SIGMA::BLOG

It happens at this time every year, and it’s inevitable. I call it “Christmas Creep.”  It’s when sparkly garland, lights, toys, and other festive holiday offerings start creeping into the aisles of my regular retail stops.  And just in the nick of time (St. Nick…of time?), the National Retail Federation has released a holiday survey, taking a pulse on consumers’ holiday spending plans for this year.

This is important because it gives us an uber-snapshot of today’s consumer profile. When faced with a must-spend occasion, we know what they’re thinking and doing.

Today’s consumer is:

1.  Showing optimism

-  Expected to spend $688.87 on the holidays this year, up a tiny bit from last year ($681.83), but nowhere near years past (e.g., 2007 = $755.13).

-  Translating that feel-good into looking good with jewelry!  Asking for jewelry has made a 10% jump up from last year—demonstrating a higher comfort level in discretionary spending. (more…)

Let’s face it, we’re a society who wants to have our cake and eat it, too.  We’re consumers who say one thing…but embrace new products and services that indicate something else.  Often, for a brand person, it’s seemingly impossible to serve up engagements that satisfy these mixed signals among consumers.  How do you address the needs of a consumer when they say one thing, and you have the brand or product that offers great benefits, but then they just don’t buy it, or they just don’t act, or they head in another direction?  Honestly…when all is said and done, it’s simple:  don’t just satisfy consumers, make them feel good.

A great example of the contradictions in behavior is with food.  Look at the landscape in recent, food headlines and news bytes (no pun intended).  And then take a peek at what’s tantalizing our pallets as trends and recent intros.  The juxtaposition not only demonstrates consumers’ contradictions in choices, but at its core, it reveals consumers’ desire to be surprised, delighted, and to just walk away feeling happy. Check out this “salty and sweet mash-up” of sorts…

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If you own a car, there are countless ways you can find yourself at a body shop: you back into a fire hydrant, you develop a strange attraction to shopping carts, someone keys your door. You get the idea. Most cars have also become quite good at letting us know when someone needs to look under the hood – idiot lights on the dash, funny sounds, a new smoking habit, or one day it just decides to not move.

Why is it then, that we fail to act when we think—sometimes even know— that our brand is in disrepair? Well, whether it’s an abandoned Buick on the side of the road, or a brand new Prius with a sticky accelerator, there are identifiable indicators that it’s time to make a visit to “the brand shop”. The following are a few things that may light up your brand’s dashboard:

1.  Your market environment has changed. Your customers’ expectations of how a brand in your space looks, means, and behaves has altered. Are you keeping up with it? What your brand offers is still relevant to your customers, but how they think of you (and talk about you) needs to change to allow you to be more competitive.

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At this time every year, Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) issues an interesting report about what they call “pacesetter” products.  Essentially, it’s the best performing new product introductions from the prior year for consumer packaged goods, food and non-food.  Now, aside from the brand-specific details (e.g., “Love those Arnold Flat Breads!” or “Bud Light’s beer with lime flavor, who knew?!”), what’s interesting are the consumer behavior implications and trends.  Given that most new product launches fail, and that consumers – particularly in today’s economy – tend to purchase their known favorites, these trends are interesting indications of what’s sticking with consumers today.

So what’s grabbing consumers’ attention and share of wallet?

•    Known Equities – Line extensions and slight variations in products made consumers feel comfortable with their choices, for example, Campbell’s Select Harvest was #1, selling $201.8 million in better-for-you soup.

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In 2009 we saw marketers everywhere seeking out one-to-one connections with their customers. The world of “mass” seemed a far-off reach in a world pressed for ROI, leads and conversion. But what was most interesting to watch in 2009 was the up-rise of technology and new channels, once only used by a small portion of the market, gaining scale and turning consumers from passive brand observers to active participants responsible for shaping brands and extending the marketing dollar. A “new mass” market approach unfolded in a big way that forced even the most traditional brands to take note and take the plunge. Once upon a time, a satisfied or unsatisfied customer would tell their close circle of family and friends if they loved or hated a brand. Now that same customer can tell the whole world in seconds–it’s mass marketing turbocharged. Pretty exciting stuff. (more…)

In our line of business, we interact with many different businesses, from start-ups to Fortune 500 international conglomerates.  It’s always interesting to hear them apologize for not being as educated as they should in the area of emerging media. They often tend to get disjointed or siloed. The truth is that as we get deeper into the diverse, converging landscape between digital media and marketing, many of the old rules of marketing no longer apply.  Whether you are big or small, deep in resources or entrepreneurial in spirit, the landscape can be intimidating.

During a roundtable at our Fuel for Thought event, we discussed on a topic we often get asked by clients.

How can marketers incorporate the consumer’s point-of-view as a regular part of strategy sessions, extending beyond consumer-generated content, consumer-created advertising, corporate blogs and focus groups? (more…)