The Blog

A day later than expected, here’s the last in the 5 part series covering Sheffield’s impressive Melt 2008 Inspiration Session.

These are notes from my favourite talk at Melt, Tom Savigar of the Future Laboratory’s trend briefing covering consumer trends and insights for a number of industries.

Melt is a three year, digital content development programme for South Yorkshire which was launched in 2005.

As stated in earlier write-ups, all this is posted from hastily jotted notes.  If you were there and read anything outlandish, please pipe up in the comments and I will correct accordingly.

A quick recap for those who have just joined us…my earlier posts on the Melt 2008 Inspiration Session include:

Part 1 – A write up of Adam Gee, head of Factual Interactive Commissioning at Channel 4’s talk about 4IP, Channel 4’s £50 million fund for new media.

Part 2 – Paula Le Dieu, director of new media company Magic Lantern’s talk on new media for social engagement.

Part 3 – James Kirkham director of digital agency Holler’s talk about work on E4′s Skins.

Part 4 – Presentations by the Melt Awardees

Who are The Future Laboratory?
The Future Laboratory are a 25 strong team in London who try and help brands anticipate trends and move forward.  They have delivered over 200 case studies to brands.

Science-fiction writer William Gibson’s quote “The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet” is a frequent saying around their offices.

Tom’s 2 hour talk presented the Future Laboratory’s Spring 2008 Trend Briefing.  I’m diving straight into the notable points and memorable quotes from each consumer trend category he shared.

This is quite a long post, you must be warned but some of the insights and ‘consumer common sense’ Tom shared, particularly towards the end when he talks about the rise of ‘Concierge Culture’, are very helpful for companies in the current economic climate.

Slash/Slash

The Slash/Slash generation is characterized by multi-tasking 16-24 year olds who espouse a do-it-all attitude.   The term Slash/Slash comes from the fact that when asked to describe themselves, this generation would reel off a number of different roles, for example ‘designer slash artist slash film maker’.

An example is Zezi Ifore.  The Big Brother’s Little Brother presenter would describe herself as “TV presenter/A&R/DJ/Journalist

What does the future hold for advertisers?  The attitude for this generation is “I’m going to do it all because if not, who will do it for me?”

Another example: Babycake T-Shirts on MySpace.

It’s the playground ethic: if you’re not there, you’re not relevant.

“They build micro-empires around their personality and image and fans.”

‘Always on’ is hardwired into their lifestyle.

To be busy, to be connected, is to be alive, to be recognized.

They’d rather spend 15 minutes on their favourite social network to watching TV, reading, playing video games or talking on their mobiles.  From the MySpace: Peple, Content, Cultures report by the Future Laboratory.

They discover ‘the newest thing’ on social networks.

9% assess whether a new friend would be a useful business contact or creative contact.

Dual purpose – make money, connect friends.

How brands get involved – by spotting underground talent.

Example: Kate Moross (fashion designer) & Top Shop

Cult of personality, tongue in cheek self promotion and self-depreciation valued above all within this demographic.

It’s a new system based on peer networks and recommendations.  An example is the Rock The Vote initiative on MySpace.

How They (Slash/Slashers) Work?

They develop a brand around what they and their friends like.  They develop products and events alongside their customers.

Sense of mashup culture: they have 50, 60, 70, 80 decades of music to play with.

Keeping Up Appearances

Impression Management: being so visible and so distributed means that more are investing in keeping up appearances.

SnapMania gets rid of crowds from holiday snaps.  They understand the importance of having 9 profiles.

Local Heroes

Sarah J Tingle – an Aberdeen based artist who is a local hero.

All this shows how hard brands now have to work in this micro-fragmented media framework.

This demographic buys into brands not just because of their skills but because of who they are.

David Beckham, Jay-Z, all have multi-faceted empires.  The attitude is “my ethos is this and I can spread it really thin.”

HSBC’s recent Future of Entrepreneurship (study? report?) uncovered that the average person thinks that they will have 6 or 7 careers.

Another example:  Fraser Doherty of SuperJam who decided to start a jam making business after deciding his mum(?) could make better jam than he bought in the supermarket.

Paul Griffiths, founder of Babycakes T-shirts and owner of Secret Party Ltd has 62000 friends on MySpace and sells directly to them.  There are scores of MySpace profiles of people wanting to be him.

He turned down Nike’s offer to be a brand ambassador and sells his own t-shirts. Makes £15k a year in sales.   Kate Moross sells Choose Your Own Adventure t-shirts for £25 online.

eBay allows you to be free.

For brands the takeaway:

Empathy, right brain, conceptual brands, human traits.

There is now an accelerated product cycle – idea inception to delivery taking only a matter of weeks.

Tastemaker underground

Reciprocal relationship.  The ‘target audience’ is now fully aware of the potential benefits their endorsement could bring.

All a brand needs to do is provide a platform for people to display, share and showcase their talents.

Make it portable, converged, it’s about utility brands like Carling who are now seen as a music brand, likewise O2 etc.

Providing platforms and endorsing are vital.  Working with the indie scene.

Perma-adolescence

Create unique, varied and constantly evolving product lines to hold this generation’s attention.

It’s about a life time response.  Great brand example: 3 developed a service called 3Care that texts members every 3 minutes until they respond after observing that young girls sent a text message with the number plate of the taxi they hopped into, and a picture of the driver’s face, to friends and family before getting in.

