What's on the horizon in research? (page 2 of 2)

As many as 30% of South Africans are in the "less happy" category but 42% are very much in the "fast and frugal" domain. Optimism drives much in how we plan our lives: hence, the rise in interest worldwide in "consumer" confidence measures. In SA, 60% of people are optimists - people who will make greater use of credit, buy more durables, plan holidays differently, view their investments in a different light. More pessimistic people are more cautious financially - but will buy "comfort" brands and indulgent snacks and sweets.

This links into people's interaction with society. Happier, more optimistic people have larger networks in which they are more credible and visible; they give to and take cues from these networks more readily; less happy people have smaller networks that they trust less.

This helps understand how brand messages are transmitted within social networks. Using people's network size, their credibility and role in their networks, their optimism and their sense of well-being allows us to classify them into one of our four Wildfire segments: Igniters can make or brand so it is critical to know what they think about a brand; Smoulderers are close behind; Damp Squibs and Burnt Outs have a different role to play and react to marketing activities differently from the other segments.

Next is to understand the role of culture - or, better, self-identity and worldview. This is about people's sense of belonging in society: in a world of rapidly increasing choice and opportunity, there is a growth in niche interest groups: brand-centred, leisure-centred and value-centred - "tribes" with which people can identify. These become micro-cultures within broader social contexts. This, in turn, means that we can no longer think of markets as consisting of a few (big) cultural groupings. A new appreciation of cross-cultural values and attitudes - better termed "worldviews" - becomes vital. One can identify a hierarchy of worldviews from macro-cultures to sub-cultures to mini-cultures to micro-cultures. From this emerges the concept of "delta v" - distance between worldviews. What is an ad's delta v with respect to its target audience? For Black Diamonds, for example, we know it can be huge.

The savvy and interactive "consumer" (person)

People are increasingly sceptical about marketing: they know what we are up to. People are today more assertive and marketing-savvy: they expect more from organisations. Explicit, transparent company values and corporate social investment are a given. Add to this the ever-expanding role and abilities of technology and we have the birth of the new non-passive and interactive person. The days of talking to passive mass-markets have passed. Add again to this stew the rapid rise of "alternative media" and we have a brave new world that is not news but to which we must adapt.

Think of the implications of the interactive "consumer" - person - when that person's true decision-making processes are considered and when the ameliorating effects of their bodies, minds and souls (well-being) are taken into account along with their surrounding societal context and worldview. The face of marketing and advertising, as well as research - which needs to measure all this - is undergoing a revolution. Those who see the sea-change will survive; those who cling to out-dated models will not.