The essence of marketing was and always will be to identify, understand and serve human needs.  In todays world we call that customer-centricity, because many organizations have seem to have lost touch with their customers. Hence, their challenge is to put customers centric again. But in doing so, marketers now have something that is completely different compared to let’s say the 60’s and 70’s: the means to understand the customer. We’d like to share some thoughts on the prosperous marriage of using Big Data and Thick Data to mine for the right consumer insights.

But first, what is thick data? We describe thick data as qualitative insights derived from the social sciences like anthropology, sociology, history, and psychology. These insights provide a thick description of not just human behavior, or manifestations of peoples would-be intentions, but its context as well. This contextualization or interpretation of insights provides meaning and as such a better understanding of human behavior. This is essential information for any professional who wants to grow brands or engage in meaningful marketing.

And yes, although we agree that any organization needs both Big and Thick data, we would argue that Big Data is useless without Thick Data. Why? First of all because we have experienced it first hand. We helped a company with 4 million customers and 100 (data) analists to become customer-centric and make the most of their Big Data by connecting it to Thick Data. Second, if you look beyond all the blabla around Big Data you’ll understand that having Big Data does not mean your next marketing strategy will automatically show itself on your screen. Join us in our thinking by reading this article.

Big Data – size matters but it’s not everything.
In today’s world, many companies are rushing to consumer research that is reliant on Big Data and analytics.  We can understand their enthusiasm, as indeed, Big Data does enable brands and companies to build knowledge of their customers. However, we would argue that considering only Big Data as the exclusive tool to mine for consumer insights may be a shortsighted approach.

Harvesting data is easy, using it to identify patterns of human behaviour and predicting outcomes is more difficult. Often times data models can only provide a limited picture of the consumers and the markets. People are just very complex beings, and sometimes they are acting on motives they are even unaware of themselves.  That said, while Big Data could offer opportunities and provide astonishingly detailed pictures of people’s behaviours and what they are doing, understanding the why is the more difficult.  Big Data can predict a customer’s next mouse click or purchase, but what it won’t be able to tell is why they made the click or purchase.  Without this insight, brands cannot truly be customer centric.

Thick Data from human sciences give context.
So Big Data can provide a lot of tactical actionability, but for true customer-centric thinking on a strategic level we need not just data and algorithms because even if you have a lot of data, does not mean you have a customer centric strategy. We would argue that to reach its full potential for any company to become customer-centric they need something big data explicitly does not have – context.  And this is exactly where social sciences and humanities come in, and where qualitative and Thick Data could complement the use of Big Data in providing context to understanding consumer behaviour. While there is a notion that the job of the data scientist as the sexiest profession, it would nonetheless appear that the social scientists is one of the most important roles companies could employ in leveraging their data sets

Let’s get married!
To be customer-centric, brands should be developing innovations and big ideas that are true to the brand and founded on insights that resonate and inspire with real human beings.  In search for true consumer-centricity, companies would benefit from both Big and Thick data.  Rather than a choice between prioritising Big data and Thick data, the key to success is to acknowledge that both are important. For brands that want to be data-driven and human centered at the same time, marrying big data and thick data is the way to go.

Trend audit to reveal thick data opportunities.
Most brands sit on a pile of unused research and unlocked opportunities. They have data, facts and figures that lack actionability. To reveal their opportunities (and identify the threats) we provide trend audits. During an audit our researchers and consultants use our trendmodel to decide which sociocultural trends are relevant – today and tomorrow for a brand’s challenges. We analyze the brand and other data and information provided such as commercial goals, brand strategies, consumer segmentation, etc and connect it to our trends. Revealing insights in human behavior that are either a great opportunity or a threat for you brand, today and in the near future.

Our clients use the results of the audits as a frame for brand related innovation. Followed up with future impact studies or ideation workshops, the audit is a powerful service to prepare your brand for the future and capitalize on your brand’s existing knowledge and big data investments.
Want to know more about our trend audits? Feel free to contact Michiel.

