The Nomadic Millennial

Over the past year I've had the opportunity to spend a lot of time researching North American millennials on a wide range of everyday topics. Through hundreds of in-depth interviews, and thousands of online surveys, the theme of transience has often emerged.

The nomad, defined as "an individual with no fixed location who wanders in search of pasture," can represent a cultural ideal for this generation. In the face of social and financial pressure, many are attempting to remain free from the feeling of restriction.  

Transience of Home

Millennials often describe feeling at home everywhere and nowhere. Where previous generations define home as a place, millennials often see home in more abstract terms.

I travel so much I feel like a nomad..... im a nomad. I learned that in highschool. You have gonads lolz omg,
— Veronica Hernandez (@veerawnica) April 5, 2014

Many of the attributes of home (i.e. safety, attachment, relationships) can exist everywhere in the digital environment. With the ability to carry many of these attributes in your pocket, the idea of home has become more transitory and mobile for millennials.

Transience of Objects

Millennials often describe wanting to live light. Where previous generations placed great importance on objects, millennials are often concerned about becoming trapped by stuff.

I'm just going to live in my car because all I'll need to carry to be happy is my yoga mat, my shoes, and a phone charger.
— Sarah (@Bellum_Pax) March 29, 2014

The objects that are most valued, are the ones that facilitate growth and freedom. Things that provide maximum impact, with minimal inconvenience, are the things that are carried and consumed by these modern gypsies.

So what does this mean for brands?

Paradoxically, despite the desire to remain free, millennials will often feel strongly attached to the things that facilitate detachment. So when a product or brand helps facilitate detachment, it can be highly valued by millennials (think: bikes, smartphones, prepaid visa).

Are Smartphones the Modern Cigarette?

Recently I observed a group of friends in their 20's standing outside a restaurant. In perfect unison they stood staring at their smartphones. Nearby, another group of friends in their 50's were also standing outside a restaurant. In perfect unison they stood smoking cigarettes.

Both groups looked awkward and appeared to be filling time with a pointless activity, which made we wonder, are smartphones becoming the modern cigarette? 

The Control of Time       

For many smokers, the act of smoking can provide a mechanism for regulating and controlling time. Time is a complex and overwhelming concept - studies have found that when people are confronted by time, it can lead to reflection on mortality and changes in daily behavior. Smoking can provide a way to control time, by allowing people to segment their day into smaller sections and avoid moments of emptiness. 

In the same way, smartphones may have become the modern mechanism for regulating and controlling time. People use their phone to start the day, take a break from work, prepare for bed, and fill any moments of emptiness with action. Could it be that we consume a 'data packet a day' to help control time?

The Control of Emotion

For many smokers, the act of smoking can provide a mechanism for regulating and controlling their anxiety and emotion. Studies have found that many obsessive behaviors (like smoking, drinking and over-eating) are actually coping mechanisms for dealing with difficult emotions - allowing people to suppress their feelings with habitual activity.

In the same way, smartphones may have become the modern mechanism for controlling anxiety and emotion. When people feel awkward in a social situation, or frustrated at work, or lonely at home, they can use their smartphone to suppress their feelings with facts and updates. Could it be that we 'chain check' to help control emotion?      

The Modern Cigarette

Realizing the potential parallels between smoking and smartphone use can be uncomfortable. Smartphones have many benefits - I couldn't imagine living without mine - but I also suspect that using any product to control time and suppress emotion isn't healthy.

So what do you think, are smartphones the modern cigarette? 

Standard Deviations: Where Market Trends Emerge

In business a lot of effort is spent exploring the middle of the market - whether it's understanding what the average person wants, or the mid-point of customer behavior, we search in the middle because it appears to offer the greatest marketing opportunity.

The middle has size, the middle has scale, and focusing on the middle fulfills a deep human desire for safety and security.

Like many other animals, human beings often gravitate to the middle of a pack during times of danger because in the middle they feel less vulnerable to predators and external threats.

This same pattern of behavior can be observed in organizations when executives focus their attention on the middle of a market whilst ignoring patterns of behavior on the edges. Being in the middle seems safer.

