Consumer Goods Trends
Denise Klarquist — 23 January 2008
As a marketer and a wine drinker, and a member of a company whose founder first developed the concept of "sensation transference," I was very interested in the recent study by the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology on how price affects wine drinking pleasure.
The study, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and already widely commented on, showed that among a small sample of male graduate students who occasionally drink wine, the more the wine cost, the better it tasted.
I certainly don't question the validity of the study - Louis Cheskin proved similar concepts in work he did decades ago, and many marketers understand that how you package and position a product (especially a commodity, which arguably some wine has become) has a much greater influence on purchase than the characteristics of the product itself.
I think one key thing is missing from this study though. Baba Shiv, associate professor of marketing who co-authored the paper titled "Marketing Actions Can Modulate Neural Representations of Experienced Pleasantness," speculates that the results of the study would probably be replicated even among wine connoisseurs. On this point, I have to disagree.
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Leigh Marriner — 21 March 2006
Microsoft just announced an ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) called Origami, which runs a full version of Windows. It will cost around $500 and is slightly bigger than pocket size. You have to attach a separate keyboard, but it has a touch sensitive screen. Origami is made to surf the net, show movies, read email, sync with Outlook and do most of what you would do on a laptop that doesn’t involve heavy text entry. Origami is getting closer to Bill Gates’ vision of a small inexpensive PC, but it needs 3G wireless access in addition to WiFi and Bluetooth to enable people to stay connected anywhere. Pundits such as Ed Hardy of Brighthand are saying “I just can't see any reason why someone would be willing to pay $500 for a Windows Mobile or Pocket PC device when they could get one running Windows XP or Windows Vista for the same price.”
On the contrary, I think many people will want a smartphone with Windows Mobile 5.0. You won’t always carry your UMPC, but you will always have your phone. And you’ll want to check email, and see your address book and calendar on your phone. It will be interesting to see which devices the market chooses as the options expand – smartphones, laptops, UMPCs, Pocket PC handhelds, iPods, PSPs, portable media or DVD players. I don’t think consumers want one converged device, and just adding functions doesn’t mean success (witness iPod Photo, or Nokia N-Gage). Although consumers can’t reliably tell you whether they would use a device until they actually see it in action and watch what others do with it, in the research we’re doing for our clients we’re beginning to see which way the current is pulling.
Leah Hunter — 26 January 2006
If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can’t see Chuck Norris, you may be only seconds away from death.
If at first you don’t succeed, you’re obviously not Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris is the only human being to display the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle; you can never know both exactly where and how quickly he will roundhouse-kick you in the face.
Do you ever wonder how pop culture references take root? When the first Rocky Horror fans started shouting lines at the screen? Why “survey says” and “they’re greeeaaat!” became ingrained in our collective unconscious? How every self-respecting gamer knows that “all your base are belong to us”? What makes seemingly ordinary sayings and events balloon into pop-culture phenomena?
Take a look at the latest email trend for a clue...
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Leah Hunter — 4 January 2006
Why stand alone in a new market when you can partner? Apparently a lot of European beauty brands are asking themselves just that. Rather than creating stand-alone stores, they're teaming up with US mass merchandisers to break into the North American market. Finland’s Lumene is getting serious shelf space in CVS. Rite Aid is stocking hair care products by British brand Umberto Giannini. But my favorite example is...
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Darrel Rhea — 2 January 2006
New Year’s resolutions are almost always well intended…but unfortunately, they’re usually short-lived. A couple of days ago I discovered an interesting website, 43 Things, that provides online community support for its users to achieve their aspirations throughout the year. It’s an engaging concept, for a community-oriented website. What’s even more interesting are the goals that are cited the most by the thousands of people who make their declarations public. They tell us a lot about what is meaningful to Americans today.
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Davis Masten — 16 December 2005
I heard the Presidents of the National Academies talk about their most challenging issues recently. While all of questions and concerns were provocative and, in most cases things I had not considered much or even at all, one thought has come back to me again and again. This was raised by Harvey Fineberg MD, PhD, President of the Institute of Medicine . Harvey challenged the group to help him think about the role of the double-blind testing in a future world of personalized medicines.
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Darrel Rhea — 11 July 2005
Recently Heide Collins, a CNN anchor, was interviewing me as an expert in visual marketing. She asked me how I would advise the typical shopper to deal with the grocery shopping experience. CNN's query was sparked by consumers’ increasing wariness about being manipulated by manufacturers and marketers. I figure that we are all shoppers, so this might be useful to you. So, here’s my list for ways to deal with that and not be unduly swayed to spend money on what you don’t really want and don’t need.
Darrel’s Tips for Mastering the Grocery Shopping Experience
# 1. Don’t shop hungry.
You’ve heard this before, but probably forget. Hungry people impulse buy more then satiated, full people. Haven’t you ever noticed that usually the delis and bakeries are near the entrances with higher margin products? Yes, those indulgent-looking and savory-smelling products make us hungry and want to buy…now.
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Ingrid Ryan — 13 June 2005
In the last few years I have noticed that clothing retailers have taken the retail experience up many notches since I was a young teen. And I’m no longer a member of the demographic that most retailers want to lure, so I am constantly impressed and sometimes shocked at the lengths some retailers will go to to get younger markets’ attention and into their wallets. It’s no longer about having the right merchandise it’s about presenting a meaningful experience that can really make them distinct and help them become a true part of the lives of their customers.
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Leah Hunter — 17 May 2005
I am in furious mural mode.
