New Marketing New Research

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A Word About Trends
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A Word About Trends

• Driving force of society
• Can sometimes rapidly advance mainstream culture
  although not always e.g Beauty and the Beast
• Spontaneous and unpredictable
• Often resemble microscopic processes

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A Word About Trends

• Can remain hidden from companies for quite a long
  time e.g
• Madchester
• 'And then all of a sudden we were all proved
  right,
• Manchester was like renaissance Florence... it
  all came
• together," Steve Cogan's character, Anthony
  Wilson, 24
• Hour Party People
• Drum n Bass

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Word About Trends

• Most companies and agencies/glued to a passive
  role
• Tend to be reactive not proactive
• Only following trends once they have achieved
  mass appeal

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Starting Point
Most of what we view to be the norm originally
came from the margins
Holiday Destinations
Toys
Food
Political Parties
Sun Glasses
Electrical
Cars
Bars
Media
Football
Dancing
T shirts
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The Development Process

• New trends come not only from books
• Or from the market
• But from people

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Myth Two Daughter Knows Best!

• Accept that trends come from somewhere else than
  the boardroom
• Accept that the CEO daughter
• Is probably not trendy
• Does not tell her father everything

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An Influential Minority
Sometimes the standard bearers for the future
habits/tastes of the mainstream
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An Influential Minority

• Sit towards the starting line

THE ADOPTION CURVE
Influential Minority
EarlyAdopters
EarlyMajority
LateMajority
Innovators
Laggards
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Sphere of Influence

• 21st century brands need to understand
• Where they are on the curve
• Their history and past
• Future direction
• Market place
• Before zoning in on style cognoscenti, early
  adopters, etc
• However, understanding the rules of adoption is
  a strong management tool
• Brand development
• NPD/NSD
• Strategic direction

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Myth One Its All About Cool!

• Cool brands dont shout e.g

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Myth Three Lets Create a Trend!

• Companies that try and create a trend usual fail
  - why
• Not fast enough?
• Definition of early adopters are wrong?
• Looks false not real?
• Creates a fad/short term
• Even with research, companies can miss the
  obvious e.g the use of text
• Research methodology often wrong, use cross
  section of population for new ideas? Ideas they
  wont always get?
• Instead look at where you are on the adoption
  curve and plan your strategy accordingly

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Myth Four Lets Jump on the Night Train

• Some companies believe that trends can be
  exploited by tapping a trend
• Although it can work.e.g Sprite, Adidas,
  Lucozade,Nike, Red Bull and Ford
• It can be dangerous or look out of sink
• Smiley t shirts the Sun newspaper
• Labour and Brit pop
• Ibiza
• Ayia Napa
• Some big brand sponsorship events
• Foxton car/graffiti

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Defining The Minority
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Myth Five An Early Adopter..

• Has the latest in vogue clothes.
• Listens to trendy music.
• Drinks foreign beer.
• Yes he might do.
• But equally he might just be part youth culture.
• Tribal, high effort, desire to be first.
• Essentially its a state of mind, personality
  traiteven Joe Bloggs might be a style leader.

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Myth Six They Are All Singing and Dancing!

• There is no all singing, all dancing early
  adopter
• Rather early adopters vary by market
• Remember the diffusion theory came from farmers
• So one could be early adopter in fashion and
  music but not in Koi Carp management or gambling
• Early adopters and trends present in all
  countries
• Early adopters can vary also by country e.g
  Japan very forward thinking, Germany not so
  forward in terms of technology
• And Diffusion can accelerate at different rates,
  slower in big countries e.g USA

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Early Adopter Traits

• - Open Minded
• - Passionate about the field
• - Experimental - Innovative
• - Independent
• Rule Breaking - Discerning
• Experienced
• Older
• Like to spread ideas

Often confused with style bees
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Style Bees Traits

• - Tribal
• Self Conscious
• Desire to lead
• Show Off

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Myth Seven Early Adopters Are One Dimensional!

• To quote the film the breakfast club
• You see us as you want to see us, in the
  simplest terms in the most convenient definition.
  But what we found is that each one of us is a
  brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a
  princess and a criminal
• Early adopters are schizophrenic
• Often belong to a multitude of tribes without
  embarrassment
• Not just music channels but also History channel,
  angling, Discovery etc
• Much more a DIY culture pick and mix best
  elements
• Although still possess a sense of belonging
• Sense of belonging can be part of regional code
  and conduct
• A single interest can be a simple bond such as
  football/drugs etc
• However, younger kids can still be very tribal

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Myth Seven The New Early Adopters Are Anti
Capitalist!

• Although some early adopters might be anti
  capitalist
• And we acknowledge the importance of single issue
  politics
• D.FUSION has found little evidence within youth
  that anti capitalism carries any weight other
  than being a subculture on the fringes
• If anti capitalism was in, how did bling
  weekend millionaire culture come into vogue?

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Myth Eight They Hate Advertising!

• Evidence in fact suggests the opposite, early
  adopters like advertising and acknowledge good
  adverts
• Early adopters enjoy dialogue
• They enjoy brands
• Brands help discriminate between need states
• Early adopters respect companies that do not
  compromise standards and principles
• Compromising standards can cost you money, Pepsi
  Ludacris
• Early adopters respect companies with history
  and/or provenance
• And they can especially enjoy micro advertising
  that is relevant to the appropriate need state
  e.g XFM(tents), Orange(chargers), Adidas(history
  tennis) and perhaps even Sputnik(kidnap)

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Myth Nine They Just Come From Hoxton

• Do not confuse DISCERNING with just..
• HOXTON!!
• SOHO!!
• KENSAL RISE/KINGS CROSS, BALHAM.
• For expression also emanates from the street and
  even ..working mens club.
• Concept appreciated even by the police both in
  the U.K and US.

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Dont Forget the Entrepreneur

• Behind most trends lies an entrepreneur
• Entrepreneurs can often be a catalyst for helping
  shift a trend from the edges to the mainstream
• Or a focal point for understanding early adopters
• Worth talking to about views, plans and
  aspirations

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Research Methods
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The Cool Hunters

• Popular in 1990s USA
• Individuals who trail world for up-coming new
  signals
• Main problem based on intuition
• Often companies get it wrong e.g aprons for men
  etc

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The Correspondents

• Some companies have a network of
  correspondents/cool hunters
• Often given a digital camera by companies e.g
  Look Look
• Very useful for understanding new trends in
  different local markets
• However, need to examine methods of recruitment,
  might be too internet biased etc

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Opinion Former Panel

• Panel of early adopters usually based by markets
• Useful for understanding a range of
  topics/issues, accelerating the learning curve
• Can be used to measure responses against the
  mainstream
• Cheap and quick
• Client friendly
• However, can be issues with recruitment, can be
  too local

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Dont Write Off

• Traditional methods of research
• Use right methodology to meet the brief
• Methodology can be the same for commercial as
  well as social
• Greatest skill is clear thinking from proposal
  debrief
• However be especially aware of recruitment issues
• Make it as exciting and as real as possible