Importance of doing something live for brand ambassadors.

There is now no such thing as being offline – it’s about being ‘in line’.

Content and messaging online, offline, on TV, etc.

As soon as the line of consumption is broken there is a dissatisfier

Another example – Teacake Tuesdays on MySpace, a group of teenage boys who meet to drink tea and eat cake.  Now being sponsored by Twinings?

Superheroes anonymous

Mr. Silent, Indianapolis’ own Superhero who guards the city without uttering a sound.

Examples of other anonymous superheroes – the Tactical Ice Cream Unit,  providing grass roots access to sophisticated mobile communications as well as free ice cream!

From the Tactical Ice Cream Unit’s website:

“The Tactical Ice Cream Unit (TICU) rolls through the city in an act of intervention that replaces cold stares with frosty treats and nourishing knowledge.”

The idea of ‘social nice working’.  Having a more worthwhile network.

Babajob – a social network connecting poorly paid workers with better paying jobs through people they know.

Do Good 4 Debt – a scheme in which a company sponsor’s an individual to work for a charity in return for repaying their debt.

Bring Light – Donors and charities build communities to fund specific charitable projects.

Food Futures

75% believe people have a duty to recycle, up from 65% in 2002.   £4.8billion spent on ethical foods in 2007.

The trade-off is between ‘organic and air-freighted’ and ‘local and pesticide-covered’.

What is it actually buying?

Average woman between 30-37 years of age has 3.5 hours sleep.

Cheap is over.  It’s the return of label watching.  What is value for money?

Why is it so cheap?

Consumers realize that they have to start paying more to get better quality, ethically produced food.  Going to the source.

Leftovers.

Eco and civic concerns reflected in the purchase of local foods.   ‘Localvores’.

It’s about ‘provenance’, the origin, or the source, of something.  People are aware of food miles.  Growing rarity agenda.

“Cook it, kill it, eat it” attitude.  I want to know what’s in it.

People’s attitudes to brands, whenever surveyed consistently cynical.  “I don’t know what they stand for”

Provenance increasingly a big deal.

Super foods

Goji ‘Super fruit’

The always going, 24/7 culture means that something has got to give.

Increasingly, DNA screening and being told what to eat to keep well are appealing.

Products like Glico’s Mental Balance GABA chocolate, big in Japan.  Supposedly good for de-stressing.

There is now the possibility for products to be injected with nano particles which allow them to keep longer or take on a specific flavour when shaken, for instance.

So one shake changes an orange juice drink and it turns into a blueberry flavoured one, for example.

‘Zeno Youth’ are so busy achieving they won’t mind products that tweak their bodies to allow them to perform.

Brand takeaways:

Value is a growing concern for consumers who have new found ‘food ethics’.

Be a clean brand.  I want to know that as a company what you do is clean.

Other trends: Food exchange programs – consumers increasingly growing their own vegetables and sending boxes to friends.

Nu Thrift – wastage of food a civic concern.

Concierge Culture

‘Everyday concierge services’ growing in popularity.

The notion of paying that little extra for someone who is considering and bearing you in mind for a few minutes.

Things worth bearing in mind for retail brands:

74% say friendly service is essential

65% cite after sales service as important

60% prioritise home delivery services

Sense of consideration – anticipating your every need.  Making life a little easier for people.

The demand for good service is outstripping supply.

More than half of consumers reported that their expectations for better service have increased in the last 5 years.

Time Pressed 35 Ups

HEIDIs – Highly Educated Independent Degreed Individuals

For these it is less about consumption more about customer service.  Democratization of luxury.

Competition is really hard so the little extra helps.  Tom’s test of a good hotel’s concierge service: where’s the best place I can get the best toothpaste in the area, the best suit etc?

Different concierge services for different industries but the trend is catching.

Travel – Extending the experience of travel right from the taxi from home to the destination city.

Computers – iTrunk tech support and assistance from Apple for a £79 annual fee.

Fashion – Louis Vuitton RFID cards for VIPs, shows how much they have spent in the past before they even enter the store.

Time poor – iWait: personal queue jumping service – people will wait in line for you.  DesignataBooks(?), Music Concierge – cut out all the bits I don’t need in magazines, albums.  Buy.time – pay someone to do things you don’t want to do but need doing; buy time.

Brand Takeaway:

A ramping up of your service ethic is essential.  Impression management is key.

Customers who are wooed will become customers who are won over.

Expect to work at winning their loyalty and to give more than a loyalty card.

People will pay a premium for “Are you alright?”

Do you only deal with issues relating to business or will you help in other areas?

Genuinely surprising – being ingenious is the fact you’ve been thinking about them.

That’s it!

Fascinating wasn’t it?

What do you think?  Should all businesses provide a ‘concierge service’?

Related posts:

1. Sheffield Melts Creativity – Melt 2008 Inspiration Session – Part 3
2. Sheffield Melts Creativity – Melt 2008 Inspiration Session – Part 1
3. Sheffield Melts Creativity – Melt 2008 Inspiration Session – Part 4
4. Future of Social Advertising: Branded Content and Branded Social Media
5. 75% of UK Facebook Users Would Not Purchase a Product or Service from a Brand’s Profile page