A Gen Z strategy for the future.
Whether you have a Gen Z strategy today or tomorrow, you’re going to need one in the future. That’s why we were sharing our Generation Z insights to the suppliers of AS Watson, known from its Kruidvat, Trekpleister, Ici Paris XL brands. Last week, around 500 people from leading FMCG brands were attending the session. The influence of Generation Z on the retail landscape has been researched quite a bit. And although many research papers cover interesting insights, what is lacking is the context. Sure, Generation Z are mobile natives. Yes they have a different outlook on health and beauty. But what drives them in their decision making? And how is that different compared to Millennials? To understand what drives peoples behavior you’ll need context. Providing insights from pedagogy (stealth fighter parenting), sociology (formative years) and anthropology (adonis complex of fitboys) allows us to go beyond ‘knowing’ that something is shifting. Truly ‘understanding’ the context helps brands to better decide their next move.

Want to know more about Generation-Z? Keep an eye on our socials to discover new insights. Next week we will be presenting our trend insights in Cannes to +50 CEO’s from the international insurance industry. The week beyond we will inspire in +300 of the biggest global retailers with insights in kids and teens. Stay connected!

A couple of months ago Instagram began a test in Canada that hides the total number of likes on photos and videos. So likes won’t be visible on the main feed and profiles, only the owner of the account will be able to see the likes. Last week the company announced that the test will be expanded to more countries.

The reason for this move, according to Instagram, is because “We want followers to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get”.
And there’s a good reason for that. Research shows that Instagram is the worst social media network for mental health and wellbeing. The platform was associated with high levels of anxiety, depression, bullying and FOMO, according to the #StatusOfMind survey (the survey from the UK contains input from 1.497 people, ages 14 to 24).

Taking responsibility
Although the test is still a small step and some say it is not a cure-all solution, it is showing that Instagram looked itself in the eyes and took some responsibility for the system they themselves have created.
This reminds us of another case we recently saw; the Fly Responsibly campaign from dutch airline KLM. The company is using the campaign to ask travellers whether it is really necessary to take a flight, or if you could go by train for example. A bold move, since flying is KLM’s core business.

Both the Instagram and KLM example show that these companies acknowledge their role in societal issues and make a move to reduce the negative consequences of their core activities. That links well with insight we know from the Edelman Trust Barometer report 2019 (a study we use for our Lack of trust trend), that shows that consumers believe that companies can improve society. So now is definitely the time to take action as a brand since consumers expect you to do so.

A purpose close to your brand
We used these two examples to illustrate that your purposeful actions should be close to your brand. So if your core business is flying, you should first of all try to improve something within that industry – before you turn to another great cause that is less related to your organization and your core business. Start with improving yourself, in order to stay relevant and contribute to the society.

Purpose; a buzzword that hasn’t lost its value, but a term that also comes with a lot of questions and challenges on how you as a brand should be purposeful. Since we studied this topic for many years, we invite you to share your challenges with us and look for a tailor made solution.

Challenges
How do we infuse an innovation mindset and inspire teams to come up with innovative ideas? These are challenges that we often encounter in working with global brands. In this blog post we’d like to highlight our recent work for Discovery Benelux, as part of their mission to create an innovation culture.

Building on the succes of the 2018 and 2017 editions of the Discovery Innovation Month, we did things slightly different this year and co-created a three day pressure cooker together with Discovery’s innovation team. A selected group of innovation-minded employees of Discovery were invited to the program.
This year’s challenge was to capitalize on Tokyo 2020, as Discovery’s Eurosport holds the rights to broadcast the Olympic Games next year. Our trend ‘Quest for Happiness’ provided the teams with the right insights and the right context to innovate from a consumer perspective.

So, what does a three day pressure cooker consists of? Let’s give you an overview:

• Day 1: Inspiration. We presented our ‘Quest for Happiness’ trend (because of the great link between sports and happiness). Besides we invited two guest speakers: a sport marketer and an ex-olympiër/ brand builder from Nike. All three forms of inspiration were used for a short brainstorm session after each presentation.
• Day 2: Ideation. After all the input of the first day we continued brainstorming and made a preliminary selection of ideas. To provide the teams with some extra inspiration that could be used for their ideas we facilitated a trend safari – an active hunt out on the streets for manifestations of the trend Quest for Happiness. We ended the day with a final selection of max. two ideas.
• Day 3: Creation and presentation. We kicked off the last day by listening to the one minute pitches of both teams. We provided them with feedback after which they could finalize their idea and turn them into a kick ass presentation – which was presented to the jury at the end of the day.

