The new era of consequences
Andrew Curry writes:
The shape of the post-recession consumer landscape is becoming clearer. Our latest wave of Henley Planning for Consumer Change [PCC] research, launched to clients at recent breakfast meetings, maps this. The headline is that risk is back on the agenda, and as a result, consumers have found ways of living with uncertainty; they are looking for greater control; and they are considering the consequences of their choices.
Some of these changes were already becoming visible before the recession. As our UK Managing Director Will Galgey pointed out, it has been an accelerator rather than a catalyst.
For our UK business, the launch represents a return to selling an annual trends report containing analysis and data, which we last did in 2001. We’ve been able to do this because of the expertise of some of our Chapel Hill colleagues – formerly Yankelovich – in managing published services.
Some of the data in PCC are familiar. Obviously financial worries are on the up. Confidence in corporations has fallen – the proportion agreeing that “I can trust the following [sectors] to be honest and fair” has fallen across all commercial sectors, with utilities falling even faster than banks. But the research suggests that people are less rattled by the recession than they were a year ago, even though the economy is weaker now than it was then.
This has had some costs. People now feel under more time pressure than at any time since the late ’90s, though not for exactly the same reasons. And people’s desire for more control isn’t matched by their ability to achieve more control in their lives.
The biggest impact seems to be on consumers’ willingness to make connections between their immediate surroundings and the wider world. 50% of the sample, of 2,500, thought it “very or fairly desirable” that “we won’t be able to consume as many goods and services as we have in the past”. 32% think it not at all or not very desirable, while 18% aren’t sure.
Similarly, nearly 60% now think we are at fault as individuals for environmental change – and around the same numbers think that it is both their responsibility to do something about it, and that doing something will make a difference.
From all of this, the Planning for Consumer Change data suggests strongly that new consumer values are emerging around vigilance, optimism, self-reliance, resourcefulness, connectedness, and prioritisation. This is a more complex world for brands to navigate, although the smart ones are doing it already. The good news, though, is that this offers more strategic options (and more interesting options) than a race to the bottom on price.
But as Director Henry Tucker observed at the breakfast sessions, “You’re probably not going to be able to sell the same old products to the same old consumers”. They’re expecting something from you which is more helpful – and demonstrates that you’re in tune with their new values.
For more information about accessing Planning for Consumer Change, please contact our UK Marketing and PR Manager, Jennifer Childs. The ‘era of consequences’ icon, seen at the top of the post, was designed by Tom Warren.
Add comment 10 November 2009
Some good things we’ve seen #4
Compiled by Oliver Wright
It’s been a little while since we last posted an assortment of links, but this is a selection of some of the things which have been going round the office lately:
- Boris – the London Mayor – officially launches the city’s ‘cycle superhighways’, a cycle hire scheme, and demand for cycle parking in the capital is (apparently) on the rise…
- The inside-out bloody mary – a new take on an old classic!
- By way of previewing a forthcoming post on data visualisation – two great articles discussing the state of the art on CNNtech and Creativity Online
- This fun website from Dutch company Hema (similar to Ikea in the UK) won some awards for its playful approach to household products. Although the site’s in Dutch, the visual gags are pretty universal.
- Portuguese workers are struggling in the recession to find jobs – and some are heading to former colony Angola in search of better fortunes
- The Atlantic publishes a somewhat timid and fairly American list of ‘Brave Thinkers’ – I mean, Steve Jobs? Mark Zuckerberg? We’re working on a list of people who deserve a place but aren’t here. Do you have a contribution?
Add comment 4 November 2009
Taxing pollution not people
Andrew Curry writes:
I was fortunate enough to be invited earlier this week to the launch of the UK Green Fiscal Commission’s report in London, on shifting to taxes on pollution – and in particular on carbon emissions – while reducing at the same time taxes on people (income tax and national insurance). The Commission proposed a substantial shift, increasing ‘environmental’ taxes from 5% to 20% of the tax base over 10 years, although the overall effect would be neutral in terms of total government revenues.
