The five mega-trends shaping tomorrow's customers - Coca Cola

The world's consumers are changing, and businesses serving consumers must understand the drivers that will transform our industries during the rest of this decade and beyond. This week, more than 800 representatives from the world's leading retail and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are gathering in Istanbul for the annual global summit of the Consumer Goods Forum. A more appropriate location for this year's conference would have been tough to find, with Turkey's economy growing by 8.5% last year and its retail industry expected to reach a turnover of $250bn (£160bn) by 2014. In these challenging times, as many parts of the world struggle to crack the code for growth, the insights of Turkey's home-grown businesses and entrepreneurs will be invaluable. In fact, the situation we find ourselves in today is not altogether dissimilar to when I joined The Coca-Cola Company in the late 1970s. At the time, a lingering recession was sapping US confidence; oil prices were soaring; and US workers were worried about their future livelihoods. Many feared a rising economic powerhouse - then Japan - might leave America in the dust. In time, the worst of these worries proved unfounded, as the US bounced back by adapting and innovating. And I believe many countries and companies similarly struggling today can do the same. To get there, however, companies have to understand the vast implications of the five mega-trends identified last year in the Consumer Goods Forum's report on the "Future Value Chain". Mass urbanisation More than half the world's population now live in cities. By 2050, this figure will balloon to 70%. This monumental shift will create significant supply chain and logistical challenges for consumer goods and retail industries. Our businesses will not only need to collaborate better with each other but also work more closely with cities as they modernise their infrastructures. We're getting older The global birth rate has been declining for 20 years, and we're living longer. By 2047, people over 60 will outnumber those under 15. This will mean new opportunities for some industries, as more mature consumers tend to have greater disposable income. Along the way, we can expect more focused marketing and greater reliance on home delivery. The middle class cometh The world is experiencing the greatest economic shift in history as the global middle class grows by another billion people in the next 10 years. With China and India leading the charge, more than 90% of the world's middle class will live in emerging markets by 2030, up from 50% today. While this new wealth represents a huge growth opportunity for manufacturers and retailers, it is also likely to create new resource stresses and cost pressures on some commodities. Consumers in the driving seat Many of the old rules and assumptions of our industries no longer apply. Consumer expectations are increasing while their tastes and preferences change at a dizzying pace. Much of this is driven by new consumer technologies. By 2013, for example, more than two billion mobile users globally will have made a purchase via their handsets. By 2020, a third of consumer purchases are expected to be made online. Ultimately, new ways of connecting offer fresh and exciting opportunities to engage with digital consumers and improve their shopping experiences. Even so, retailers and FMCG firms will need more advanced real-time insights to better serve this dynamic, fragmented market. One key will be to pick the right ways to interact with online consumers, manage these conversations appropriately, and make the best use of digital consumer data. Moreover, successful companies will need to enhance transparency and become more collaborative in their interactions with shoppers. What about the planet? Consumers today are understandably concerned about sustainability, as demands for natural resources continue to challenge supplies. By 2030, the world's population will reach 8.3 billion, boosting demand for food and energy by 50% and for fresh water by 30%. In this light, sustainability is simply smart business. At Coca-Cola, for example, we're reducing our eco-footprint and our reliance on fossil fuels with our PlantBottle - a fully recyclable plastic package up to 30% made from plants. We plan to use this technology in all of our plastic bottles by 2020, and we're working to accelerate development of commercially-scalable, bottle-quality plastic that's 100% made from plants. We're also striving to protect the resources that go into our products, starting with water. Since 2005, we've conducted 386 water partnership projects across 94 countries. These projects - which include watershed protection, rainwater harvesting and community water improvements - are good for our business and the communities we proudly serve. They are also moving us toward our goal of giving back 100% of the water we use in our products by 2020. How do we capitalise? Over the next decade, success or failure for consumer goods companies and retailers will be measured by the speed and thoroughness with which we're able to adapt to change at all levels - global, national, local and personal. With continuous innovation, companies that serve tomorrow's consumers will need to build more sustainable businesses; collaborate toward better optimised supply chains; and drive brand value and sales through greater engagement with increasingly sophisticated and tech-savvy consumers. I firmly believe there is a bright future ahead for those who can best adapt to our rapidly changing world. Investment, innovation and collaboration will be the watchwords for businesses, communities and nations that thrive over the coming decade. Muhtar Kent is the chairman and chief executive of The Coca-Cola Company, and co-chairman of the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), an industry association bringing together retailers and manufacturers. Follow this trend home at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18503627