However, when it comes to discovering trends and opportunities the middle of the market is the worst place for companies to focus.

It's not from the middle of the market that trends emerge but rather on the edges, as standard deviations in behavior that eventually become the average. The edges are dynamic and niche but make no mistake, it's from the edges that trends emerge.

So if businesses want to become more innovative, they need to move away from the safety of the middle and invest more time exploring the edges. Because hidden in standard deviations are future market trends and opportunities waiting to emerge.

PS. Thanks Pacific Planning for bouncing these idea around with me last month.

Cultural Appropriation: Why People Hate Hipsters

“Hipsters adopt the styles and affects of many cultures; cultures which aren't theirs. Cultures which they don’t actually belong to… Other sub-cultures enjoy what they enjoy, and that is the end of the story… People see hipsters as devaluing cultural fashions by cashing in on their capitol without embodying their meaning.” - Mike Rugnetta

This is an interesting video posted by Mike Rugnetta on the PBS Idea Channel. It suggests that the social disdain for hipsters may stem from their blatant and condescending appropriation of sub-culture. If you have a spare six minutes, this video is worth a watch:

Instacode: A New Language for Digital Youth

“People show more of themselves on Tumblr. They don’t use their real names, or write personal stuff, but they blog pictures. I don’t do any written stuff because I don’t want people from school to read it… I wouldn't want them to read about my feelings and tell other people what I've been thinking… Depending on my day and how I’m feeling, I might post a dramatic picture of rain on glass.” - Digital Youth (2012)

For digital youth, participating online is a social necessity. While previous generations have the luxury of keeping their digital and physical lives separated, digital youth must stay continuously connected in order to remain informed and in-touch with their friendship groups. Digital disconnection = social death. 

However this continuous connection also means that any private conversation, comment or personal interaction, could easily be shared through their entire social network. Social success, or social distress, is only a click away.

Hence the rise of instacodes. The deep human need to express thoughts and feelings, without fear or social judgement, has given rise to a system of codes and visual metaphors that digital youth are using to express themselves secretly on platforms like Instagram and Tumblr. Instacodes let digital youth communicate private things in public places.

The Evolution of Self-Esteem

A few weeks ago while sitting in a cafe, I overheard two mothers discussing different ways to build self-esteem. Turning to her friend one mother remarked, "I'm trying to limit the amount of disappointment my daughter experiences, because it may be bad for her self-esteem."  

This conversation got me thinking about our modern approach to self-esteem: avoiding disappointment and criticism, providing only positive feedback, focusing on individual affirmation and positive self-talk.

Does this really build strong self-esteem, or can it result in a fragile form of self-deception? I thought this could be a controversial but interesting topic for discussion.

The Social Evolution of Self-Esteem

In contrast to popular definitions of self-esteem, evolutionary psychology views self-esteem as an objective assessment of social standing. In his book 'Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind,' Prof. David Buss states that:

"Humans evolved in groups and needed others to survive and reproduce. This prompted the evolution of motivations to seek the company of others, form social bonds, and [gain] the favor of others in the group. Failure to be accepted by others would have resulted in isolation and premature death... Given that social acceptance would have been critical to survival, selection would have favored a mechanism that enabled an individual to track their degree of acceptance by others. This mechanism, according to sociometer theory, is self-esteem."

While popular culture suggests that self-esteem is individual, evolutionary psychology has explored the idea that self-esteem may be a 'barometer of social standing.' You could think of self-esteem like the warning gauge on your fuel tank, when your social standing gets low, your self-esteem should start to warn you.

According to sociometer theory, for an individual to build their self-esteem they must learn the behaviors that promote social acceptance. For example, when an individual undertakes actions that are socially valued (i.e. volunteering), they increase their standing in society (i.e. gain status), which can lead to higher levels of self-esteem.

The Challenges of Building Self-Esteem

In everyday life, sociometer theory provides some significant challenges and implications for building self-esteem.

Challenge 1: Learning which actions lead to social acceptance.

