If only we had a crystal ball. Wouldn’t that be nice? I often think about this since I’ve had more than a few clients make the crystal ball reference. It seems as if this mythical object is all that stands between life as we know it and absolute peace and harmony.
But the “crystal ball” idea has two real downsides. First, it would put people like me out of a job, and we can’t have that. Second, it would eliminate the element of competition, which drives so much of the great products we use today.
Lacking a crystal ball, here are a few bold predictions I think most brands and marketers should keep in mind as consumer spending picks up and some semblance of normalcy sets in.
We’re not going to forget this recession anytime soon.
Americans are notorious for having short memories. There’s no other way to explain why we keep going back to the movie theater to watch midgrade romantic comedies and pay $9 for popcorn. But I honestly believe this recent period in our society’s economic history will reset a few things, including savings, use of credit and purchasing discretion. While we may not be looking at a permanently frugal consumer base, we are no doubt looking at a far more selective and less impulsive consumer base for some time to come.
While most youth generations make their parents or older associates scratch their heads in wonder, kids today are going to do that and then some.
I was reading a report by American Express that talked about how the recession has been so manifest, that parents just stopped trying to avoid talking about it and began to openly engage it with their kids at the dinner table. We’re now raising a crop of junior economists who have a plethora of mobile tools to hunt down and find the best bargain. If I were a CMO, I’d be looking less into how to build a sales-floor conversion model and more into how the company trains its sales force to deal with what will no doubt be an ultra shrewd consumer who can, and will likely, see shopping as an equivalent to a game, without regard to loyalty or brand advertising.
Big-ticket purchases will have to have a technological “wow” factor.
The acceleration of technological integration into most parts of our life is common wisdom. But there still seems to be a divide between most consumer product positioning and technology. And when technology is introduced, it’s always a backbencher to the product itself, or the brand doesn’t seem to know how to talk about the technology in a sensible way. But this is counter-intuitive to the way most people are thinking about things now. Non-tech marketers should take a long, hard look at their tech peers. Wireless companies don’t sell mobile phones that are smart, they sell smart phones. But we don’t see a lot of talk about smart cars. And any talk of smart appliances is generally relegated to the trades. Granted, tech products are tech-focused. Smart tech is just one example, and maybe not even the best. One of the greatest benefits to technology is its ability to create efficiency and savings — why aren’t we engaging a more discerning, smarter shopper by talking about an investment in a tech-enabled product that will save us more in the future?
