FABLE SEEKERSModern Myth: Consumer tribesAutumn/winter 2014/15

The Modern Myth consumer tribe Fable Seekers consists of people re-evaluating folklore and tradition, mixing religions and finding new paths to spirituality. They are dreamers who are penning their own histories and tapping into forgotten tales, ancient foods and alternative communities.

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Modern Myth

Research & Reference

Life’s little luxuries

Red, white & true Alternate communities

History makers

Traditional foods

Dreams

Life’s little luxuries

Consumers are talking about mindful living and single-tasking, the Zen-like, almost spiritual ability to concentrate on one thing at a time. "If you’re not yet au fait with the concept, it might be a good idea to familiarise yourself with mindfulness now, because you’ll be hearing a lot about it in 2013 - from business leaders, academics, politicians and educationalists. By definition, mindfulness aims to shut out the buzz; it is a brain-training technique based on using your breath to achieve mental clarity. It has been embraced by organisations as diverse as Google, Transport for London, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Home Office, as an antidote to the relentless pressure and information overload common in many workplaces.” www.telegraph.co.uk, December 2012

Life’s little luxuries

“Selfridges’ latest counterintuitive retail journey, No Noise, which will be unveiled in the new year, will provide customers with an environment to seek out moments of peace and tranquillity in the bustling world we live in. ‘It’s all about thinking, “what are the quiet things you can do?”’ said creative director of Selfridges, Alannah Weston, the brains behind the New Age initiative, which was based around the relaunch of the Silence Room, which was first created in 1909 by Selfridges’ founder Harry Gordon. The Silence Room will provide customers with an oasis of quiet to take a moment to turn off their minds; leaving their shoes, cellphones and 21st century distractions at the door.” www.globalnews.ca, December 2012

History makers

Consumers are becoming more active in documenting history.The famine that resulted at least partially from Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward movement killed tens of millions of people, yet there has never been a full accounting of the tragedy and it is not openly discussed in textbooks or other public forums in China. Now, a Chinese documentary maker is sending young colleagues around China to record the histories of people who lived through the so-called ‘years of hardship’.” www.chinadigitaltimes.net, December 2012

History makers

"Mothers are the curators of their children's history. The only true historians these days are moms. From documenting every aspect of their child's life - from sonogramto first steps and words - they are capturing moments in time." Brad Davis, EVP, Photobucket, at CES 2013.

Dreams

Stores are going back to their roots as purveyors of dreams. Best Buy's What Will Your Gift Do campaign tapped into the idea of giving a dream or inspiration. “To thrive, department stores need to be much more than simply a space to buy stuff. They need to tap customers at a deeper level – the level of ideas and dreams. No one understands this better than Frédéric Bodenes, who was hired to “tell stories” and “create experiences” for department store Le Bon Marché’s shoppers – a position that had never existed before he came on board. ‘Depart-ment stores today realise that their role must evolve,’ he says. ‘They need to offer other things besides products, things with immaterial value... We didn’t want people to come here just to buy. We wanted them to come to discover, and then from there, to have focused talking points.’” www.theglobeandmail.com, December 2012

Dreams

Consumers are talking about mindful living and single-tasking, the Zen-like, almost spiritual ability to concentrate on one thing at a time. "If you’re not yet au fait with the concept, it might be a good idea to familiarise yourself with mindfulness now, because you’ll be hearing a lot about it in 2013 - from business leaders, academics, politicians and educationalists. By definition, mindfulness aims to shut out the buzz; it is a brain-training technique based on using your breath to achieve mental clarity. It has been embraced by organisations as diverse as Google, Transport for London, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Home Office, as an antidote to the relentless pressure and information overload common in many workplaces.” www.telegraph.co.uk, December 2012

"FITCH has identified three universal ‘shopper mindstates’ that characterise the behaviours of shoppers across the world: Dreaming, Exploring and Locating. Shoppers can exhibit any one of these different mindstates at any given moment, often switching from one to another in an instant, depending on the particular shopping mission and the stimuli around them. In the Dreaming mindstate, shoppers actively look for new ideas and inspiration. They don’t yet have fully defined needs and wants, and skip between categories and brands to find inspiration or learn something, and have fun while doing it." www.fitch.com, September 2012

Red, white & true?