Why Social Networks Won’t Kill the Blog - Mashable

In the last year, users have turned to social sharing platforms like Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram to share bite-sized snacks of content, while relying on blogs to enable longer forms of communication and self-expression. In one sense, it’s become the equivalent of a social media full meal. But, as if on cue, online Cassandras meet this growth in social sites with various visions of social media death. Are these newer tools Twitter-killers? The “next Facebook?” The sign of end-times for blogs? The short answer is no. When looking at the data about how these new sharing platforms play, particularly with blogs, it’s more accurate to consider them all to be a blogger’s best friend. Here’s why: For bloggers all of these tools serve as channels — new ways to get their word out to new audiences. Or sometimes to the same audience, but at a different time and place. Emerging sharing sites join Facebook and Twitter as new, fruitful ways for bloggers to offer an amuse-bouche that entices readers to come to their blog for the full meal. The move, particularly from text and link-sharing to image-based sharing, has also worked wonders for blogs. In fact, Pinterest is now the number one social traffic referrer to my company — more than Facebook, Twitter, and StumbleUpon combined. Even with all these great tools, and their growing user bases, comScore Media Metrix shows that blogs have steadily grown their audience 15% year over year for the last two years. That’s because, from baby showers to brilliant quotes, these social sharing platforms represent self-expression writ small. And, as these new tools grow, the blog’s role has developed accordingly. Blogs are now the place for more substantive conversation and more detailed information. Taking a long view of media, TV didn’t kill radio or the movies. The Internet hasn’t killed TV. Traditional media companies have migrated online, and for that matter even we native online companies have to now migrate to mobile. I’m not saying it’s an easy business. Business models are being dragged kicking and screaming into this brave, new world, but users are still showing up. And it can be a mutually beneficial relationship. For example, online sites like Twitter and GetGlue are bolstering engagement with traditional broadcast television. As active social media users across generations have become multi-tasking, multi-screening and ravenous media consumers, adopting each new tool has become second nature, and not a signal that other social tools are being replaced. That’s because the need to connect; the need to hear and share stories that move us, make us think, and ultimately make us feel less alone. Those human needs are consistent. We may change where we go to meet those needs; we may change the tools we use; we may occasionally succumb to shiny object syndrome, but ultimately we prioritize and bring order to the chaos. As the social media universe shifts and expands, online influencers are winning in big ways. The blog audience continues to rise; long-form expression is seeing renewed investment from both traditional and online outlets, and blog recommendations now have a prominent position in the purchasing process for online users. For bloggers, having a plethora of tools to publish, promote, and distribute work has only enhanced the value of their personal corners of the Web. Follow this trend home at http://mashable.com/2012/06/21/social-media-blogs-blogher/