The report’s been two years in the making, directed by the environmental economist Paul Ekins, and had the support of some heavyweight commissioners, including Lord Turner, who spoke at the launch. Our former colleague Michelle Harrison, now at TNS-BMRB, was a member.
The conclusions can be spelt out in a few lines. Environmental taxes are effective in changing behaviour, and efficient to administer. They create jobs (around half a million to 2020) at only a fractional cost to economic growth, and they are also, almost certainly, essential if we are to have a hope of meeting the tough carbon reduction targets in the Climate Change Act.
Size – or at least scale – matters. In his comments Lord Turner argued that only “a radical change” would work, both because it meant that people would be able to see the reductions in their income tax bills, and so that there were sufficient long-term incentives for people and businesses to think it worth changing their behaviour and purchase decisions.
The technicalities of such taxes are fairly well understood. Their implementation is more about political will (which is why the panel also included a cross-party array of politicians). So I was also struck by the public opinion data (polling by BMRB), which was largely in line with our research into environmental and ethical attitudes, but was more positive than some would expect. 51% were in support of “green taxes”, and 32% against, but these percentages changed sharply, to 77% in favour and only 9% against, when people were asked about “green taxes” which were offset by other tax reductions.
But some deliberative research, also carried out by BMRB, identified some of the barriers. People were more likely to advocate environmental taxes if they believed that climate change will effect them personally, and there are still significant levels of scepticism in the UK. There was, unsurprisingly, little faith that overall tax bills would not increase – even before the current ‘race to the bottom’ on tax and public expenditure. And although neutrality should mean that there are likely to be as many winners as losers, most people – with an ingrained sense of pessimism about paying tax – thought they would be worse off personally after the tax shift. But fairness also mattered.
The politics of tax are notoriously difficult: “winners nod, while losers scream”. And from the window tax onwards, tax changes are littered with unintended consequences. The Treasury is generally sceptical about them. But if there is an opportunity, it is in the early days of a new government. And all of the politicians on the panel were optimistic that a new Chancellor of the Exchequer of their particular stripe would be keen on the idea – despite the risks. We’ll find out next year.
The picture is from Flickr user JustUptown, and is used under a Creative Commons licence with thanks.
Add comment 29 October 2009
Boosterism
Sophie Stringer writes:
Stepping through Waterloo Station on my way to work the other day a sprightly looking girl in luminous green leggings and a white t-shirt passed me a sample for Bassetts ‘Soft and Chewy’ – as seen in the picture.
These energisers, the packaging tells me, are ‘delicious citrus flavour pastilles with B vitamins and CoQ10’. The packaging looks pretty feminine (and the sample pack – as someone pointed out – bears an unfortunate resemblance to a packet of condoms), and the pastilles themselves are in a blister pack, Strepsils-style. The instructions are to pop one a day, or up to three if you’re in need of an extra boost. There’s theory as well as method: the associated leaflet advises that ‘avoiding the slump’ is ‘not about a quick fix, it’s all about maintenance’.
Bassetts already makes a range of chewy vitamins for different ages, and for ‘all the family’. But this is the first time I’ve seen a specific product for adults, and also the first time I’ve seen fortification for energy promoted with a vitamin product. The inclusion of Coenzyme Q10 is also a novelty.
So why launch this now? The product certainly responds to our burgeoning desire for peak performance, along with concerns about the health effects of pick-me-ups like cola or coffee. It also speaks to the resurgence of time-pressured consumers in the wake of the financial crisis. It’s not enough any longer for supplements just to be good for us; they need to work hard and be focused about the needs they are addressing, it seems. But at the same time, there’s some pleasure to be had in the eating, unlike the yeasty smelling vitamin C tablets of yesteryear.
