By Daniel Lemin
Image: GfK Custom Research
I say struggle not because this funnel is difficult to understand. Indeed, as a consumer myself I can see how this is a common-sense approach to the selling process and it helps frame marketing decisions against consumer insights and drive investments.
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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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| Tags: Amanda Judge, conscious consumption, consumer consciousness, consumers, Ecuador, fair trade, fashion, globalization, green, jewelry, Katrina Pennington, mindful consumption, mindfulness, New Consumer, provenance, purpose, Retail, supply chain, Sustainability, The Andean Collection, transparency 
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The following is excerpted from Consumed: Rethinking Business in the Era of Mindful Spending (Palgrave Macmillan, July 2010), written by Andrew Benett and Ann O’Reilly and drawing on findings from the Euro RSCG New Consumer study:
The long, wearisome decades of hyperconsumption shaped not just the way we think and feel but the very language we use. It is now customary to refer to human beings as consumers or even as brands. And an entire lexicon has been summoned into existence just to give verbal shape to our profligate excesses: big-box store, Black Friday (and now Cyber Monday), bling, door-buster, McMansion, self-storage, shopaholic, supersized, warehouse club.
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| Tags: Andrew Benett, Ann O'Reilly, Arnold, Christian McMahan, conscious consumption, Consumed, consumer consciousness, consumers, Euro RSCG, excess, green, Heineken, mindful consumption, mindfulness, New Consumer, Retail, Sustainability, thrift, values, vocabulary Post a Comment | in Branding, Consumed, Consumerism, Corporate/Brand Leadership, New Consumer, Responsibility, Rightsizing, Shopping, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Value, Values
This post originally appeared on Greenway Communique and is reprinted with permission. What can marketers do to nudge consumers in a more sustainable—and satisfying—direction?
How can people be convinced to significantly green their lives? To make the big changes needed to conserve natural resources and decrease energy use?
Robert B. Cialdini may have something to suggest. Cialdini is the author of Influence and I’ve been reading his follow-up book Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. Each of the 50 ways is given its own chapter in the easy to read book and number 14 is titled: “How can one small step help your influence take a giant leap?”
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| Tags: biofuels, communication, conscious consumption, consumer consciousness, consumers, consumption, energy, energy conservation, green, Greenway Communique, identity, mindful consumption, mindfulness, Nathan Schock, New Consumer, nudge theory, persuasion, POET, recycling, Robert Cialdini, Sustainability, waste, wind energy Post a Comment | 6 Comments | in Corporate/Brand Leadership, Eco-Consciousness, Growing Up, New Consumer, Responsibility, Rightsizing, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Values
Giapo is a gelato store in Auckland, New Zealand, run by Gianpaolo Grazioli, a young Italian man. I haven’t been there personally but those who have describe it as “a lovemark . . . dripping with mystery, sensuality, and intimacy” and its products as “the only thing you need in life.” For today though, we’re going to put the in-store ambience to the side and try to forget about how tasty the gelato is. As much as Grazioli is brilliant on these fronts, what he really excels at is building and maintaining relationships.
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| Tags: Ben Phillips, ConnectNow, conscious consumption, consumer consciousness, consumers, consumption, customer service, Euro RSCG, Euro RSCG Sydney, Facebook, food, Gary Vaynerchuk, gelato, Gianpaolo Grazioli, Giapo, green, mindful consumption, New Consumer, provenance, Recession, reputation, Retail, simplicity movement, social networking, sourcing, Sustainability, Twitter, values, Walmart Post a Comment | 5 Comments | in Community, Consumerism, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Recession, Shopping, Social Media, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Values
Look around you. Signs of the shift toward more-mindful consumption are everywhere, in every industry. Today, we spotlight innovators in the food and beverage category.
Rightsizing
o Australia is home to at least one restaurant at the forefront of the rightsizing movement: At Wafu in Sydney, chef Yukako Ichikawa is serious about diners cleaning their plates. (Who knows best? Mom knows best.) If you order more than you’re able to eat on premise, you have to pay a surcharge of 30 percent. Eat up!
o In New York and London, Otarian is billing itself as “the first ever low-carbon restaurant chain, using a cradle-to-grave analysis in the carbon footprinting of every menu item.” Springwise reports the restaurants are powered by wind, water, and/or sun, water use is minimized, and the furnishings are made from recycled materials. Diners get to see the difference in the carbon footprint of their veggie meal in comparison to a meat-based equivalent and earn “Carbon Karma” credits that eventually reward them with a free Choco Treat.
