Trendwatching Seminar Highlights Sydney Museum of Contemporary ArtAugust 2015

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Trendwatching Seminar Highlights

Conference Details2015 Trendwatching Seminar 27 August 2015Sydney Museum of Contempory Artshttp://live.trendwatching.com/sydney/

Trends are about unlocking new ways to serve basic human needs. The world changes, humans don’t. ” – Henry Mason, Managing Director, Trendwatching

Members of the ACRS attended the all-day event which spoke about 10 macro trends that were now influencing consumer behaviour across multiple industries in Australia. The seminar addressed rapidly rising consumer expectations, how the trends were reshaping consumers expectations and how these successful trends were simply satisfying basic human needs. Insight was given on how retailers and businesses could interpret the macro trends to apply and innovate their own their own vision, products or services, marketing or campaigns, and business models. The following pages highlight the key insights with examples where relevant.

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Conference Details

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10 Trends for Now

Consumers will embrace digital services that use contextual understanding and intelligent decisions to make their lives easier, faster and more fun.

“65% of consumers say brands should take a leading role in supporting individual happiness.” Edelman, April 2015

This trend is about digital services making intelligent decisions and contextual understanding to solve real human problems.

1. Beneficial Intelligence

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10 Trends for Now

The Internet of Things meets the Sharing Economy. That means smart devices and digital services that help users share physical resources.

“36% of consumers cite ‘lack of perceived value’ as the main barrier to purchase for in-home IoT devices.” AcquityGroup, August 2014

The internet of things is unlocking new ways for the sharing economy to operate. This is unlocking the promise of the Sharing Economy: a truly revolutionised relationship with the physical resources around us. This is the internet of shared things.

2. Internet of Shared Things

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10 Trends for Now

In 2016, enlightened consumers – fresh from Uber and Airbnb – will embrace brands and organizations that want to rate them.

Turn the tables back on consumers and cause

them to submit to being rated and reviewed. Yes, this is about rating customers for their behaviour, demeanour, reliability, etc. P2P services such as Uber, where customers are rated by their drivers, have primed consumers to realize that when they are rated this can result in a better experience for everyone.

3. Two-Way Transparency

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10 Trends for Now

One powerful way to show customers that your brand’s values align with theirs? Go public with your internal culture. But first, make sure you’re proud of it!

Customers want to feel served and thought about. They also want to feel good about themselves as people. That means consuming from brands whose values align with their own. That’s what this trend is about.

4. Insider Trading

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10 Trends for Now

In a world in which power has shifted decisively to the consumer, one counter-intuitive status play in 2016? Public, loud, even theatrical displays of devotion to a chosen brand.

But in an environment where the latest and highest in consumer status is about a rejection of consumerism, we’re seeing that some consumers are pushing beyond this by embracing brand fandom in a playful way. These are BRAND FANATICS.

5. Brand Fanatics

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10 Trends for Now

Smart brands are finding new ways to leverage armies of connected customers to supercharge their customer service.

Where is the opportunity in all this for you as brands and businesses? We’re seeing brand bringing together and using networks of peers – often their superfan customers – to supercharge customer service.

6. Peer Armies

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10 Trends for Now

There are two Asia-specific consumer trends around digital and social.

MESSAGING CONTROL: Brands are reaching the masses through messaging apps, going beyond superficial engagement and instead providing real, meaningful lifestyle solutions.

SOCIAL PASSPORTS: Consumers are demanding to get more value out of their social networks – from getting deals based on social following to using social media profiles to manage bank accounts.

7. Asian Futures

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10 Trends for Now

In a consumer arena in which status is ever-more about ‘who I am’ rather than ‘what I have’, customers will embrace services that remove all barriers to producing amazing output.

Instant skills is about making it easier, or effortless, for consumers to gain a new skill, to produce expert-level output.

8. Instant Skills

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10 Trends for Now

Consumers are embracing services – digital and physical – that make it effortless to do good in the world.

“63% of consumers feel guilty when they do something that’s not environmentally friendly.” GfK, April 2015

Consumers want to feel good about themselves – and that means consuming from brands that align with their values. What’s next in 2016? Consumers will embrace services that allow them to do good, effortlessly.

9. Lazy Virtue

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10 Trends for Now

The (only?) future for big brands? They should embrace their scale, resources and reach and seek REDEMPTION by doing the things no one else can.

Big brands have big capabilities. They have global scale and reach, and vast resources. They should use these to do things that no startup can do. Vast resources and global reach and scale mean the capacity to have a massive positive impact, if big brands would only step up and play that role.

10. Big Brand Redemption

ACRSDepartment of MarketingFaculty of Business & EconomicsMonash UniversityLevel 6, Building S26 Sir John Monash DriveCaulfield East, VIC 3145T. +61 3 9903 2455E. acrs@monash.edubuseco.monash.edu/centres/acrs

Presentation summaries are sourced from http://live.trendwatching.com/sydney/

Cover image is personally sourced.