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PSFK's 2012 Future of Retail

Contemporary shoppers demands are constantly evolving as they adopt new devices small enough to throw in a pocket or purse.

A few trends that continue to become common place are Service w/ Opt In, Shopper Coaching, Auto Curated Content & Fit with a Click.  Each of these examples is covered beautiflly on PSFK's Future of Retaill Report.  They also demonstrate how brand champions stay connected with the retailer long after they have left the store.

PSFK presents Future of Retail Report 2012

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on: the buying brain

During the holiday season I did some facinating reading.  On my list was The Buying Brain.  It was fanstatically facinating and informative.  If you are a marketer of any type this is a must read!

The Buying Brain offers an in-depth exploration of how cutting-edge neuroscience is having an impact on how we make, buy, sell, and enjoy everything, and also probes deeper questions on how this new knowledge can enhance customers' lives. "The Buying Brain" gives you the key to- Brain-friendly product concepts, design, prototypes, and formulation- Highly effective packaging, pricing, advertising, and in-store marketing- Building stronger brands that attract deeper consumer loyalty

Dr. A.K. Pradeep discusses the marketing implications of the fundamental differences among the brains of different groups of people. The book looks to understand the human brain in biological terms. He used EEG brain wave studies, eye tracking, and other techniques to look at some of the fundamental differences among the brains of different groups of people and the marketing implications of those differences.

In conducting his research, not only did Pradeep find significant differences between the brains of men and women, but he also found that the brains of mothers are significantly different than those of other women.

This is a highly readable guide to some of today's most amazing scientific findings, "The Buying Brain" is your guide to the ultimate business frontier - the human brain.

on: branding inside of a transparent culture

Give Them Something to Believe In

View more presentations from Izzie Zahorian.

on: movie poster typography

i love browsing deviantart.  in a quest to find mashups this past week i found this.

[via deviantart]

 

on: a little privacy

The IAB tells congress that It's privacy bills may harm business and consumers. Mike Zaneis, Vice President of Public Policy, testified before the U.S. Congress to express the advertising industry’s serious reservations about two legislative proposals that jeopardize the Internet and the interactive advertising that has made possible an explosion of new information, communications and entertainment.

With all of the social data being posted in public, can we self regulate before we get to close to people's private matters?  can all this data lead to predictive algorithms engines run amuck?

[via IAB]

on: people who need people

Timing is everything, just as I was creating concept that would persuade a talented group of people to act and engage, I heard my RSS chime with David Sable's latest ramble about PEOPLE.  After reading through the post and the responses it inspired a few thoughts.

David says: Start by thinking in the vernacular – try it…let me know if/how it changes your perspective.

I agree with David! Can I get an amen brotha from the audience?
If we are going to persuade people to change their behavior with an new idea, we must build trust and not appear to be an outsider who speaks in a foreign tongue.  We must speak to them in their language.  Your idea must be expressed in a language that makes them feel comfortable and yet is easy to understand.

Often doing that, makes your client feel queasy.  We are the PEOPLE experts.  In my experience, the best clients do not hire us because they want another marketer in the room to validate their ideas. They expect and desire us to lay thought provoking work on the table.   If we are not provoking conversation or debate with our art - then it is not good.
 

It's rare that clients have expert knowledge about the what drives the culture (language, desires and the emotions) of a people.  Oh sure, focus group tests, powerpoint insights, listening tools and brand checkers help us collect data and validate hypothesis - but I have found that all of that data typically gets boiled down to more marketing speak.  I have found that speaking two languages is helpful. Marketing speak is a language of love, but it is not how most people speak.

As creatives, we should be an expert in the culture of many people. get away from your desk and be a person who needs people. yes. we are people who need people. 

ON: Marketing to Gen Y Woman

A great piece of new research on Gen Y woman was released by PopSugar Media (www.popsugar.com).  The two-tier study revealed that Generation Y women are the most influential age group when it comes to defining trends in popular culture. Gen Y women, in turn, are discovering new brands and getting most of their style inspiration and product recommendations from blogs and social media.

