TODAYS CONSUMER

The Cultural Revolution of the Behavior, Needs, Wants and Desires of the New
Frugal Consumer Emerging from the Greatest Recession Since the Greatest
Recession
One group is made up of those who have lost their jobs and
are downwardly mobile.

Those in the second group are not at immediate risk of losing
their jobs, but they have friends or family who are out of work.

A third group is relatively untouched by the downturn but
nonetheless , this group is also cutting back because
engaging in conspicuous consumption seems like bad
manners when so many other people are suffering.
The psychological reaction to the financial
meltdown can be segmented somewhat by three
consumer groups now, divided not by income
levels, but by income reality.
Parents and families are shifting to a new value system
where keeping up with the Joneses is out and teaching
the kids about responsible spending is in.

We are back to simpler times, but at the end, the
pendulum will settle somewhere in the middle.

As a result of cutbacks in the family budget "we
have redefined what's truly meaningful in our
lives.
Consumers will learn to become more frugal and are likely to
carry those skills over once the economy recovers.

They realized they were wasting money on higher-priced goods
and services when less expensive alternatives were available
with little real trade-off in quality or satisfaction.

The "crazy mindset" is over and shoppers are only willing to pay
for what they absolutely need or for those items that present
extraordinary value.
People will realize that seeking value is being
smart.
Becomes most relevant in times of uncertainty

Its where we feel safe, in control.

Presents us with new opportunities:
To focus on experiences over materialism
To indulge our hobbies and interests in more intimate, cost-
effective ways
To reconnect with friends and family

Its still about simplicity and indulgence (just in a different form).
The new role of the home:
Redefining how we live in recessionary times
The recession will end, but looking inward and
streamlining are likely here for some time

What we're seeing is a pretty dramatic shift in how people are
thinking about money and finances and needs versus wants

Tough times remind us that products exist to solve problems,
and products that are solution-centric stand a much better
chance of survival (and success)

Its about recalibrating our business to focus on how we can
make consumers lives better
The New Home Opportunity
WE ARE AT A CULTURAL JUNCTURE
A Transition in Social Consciousness of Historical Scale
Theres been too much of sameness, cloned, duplicated,
replicated imagery.

Too much of everything.

Wealth has been the ultimate goal, as the measure of where
people belonged, as the measure of success.

Todays consumer is realizing that these symbols are shallow
and dont provide meaning nor happiness; rather they feed
insecurity and alienation.
Why The Shift
In the last 50 years we have more than doubled our
wealth and we are not happier for it; at the same time
rates of depression are 10 times of what they used to be.

Modern life is making us feel more alone and alienated.

We are learning that in our abundant world we have a lot of
everything except what we really crave for.

We are hungry for real meaning and community.
Why The Shift

We are shifting from Materialistic Values towards Post
Materialistic Values emphasizing self expression and the
quality of life.

A transition from Material Want to Meaning Want
A Transition in Social Consciousness of Historical Scale
THE RISE OF THE CONSCIOUS BRAND
The new brand relationship will be about meaning, collaboration,
purpose.

Respects its customers
Acts like a good friend honest, credible, fun, human.
Fosters real community and a two way collaboration.

Makes a genuinely good products or service no smokes and
mirrors.
Has an authentic story that gives meaning to its customer
lives.
Gives them something to believe in, fall in love with, and
want to be part of.
The Conscious Brand
The new Conscious Brand core values are:
Community
Collaboration
Empathy
Co-Creation
Real Story
Meaning
The Conscious Brand
We Believe In Building Relationships
Projects are the door openers for assignments.
Collective work delivers a successful assignments.
Successful assignments build relationships.

That a Client is a human being with challenges, wants
and desires.
The satisfying of these needs build a trusted and prosperous
relationship.
Professional
That Integration promotes the relationship, the reliability and
the trust between our Brand and our Target.

That we want our brands to belong to our customers inner
circles.
In order to belong to The Inner Circle, a Brand needs to be trusted
and respected as a friend.
It needs to have a personality and a system of beliefs.
The human nature is to be social, to have relationships.

That a wannabe brand will never be.
That a brand without an integrated and consistent essence and
personality is a schizophrenia.
A relationship with a schizophrenic brand is never a consistent and
reliable relationship.
Branding
That society as consumers has and is experiencing profound
and unexpected changes that will forever mark a historical
point in time in how brands and consumer relate.

That the consumer and brand relationship is no longer about
consumption; is about trusted and dependable relationships.

That trusted and dependable consumer and brand
relationships are built through an integrated and consistent
delivery of a conversation.
Consumer
Brand communication efforts are now brand and
consumer conversations.
That brands and consumer relationships are built through the
same process that human relationships are built.

Getting to know is conversing. Conversing is trial.
After trial and continue conversation we might discover
openness and commonalities which help the brand become part
of the consideration set products at decision time.
Evangelists
That likeability leads to dating.
Dating position us as the preferred brand in our segment.

That relevance, trust and reliability lead to engagement.
No set of choices, just one, our brand.

That satisfying needs and desires consistently is the key
to a successful marriage.
That being faithful and always there, no matter when and for
what you need me marriage converts consumer into brand
evangelists.
Evangelists
That the consumer will always want more but also, that
todays consumer will not go for more than what he can
really have.

That todays consumer rather look smart than
pretentious.

That we are moving as a society from image is
everything to frugal is the new black.
We believe
OUR ESSENCE
The What we Believe In
The Juncture
The Touch Points
The Cuddle
The 360
The Relevant Juncture function is to define is delivering
a relevant insight so it can be delivered at the right time
through the different relationship contact points between
the brand and the target.