It's essential for people to learn which actions and behaviors contribute to higher levels of social acceptance. By learning the social skills necessary to make close friends (like reciprocity), or the behaviors that contribute to workplace success (like discipline) individuals can improve their self-esteem through social bonding.

Challenge 2: Learning when to fight and when to give in.

It's essential for people to learn when they are capable of beating an opponent, and when they should consider making an alliance or playing a subordinate role. By learning how to accurately judge their skill sets, intelligence and power, individuals can avoid unnecessary social conflict and play a more meaningful role in social groups.

Challenge 3: Learning how appealing your personality really is.

It's essential for people to learn which aspects of their personality are appealing to others, and which aspects should be managed or modified (i.e. learning to control neurotic behavior). Building self-esteem that is out of touch with social reality, can disrupt social bonds and may actually lead to disappointment and depression. 

Learning to Build Social-Esteem

If the sociometer theory is correct, it's possible that the concept of self-esteem championed by our modern culture may be counter-productive. In fact according to Prof. David Funder, building self-esteem "requires something more complex than simply trying to make everybody feel better about themselves."

Based on findings from evolutionary psychology, one of the most effective ways to build an individual's self-esteem may be teaching them how to build stronger social bonds. So instead of trying to build self-esteem, perhaps we should try to build social-esteem? Would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Why Everyone Knows a Healthy [Insert Unhealthy Behavior]

When talking about the topic of health, young people's opinions can be surprising irrational. What constitutes healthy behavior, will often have more to do with subjective experience and bias than objective evidence. So how can cognitive bias influence the topic of human health?

The Availability Heuristic

According to researchers, the Availability Heuristic is a cognitive bias in the interpretation of information whereby 'people use the ease with which examples can be brought to mind as a cue for estimating their probability.'

The Availability Heuristic can be observed in many every day health opinions, in particular those opinions based on personal associations instead of probable evidence. For example, when discussing smoking, a young person may use one strong family memory as probable evidence to justify an unhealthy choice (see tweet above).

Why Everyone Seems to Know a Healthy [Insert Unhealthy Behavior]

By applying the Availability Heuristic to the health opinions of young people, you can begin to understand how unhealthy behavior can become irrationally associated with positive health outcomes despite more probable evidence to the contrary (see tweet below).

1. Young people are less likely to have known those who have died from unhealthy behavior. As a result, memories associating unhealthy behavior with negative outcomes may be less easily available and judged as less probable.

2. Young people are more likely to have known those who have survived unhealthy behavior. As a result, memories associating unhealthy behavior with positive outcomes may be more easily available and judged as more probable.

Hence the reason why everyone seems to know a healthy [insert unhealthy behavior].

The Future of Digital is Mobile

Occasionally, whilst foraging for knowledge berries on the internet, you stumble upon a patch of tasty information. This was the case on Sunday when I read an article by John Naughton titled, "Real cost of the smartphone revolution: The smartphone market is expanding at an astonishing rate, but is it damaging creativity and innovation on the web?"

The article referenced a May 2012 conference presentation written by the industry analyst Mary Meeker from venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Drawing from a range on secondary sources, the presentation puts forward a compelling view of current and future digital activity.

While there are numerous insights and trends from Meeker in the deck, I've pulled out two highlights that I found of particular interest.  

Insight One: The Future of Digital is Mobile

At present mobile traffic represents 10% of global internet traffic, but according to Meeker while "internet growth remains robust, rapid mobile adoption is still in [its] early stages" and will likely impact global desktop internet usage (see recent data from India below).

Insight Two: Companies Need to Think Mobile

The opportunity for mobile innovation to 're-imagine,' or disrupt, stable categories like finance, energy and retail is immense. Industries and companies that fail to proactively develop strategies for dealing with the shift to mobile are likely to lose market share.    

For those that are interested in the full presentation, a copy can be found below:  

KPCB Internet Trends 2012

Why Do People Photograph Their Food?

Have you ever been at a restaurant and noticed someone taking a photograph of their food? I have. In fact, having observed many instances of food photography I decided to discuss the topic with some friends and colleagues.