Every innovation challenge is unique. And as such, every innovation challenge calls for a different approach. This year’s pressure cooker matched the organization’s ambitions and as a consequence, resulted in very positive feedback from both the management and the participants.

We’d love to hear about your ambitions to explore how we could become your partner in innovation. Send an e-mail to Pauline to start the conversation.

We’re adding the human context at Cannes Lions Festival 2019! RTL BrandDeli asked us to inspire their clients with our generation trends during the festival.

RTL BrandDeli – being a leading media company in the Netherlands – believes that understanding the customer of today and tomorrow is key for a brand to stay relevant. They collaborated with us for several years and we’re proud to partner up with them at the Cannes Lions Festival.

We enable brands to stay relevant based on scientific research into the behaviour of people for almost two decades. By actually understanding what’s driving the consumer and why they behave the way they do, we are able to design relevant strategies and solutions. Big part of our research is derived from (scientific) generation studies. They are globally applicable and provide a great frame for activation, communication, employee engagement, marketing and branding.

About the presentation
We will present this Thursday (June 20) at the CMO program of the Embassy of Dutch Creativity. We will inspire the audience with insights in Babyboomers, X’ers, Millennials and Generation Z and share key strategies on how to benefit from the differences and similarities between these four generations.

Technology is not a differentiator for young generations.
This week we were in Stockholm Sweden to present on an insurance and banking conference. So what did we present about? Building on our experience in working with financial institutions, we shared our concern: technology will not help you stand out of the competition, especially not on the long term. Why? Technology is not a differentiating factor anymore, it becomes pure hygiene. We believe financial institutions should focus less on becoming mobile-first more on human needs.

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Last week we were invited to Oslo! We gathered just outside the city to present at the Smart Retail Event (organized by Management Events).

We presented parts of our Millennials and Generation Z trend for almost 100 marketers and brand managers from different retailers. To be more specific… we provided insights on how to be meaningful and relevant for these two generations. In answering this question, we also highlighted the differences between them. For example by looking at a useful insight from pedagogy; being raised by parents from different generations results in different behaviors between Generation Z and Millennials.

We had a lovely time in Norway! Stay tuned to see where we will be on stage next time…

We’re taking a small break from the projects we’re working on right now, to take a look back at last year for the third time. A project we must definitely not forget is the Eurapco report (capturing many of our generational insights), which we wrote and designed during the hot summer of 2018.

Eurapco is an alliance of large independent European mutual insurance companies. They’ve joined forces in finding solutions for the new challenges in the ever changing world. And that’s exactly where we came in with our human insights. As a follow up on our Millennials insights report, we created “Togetherness”; an extensive study describing the four generations and advising on how to benefit from working with and for these four distinct generations. We were honoured to be invited to a beautiful castle in Paris, where we presented our final report and gave advice to all the boards of the Eurapco members.

As a follow-up, we had a workshop last week with the communication directors of the insurance companies that are part of Eurapco. We worked with the insights of the report to inspire, validate and find new solutions for their current and future communication challenges!

Curious to the changing needs and behavior of the four generations, that form both your workforce and customer base? Give us a call.

It’s time for throwback 2018 part 2! During the first part of 2018 we worked on this project, which was deployed last quarter of that year. A project we are proud to share: ‘The Nationale Nederlanden Zorg’ proposition.

Nationale Nederlanden is an international, financial service company looking to extend its portfolio with a health insurance offering. The acquisition of DeltaLloyd allowed them to enter this market in 2018 with a jump start. We were asked to redesign the existing health offering into a future-proof, NN-brand fitting proposition for the relaunch in Q4 last year.

We used our trendmodel to come up with the strategic frame for both the proposition and the campaign. By working with our model, we were able to focus on consumer insights that were relevant for both the brand and of course the customer. We are proud to see that together with the ‘Nationale Nederlanden Zorg’ team and creative agencies Vice and JWT, the proposition led to a relevant and powerful campaign.

Would you like to know more about developing a proposition based on a human context? Don’t hesitate to contact us.

The year 2019 is up and running! We just finished the first month of the year, with already a number of inspiring workshops and project meetings. To ensure that we will not forget 2018’s highlights, we would like to take some time to look back at last year and cherish some of the projects we worked on.

