consumer lead change: how to stay relevant and build success by duane forrester

#SMX #32C3 @duaneforrester

Consumer-led Change

How to Stay Relevant and Build Success


Who Am I?


In 2016 Moosylvania(an ad agency) spoke with more than 1500 Millennials to find out what brands they love. Here are their top 12 brands.

Brands Millennials Love


• Target owns the affordable/stylish intersection. They’ve also stopped labeling their toys for gender and offer gender-neutral décor options.

• Apple is the leader in design and a master at creating a usable, useful ecosystem that captures users.

• Google has a similar ecosystem approach but layers on the depth of search knowledge/data.

• Amazon is a leader in easy shopping/fulfillment and often a price leader. Convenience clinches it for them.

Why Millennials Love These Brands

Convenience Value

Connectedness Innovation

Social Awareness Accessibility


• GenZ alone is 25% of the US population today – close to 100m people

• Inheriting control over 6+ trillion dollars in wealth• Affected by the recession; savers not spenders• Believe in corporate responsibility

• They describe themselves as:– Loyal, compassionate, thoughtful, open-minded, responsible, determined

– Competitive, adventuresome, spontaneous, curious

• Want to be trusted by them? – You need to link your business with actions the generation wants to see - corporate giving, community

involvement, ethical practices, adherence to standards, etc.

Beyond Millennials


Pyramid of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)

The FUTURE of CSR:Economic/legal/ethical & philanthropic responsibilities. Creation of public value, establishing long-lasting relationships with benefiting organizations.

Philanthropic Responsibilities(Be a good corporate citizen)Contribute resources to the community; improve the quality of life

Ethical Responsibilities(Be ethical)Obligation to do what is right, just and fair; avoid harm

Legal Responsibilities(Obey the law)Law is society’s codification of right & wrong; play by the rules

Economic Responsibilities(Be profitable)The foundation for all businesses/commerce

u Millennials are changing the face of CSR:u 70% consider

themselves to be “social activists”

u 75% believe corporations should create economic value for society by addressing needs

u “CSR is millennials’ new religion.”

The PAST of CSR:Economic/legal/ethical responsibilities. Avoiding harm and donating to benefiting organizations.

1

1 – Quote by Andrew Swinand, co-founder of Chicago-based Frequency540 (startup accelerator)

CSR Pyramid source: Carroll/The Pyramid of CSR, Swinand/Crain’s Chicago Business

Slide originally created and shared by Roland Berger corp.


Influentials Shifting, Celebs Losing Ground

Friendship v. Fanship

Engagement v. Push

Source: Youtube 2016


What else do you need to be aware of?

Major Shake Ups in our Midst


The Sharing Economy• Zipcar, Mechakari, Rent The Runway, Audi

– the list goes on• Consumers are moving from owning to

sharing.

• Cars, clothes, fashion, bikes, movies, etc. • Leading fashion sharing app Mechakari is

supported by Stripe International. Long term try before buying.

• Sharing means knowing where things are, where you will be and matching the two to smooth the path to consumer.


Search Game Changers• Amazon Echo, Cortana, GAssistant, Siri – all seeing

significant investments

• Voice control functionality will lead GenZ to fully embrace voice search - it's about being familiar with how to use technology.

• Context will influence content even more. Forcing businesses to learn new ways to be relevant. It's going to be important as coming generations are moved away from infinite choices and towards a select few, proven, reliable results.


AI will change apps and allow then to think logically like humans. Not immediately at the same level, but enough to start help problem solving and deductive reasoning evolve into apps. This will help them help us better and faster.

First to feel the effects:

§ Autonomous vehicles and delivery drones will change our life patterns

§ Home service robots will help clean and provide security monitoring

§ Smart sensors will monitor blood sugar and organ function, improving health

§ Food distribution and crime analysis will improve

§ Robots will take over base-level jobs like inventory movement, meeting scheduling and basic financial advice

Artificial Intelligence

http://stanford.io/2bLQYny

Search evolves; apps evolve; assistants truly help


• Loyalty programs free of attachments• No fees, restrictions or minimums

• Rewards for social media engagement• Retweets, shares, pins, likes generate reward points

• Amplifying their CSR• Getting caught being a good community member – effective PR, not

window dressing

• Blending programs – seo, ppc, social all working to communicate the same campaign message

Tactics of Those Successful Brands


• YouTube • You cannot afford to skip this in your mix• Quality doesn’t need to be perfect• Usefulness of content matters

• Markup, Mobile, Usability• Get these implemented & close to perfected

• Reviews matter, so engage & manage• Customer Journey• Legit personas, consumer pathways,

anticipate needs

More Tactics That Matter

A good player skates to where the puck is.

A great player skates to where the puck is going to be.


LEARN MORE: UPCOMING @SMX EVENTS

THANK YOU! SEE YOU AT THE NEXT #SMX

consumer lead change: how to stay relevant and build success by duane forrester

Marketing