A great deal of work already exists on the complexity and underlying motivations of meals. In general the findings from studies on food and meal behavior have shown that, "although seemingly simple, [eating is] in fact very complex behavior in which many physiological and psychological factors interact."

So building on some of that existing research, here are a few fun theories about 'why people photograph their food.' If you have any additional ideas on the topic, I'd love to hear them.

Theory One: Social Ritual

Sharing and enjoying a meal is a part of social ritual.  Historically, meals have often been used as a medium for passing on important cultural and religious rituals.

Perhaps people photograph their food together as part of a new social sharing ritual?

Theory Two: Collaborative Process

Preparing and enjoying a meal is a part of collaborative process. The process of contributing to a meal can be an important part of bringing together nutrition and emotion.

Perhaps people photograph their food to feel like they have contributed to the process?

Theory Three: Personal Pleasure Arousal

Anticipating and enjoying a meal enhances personal pleasure. The process of delaying gratification has been shown to increase the enjoyment associated with consumption of pleasurable products or services.    

Perhaps people photograph their food as a form of pleasure arousal and gratification delay?

Theory Four:  Experience Objectification

Eating and enjoying a meal is an ephemeral experience. Although the memories and emotions associated with eating can last a lifetime, the food itself does not.

Perhaps people photograph their food in an attempt to make the meal experience last?

Design the New Business

A few weeks ago I watched an interesting video titled, 'Design the New Business.' The documentary explored antecedents and outcomes of design thinking in business, from the perspective of industry and academic experts. 

According to the TU Delft students who created the video: "Old ways of thinking are being replaced by open minds and creativity. Design is playing a central role in helping solve problems and drive the future. We invite you to see how design is shaping the new business." 

This documentary is worth watching is you have some time - see link below:

Foraging for Social Facts: How humans forage for information like animals forage for food

Last week I spent some time chatting with marketing students at a university networking event. Watching the students slowly consume advice from marketing professionals was a lot like watching cattle graze in a pasture; when one student found a tasty source of information, others would follow and cluster around the source.

This observation reminded me of some great research on how human beings forage for facts. Consuming information online may seem 'socially revolutionary,' but the underlying human motivations are far more 'evolutionary.' In fact, according to research, we forage for digital information in much the same way that animals forage for food.

How People Forage for Social Facts

In 1999, the psychologist Peter Pirolli published a study that looked at the human motivations behind information consumption. The study titled 'Information Foraging,' established a theory that "modern-day information foraging mechanisms may [parallel] food foraging mechanisms that evolved in our ancestors." In summary, the research provided three key findings on how we consume information:

Human beings hunt for information patches. Just like animals seek out an ideal patch of food, humans seek out ideal patches of information. For example, we use Facebook, LinkedIn or Google, because they help us to aggregate information into a valuable patch.

Human beings follow information scents. Just like animals use scent to find ideal patches of food, humans use social clues to find ideal patches of information. For example, we use Tweets, Likes or Links, because they help to signal the potential value of information.

Human beings are on an information diet. Just like animals are driven to find the maximum amount of food with the minimal output of energy, humans are motivated to find information whilst conserving time. For example, we prefer concise information sources that provide quick facts and data.

Planting your Information Patch

So how can you use this research to help ensure that people cluster and consume your content? Well in the same way my recent networking experience created an information patch for students, you need to plant  an information patch for consumers. To help you get started, here are three things worth considering:

1. Plant your information in a patch. Good information grows together, so you need to plant your information in online groups and communities that share your content interest.

2. Create information scent. Valuable content has a social scent, by highlighting brand affiliations, social credentials and content links, you can build information credibility.

3. Provide information on a diet. Informavores are fast-fact-eaters, so provide content summaries, data points and information implications to keep them grazing.

The Five Stages of Travel

Heading into the annual holiday and travel season, I thought you may appreciate a study undertaken by Google on 'The Five Stages of Travel.' While the data itself is relatively bland, the use of infographics managed to engage me in the experience. Happy Holidays.

