CONSUMER TRENDS
Brands should be willing to re-interpret or even overturn decades of brand history and tradition and do the opposite of what everyone expects
Crowdfunding
enables companies like Zen Float to pre-test their
products on the ‘new consumer’
various races, religions and families – caused controversy with its non- traditional depiction of US society. But the drinks giant knew that demographics were on its side: the US saw a 32 per cent growth in its multi-racial population between 2000 and 2010. Similarly, in October 2013, Indian
jewellery brand Tanishq promoted its wedding collection in a commercial featuring a bride with her daughter from a previous union – the fi rst campaign of its kind in India.
Be heretical towards your brand heritage: Brands should be willing to re-interpret or even overturn decades of brand history and tradition and do the opposite of what everyone expects: a powerful way to win the attention of new customers. In 2014, the Thug Kitchen vegan diet blog abandoned the ‘new age’ image typically associated
Ex-wrestler
Diamond Dallas Page aims his yoga at men
with veganism and gave itself a sweary, aggressive makeover. It now bills itself
“the only website dedicated to verbally abusing you into a healthier diet”. Another example? For decades,
the Harley Davidson brand could be summed up by one word: rebel. But in October 2014 the brand went heretical: it embraced environmental responsibility by partnering with The Nature Conservancy on a pledge to plant 50 million trees by 2020.
Encourage cross-demographic fertilisation: With consumer preferences ever more universal, the opportunities to transfer innovations from an initial demographic to another have never been greater – a very potent play for health and wellness brands. Ex- wrestler Diamond Dallas Page created DDP Yoga after fi nding that practising yoga helped him recover from injury. Targeting men who might be sceptical of conventional spiritual yoga programmes, DDP Yoga incorporates additional muscle strengthening elements. Similarly, CrossFit Kids – a variant of
the high-intensity workout phenomenon – can now be found in over 1,800 gyms and 1,000 schools around the world.
Focus on small niches: Thanks to expanding and online markets, there’s a real opportunity for businesses to focus on small groups and fringe niches that weren’t previously accessible. For example Kickstarter, the online
crowdfunding platform, is enabling creators to pre-sell and therefore test demand for their products and services. It’s seen US$1.3bn worth of pledges to over 70,000 projects
– including US$296,000 raised by Zen Float, a US-based isolation tank
44 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
company that’s designed the fi rst affordable fl oatation tank for the home.
Brave new world It’s now a brave new post-demographic world, where consumer tastes and behaviours can no longer be understood by traditional demographic approaches. Successful products, services and brands will transcend their initial demographics almost instantaneously. As a result, businesses that
continue to attempt to navigate using demographic maps – with their borders defi ned by age, gender, location and income – will be ill-prepared for the speed, scale and direction of change. By contrast, organisations that
explore opportunities for innovation among seemingly dissimilar or even opposite demographics – and that can incorporate their learning into their strategies (no matter which demographic segment they target) – will be the most likely to succeed. ●
Find out more As one of the world’s leading trend fi rms,
trendwatching.com sends out its free, monthly Trends Briefi ngs in nine languages to more than 160,000 subscribers. Sign up at
www.trendwatching.com
This feature fi rst appeared in the 2015 edition of the Spa Business Handbook, published in June 2015. For more information visit
spahandbook.com
August 2015 © Cybertrek 2015
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