Let’s start with Jumbodiset, they develop, manufacture and sell games, puzzles and toys. We were very excited about this project since the whole team grew up with playing games from Jumbodiset.
In December we hosted Jumbodiset’s annual strategic innovation day, enabling them to stay ahead of the game – literally. With our unique approach we were able to help Jumbodiset innovate on brand, products and services during a full day of insights, inspiration and ideation. This resulted in a whole new set of ideas, which could possibly has initiated this years new board game…

Would you like to know more about this case or about translating human insights into innovations? Just give us a call or send an e-mail.

Innovation often happens in innovation labs, or takes place during an inspiring afternoon session. But what if you want to make a whole organisation more innovative? You might want to organise an Innovation Month. We just finished our Innovation month at Discovery Networks and this edition was even better than last year.

Our innovation month offers a month full of inspiration, ideation, creation, and obviously also some frustration. All with the goal to boost their entire organisation, from receptionist to management, and fuel the new thinking. Seven teams teamed up and went into battle for the most innovative, scalable en financially feasible idea.

Together with Discovery we selected one of our favourite and commercially interesting trends: Babyboomers! Did you know that this generation watches 15 hours of television a week? Compared to only 8 hours for Millennials. And that only one employee working at Discovery falls within this generation? Anyway, we figured it would be a great opportunity to work with this consumer group and to generate new ideas, services, communication, apps or content.

We kicked off with a two hour deep dive in the drivers, needs and behaviour of the babyboom generation, inspiring Discovery with cases and examples within and far beyond their industry. Up next were weeks full of guest speakers to stimulate the innovation.These where hand picked by our own trend scouts to make sure they would fit the ambitions of Discovery. Our first guest speaker was World Wildlife Fund. They talked on how important Babyboomers are for their fundings and what services they offer to keep them as loyal customers. The week after that we invited Mare, a research agency from the Netherlands to present their insights on the so-called ‘Quintastics’: people in their fifties. Srprs.me left everyone highly inspired, and the presentation made people laugh. And cry (tears of joy). It clearly moved people in many ways. GRRR agency closed off the sessions with inspiring cases and tips on design thinking.

During the whole month it was up to the teams to create their new concepts and prepare their final pitches for the jury. Last week was D-Day. And we must say: we are very proud of the outcome. And so is our client. Three out of seven concepts will be taken to the next stage. But most importantly, throughout the entire Innovation Month we have truly been igniting and fostering an innovation culture at Discovery Networks that will last.

Earlier this week we were invited to talk at the yearly FoodFest in Tallinn. And since we never say no to food, we immediately headed over to the country of the herring and elk dishes.

The FoodFest is open to all food related industries; from hotels and catering services up to retailers, importers and logistics. This food weekend is all about local and foreign food inspiration, while celebrating this year the nation’s 100th birthday.

The food industry is confronted with an entirely new consumer group: Generation Z. And if you think this generation is Millennial 2.0. Think twice! This generation is not massively on Facebook, is not just tolerant but truly inclusive towards other cultures, sexuality and ethnicities, and, will not be easily bullshitted by naive MarCom.

In order to fully understand this upcoming new consumer group, the FoodFest requested a talk on Generation Z for 60 minutes. However, every speaker knows, how entertaining your story might be, after 30 minutes people are longing for a break and starting to think of their email boxes filling up. So we anticipated to this expected dip and brought along an appropriate special effect to let the audience taste. Namely, Sechuan buttons. These edible flowers are a product from Koppert Cress, a Dutch company that pushes innovative micro-vegetables with astonishing effects on your senses. The experience of these flowers starts with an overal fresh toothpaste-like taste, followed by an electric and tickling feeling on the tongue, and eventually leaves you with an anaesthetic feeling.

The flowers did the trick; the audience was definitely back at it! However, the experience was mainly appreciated by the adventurous types. And this made me wonder: would this type of non conventional flavours be more something for the globalised young Generation Z?

This month we kicked off our collaboration with a major pension fund.

One of the main topics hitting the pension funds these days is lack of trust. Pensionfunds have been a fortress of trust for decades. It was a pretty done deal: you work, your employer pays the funds, the funds invest and pay you a fair amount when you retire. But the world changed, and even a pension is not a certainty anymore. They’ve lost a lot of trust, defending themselves against accusations being ‘money-grabbing’ institutes. Pension funds tend to react by explaining their efficiency, emphasizing the interest rates they make, and other compelling arguments to show their competence. But is showing off your competence the best way to rebuild trust?