Stage One - Dreaming:

Stage Two - Planning:

Stage Three - Booking:

Stage Four - Experiencing:

Stage Five - Sharing:

Think Quarterly: Dedicated to Data

Thought you may appreciate a new online magazine launched by Google, called Think Quarterly. Designed to communicate with Google's partners and advertisers, this first issue has been, “dedicated to data – amongst a morass of information, how can you find the magic metrics that will help transform your business?”

Masculinity in American Culture

Over the past few months I've been spending quite a bit of time in the United States – both for business and pleasure. In contrast to many European and Asian countries, one aspect of American culture that always surprises me is the degree to which they embrace ‘masculinity’ in their everyday lives. 

From the way that meetings are conducted, to the car brands that people prefer, masculinity seems to play an important role in mainstream American culture.

Defining Cultural Masculinity

For almost half a century, the famous social psychologist Prof. Geert Hofstede has been conducting research based on six dimensions of culture. One of those six dimensions is masculinity, a cultural dimension in which “social gender roles are clearly distinct: Men are supposed to be assertive, tough, and focused on material success; women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life.”

Below is a table outlining the social norms frequently found in masculine cultures:

Bigger, Faster, Harder, Stronger

According to the research, America is considered a higher masculinity country, meaning that many of the masculinity attributes listed above also reflect mainstream American culture. To wrap up this post, I thought I’d provide a few practical examples of how masculinity can influence everyday American behavior.

Muscle cars are defined by Merrium Webster as, “American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines.” These powerful cars are an icon of American masculinity, with research showing that “engine power of a car is more important in masculine cultures. In feminine cultures, people may not even know their car engines power.”

Madison Avenue is arguably the home of global advertising, located in New York City, the home of American corporate culture. According to research, “masculine cultures show more confidence in the advertising industry… [it’s believed that] the skepticism of feminine cultures toward advertising is based on their markets having been relatively swamped by advertising reflecting US masculine values.”

In America, information is often presented rationally. According to research, “across cultures it appears that feminine cultures read more fiction and masculine cultures more non-fiction… Members of masculine cultures seem to be more concerned with data and facts: members of feminine cultures are more interested in the stories behind the facts.”

Three interesting things on the interweb

In this edition of interesting things on the interweb, you’ll find three different forms of thinking from one source - Strawberry Frog. For those of you who don’t keep up-to-date with the advertising industry, Strawberry Frog is an independent agency which has been described as “waging war against the dinosaurs of advertising - monolithic global networks and their holding companies.”

Interesting interweb one:

In a five minute interview conducted by Heidu Ehlers, the founder of Strawberry Frog, Scott Goodson, discusses some of the challenges and priorities involved in running a global agency. According to Goodson, “when I founded Strawberry Frog, the challenge was always about fearlessness. You know, am I fearless enough to do it, do I have what it takes. And that question is there every single day.”

Interesting interweb two:

In the Planner Survey 2010, Heather LeFevre reports on the working life of 1578 strategic planners from around the world. Covering topics such as salary, job satisfaction and digital activity, the Planner Survey 2010 delivers some great data in a visually engaging format.

The Planner Survey 2010 from Heather LeFevre

Interesting interweb three:

In an insightful Adweek article titled, ‘Whither Millennial Men,’ Chip Walker shares his insights on the emerging nature of millennial men. According to Walker, “millennial men are taking matters into their own hands and inventing a new version of American male success… a new male success archetype I call the indie guy.” Walker goes on to say that, “maybe the future of marketing to these young men is about giving them hope that a new version of American male success is possible, in a world where the odds sometimes seem stacked against them.”

The NGMR Top-5-Hot vs. Top-5-Not

As part of the Next Gen Market Research group, bloggers from around the world were invited to participate in a group post on the ‘Top 5-Hot vs. Top-5-Not’ topics in market research. The following is a collection of topics and trends that I feel are important to our industry; it may not add up to ten, but that’s what happens when you ask a qualitative researcher to count.

Hot topic 1: Research re-integration
At one time, the market research industry was unified with the marketing world. The purpose of market research, and the insights it garnered, was to inform the development of useful ideas (like the work of Ernest Dichter on Madison Avenue). However, over time, the market research industry separated from the marketing mainland and came to operate as an island.

