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Archive for September, 2010

Living la Vida Local

September 29th, 2010 | by Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange,

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For the New Consumer, the “L” in SOL food (sustainable, organic, local) has taken on added importance in the past couple of years. At a time when people are feeling disconnected and turned off by the plasticity of the modern world, locally produced goods from small businesses have taken on an attractive patina of authenticity and communitarianism.

Euro RSCG’s New Consumer research shows that growing numbers of consumers in developed markets want to feel a stronger connection to the goods they buy—and to the people who make them. Looking at our U.S. sample (n=1,500):
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Designing Happiness

September 25th, 2010 | by Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange,

Of the 5,700 adults Euro RSCG surveyed in seven countries for our New Consumer study, exactly half said they are actively trying to figure out what makes them happy. One of the ways in which people are seeking happiness is by uniting in common cause, investing time in something more substantive and significant than can fit neatly within a shopping bag. They are looking to replace materialism with meaning, spending with substance.

This post originally appeared on The Dragonfly Effect and is reprinted with the permission of Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith, authors of the new book by the same name.

How do you design for happiness?

A first step in tackling this question is to understand what happiness means. But herein lies the problem. Our understanding of what happiness is (and how to get it) is often misaligned with what really drives happiness. Indeed, research by Dan Gilbert and his colleagues show that we tend to go looking for happiness in a lot of the wrong places. If you disagree, you can check out the lead story on Entertainment Tonight on any given day. What people think will make them happy is not in fact what actually makes them happy.
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Will Rogers Would Approve

September 24th, 2010 | by Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange,

Half of respondents to Euro RSCG’s New Consumer global study said they worry that digital communication is weakening human bonds, and more than four in ten sometimes worry they don’t have enough friends.

Perhaps inspired by American cowboy and social commentator Will Rogers (1875–1935), who famously stated, “A stranger is just a friend I haven’t met yet,” a group called Living Exercises posted this on a wall in Brooklyn, N.Y.:

Another promising sign of the move toward mindfulness. Thanks to Scouting New York for the spot–and shot. You’ll find other great city scenes here.

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| Tags: digital communications, Euro RSCG, friendship, Living Exercises, mindfulness, New Consumer, Scouting New York
Post a Comment | 3 Comments | in Community, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Uncategorized, Values

Men Can’t Adapt, but Brands Can—Here’s How to Target Guys

September 22nd, 2010 | by Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange,

This Q&A originally appeared in Advertising Age and is reprinted with permission from Rose Cameron. Click here to see the original.

By Matt Carmichael

It’s a difficult time to be a guy in America. One could argue it’s been downhill since we stopped riding horses. According to one of the foremost experts on selling stuff to dudes, Euro RSCG Chicago Chief Strategy Officer Rose Cameron, as women have redefined what it means to be female, men have struggled to find their role in this new world. Women are now better educated and increasingly earning more than their spouses. Job losses during the recession have hit men inordinately hard. That’s leading to tension and unhappiness in both genders. Ms. Cameron’s research shows that one in three people reported concern about depression in their households. How are men—and marketers—adapting?
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| Tags: advertising, Advertising Age, Dos Equis, Euro RSCG, financial crisis, gender, Matt Carmichael, men, Recession, Rose Cameron
Post a Comment | 1 Comment | in Branding, Consumerism, Marketing, New Consumer, Social Media, Uncategorized

Mindfulness Sightings: September 2010

September 21st, 2010 | by Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange,

Bad news travels fast and, from the floods in Pakistan to the continued effects of the global downturn, there’s been plenty of it of late. Yet, there has also been lots of good and encouraging news that points to the continued advance of mindful consumption and a more sustainable and satisfying way of living.

Today we share a few of our most recent sightings, organized according to the four paradigms of the New Consumer:

Embracing Substance

Euro RSCG’s New Consumer study found that more than four in ten respondents from the seven markets surveyed (Brazil, China, France, Japan, Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States) wish they could start fresh with an entirely new lifestyle, and more than a third sometimes feel they are actually wasting their lives. Just over two-thirds (including 87 percent of U.S. Prosumers) believe most of us would be better off if we lived more simply. For many, slowing down is a vital first step toward that goal.

o To the rescue: Slow Down London’s eight-week course to slow down your life. Participants receive daily motivational tips and tasks via email, plus weekly invitations to join others in slow adventures (e.g., visiting one of the city’s “secret” green squares or going to a gallery to view a particular piece of art). There are also fortnightly tea gatherings. The program is intended to inspire Londoners to spend more time savoring life and incorporate more spirituality, education, and pleasure into their days.
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Are Marketers Bowing to Positive Peer Pressure?