People round the world are using the “American Dream” myth to create new rules to live by. "Peggy Liu, the founder of the Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy, or Juccce, argues that Chinese today are yearning to create a new national identity, one that merges traditional Chinese values, like balance, respect and flow, with the country’s modern urban reality. She believes that the creation of a sustainable “Chinese Dream” that breaks the historic link between income growth and rising resource consumption could be a part of that new identity, one that could resonate around the world."www.nytimes.com, October 2012

Red, white & true?

"According to a survey conducted by JWT, a marketing communications company, almost two-thirds of Americans said the American Dream is different from what it used to be. The country is moving away from traditional notions of the ideal life - one centred around community and family, with religious faith and middle-class values - towards one focused on making and spending money and winning recognition. While the dream is very much alive and attainable, achieving it is more of a challenge, the survey found. Almost 7 in 10 respondents said the dream became harder to realise for middle-class people in the past five to 10 years, up from 4 in 10 in 2008." www.businessnewsdaily.com, September 2012

Alternate communities

The attendance at youth music festivals is increasing, especially at events such as Burning Man, which offer a truly alternative community. “The first weekend of this year's Coachella festival set a new record for attendance at the annual event, NBC Los Angeles reports. According to the Indio, California police department, approximately 80,000-85,000 people attended each day of the three-day festival, up from 70,000-75,000 last year, the previous record. This increase in attendance is all the more impressive as Coachella expanded to two consecutive weeks this year, with an identical line-up performing on the same grounds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.” rollingstone.com, April 2012

Alternate communities

Television and film content is full of escapist tales from The Beasts of the Southern Wild, to Game of Thrones, an epic history spanning the generations. Also, “The end of the world, post-apocalyptic dystopias and alien or zombie invasions are key themes” for upcoming films, according to Alice Leeburn, WGSN Senior Editor, Pop Culture, Celebrity & Beauty.

Ancient recipes

Historical foods are growing in popularity as consumers look to redefine more recently established narratives around diet. “In recent years, farmers around the Inland Northwest have become hip to growing ancient grains like teff. Eastern Washington has fields of swaying emmer wheat and spelt. Sorghum has replaced many alfalfa crops in eastern Oregon, and Idaho is one of the leading producers of teff outside of Ethiopia, where the grain has been a staple since prehistoric times.”www.boiseweekly.com, October 2012

"FITCH has identified three universal ‘shopper mindstates’ that characterise the behaviours of shoppers across the world: Dreaming, Exploring and Locating. Shoppers can exhibit any one of these different mindstates at any given moment, often switching from one to another in an instant, depending on the particular shopping mission and the stimuli around them. In the Dreaming mindstate, shoppers actively look for new ideas and inspiration. They don’t yet have fully defined needs and wants, and skip between categories and brands to find inspiration or learn something, and have fun while doing it." www.fitch.com, September 2012

Ancient recipes

“Chia is having a second life as a nutritional ‘It’ item. Whole and ground chia seeds are being added to fruit drinks, snack foods and cereals and sold on their own to be baked into cookies and sprinkled on yogurt. Grown primarily in Mexico and Bolivia, chia, like fish, is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, though of a different sort. It also has antioxidants, protein and fibre. Recognition of its nutritional value can be traced as far back as the Aztecs.” www.nytimes.com, November 2012

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Key takeaways

Brands helping consumers make time for solitude and quiet

Consumers taking charge of their own history

A rise in communication about inspiration & dreams

New national identities & dreams

Alternate communities

Traditional foods

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Consumers are discovering ancient foods and traditions. They are dreaming of quiet time and trying to redefine their place in the world through folklore and myth.In line with this, we see:

Modern Myth