Recently, I heard an MRIA colleague state that “the definition of useless research is research that isn’t used; and a lot of our research isn’t used.” Isolated on our industry island, a great deal of market research has become boring, habitual, resistant to change and disconnected from the needs of the marketing mainland.

Hence my first hot trend for 2011 is the re-integration of research into the marketing industry, and the re-connection of research and creativity. In order for our insights to be useful, we need to work more closely with those who actually use them.

Hot topic 2: Neuroscience
One of the highest profile research techniques of late has been neuroscience (shout out to my friend and former colleague Dr. Shane Moon, whose company is helping to pioneer this approach in Australasia). While neuroscience has attracted no shortage of public attention, it still faces some significant challenges including high start-up costs, a lack of qualified principals, risk adverse clients, and ambiguity surrounding the insights it provides.

Assuming it can sort out the business model, my second hot trend for 2011 is Neuroscience.

Hot topic 3: Metric Messaging
Back in 1964, Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase, ‘the medium is the message.’ Today, with the advent of social media, it may be worth considering if ‘the metrics are the message.’ In the same way that marketers use research to understand customers, customers use research to understand themselves. As a result, statistics and studies are some of the most viral content available to social media marketers.Expanding our industry offering, my third hot trend for 2011 is metric messaging, or research companies using findings to stimulate brand conversations in social media.

Hot topic 4: Qualitative with Qualia
The broad definition for the term qualia is ‘the study of feelings and qualities of mental states.’ In today’s highly competitive, increasingly commoditized markets, there has never been more need to properly understand and harness customer’s mental states.

According to Prof. Gerald Zaltman, “95% of thinking happens in our unconscious. Therefore, unearthing your customers’ desires requires you to understand the mind of the market.” This is very much the objective behind the use of deeper qualitative methodologies, like those employed by companies including Olson Zaltman Associates, Censydiam, Psyma, Sinus Institute and Intensions Consulting.


Moving beyond the focus group, my fourth hot trend for 2011 is qualitative with qualia, or the use of qualitative methodologies that are designed to understand and explore the feelings and qualities of mental states.

Hot topic 5: Social Media
To be honest, no blog post on hot topics would be complete without a reference to social media - and the market research industry is no exception.

From a measurement perspective, social media may offer our industry an unparalleled opportunity to understand and explore human behavior. While most research practitioners appear to be behind the eight-ball in terms of social media expertise, clients still have high demand for tools and techniques that can understand human motivations in this medium.

From a management perspective, social media may also end up challenging many of the revenue and business models in our industry. Social media sites make most of their money from marketing - not market research. For them, market research, both sample and analysis, could be given away for free if it leads to more marketing revenue.

Irrespective of whether it ends up becoming a gift or a grenade, my fifth hot trend for 2011 is social media, and the impact it will have on the research industry.
Not topic 1: Online Panels
For the past few years, the reliability and validity of online panels has been one of the most over-exposed topics in market research. Every industry conference and publication seems to perpetuate this ongoing exercise in naval-gazing.
Whilst critiquing the effectiveness of online panels is important, the problem with our continuing focus on this topic is that it distracts us from far greater industry challenges - like how to retain custodianship of customer insights in the future. To quote from a recent blog post:

“The debate over data collection methods (i.e. telephone vs. online) is at the end of the day an old one, to be argued by academics. It is, at best, a sidebar to the greater issue facing the market research industry today: that of relevance and innovation... So much of market research today is merely a dump of data, with no meaning behind the numbers: templated reporting of tables and charts. Data collection, however, is a commodity and market researchers who continue to provide commodity services run the risk of becoming extinct.”

Transmission Global Summit 2011

Last week our team had an opportunity to participate in Transmission Global, one of the most unique and engaging conferences I’ve attended in a while. In my opinion, there were two aspects to this conference that were particularly engaging: the attendees, and the experience design.

From an attendee perspective, there was an incredible mix of musicians, gadgeteers and executives who were willing to share their thoughts and opinions on creativity. Below are a selection of interesting ideas that popped up through-out the day; if you’d like more examples then I’d recommend reading Adrien Sala’s event articles.