The Relevant mission is to understand that people and society
are living in constant motion, in constant evolution. Because of
this reality, so does the personal desires and needs evolve.

The Juncture mission is to identify the key insight at the specific
relationship contact point between the target and our brand.
Relevant Juncture
The key to the Relevant Juncture is the TCR Insight
(Time of Contact Point + Relevance of Contact Point =
Trusted Relationship Contact Point).

The brands target might be clearly defined but the TCR
Insight at a specific relationship contact moment is most
probably different.

The TCR Insight for our target watching TV most probably is
very different from the same person doing the shopping, or that
person spending personal time with friends at a social site.

TCR Insight
The 360 promise
Souurce: Millward Brown
September 2008
The promise of 360 communications is significant but
elusive.
While the economic power of a great brand idea projected
through a coherent voice across channels seems to be beyond
debate, much work remains if the promise of 360
communications is to be brought to fruition.

It is vital that marketers grasp this nettle now before the pace of
change turns the task into one of gargantuan proportions.
Getting Serious about 360
The 360 communications discipline has made a big promise:
to deliver more cost-effective brand building through
integrating the activities of all communications disciplines into
a single brand voice.

However, while marketers believe in the concept, they admit
that the promise is not currently being delivered in practice.
A 2007 survey by the American Association of Advertising Agencies
reported that 54 percent of senior marketing executives believe that
the development of integrated marketing communication is very
important. to success.

What is telling, however, is that only 21 percent of those surveyed
said that their organizations were delivering on this objective very
well.
Getting Serious about 360
One of the biggest challenges impeding progress toward
this goal is the need to manage an increasing and
morphing number of specialists.
These experts are necessary in todays increasingly complex
world, but marketers need considerably stronger mechanisms for
getting the most value from them.

We believe that the promise of 360 communications will be
realized most fully by those brand companies that truly take
ownership of the responsibility.
Getting Serious about 360
Companies that combine a comprehensive
understanding of their consumers with detailed
information on their marketing investments will set
themselves up for a profitable future when they elect to
oversee the critical task of 360 communications.

And they must do this now, before life gets any more
complicated.
Getting Serious about 360
The central premise of 360 communications is that all
brand contacts matter and should be considered
holistically when spending marketing money.
Given that there is only so much budget to go around, it is only
natural that individual specialists will focus on maximizing their
part of the communications mix.

So who is looking across the big picture?

And who is in the best position to decide if the brand will be
better served by redistributing the media budget or addressing
an issue through PR or customer communication?
The Importance of 360 Communications Control
Holistic planning and control are necessary to ensure
that all parties are working together, not operating in
silos
Organizationally, the solution seems to be a central 360
communications management function where the agendas of
individual silos are suspended and the central brand concern
cost-effective brand building comes first.
The Importance of 360 Communications Control
The ultimate question with regard to communication is
simply, Whats the best way to reach people?
Next, those who manage 360 planning must serve as both
evangelists and policemen for the central communications idea,
and should not be distracted from these roles by the
complexities of working within one particular channel.

And those in charge of holistic brand communication must have
a thorough understanding of consumers view of the brand.
Who Should Own 360 Communications Management?
Holistic 360 communication is about creating a
connection with the consumer using the most cost-
effective means possible; cost-effectiveness cannot be
evaluated without knowledge of the fully allocated cost
per connection.
Who Should Own 360 Communications Management?
Successful 360 communications put the consumer at the
heart of all efforts, with a focus on obtaining a cost-
effective consumer response.
It is the consumer who is the real integrator of 360
communications, and only consumers can tell us or show us how
it is all working that is, what all the different brand contacts are
making them feel, think and do.

If you dont take all brand contacts into account when you are
evaluating activities, you cannot accurately separate the
influence of individual contacts, and you risk misreading reality
and misdirecting spends.
360 Consumer Research Forces Integration
and Drives Efficiencies
A STORY ABOUT FACING CHANGE IN
ADVERTISING TOLD IN QUOTES

Cory Doctorow, Sci-Fi Author
Content isnt king. Conversation is king. If I sent you
to a desert island and gave you the choice of taking
your friends or your movies, youd choose your
friends if you chose the movies, wed call you a
sociopath. Content is just something to talk about.
Cory Doctorow, Sci-Fi Author

Mitch Matthews, Marketing Chief, Microsoft
Finally media changed model: The old model was
informing, persuading and reminding, the new model
is demonstrating, involving and empowering.

Lee Clow, Director of Media Arts, TBWA Worldwide
Everything a brand does that connects to the
consumer is media.

Lisa Seward, Mod Communications
Stop interrupting what people are interested in.
Become part of it: You used to use your budget to
buy an audience. Now you have to invent ideas to
attract an audience.

Robert DeSena, Director of Relationship Marketing, MARS USA
Why strive for engagement: Engagement has a
psychological component, but it will manifest
behaviorally it will lead to an action.

Seth Godin, Author of Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?
New Marketing isnt a single event or website or
technology. New Marketing treats every interaction,
product, service and side effect as a form of media.
TODAYS CLIENT AND AGENCY DYNAMICS
AGENCY FROM SCRATCH
Re-creating the Creative Industry
Brands are wonderful assets when they capture the essence
of a product, service, or event succinctly, meaningfully, and
with endurance over time.

Recent efforts to put a brand on Nigeria to attract tourists remind us
of how easy it is slap a label on something and hope that its uglier
characteristics will go away.

"Lipstick on a bulldog
That is, making superficial cosmetic change in organizations
rather than looking at the real underlying problems.

The problem with putting lipstick on a bulldog is that it is hard to
wrestle the bulldog to the ground long enough to do it and then
doesn't change the nature of the beast.
Branding should start with an authenticity test