Top Trends of 2012: The Consumer Cloud - by Read Write Web

In 2012 we've seen amazing growth in the Consumer Cloud, meaning cloud computing for everyday users. There are three main categories in the Consumer Cloud: storage, sync, and notes. Dropbox, Apple's iCloud and Evernote (respectively) have been the most impressive performers in each category so far this year. Note that the cloud - a.k.a. the Internet - is of course the backend of many a popular consumer app. Flickr, Gmail and even Facebook all store your content in the cloud. But what we're talking about here are services that allow you to store and manage files in the cloud. Online file management is the key feature and you (the consumer) are fully aware that your files are being stored on the Web. Cheap hardware and virtualization have been the main drivers of this trend. In 2012, there are three main types of Consumer Cloud services: Online storage: Dropbox is the leading brand in this category, despite competing with heavyweights like Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, Amazon Cloud Drive, Box.net and others. Online sync: iCloud enables Apple users to easily sync their media across devices. So far music is the battleground in this category, although it will eventually extend to other types of media (like videos). iTunes Match allows iTunes users to sync their music collection across devices, using iCloud. Competitors include Google Music and Spotify. Online notes: Evernote is the leading player in this niche; it really has no peers. You may use different products, depending on your preferred computing platform. For example many of you will use Microsoft's SkyDrive, as you're Windows users. Or you may prefer Spotify to sync your music, because of the other benefits it offers (the ability to stream almost any music, even if you don't own it). But whatever your personal setup, I'd wager you're using all three of these product categories more now than 6-12 months ago. I know for sure that I am. Evernote is probably my most-used web app, outside of the obvious daily services like email and calendar. My usage of Evernote has increased markedly this year, as I've moved from making notes in paper notebooks to inputting virtually everything into Evernote. It's helped my planning and self-organization immensely, knowing I can input and access notes across computers, tablet and smartphone. My usage of Dropbox, ReadWriteWeb's Best LittleCo of 2011, has also increased in 2012. I use it mainly for storing business files, so I can access them on whatever device I'm using. Others use Dropbox to store their photos, or to share music, or to send large documents to colleagues, or anything else involving files in this multi-device era. However Dropbox faces more challenges than Evernote, because it has serious competition. In particular, Google and Microsoft. In April this year Google launched Google Drive - which directly competes with Dropbox as an online file storage solution. Google Drive is basically a file system for Google Docs. Microsoft's SkyDrive has similar functionality. Also Amazon launched Amazon Cloud Drive in early May, but it isn't as good as its competitors. Like NPR's All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen, this year I took the step of moving my music collection to iTunes Match. Although I didn't go as far as Boilen, who deleted over 25,000 songs from his iTunes library. Boilen, whose whole life revolves around music, wrote that he's going to "trust in the cloud, where my library now lives." Here is Boilen's description of what iTunes Match does exactly: "Before I deleted the songs, the service scanned my music library, "matched" all the music that is available in the iTunes store, and uploaded what isn't. Now, my entire library is accessible from anywhere I can get a wireless Internet or cell phone signal. Another benefit: since I used to rip my music at 128kbps, much of my "library" now sounds better, since Apple's songs are encoded at 256kbps. It doesn't matter if the original was purchased from Amazon's mp3 store, ripped from a CD, downloaded from a friend or obtained illegally — I now have a legit 256kbps version." I'm using iTunes Match too now and I've found that it makes it easier to manage my music collection across (Apple) devices. It takes a bit of getting used to downloading your files from the Internet, rather than plugging in a USB cord to transfer between devices. But the benefits - such as getting more up-to-date and potentially higher quality "matched" files from iTunes - outweigh any issues. The common theme here is that cloud computing has reached the consumer market in a big way now. If you're not using Dropbox, Evernote and iTunes Match (or any of their competitors), you are missing out on hassle-free online storage, a totally new way to organize your notes, and easy content sync across devices. It's 2012, welcome to the Consumer Cloud era. Follow this trend home at http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top-trends-of-2012-the-consumer-cloud.php