Scott Belsky, Founder and CEO of Behance

‘Creatives have a tendency to keep their ideas secret; however creative ideas that aren't shared will tend to die in isolation. In order to increase the likelihood of an idea coming to fruition, creatives should be encouraged to be more transparent with their ideas; to share them with the community. Sharing ideas makes you more accountable for their realization.’

David Neale, Vice-President of Special Projects for Research In Motion
‘It’s too easy to wake up each morning and step back into your comfortable slippers. If you really want to develop, innovate and create, then you’ve got to get rid of those comfortable slippers all together.’Richard Gottehrer, CEO and Founder of The Orchard
‘Through all the integration of technology into our lives, generations coming up are going to be less primordially instinctive… Since everything will be immediately available to us through digital delivery, we are going to lose our connection in physical ways that aren’t yet realized.’

From an experience design perspective, what I found engaging was the process of ‘visual illustration’ that occurred through-out the conference (like the RSA Animate talks on YouTube). By the end of the day, through the process of discussion and debate, the space became a visual synopsis of conversation – an illustration of ideas.

Big thanks to Tyl Van Toorn and his team for putting together an incredible conference. If you have the chance to attend one of their syndicated events in Asia, Europe or South America, I would highly recommend you take the opportunity.

transmission: GLOBAL SUMMIT 2011 from transmitNOW on Vimeo.

The Contagious Report

This week I wrote a post for the Canadian Marketing Association titled, 'The Contagious Report.' The post shared findings from some recent research we conducted at the 2010 BCAIM conference. If you'd like to read the original post you can view it here; or alternatively you can find a copy below. I'm interested to hear if your opinions mirror those of our research participants...

Spending time staring in the mirror is never a good thing for a person, or a brand. In fact, the very basis of marketing involves looking up from our mirrors and out towards the market; towards the needs and motivations of our customers.

Having said that, it can be a lot of fun to sneak-a-peek in the marketing mirror, which is why we thought you may appreciate the findings from a recent survey of 200 marketers at the 2010 BCAIM Contagious Conference. The survey used real-time handheld electronic devices to explore the hottest issues, trends and topics impacting marketers today.

Social Media:
According to our conference survey, the majority of marketers, 8 in 10, are now using social media to hear what customers are saying online. However, only 36% have a formal system for using social media, in contrast to the 44% who have a mainly informal system.

In addition, those marketers who work for an agency seem to be adopting social media much earlier than their clients, with our research showing that client-side marketers are 8 times less likely than agency-side marketers to be actively using social media.

Customer Insights:
Despite the rise of social media monitoring, only 16% of marketers believe that it provides the best way to understand their customers. In fact, our conference survey found that marketers tend to rely on more traditional techniques for gathering their insights.

Of those surveyed, 30% believed the best way to understand their customers was with qualitative research, followed by 28% who rely on CRM databases, and 18% who believe that quantitative research holds the key to unlocking customer insight.

So what customer segments are marketers looking for insights on? Well according to our study, more than 1/3 of marketers believe that the youth segment will provide the greatest prospect for growth in the next few years.

Workplace & Career:
Much is made of the differences between agency and client work environments; the perceptions of creative agency ambience, versus controlled client conclaves.

According to our conference survey there may be some truth behind those perceptions, because those on the client-side of marketing were most likely to describe their workplace as unplanned and tactical, or secretive and controlled. In contrast, those on the agency-side were most likely to describe their workplace as open and collaborative, or planned and strategic.

Finally, when it comes to career, is cash king or are there bigger concerns? Well amongst senior executives, 4 in 10 cited money as their number one career priority. However more junior and mid-level managers placed greater value on recognition and achievement in their careers.

Check out The Contagious Report:
Spending time staring in the mirror is never a good thing for a person or a brand - but sometimes watching the reflections of others can lead to some great insights. So if you’re interested in taking a longer look in the marketing mirror, and seeing how you compare to your peers, check out the rest of The Contagious Report below:

The Contagious Marketing Report

View more presentations from Concerto Marketing Group.

