Digithoughts

When JWT Trendspotter Ann Mack talks trends, she isn’t just telling you what’s happening at the moment -- she’s telling you what’s coming in the next moment. We’re not suggesting she’s JWT’s Director of Premonitions or anything like that, but if this were Name That Tune, she’d have the song in 3 notes or less.  

Since her days as an Adweek reporter, Ann has displayed a unique ability to identify trends long before they are mainstream. She identifies patterns in the industry, combines her findings with user research and offers businesses a glimpse into the future.

Last week, Ann visited San Diego to speak to Digitaria clients, employees and the local Ad Club, about the “Top Trends for 2011 and Beyond.” Rather than rehash her whole presentation and steal her thunder, here’s a quick take on five of the 10 trends:

All the World’s A Game

Brands are using gaming in non gaming spaces to drive certain customer behaviors. Social media is a huge drive, creating social one upmanship. Customers want to have the most points and/or the most visits as brand loyalty and friendly competition combine.

Using gaming to drive loyalty was spawned out of a simple, but important problem: It takes too long to get points with traditional loyalty programs. Social media and mobile are in real time, location based; the rewards can be instant. This leads to not just more engagement, but better engagement.

Think about it: when is the last time you got a customer loyalty card that gets stamped after you purchase something? Now companies like Starbucks allow you to scan your phone and get rewards.

Not all the rewards are monetary. Doing good for the world can be a reward.

VW took the idea of gaming and turned it into a social good campaign, thefuntheory.com. They allowed users to come up with ways to reward people for doing good things like recycling, obeying the speed limit, etc.

Users are in full support of “gameifying” life. 63% of users surveyed said that making everyday activities (errands, etc.) more like a game (points, leaderboard) would make them more rewarding and fun.

“Gamification” is not only fun, but can increase brand loyalty and engagement, drive or change consumer behavior, and push people to influence peers.

The Urgency Economy

The motto “spend now, think later” has returned. Living in real time creates a sense of urgency with all web-based behaviors.

I am all too familiar with this. Recently, I have been sucked into the website teefury.com. They feature a different, limited edition t-shirt design every 24 hours. If you like a shirt, you have one day and one day only to purchase it. That’s it. Then it gets filed in the gallery to forever taunt you for not buying it when you had the chance.

The art of the deal has become one of the rare things we can brag about during the recession. We are more likely to share deals and discounts with our friends and family.

Deals themselves are expanding far and wide. Deals really started in fashion, but are now found in all industries including travel and healthcare. In India, there is even group buying for real estate

Time sensitive deals are extending beyond the web as well.

Consumers are buying when they might not otherwise. Coupons and deals used to be seen as down market, but no more do they cheapen brands’ identity.

Non-commitment Culture

Technology has taken us back to very old marketing behaviors, but reinvented in new ways. Sharing goods is an old concept making a comeback.

Due to the economy, consumers are reluctant to spend on big-ticket items. The solution to this is collaborative consumption, like ZipCar services.

The paradox of choice plays into this as well. The time between one product and the next version of the same product is very short. We know the next generation is coming so we don’t want to be tied down to a product that is quickly outdated.

Economic caution is being combined with our accelerated culture. We want what we want when we want it, but still don’t want to make a big commitment.

We are also increasingly aware of the environment, and sharing goods feels better for the earth. Digitalization of books and music has rendered our CD collections, which used to be a point of pride, obsolete -- taking their excess packaging with them. The next step, not even owning the digital music you listen to, is evolving through services like Pandora and Spotify.

Automakers have now gotten on board. BMW has a car-on- demand service. Peer to peer car services allow users to set up carpools and ride shares.

Pop up shops have become more and more popular. They dial down retail commitments but still allow people to engage with the brand. They also add to the sense of urgency mentioned earlier.

Hyundai had great success with its pledge to consumers that if you lost your job, you could return your car. The campaign was so successful, Hyundai’s sales doubled while competitors’ sales were down. Now, they have taken it step further with a new program that is guaranteeing how much your new Hyundai will be worth when you trade it in 2, 3 or 4 years from now.

Brands work with non-commitment culture to help enable the sharing/borrowing of their products or lower the commitment. Contrary to popular belief, so far this hasn’t hurt brands, but rather leads to more customers down the road. The brand experience is more important than simply the purchase of the product.

Eat Pray Tech

Technology is essential; it is no longer a luxury. Mobile phones are now our central hub for everything, with something for everyone -- they’re far more than just communication devices used to make calls.

Technology’s adoption cycle is growing ever faster, and being among the first to possess a new piece of technology carries cachet as these devices increasing become aspirational objects of ownership.

Technology also has the ability to empower, and low income consumers are a new target demographic, leading retailers like Wal-Mart to offer products like the iPad for (moderately) lower prices.

Tech products are now gateways to experiences, becoming more like travel than, say, a piece of jewelry or a watch.  Similarly, young consumers are not as interested in cars because of technology -- now they can connect with friends, go to school and shop from home.

Do you even remember when cell phones were used just to make calls?

De-Teching

There is a flip side to technology’s rise, as roughly half of people surveyed say technology is distracting, makes it difficult to focus, and leaves them feeling like slaves to their devices. Thank goodness the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica aren’t real (...yet) or we’d all be doomed.

Technology may have gotten rid of the 9-5 workday, but not necessarily for the better -- we are now on a 24 hour work cycle. Deep thinking skills are suffering. But technology is trying to help save us from it, and the media has taken up the cause.

Technology’s campaign slogan for off lining should be “if you can’t do it yourself, then technology can help.” Services like Freedom help you disconnect -- by not letting you connect at all for 8 hours.

Some non-tech brands play into this as well.. Breath mint brand Altoids has an app that lets you tune out certain Facebook friends who distract you or post too much.

Brands are emphasizing real word connections to help people disconnect from tech. Diesel held an event called Facepark; a cheeky, real-life riff off Facebook allowing people to connect face to face. Good thing Mr. Zuckerberg didn’t win the right to trademark the word “face”.

In addition to these five points, Ann Mack also spoke about

• Retail as a Third Space
• Creative Urban Renewal
• Worlds Colliding
• Hyper Personalization
• Outsourcing Self Control

Here is a teaser trailer of the entire report.

Reena Leone Marketing and Social Media Coordinator

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