latest consumer trends 2011

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Latest Trends 2011 The Lounge Group

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Through our network and panel of Trend Hunters we’ve identified three consumer trends that are gaining momentum in 2011: planned spontaneity, making the mundane fun & the new community. Our slide presentation outlines these trends, showing how brands are already responding and providing tips on how to get involved in order to build a stronger relationship with your target audience.

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Page 1: Latest consumer trends 2011

Latest Trends 2011

The Lounge Group

Page 2: Latest consumer trends 2011

theloungegroup.com

Who we are We are a creative communications agency with a unique network of 10,000 consumers at our heart.

We specialise in consumer insight, brand strategy and below the line with a focus on experiential and social media.

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Latest Trends 2011

THROUGH OUR NETWORK AND TREND HUNTERS WE HAVE IDENTIFIED 3 CONSUMER TRENDS:

1. PLANNED SPONTANEITY 2. MAKING THE MUNDANE FUN 3. THE NEW COMMUNITY

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Latest trend 1. PLANNED SPONTANEITY

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Since the recession consumers are working harder and going out less often, meaning that when they do go out they want something different. They are increasingly seeking exceptional, exclusive experiences.

They want to do something more memorable and imaginative than the standard bar/pub evening out, but due to time constraints they are looking to others to organise these activities for them.

Latest trends 2011 1. Planned spontaneity

Brands are responding by providing consumers with fun, frivolous and immersive experiences.

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To celebrate the launch of ABSOLUT Glimmer, ABSOLUT Vodka hosted Limited Edition Experiences that turned the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Consumers navigated quirky installations, interacting with eccentric characters en route. The experience portrayed the brand’s personality whilst offering opportunities to sample the product, with ABSOLUT cocktails served before and after.

The events were held in semi-disused buildings and the sequence of events were deliberately disjointed. ABSOLUT created suspense, intrigue and exclusivity by restricting the information prior to event. Publicity relied heavily on WOM creating an an exclusive feel.

A Lounge Perspective...

Some of the execution was a little rough around the edges but it still worked - it felt like an artistic work in progress. Each room was unique and entirely random giving it a feeling of spontaneity despite the evident planning involved.

Planned spontaneity ABSOLUT Glimmer: Limited Edition Experiences

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Planned spontaneity Stella Artois Black: The Night Chauffeur Stella Artois Black offered consumers the chance to be part of an immersive cinematic experience as part of an on-pack promotion. Created with the theatrical company Punchdrunk, consumers became the voyeurs on a 1960s French film Noir scenario come to life.

Consumers were picked up from a bar full of French-speaking actors by a ‘chauffeur’ in a classic Citroen DS. The cinematic intrigue built as a frantic femme fatale hijacked the car, jumping behind the steering wheel and whisking them around the backstreets of London where they witnessed a dramatic lovers’ tryst and were followed by a sinister vehicle.

A Lounge perspective…

This creative and exciting activity was well suited to Stella Artois’ alignment with film and premium brand image. However, there was minimal product placement to the point that the experience could have been promoting Punchdrunk instead. A few subtle touches (such as the actors drinking Stella Artois Black in bar) could have reinforced the brand presence in the experience.

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1. INNOVATE by creating a unique experience that the consumer couldn’t create for themselves and unlike anything offered by traditional entertainment. Crucially, make sure it reinforces your brand’s personality. The ABSOLUT experience and Stella’s Night Chauffeur are great examples of exceptional experiences, yet if the brand itself is not visible within the event the risk is that the whole rationale behind it can get lost.

2. FLATTER CONSUMERS WITH EXCLUSIVITY by offering a limited number of spaces. Strategically seed information through relevant channels in order to attract influencers and create WOM to build the prestige of attending.

3. CREATE ANTICIPATION by restricting detailed information of what the experience will involve prior to the event. But crucially make sure that attendees are given enough practical information beforehand; full confirmation details, instructions on how to get there and reminders in advance of the event.

4. AMPLIFY REACH by uploading and publicising content post-event to consumers who couldn’t get tickets through PR, blogs and integration with social media channels (for example video uploads relating to the experience).

5. MAKE MEMORIES: provide mementos such as photography and exclusive access to exclusive content, timed release vouchers and future access to restricted events to ensure the attendees become devotees.

Planned spontaneity What does this mean for brands?

OTHER EXAMPLES:

Disappearing Dining Club

Mentos Fresh Approach: Commuting

Underground Rebel Bingo Club

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Latest trend 2. MAKING THE MUNDANE FUN

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As consumers increasingly seek new forms of escapism they are looking to make dreary day-to-day aspects of their lives more fulfilling and entertaining, so that fun isn’t solely the preserve of nights out.

Brands are tapping into this consumer desire by delivering creative, and slightly subversive, approaches to everyday life.

Latest trends 2011 2. Making the mundane fun

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Making the mundane fun Caribou Coffee Heated Bus Shelter American coffee brand Caribou generously heated up bus shelters for chilly commuters in Minneapolis.

