spot with the illuminated Coca-Cola truck and convoy snaking through the wintery hills to a “universal” town. This advertisement was spontaneously discussed as a signifier of Christmas, and welcomed as enthusiastically as the families in the advertisement welcome the Coca Cola truck.
In the face of what feels like unrelenting economic gloom, unrest and
uncertainty affecting many levels of society, respondents have been switched on
by advertising that has captured their mood, hopes and fears.
There is a real hunger for hope. As well as being a lovely seasonal story, the John Lewis advertisement particularly resonates with people’s need for stories of hope; hope that values of giving are alive and well in a world which has been so much about receiving or taking; Even the more ambiguously received M&S advert captures a hope of a future where “dreams come true.
Five themes emerge from the study, which have significance
beyond Christmas, long after the decorations have been put away. These are (1) a profound need for hope; (2) a sense of post materialism; (3) a focus on people and things closest to us; (4) the comfort of ritual and (5) the idea of the rewards of practicality, planning and hard work. So what should brands take away from this seasonal analysis?
The messages from our respondents are quite clear.
Articulate hope and a positive long term vision as consumers are looking for inspirational light at the end of the tunnel; reflect the way that consumers have, in some ways, temporarily lost faith in materialism and focus on values rather than things; focus on the local, facilitate family, be active in communities and, at very least, continue to overtly support the British economy with products created and built locally. Brands should continue to tap into
rituals which offer familiarity, comfort and trust for consumers and create promotions which reward planning and effort, as well as “hard to ignore” deals.
The study paints an emotional picture of a traditional Christmas as respondents talk about sending cards to and buying gifts for a closer set of people than normal; people they care about rather than gifts as random tokens and looking forward to “just spending time” with those close to them.
We found that consumers are viewing this Christmas as a buffer against a painful present, a time to recharge batteries, and to reconnect with matters they view as genuinely important. Consumers seem less concerned with magic and spontaneity, more with practicality and planning. There is more emphasis this year on planning and buying early as a way of budgeting at a time when thrift has become more than merely a lifestyle choice.
Linked to this is feedback that being savvy is not only a necessity but also something that can be genuinely rewarding. Greater effort is being invested in finding a bargain or in doubling up vouchers, finding a discount code, collecting and using points across all purchases, really checking deals in order to make hard earned money work harder and go further.
Christmas is obviously about enjoyment and escape, and a certain degree of excess is traditional but, in keeping with the subdued times, our respondents have said that a sense of modesty and restraint is the order of the season.
This Christmas will be about reconnecting, being playful rather than
over-indulging, and a more careful and thoughtful, rather than excessive, consumption of products, food and drink. This will be the Christmas of only moderate excess.
And in response to the prevailing sense of economic gloom, consumers appear to be responding best to brands which are using their advertising and marketing activity to capture the traditional spirit of Christmas.
Consumers seem also to be tapping into the power and comfort of ritual. In these times of uncertainty the comfort of rituals is very appealing. Most respondents saidthey were looking forward to “the day” and “the people” rather than “the things” and are being attracted by brands which convey that.”
In terms of brand advertising, the John Lewis advertisement, which revolves around a playful inversion of the classic ritual of waiting for Christmas day, has tapped most particularly into our desire for a return to a traditional sense of giving. But the advertisement that was cited most often was Coca-Cola’s “Holidays are Coming” spot with the illuminated Coca-Cola truck and convoy snaking through the wintery hills to a “universal” town. This advertisement was spontaneously discussed as a signifier of Christmas, and welcomed as enthusiastically as the families in the advertisement welcome the Coca Cola truck.
In the face of what feels like unrelenting economic gloom, unrest and
uncertainty affecting many levels of society, respondents have been switched on
by advertising that has captured their mood, hopes and fears.
There is a real hunger for hope. As well as being a lovely seasonal story, the John Lewis advertisement particularly resonates with people’s need for stories of hope; hope that values of giving are alive and well in a world which has been so much about receiving or taking; Even the more ambiguously received M&S advert captures a hope of a future where “dreams come true.
Five themes emerge from the study, which have significance
beyond Christmas, long after the decorations have been put away. These are (1) a profound need for hope; (2) a sense of post materialism; (3) a focus on people and things closest to us; (4) the comfort of ritual and (5) the idea of the rewards of practicality, planning and hard work. So what should brands take away from this seasonal analysis?
The messages from our respondents are quite clear.
Articulate hope and a positive long term vision as consumers are looking for inspirational light at the end of the tunnel; reflect the way that consumers have, in some ways, temporarily lost faith in materialism and focus on values rather than things; focus on the local, facilitate family, be active in communities and, at very least, continue to overtly support the British economy with products created and built locally. Brands should continue to tap into
rituals which offer familiarity, comfort and trust for consumers and create promotions which reward planning and effort, as well as “hard to ignore” deals.
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