5 Digital Trends Shaping the Consumer Experience - Mashable

1. Visual Thinking Visual thinking — the use and exploration of images as tools for communication — began as a trend in education in an attempt to improve learning and retention. Over the past decade it has evolved and been adopted as a strategy tool for marketers and management firms to help clients find answers to complex problems and map out their solutions via large-scale visuals. The process can be applied to any subject matter and used to assist and augment improvement in any audience or demographic. Currently, the most comprehensive and impressive visual thinking work has been constructed by London-based firm, Group Partners. Group Partners’ progressive approach allows solutions to be co-created with the client through the application of its business equation. “Co-creation, visualization, and logical structure applied to the important conversations in your business will transform the way you think and act, and quickly,” says said John Caswell, founder of Group Partners. The company has applied this technique to more than 2,500 businesses and governments, including Coca-Cola, Estee Lauder, Rolls-Royce, and The BBC. The framework can be used to solve any problem or develop value based on any business question. As the world moves towards thinking in pictures and processing information through graphics, the use of visual thinking is becoming more compelling. 2. The New Aesthetic The term new aesthetic was coined by James Bridle, a London-based writer and “technologist.” It refers to the blurring of digital and real. In September 2011, The Future Laboratory and Campaign explored the blurring digital and real-life experiences in retail via a Sweet Shoppe. The Sweet Shoppe — set up as an installation during London Design Festival — was turned into a hyper-real, personalized and technology-enabled production that let guests see, smell, touch, and taste the retail experience. For example, on arrival, guests were taken on a 20-minute curated personal journey to determine their perfect sweet. Without question, this version of the Sweet Shoppe was created to appeal to the consumers of the future who will have no recollection of life without the internet, will not distinguish between the real and digital worlds, and will seek experiences that seamlessly integrate the online and the offline. Currently, the new aesthetic remains fragmented and extremely hard to put into a coherent example that would allow a marketer to grasp its full potential. But, because the subject matter of aesthetics relates to how beauty is perceived and valued by us as humans, retailers are making strides to test it via digital consumer experiences. One example comes from luxury retailer Louis Vuitton, who worked with Yayoi Kusama to launch the Louis Vuitton Kusama Studio iPhone application. Louis Vuitton encourages users to reinvent reality and the world through this artist’s work and transforms user photos with effects designed by Kusama. The app embraces concepts of the new aesthetic movement and provides marketers a way to grasp the full potential of the movement as an experiential marketing tactic. 3. Calm Technology Calm technology refers to applications that cut down on the digital noise of high-volume data to show the user only enough information so that he or she is able to focus on a task. Mark Weiser is considered to be the father of “ubiquitous computing,” a synonym for calm technology. The whole idea is to reduce distractions to our workflow without losing functionality. Weiser postulated that we should not be seeking to enter the virtual world by shopping in 3D environments, but that digital technology should enter our lives in such a way as to make it calmer and easier, not more distracted and disrupted, thus blurring the line between digital and real life experiences. The Facebook ticker is one example. If the Facebook newsfeed updated in real time, then it might move too quickly for the average user. But by moving real-time updates to the periphery, the user has a more calm and satisfying Facebook experience. Calm technology is also leading the growing popularity of curation and social product discovery sites such as Lyst, Mulu.Me, Buyosphere, Svpply, and Discoveredd. These sites offer a more focused stream of content than standard social networks. Moreover, the rise of interest networks, solely following someone based on similar likes and shared interest topics, is another way that calm technology has impacted user behavior. To be clear, calm technology does not necessarily jibe with marketing goals. The whole idea is to reduce the flow of information to people, not increase it. The public, however, seems to be ready for applications that will streamline the information, something marketers know has inherent value. 4. Neuromarketing Neuromarketing is a new field of marketing research that studies consumers’ cognitive response to marketing stimuli. Instead of simply using focus groups, companies are beginning to use science and higher understanding of brain function to makes websites “sticky” and manipulate consumers into purchasing their products. Neuromarketing’s premise is that consumer buying decisions are made in split seconds in the subconscious, emotional part of the brain. The ultimate goal of neuromarketing is to blow consumer minds with products they deeply desire, thus driving their purchases. The satisfaction of the purchases would incite product loyalty while allowing brands to increase their profitability and business process. Neuromarketing as a discipline came out of a study of participants in the “Pepsi Challenge,” according to a PBS report. The report states that marketers still don’t fully understand how to apply this data, but that hasn’t stop people from opening or buying agencies that offer such a service. 5. Singularity singularity is the concept that technology is on the verge of becoming smarter than humans. Once technology surpasses the human capacity to understand the world, our race will enter a new era that we literally cannot imagine because we do not have the brainpower to do so. Game theory is one of the key components in the theoretical research surrounding singularity. Marketers can make the argument that by having multiple people taking the same action at once, in ways that are deemed safe by them, they can drive massive change. According to Gartner’s 2011 study of Gamification, the opportunities for businesses range from having more engaged customers, to creating more brand narratives. When you overlay game theory with current trends marketers can start to see that singularity really is a bridge that connects the everyday and the fantastical. Follow this trend home at http://mashable.com/2012/06/21/trends-consumer-experience-economy/