Global Shifts
Posted on 28. Jan, 2010 by admin in Trends
Fifty percent of the world’s population live in cities and by the year 2050,
6.4 billion people will be urbanites.
In 2009 we felt the impact of globalization as economies crashed driving home our inter-connectedness. Digitally united, technologically driven, our world and its weather are changing rapidly!
Heightened 3D Augmented More Real Reality
2010 is the year for applications that allow one to interface faster, more efficiently and creatively with the world (= reality)! Digital convergence has changed how people interact, meet, buy, sell, communicate, relax, LIVE. Augmented and extended reality applications and devices, track and report applications, user-friendly hardware and software is the BOOMING market. Brands, marketers, companies, hell… countries will need radical paradigm shifts to encompass and meet the needs of techno-savvy consumers who need immediate feedback, instant gratification and constant nurturing.
Luxury is time to smell the roses
In a world of things, things and more things, the definition of luxury has been transformed. The big spending consumer is a sophisticated urbanite with everything but time. Increasingly in a world where mink coats are cruel and passé, bling is bad, ostentatious displays of wealth are OTT, luxury is about less style and more life – time to smell the roses, to reflect and connect with you, family, friends, and the environment. That is not to say that Louis Vuitton is out of business, but that people are grappling with materialism and a new age mentality of restraint.
Finding the ME in Big Mac Land
Mass media, mass culture, mass production has sapped the soul of the individual. More people are searching for unique personalized products, experiences and places that treat them as individuals. It is a direct backlash against brands that have reduced everything to crude and basic demographics. Companies that cater to that need are on the up and up. From personal banking consultants, to made for you perfumes, to trawling outdoor markets for the handmade, one off or commissioned product that says “I am no number!” Marketers will do well to heed the need for personal, individualised and niche promotions.
Brands Adapt or Die
Consumer habits and needs are changing moment to moment as they respond to the latest gadget, technological innovation and fad. Brands needs to be respond quickly to these surges by anticipating and catering to the ever increasing/changing consumer behavior.
Collaborate to Relate
Passive consumerism is out. The collapse of 2009 has resulted in a loss of faith – in institutions, politicians and brand promises. The rise of social media means that we are creating communities who are constantly in contact, sharing information, networks and knowledge. Across a spectrum of social media sites; like minds have come together; to create tight communities that maybe divided by continents, but are united through their world views. In the chaos of undifferentiated brands, those that involve consumers and stakeholders from step one will prevail. Brands that engage intelligently with consumers via social media not only are able to defuse negative reviewing but are using it to collaborate on the creation of new products engendering loyalty from step one.
Green is still Hot
Despite the Copenhagen fiasco/farce, eco-friendly living has become the mainstream. 2010 will see companies that greenwash, named and shamed. Consumers are tired of empty promises, double speak and a willful distortion of the facts. But it’s hard for the ordinary consumer to make environmentally friendly lifestyle choices with the plethora of more harmful but cheaper products. Companies that offer consumers MORE green products and services at better prices are going to steal the march on their competitors. 2010 is going to be a year when governments start legislating to ensure a safer, sustainable environment.