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| Tags: accountability, conscious consumption, consumer consciousness, consumers, consumption, Euro RSCG, food, green, mindful consumption, New Consumer, provenance, Sustainability, transparency, waste Comments Off | in Branding, Community, Eco-Consciousness, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Responsibility, Rightsizing, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Values
Are you sure the cheese on your pizza came from cows? How hygienic is the kitchen in that snack bar around the corner? Exactly how Italian were the olives that went into making your olive oil? And what about those tinned tangerines; how do they peel them, anyway? It is questions such as these that have been behind two of the most successful TV programs in the Netherlands in recent years: Keuringsdienst van Waarde (“Inspectorate of Value”) and De Smaakpolitie (“The Taste Police”). They give us that ever-so-desired look behind the scenes. And tomorrow’s mindful consumer will only be more interested in the story behind the product. Offering transparency will become more than a defensive move to head off potential complaints. In the age of the New Consumer, marketers can turn the process behind their products into a powerful weapon capable of creating brand preference.
The urge to double-check the facts increases as people lose faith in a company, product, or brand. And this is just what the credit crisis was all about: loss of confidence. So we need not be surprised to see in the New Consumer survey that 45 percent of Dutch Prosumers say they now set more store by how and where products are made. Their interests may range from the safety of the food they feed their children to the fees and commissions they pay for financial products. Already, we know that around half of Prosumers in the Netherlands (49 percent) are paying more attention than in the past to the environmental impact of the products they buy, and three-quarters (74 percent) are keeping a closer eye on the quality and freshness of the food they buy. The motives may vary, but the consequence is the same: People want to know more about the products they are consuming, and they will continue to dig deeper.
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| Tags: accountability, conscious consumption, consumers, consumption, Dole, Euro RSCG Amsterdam, food, health, ingredients, mindful consumption, New Consumer, provenance, Remko Herremans, Retail, sourcing, Sustainability, traceability, transparency, trust Post a Comment | 1 Comment | in Consumerism, Eco-Consciousness, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Value, Values
Adapted from KNOW: The Future of Value, available to employees and clients across the Euro RSCG Worldwide network.
For some time now, Euro RSCG has studied the shift toward “experiential retail,” looking at such phenomena as the theme-restaurant trend of the 1990s, the increase in in-store diversions, pop-up retail, and multisensory store design. The “value experience” the New Consumer now seeks is different in that it has less to do with sensory stimulation than with making the very best choices. Done right, the purchase experience satisfies two need states: hunting (the need for discovery—“Look what I found!”) and gathering (the need for selectivity and trust—“This is a purchase I feel good about”).
Satisfying the Hunter
In 2009, Euro RSCG fielded a quantitative study in the United States, United Kingdom, and France (n=500). More than two-thirds of respondents to the Future of Value survey admitted to being consumed with getting the best deal possible. Evidence of that mindset can be seen in the aggressive shopping practices taking hold online and in the increased visits to such bargain bastions as tag sales and secondhand stores.
Significantly, the appeal of the “hunt” is not just about cost savings. Human psychology tells us that real value is not found, it is discovered. Active value hunters don’t want “something for nothing”; they want to feel they have earned something not available to the average shopper. They enjoy the process and take pride in the effort they expend to get the best deal.
This hunting instinct has important implications for product promotion. First and foremost, the experience must offer opportunity for interactivity. This can be as simple as requiring shoppers to register for promotional codes or as complicated as creating an ambassador-type program that rewards the most active evangelists with prizes and other incentives. Exclusivity also conveys value: People want to think they are getting a deal available only to those who have made an effort to pursue it. Marketers are catering to this desire with such promotions as “private” and “members only” sales, which convey a sense of exclusivity even when all that’s required to qualify is an e-mail signup or prior purchase.
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Adapted from KNOW: The Future of Travel, available to employees and clients across the Euro RSCG Worldwide network.
The travel and tourism category is evolving in response to broad social and cultural shifts, including the downsizing brought on by the global recession, the continued movement toward more-mindful consumption, and the move away from individualism in favor of community mindedness. Each of these New Consumerism trends is reflected in the new lexicon of travel terms, which includes the following:
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| Tags: backpacking, conscious consumption, consumers, flashpacking, green, luxury, mindful consumption, New Consumer, rough luxe, Sustainability, tourism, Travel, values, volunteering, voluntourism Post a Comment | 3 Comments | in Community, Consumerism, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Recession, Sustainability, Travel, Uncategorized
Through the years of hyperconsumption corporations have excelled at inventing new products and even new product categories that have kept everybody keen to buy. No sooner has a phone or a camera or a computer or a pair of sneakers hit the market than it is overtaken by upgraded versions from rival brands or even from the same brand. This has been a sure-fire way to keep the wheels of business turning, but it doesn’t make for long-term consumer satisfaction.
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| Tags: conscious consumption, consumer consciousness, consumers, consumption, financial crisis, media messaging, mindful consumption, New Consumer, Recession, reputation, Richer Business, sourcing, Stuart Harris, Sustainability Post a Comment | in Consumerism, Eco-Consciousness, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Recession, Shopping, Sustainability