At home, I’m sketching line-drawings of birds in my bathroom. At work, I’m lobbying to create 30-foot painting to disguise the concrete wall outside our office. At first I thought the mania was just mine, but recent spreads in Elle Decoration and Surface confirm: walls are where it’s at right now. They’re the latest focus in fashion retailing.
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— 31 March 2005
or an extremely brilliant ad?
I don't know. You listen and be the judge.
(Caution: spoilers below)
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Cynthia Chan — 14 March 2005
How trends move around and materialize in different regions around the world is absolutely intriguing to me. Trends definitely move around in different forms and shapes – they may be industry-oriented (like fashion, automobile, mobile phones, entertainment), or they may be about lifestyles, attitudes, or behaviors.
Technology made communication and physical travel so much easier, faster, and cheaper, and hence, contributed a big part in moving trends around the world.
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Tim Plowman — 1 February 2005
This morning as I stumbled out of bed and into the kitchen, I began to mentally tick-off an inventory of possible food items that I might put into our two year old daughter’s lunch for the day. Being a devoted working parent, I like to try to give her a variety of healthy foods for her to reject while I am not looking. At the end of the day when I dump the considerable contents of her small Tupperware containers into the trash, I know I have succeeded, at least in giving her variety.
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Leah Hunter — 11 January 2005
While wandering through Barnes & Noble, my home away from home, I discovered a new magazine. It might not sound like a big deal, but given the frequency with which I haunt this store and loiter in the café—I am a sad frappuccino addict, this was quite a surprise. Even more surprising was the magazine title, “Organic Style.”
I’ve always thought of organic in relation to food, not fashion. The word puts me in mind of Chez Panisse and peaches from the farmers’ market. It conjures images of chalky carob and the summer my mom thought wheat germ an appropriate ice cream topping. It does not make me think of shoes and shawls and style. Or, it didn’t until I read the surprisingly hip editorial in “Organic Style.”
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Christopher Ireland — 1 November 2004
If Kerry wins tomorrow (which I believe he will), it will mean that the country's latest generation of young adults has found its voice. Comparable in size to the Boomer population, this group has been much quieter and less visible in their social and political involvements. All that could be about to change if they turn out and vote in the way predicted by Zogby's latest poll.
Will it be a one-time expression of power or will this be the first of many changes they influence? My bet is that it will be the first of many, a few of which I'm going to guess:
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Julie Norris — 26 September 2004
Almost daily, it becomes clearer that if we don’t take care of our own healthcare needs nobody else will. By healthcare needs, I’m not just referring to eating and drinking right, getting enough sleep and exercising regularly, I’m including Healthcare Savings Accounts (HSAs) and managing medical records.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that 20 financial groups offer HSAs. Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation reports that one million accounts will be opened by the end of 2004.
HIPAA regulations have given patients more control over their medical records. More patient control has lead to medical staff expecting patients to haul their records from appointment to appointment.
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— 10 September 2004
Because we have competitors who think that her school is a place to market cosmetics.
According to an article in The Guardian:
"Mintel, one of the UK's leading consumer research organisations, which carried out the survey [of 7 to 19 year-old girls], draws the controversial conclusion from its results that cosmetic companies could go much further in their drive to entice young girls to buy their products. Firms should place vending machines for their products in schools and cinemas to target teenage consumers, Mintel says."
I don’t want to sound like a curmudgeon, but I think that this is ridiculous. Schools have a tough enough challenge educating without taking on the role of distribution point for eye-liner. Marketers would better serve themselves and their consumers by establishing boundaries of appropriateness. They will not win many friends among the larger consuming public or the parents of these girls using such crass tactics as vending machines at school.
This is not to say that marketing can have no role in education.
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Julie Norris — 20 July 2004
I was fortunate enough to catch Anne Taylor Fleming’s Essay: After All These Years on the Jim Lehrer News Hour. I listened to her suggest that older women consolidate their 401Ks, Social Security checks, or whatever they’ve been able to hold onto through divorces and widowhood. That they build their own assisted living consortiums, travel together while they still can and looking after each other when they can’t.
As I listened, it struck me that this idea isn’t simply about figuring out a way to grow old differently, better and happier. It’s about taking control of a huge proportion of your health care – assisted living. I believe it’s a innovative approach to creating personalized health care reform.
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Christopher Ireland — 14 April 2004
I have two daughters born in April (15 years and 3 days apart from each other). Each year, as their birthdays arrive, I begin a frantic search for whatever is new and hip for their age group. With my oldest daughter, I've pretty much given up. She gets money or something she's picked out herself. But the little one is still easy. Want to know what's near and dear to the hearts of pre-teen girls right this second?
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Christopher Ireland — 14 June 2003
I've spent the last couple of weekends in the company of large groups of people over 75. This wasn't a few token oldsters sitting on the sidelines, but 100+ folks talking, eating, dancing, and hanging out together. It was the perfect opportunity to catch a glimpse of the future--not just my future, but the rapidly approaching future of populations in the US, Europe and Japan, all of which have aging Baby Booms.
What did I notice? Staying thin and fit appears to define quality of life at this age. The difference between those who have taken care of their physical bodies and those who have not is dramatic and has much more than an aesthetic impact. Women seem more happy, genial and content with their present state than men whom seem acutely aware of who they used to be and what they used to do. Fashionable clothing, good jewelry, attentive service and cordial communication seem much more important than for younger adults. The pace of everything is slowed down.
Some will argue that these may be generational attributes tied to the WWII population rather than age attributes, but I don't think so. At least it's worth considering a future scenario where elder gyms thrive, the hottest clothing line is targeted at 50+ women, politeness is a sign of status and Walmart offers personal shoppers.
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