WhyYWomen

This report examines the Gen Y women’s sphere of influence of lifestyle trends, how technology and social media help them expand their sphere of influence, and how marketers can target and communicate with this group.

The survey uncovered some critical Dos and Don’ts when Marketing to Gen Y Women:

1. Do realize context matters. Gen Y women aren’t likely to click on your ad, but they are influenced by advertising nonetheless. The context they encounter an ad in largely determines their trust in a brand. Trust in a site translates into trust in an advertiser’s brand, particularly for brands they’re less familiar with. 
2. Do be honest. For this generation, transparency is a form of currency. Gen Y women are increasingly comfortable broadcasting their lives on the Internet. This is also a generation that’s come of age the same time that reality TV, confessional memoirs, and personal blogs have become commonplace. They’ve become accustomed to a heightened level of transparency among their peers; they now expect it from brands. 
3. Do engage in dialogue with your audience or customers. While it is somewhat trite to call online marketing a conversation, marketers ignore that fact at their own risk. Smart marketers monitor the conversation, respond directly to tweets that mention them, and allow their customers to converse with each other. Gen Y women have already redefined authenticity, basing it on the opinions of their online peers. For marketers to connect with Gen Y women, they need to connect with their peers, rather than privileged experts, such as celebrity endorsements or third-party seals of approval. Additionally, Gen Y women respond favorably to being treated like a VIP. Engaging them in dialogue (through Twitter, contests, or competitions) helps them feel a more personal connection to a brand. 
4. Do integrate your media across multiple channels. Gen Y women are multimodal. They move between the Web and their mobile phones with ease, and, unlike Gen Y men (who have all but abandoned TV), they still watch television. Marketers need to be consistent in their communication across multiple platforms, since there are manifold opportunities to connect with consumers. 
5. Don’t get too comfortable. When it comes to their social networking sites, Gen Y have proven themselves to be fickle. They’ve already moved from Friendster to MySpace to Facebook. Smart marketers need to monitor where Gen Y women are moving toward online, and react accordingly when the next network hits.
6. Don’t ignore Twitter. While there has been media coverage lately claiming Gen Y is less devoted to Twitter than their older cohorts, Gen Y women are using it differently than other generations. They understand it is a promotional platform and subscribe to the feeds of brands that provide “exclusive” info—new products, new information, links to coupons, and deals only offered to followers. 
7. Don’t dominate the conversation. While marketing to Gen Y women is a multidirectional dialogue, marketers need to be wary of dominating the conversation. This is a generation that expects to be heard. In focus groups, many of the participants claimed that the quickest way to get them to unsubscribe, unfollow, or unfriend a brand’s communication is to bombard them.  While Gen Y women want to connect with their favorite brands, marketers need to toe the line between relevant info and spam.
8. Don’t underestimate the marketing savvy of Gen Y women. Gen Y women, perhaps more than previous generations, understand the value of their personal information and attention. If marketers expect Gen Y women to share their preferences, ideas, and attention with them, they need to offer quid pro quo to those consumers. While it may take the form of discounts on products or access to exclusive products or deals, it might also take the form of recognition for contributions—using a customer-submitted photo or video in advertising or featuring customer-submitted ideas on an official blog or website.

Click here to download the entire study.

After reading through the entire study, there are a number of critical findings.

1. Gen X woman are watching Gen Y ladies
2. Viewing a banner ad (not clicking-through) can be enough to build brand credibility.
3. It's all about them and how cool, smart and new your product can make them.
4. Personalization is the price of entry.
5. A social strategy is not your 30 sec spot on Facebook or YouTube
6. Be portable to their mobile phones.
7. Context is king.
8. Recognize their contributions to your brand and you expect future purchases.

ON: A Dose of Practical Wisdom

ON: Creative Thought

If you are not prepared to be wrong. You are not prepared to come up with anything orginal.

ON: A Stroke of Insight

For those of us who are in the business to renting spaces in consumer's brains this is a must see TED Talk.Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness –- shut down one by one. This is an astonishing story.