Ad agency Colle & McVoy created the ‘oven shelter’, making a real bus shelter look like a walk-in oven, complete with working grill-shaped heaters to publicise the launch of Caribou's hot Daybreaker breakfast sandwiches.

A Lounge perspective... The working grill-shaped heaters and working clocks make sure that rather than just creating something eye-catching and fun, the bus shelter genuinely improves consumers’ mornings. It’s a branded utility that makes mundane fun whilst responding to a consumer need in a relevant way (hot breakfast sandwiches = staying warm).

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Chromaroma is an immersive online/offline platform that transforms the daily commute into a game.

The site syncs with your Oyster card, mapping visualisations of your journeys around London. You can join one of four teams of commuters and help to ‘win’ stations for your team in a similar way to Foursquare when you swipe your Oyster card at stations. This then acts as a virtual check-in; the team with the most check-ins at any given station ‘wins’ it.

A Lounge perspective… At the moment, privacy issues could be a concern with Chromaroma as you need to provide login details to your TFL account (which can hold your address bank details). Potentially handing over quite a large amount of information in order to use the game could be off putting to consumers.

Potential privacy issues aside, Chromaroma’s transformation of the mundane daily commute is a great example of ‘Third Life’ – the blurring of the boundaries between digital and 'real life’.

Making the mundane fun Chromaroma

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1.  ENRICH A DAILY ACTIVITY that your target consumers are already doing, but would rather not be. Empathise with their concerns; is there a more creative or innovative way of approaching the tiresome aspects of day to day life?

2.  PROVIDE A BRANDED UTILITY that makes consumers’ lives easier and more entertaining in a way that reflects your brand message.

3.  IMMERSIVE GAMING provides fertile ground for brands to connect with consumers in an increasingly personal and interactive way on the go. Consider sponsoring a relevant app rather than creating a branded one to minimise costs and capitalise on existing momentum.

Making the mundane fun What does this mean for brands?

OTHER EXAMPLES:

Epic Win chore game mobile app

Dankse Bank bill paying app

Vaulkswagen Fun Theory

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Latest trend 3. THE NEW COMMUNITY

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The importance of localisation is still gaining momentum. This is evidenced by hyper-local reporting (especially on Twitter), on-going consumer demand for locally-bought goods, the reclamation of disused local spaces by artistic groups, pop-up shops and brown-field building projects.

There is also a resurgence in consumers getting ‘hands on’. They are learning practical new skills and adding to their personal development whilst re-connecting with the local community, taking time over the process and doing more for themselves in a bid to save money.

Aside from the Government’s ‘Big Society’, there is a bottom-up surge in collectives, and, more recently, brands using spaces to bring out a sense of community and facilitate learning and togetherness.

Latest trends 2011 3. The new community

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The new community Boxpark pop up mall Boxpark is ‘world’s first ever pop-up mall’ planned for Shoreditch, London in August 2011.

It will be a shopping centre made of transported crates on two levels, open for five years. The crates will house trendy boutique stores, cafes and galleries.

Boxpark’s location is all important. Shoreditch is an artistic inner city hub that has become a fashionable hangout for the city’s alternative hipster community over the past few years.

A Lounge perspective…

The back-to-basics industrial feel is relevant to the brownfield urban location, creating a sense of authenticity and place. The mall’s empathy with its surroundings is likely to appeal to consumers disillusioned with the mass market ubiquity of most shopping centres.

The small scale of the units offers smaller, local businesses the opportunity to showcase their wares alongside bigger brands, democratising the retail space. Global brands too will benefit from taking up space there with the context of the Boxpark making them appear more approachable and human. The mall’s temporary status creates a buzz around visiting the mall, keeping the momentum alive around cultural events held there.

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The new community The People’s Kitchen The People’s Kitchen is organised around the notion ‘food by the people for the people’ to raise awareness of food waste. Every Sunday they gather up surplus food from the community and cook a big meal together. Anyone can join and there’s music and free film showings. In major cities it is often difficult to get to know your neighbours; the People’s Kitchen counteracts this, bringing like-minded locals together around Dalston in London.

A Lounge perspective… Although the People’s Kitchen has a practical aim - raising awareness of food waste - it also forges relationships between strangers, allowing them to cook and eat together without a price tag. The opportunity to socialise for free is of course particularly appealing to consumers in the current economic climate.

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1.  SHOW YOUR HUMAN SIDE by tapping into interests and concerns relevant to local areas. Demonstrate generosity and empathy by creating relevant and sensitive campaigns that show an understanding of the issues important to specific communities.

2.  EMPOWER CONSUMERS by facilitating meet ups and inspiring communities to tell their own story. Social media groups and location-based mobile applications are powerful tools in this area.

3.  ENABLE THEM TO SOCIALISE FOR FREE or a subsidised rate around shared interests relevant to your brand. Do include the brand but don’t dictate – it’s a two way dialogue.

4.  EDUCATE around a topic or concern that is relevant to your target audience and a good fit with your brand, allowing people in a local area to socialise around a shared interest whilst learning practical skills.

The new community What does this mean for brands?

OTHER EXAMPLES:

Levi’s Workshops

ArtSpace LifeSpace Bristol

The School of Life

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