September 17th, 2010 | by Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange,

This post originally appeared on The Inspired Economist and is reprinted with permission from the author, Heidi Tolliver-Nigro.

What percentage of the wrapper does the Terracycle invitation take up? That's some serious real estate!

Teenage drinking = bad peer pressure.

A first-grader learning to do a cartwheel for the first time because of the encouragement of her classmates on the playground = good peer pressure.

Marketers calling themselves “green” or “sustainable” because everyone else is doing it = bad peer pressure.

Marketers switching from traditional to compostable packaging because others have been successful with it = good peer pressure.
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Collaborative Consumption: Reinventing Not Just What We Consume but How We Consume

September 12th, 2010 | by Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange,

One of the emerging paradigms uncovered by Euro RSCG in our New Consumer global survey is the move toward “rightsizing.” Fed up with excess and waste, today’s more mindful consumers are seeking to cut back and simplify. One of the manifestations of this is the current boom in sharing. It’s as simple as it sounds: People are moving beyond me-centered hoarding and competitive hyperaccumulation to a form of consumption that is more conscientious, communal, and collaborative. From cars and bikes to books and baby clothes, people are sharing their resources, emphasizing rightsized use over outright ownership.
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Can the Food and Beverage Industry Come Clean?

September 10th, 2010 | by Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange,

Euro RSCG global research shows that three-quarters of consumers believe businesses must be completely open and transparent, and seven in ten are much more aware these days of the nutritional/health value of the foods they eat—and yet only one-third actually trust the food industry to provide them with healthful products. A good first step in building trust would be to make it easy for shoppers to know what they’re really buying.

This post originally appeared on Co.Design and is reprinted with permission.

Infographic of the Day: Food Packaging Tells You Exactly What’s Inside

Ingredient lists make no sense. Infographics, to the rescue!

Ingredient lists on food, once thought to be a benefit to consumers, are a joke these days. Take the Gatorade sitting on my desk. Just some sugar water, right? It contains monopotassium phosphate, glycerol ester of rosin, and sodium citrate. Huh?
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Rethinking the Role of the Corporation

September 8th, 2010 | by Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange,

The following is adapted from Good for Business: The Rise of the Conscious Corporation (Palgrave Macmillan), written by Andrew Benett, Cavas Gobhai, Ann O’Reilly, and Greg Welch and drawing on findings from the Euro RSCG Future of the Corporate Brand study:

Throughout the course of this decade, it has been virtually impossible to tune out negative news of the business world. Our fears of the global recession and mortgage foreclosures were interrupted by massive recalls of contaminated pet food and children’s toys. Gas prices fell, but then banks began to fail. We couldn’t even escape by putting in a DVD: Tales of corporate scandal and immorality were fed to us through a steady slate of films exposing the dark sides of industries ranging from pharmaceuticals (The Constant Gardener) to health care (Sicko), from weapons dealing (Lord of War) to the diamond trade (Blood Diamond), and from Big Oil (Syriana) to corporate law (Michael Clayton).
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Company Spotlight: The Andean Collection

September 7th, 2010 | by Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange,

One of the four paradigms of the New Consumer is the search for what we term purposeful pleasure. For many people, this added layer of pleasure comes from making purchases from companies that are aligned with their own ethical and social values. Looking at the leading-edge Prosumers in Euro RSCG’s global study, six in ten prefer to buy from companies with a purpose beyond profits, and seven in ten prefer to buy from companies that share their personal values. On the flipside, 75 percent believe they have a responsibility to censure unethical companies by avoiding their products.

Here, guest blogger Katrina Pennington shares with us her perspective on the increasing social and environmental consciousness of the modern consumer and how her company, The Andean Collection, is challenging the notion that a business cannot simultaneously be at the leading edge of sustainability and fashion.

There is no doubt we are living in an age of globalization and global warming, made more visible every day through a media that increasingly offer us secondhand experiences of realities occurring across our planet. Yet confronted with overwhelming levels of third world poverty and the planetary ripple effects of climate change, we are not as helpless as some would believe. Here in the United States, as the world’s biggest consumer force, we are only just beginning to realize the extent of our power to effect change through our consumption choices—rewarding those businesses that promote sustainability and punishing those guilty of exploitation, whether of people or the land.
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Archive for September, 2010

Living la Vida Local

Will Rogers Would Approve

Mindfulness Sightings: September 2010

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