They are probably better for you than mopping up the spare biscuits as you leave a meeting, but I’m a bit suspicious about the proposition: things which sound quite similar to confectionery promising an energy boost might be treading close to a sugar rush, and Bassetts’ efforts to dissuade us of this – with box and blister pack – make them feel oddly medical. And Bassetts can’t help but evoke Trebor Bassett, and as it happens the Bassetts’ parent company, like Trebor Bassett, is part of the Cadbury group.
Will it take off? The trends are on its side, but it may take time to persuade consumers of the value of this particular solution. The jury’s still out.
Add comment 15 October 2009
The last place to go
Andrew Curry writes:
We’ve been having a bit of an argument in the London office about dixons.co.uk advertising which has been running on the London underground. The picture, above, captures the flavour; lots of text in which a trip to an identifiable department store to look at some upmarket consumer electronics is descibed quite affectionately, with the final line, in Dixons’ branding, “then go to dixons.co.uk to buy it.”
The argument is about the ad’s effectiveness. On the one hand, it’s right on trend. Work we did for AOL a couple of years ago identified the way in which consumers shift between online and offline channels increasingly seamlessly as their customer journey develops from awareness to purchase and maintenance. And our post-recession research shows an increase in ’savvy shopping‘.
On another hand, the copywriting about the department store experience is sufficiently warm that it reminds you of the service such stores offer – and not everyone is as transactional as the ad tries to suggest, even in a recession.
And on another: the argument is about the effectiveness of this for Dixon’s. Its own stores, now closed or rolled into the Curry’s Digital brand (full disclosure: absolutely no relation), were a byword for customer indifference. And online, Dixon’s is not the cheapest supplier.
In fact the ad polarised office opinion – an impromptu survey showed that half the people who responded liked it, and half didn’t. The half that didn’t tended to be older and better-off.
And I have to say that I’m in the second category. The ad’s strapline, “Dixon’s; the last place to go”, is clever, but it’s too clever for its own good. For me it taps in, almost too precisely, to a whole lot of brand associations which – were if I Dixons – I’d have preferred to leave dormant.
1 comment 7 October 2009
Maps, Macs, and the McDistance proxy
Andy Stubbings writes:
2 comments 29 September 2009
The new face of luxury
Emily Pitts writes:
Is the concept of luxury is stuck in the past? Leafing through the high end magazines, it looks so. It’s quickly apparent that 2009 ads sell the same products, and rely on the same concept of luxury, as they have for years; the traditional face of luxury is still impenetrable, aloof and other worldly. Whilst classic luxury pieces from Chanel or Hermes will continue to resonate as high quality investment items for a small group of rich consumers, the emerging values of the new “everyday luxury” market are quite different.
The Dutch design collective Droog suggest that “Luxury is really about scarcity“. And what’s scarce? “Care, silence, fresh air, slowness”. Brands that help consumers achieve some aspect of this in their lives will be connecting to a changing notion of luxury, as values around responsibility, community and self-reliance are emerging as the new consumer lifestyle aspirations. Though in part this has been provoked by recession, Futures Company research tells us that greater numbers are re-assessing what’s important in life; hence the spike in volunteer numbers, career breaks and socially responsible career choices such as teaching. Some brands in other sectors are successfully tapping into these desires; luxury may have look outside of the sector to learn.
The personal connection with the product that Nudo achieves by allowing customers to adopt an Italian olive tree from which they receive their own oil for a year, linking the consumer with the producer, is a good example. The Harrods allotment features webcams that allow consumers to view their food as it grows, which would certainly offer ’slowness’. Burgerville supports local farms and businesses, thereby appealing to consumers’ growing social conscience. Brands that allow consumers to express their creativity are also prospering. Increasing numbers of knitting clubs, Anya Hindmarsh’s bag customisation service and the Observer Woman’s ‘Designer DIY’ series run this year bear witness to this. In the luxury market, Clarins offers a customised skin cream, My Blend, in a small number of top end stores. Personalisation is also a feature at the ‘uber-bling’ end of the scale, as Peter Aloisson’s jewel-encrusted mobile phones demonstrate.