Tuning in Poland

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend some time in Poland while conducting qualitative research for a global technology manufacturer. Although I can’t share any of the insights we gained from the study, I would like to share an observation we made while wandering the streets of Krakow.

Krakow is considered to be the ‘cultural capital’ of Poland, with throngs of University students and young adults providing a poignant juxtaposition to the ancient architecture of the city. According to government statistics, 35.9% of the Polish population is under the age of 24; that sunny weekend in Krakow, it seemed as if all 35.9% had descended on to the city streets.
An observation in A-minor
In many western societies the act of whistling is something you'd often associate with older generations, so you can imagine my surprise when I heard a teenager whistling a Kanye West song on the streets of Krakow. It seemed odd, very odd. Why would a teenager whistle a song instead of just listening to it?

That’s when it hit me; none of the people I saw on the streets were listening to music. Those little white earphones which have become so ubiquitous on the streets of Vancouver, London or New York, were noticeably absent. Instead of being wrapped in a cocoon of sound, people were whistling, talking and engaging with the outside world.
So what does this mean?
To be honest, I have no idea. The absence of iPods could have been a function of anything (from observational bias to economic crises). But what I found fascinating was how the absence seemed to improve the social environment. Where the people of Vancouver often choose to tune each other out, the people of Krakow were tuning each other in.

The Human Brand-Aid

A few months ago I spent a little time observing shoppers in Hong Kong’s IFC Mall. Whenever I’m working overseas, one of my favorite things to do is observe people in the process of shopping. While shopping centres tend to be homogeneous environments, containing largely homogenous stores, the actual behavior of shoppers can differ greatly by culture and continent.

This time around I noticed a large number of mainland Chinese tourists (they didn’t seem to be Hongkonese) taking photographs in front of their favorite luxury fashion stores. Excitedly flanking logos as if they were standing next to the Mona Lisa; posing with advertising banners as if they’d just bumped into a celebrity.

Despite the global recession, the market for luxury brands in China has been seemingly insatiable – predicted to increase 12% year-on-year. This lead me to wonder, what’s behind the Chinese obsession with luxury brands, and why would tourists choose to photograph themselves with luxury brands in a shopping mall?

Consumption in Communist Society

There have been a number of morphological studies undertaken on the role of consumption in pre and post communist societies; most notably East Germany and the Soviet Union. A common theme in these studies is the importance of brand and product consumption as a source of ‘individual freedom’ in otherwise highly restricted cultures and social environments. You could say that brands become brand-aids - a way to mediate one’s psychological ills.

To quote from an East German morphological study conducted by Dr. Christoph Melchers in 1994, “consumption replaced experiencing real risks. By displaying conspicuous consumption it was possible to differentiate oneself from the uniform masses and provoke questions. Especially useful for this purpose were goods from the West which thereby acquire fetishist characteristics.”Consumption in Chinese Society
In China there has been no abrupt shift from communism to democracy. Instead a new form of Chinese capitalism has emerged in the society, with citizens being granted financial and consumption freedom within the boundaries of communist rule.

In morphological research, one of the six main drivers of human motivation is the desire to challenge rules and order; the need to pursue individual intentions and exercise personal freedom. The freedom to wear the clothes you want, the freedom to choose your religion, the freedom to speak your mind and take political risks – all could be seen as examples of this motivation.

So here’s a hypothesis. Within China, one of the only ways an individual can address their need for freedom is by making and spending money. Hence any desire for social, political and religious freedom has been artificially focused on economic freedom. They are free to make and spend as much money as they like; consumption is their main source of freedom.
Human brand-aids in China
So how might this theory explain the Chinese obsession with luxury brands? Because purchasing luxury brands may represent something bigger for the Chinese consumer – it may represent an expression of individual intent. They are attempting to buy freedom. Wearing Chanel is like expressing an opinion. Dressing in Gucci is like praying to God. Luxury brands have become a form of freedom brand-aid.

Let me know if you have any thoughts on this topic. Do you agree, disagree, or somewhat agree with my observations and hypothesis?