But the challenge for many luxury brands is to move beyond this. Selling a de luxe designer handbag for its link to a wider set of values than brand cachet is not necessarily an easy bridge to build. Louis Vuitton made a good attempt with its ad campaign (picture at the top of the post) that focuses on the journey rather than the bag; the promise is, perhaps, that our personal journey can be as interesting as that of Gorbachev. Competitor brands need to follow suit, and re-adjust their focus on the part of ‘scarcity’ that really means ‘luxury’ to today’s consumers.
2 comments 21 September 2009
Taking the strain
Andrew Curry writes:
Over the holiday I had to take myself and my bike by long distance train. I’d heard bad things about the bureaucracy involved, so I decided to visit my local mainline station to sort it out in person. And this story doesn’t turn out the way you’re expecting.
In fact it was one of the best customer service experiences I’ve had all year. When the ticket clerk heard when I wanted to travel, the first question she asked was whether I had some flexibility – travelling half an hour earlier or later made the fare quite a lot cheaper, and it helped that she split the journey into two separate parts rather than selling me a single through ticket (rail’s arcane pricing structure doesn’t do it any favours).
She then made sure that my seat reservation was as close as possible to the guard’s van, where my bike would be, reminded me that the bike needed a ticket attached to it during the journey, and finally, as about eight tickets popped out of her printer, put them all into a little wallet grouped by journey stage.
What I liked about this, apart from the fact that I saved about £30, was that my service representative had a picture of my entire journey in her head, and set about making it as straightforwards as possible for me. I’d like to be able to give credit where it’s due, and name the station, but I’ve heard (though can’t find a link) that at least one rail franchise has responded to the downturn by telling staff to maximise revenues. This is short-sighted, to say the least. Digital media consultancies increasingly say that “earned media” – where a company’s actions earn from their users good digital or personal plaudits, such as this blog – is the most effective form of promotion. The rail company has already earned its £30 back in promotion several times over.
The picture is courtesy of the London Cycling Campaign, and was taken by Lionel Shapiro. It is used with thanks.
1 comment 1 September 2009
Sporting tw**ts
Oliver Wright writes:
Humans have always been predisposed to gossip. French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville once said “If an American was condemned to confine his activity to his own affairs, he would be robbed of one half of his existence.” In this vein, celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher and Stephen Fry have done themselves no harm by revealing the minutiae of their day to day activities to the masses.
Celebrities, of course, usually have a slick PR machine on their side to ensure that potential pitfalls are avoided. The new wave of sports tweeters (twits, if you prefer), however, seem to lack this essential facility. Where the sporting media may have previously traded on snippets from a group of closely guarded sources, they can now rely upon a host of tweeters for a steady stream of bitesize stories.
These messages left on social networks and microblogging sites have the nasty habit of transforming tittle-tattle, hearsay, and rumour into cold, hard evidence – often supplied by the protagonist. Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen cyclist Lance Armstrong show his hot headed reactions to Alberto Contador’s comments on his teammates after the latter claimed the Tour de France’s yellow jersey. Also tweeting regularly (and with a little more restraint), was fellow cyclist Bradley Wiggins, who quashed media speculation regarding his team affiliations next year half way through the tour. After the tour’s epic climb up Mont Ventoux, he later paid tribute to Tom Simpson, a British rider who collapsed and died on the stage in 1967.
More recently, Australia’s Philip Hughes let slip that he had been dropped for the 3rd Ashes test due to start that morning – inadvertently informing anyone studious enough to notice of Australia’s batting line up, which they didn’t have to divulge until much later. Darren Bent also fell foul to his emotions on twitter (and later apologised), perhaps leading us to be thankful that most footballers’ 140-character musings are usually confined to the pitch.
Of course, sportsmen and women aren’t the only ones adapting to new media. As politicians have taken to using Twitter, Whitehall has released a rather lengthy guide for ministers thinking of using the service, no doubt in a spirit of public dialogue. Thanks heavens that British caution is not shared abroad.
Add comment 5 August 2009