Our trendmodel© shows it’s not. Sure it’s a very important factor, but especially in financial industries it’s the least you have to do. It’s what we call the ‘hygiene factor’. But that’s not enough. The key element to regain trust is to build benevolence; the desire to do good to others. One of the drivers to build benevolence is a true purpose that resonates with your brand. If you are able to show you actually care for the world and act on it, you have a great chance on improving your trustworthiness.

But what ‘purpose’ are we talking about? Well, at least a purpose that is not for profit, but for a greater good that benefits society. Showing that you care for people, for a better world, and for your environment. That does not mean we all have to be sustainable or start planting trees in the Amazon. It could easily be ‘just’ supporting a local cause. As long as you stay true to yourself and your brand.

That’s the task for the pension funds the upcoming period. Activating their purpose will help them to develop an actionable strategy. Enabling them to become of true value to their customers.

Are you curious which other drivers we use in our model to gain benevolence, and hence build trust? Just give us a call.

Last week we were invited by Sutterlüty, the Austrian world champion for regional foodstuffs and groceries. As a Vorarlberg regional supermarket, a “Laendlemarkt”, Sutterlüty is traditionally closely linked with the region. Founded in 1952, today they are operating 23 branches, 17 restaurants, an own bakery, a butcher and an own meat processing operation. What we found most inspiring is how they collaborate with more than 3.000 farmers from the region, how they engage and educate their customers in buying and consuming local products and as such contribute to the sustainability efforts of the company to reduce environmental impact. Yes, a very long sentence to describe just a glimpse of why this company inspired us. This is next level conscious entrepreneurship.

Or stakeholder management to use an old but relevant management term. The result? Sutterlüty offers the world’s largest range of regional products, benefiting the local environment, their customers, their suppliers and theirselves. We used our trendmodel to help their leadership teams to decide on their future strategies. It got them thinking. But it got us thinking too: what’s keeping the other retailers to be organized like this?

As Utrecht is filling up again with thousands of ambitious students ready to absorb new information at college, the Universities themselves are also getting ready for new learning – they want to understand potential students. Therefore this week we had the marketing department of Wageningen University as a guest at our office in Utrecht for a lecture on the youngest generation, better known as Generation Z, by our trend researcher Pauline. (This university is specialized in the domain of healthy food and living environment for governments and the business community-at-large.)

In a 1,5 h session we fueled them with new insights and gave practical solutions when communicating with Generation Z. This generation has just started entering Universities, and will be their main target group in the coming years. As well as their parents 🙂
We saw that the practical and result driven approach of this specific university has a strong overlap with the main characteristics of generation Z. Good for them!

Did reading this post made you realize that you have questions on or interest in this (or other) generation(s) as well? Don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll be happy to tell you more about these new kids on the block.

The hot days are over, traffic jams are back and so we are ready to kick-start our busy September month.

We will be hosting a lot of different keynotes and workshops from The Hague, to Paris, Brussels, Cologne and back to Breda. Keep an eye on the blog for updates on our work and some interesting reads we came across this summer.

Also, we will be sharing with you parts of our Eurapco trend report, where we researched the four generations and their relationship with the insurance sector.

By the way, for the Dutch readers among us … Our Head of Inspiration, Aljan de Boer, wrote an article in the latest Adformatie magazine reviewing the newest book of Ruud Frambach on marketing. We will soon translate the article and post it here. But in the meanwhile, Dutchies, enjoy the read.

Talk to you soon.

Summer break is coming up. Just a small recap on our latest activities before we all head to the city beach, organic camping sides or offline yoga retreats.

Last week we kickstarted the Sanoma Media Summer Session with some insights on today’s addictive behaviour with technology. The audience, mainly women, were clearly recognising this behaviour and could’t resist to share their experience realtime on their social networks

In a very appropriate setting (Burgers’ Zoo), we got on stage discussing Generation Z at the Kids & Jongeren Marketing. It looks like this generation is taking things really serious and cutting down on all the ‘classic’ escapes such as sex, drugs and rock and roll. Yup, thats why world’s first non-alcoholic spirit Seedlip just launched…

In Brussels we’ve inspired the customers of our partner Vice on the lack of trust in current society. Leaving marketers and communications specialists with new insights on how people perceive brands, media, advertising and corporate institutes.

And just a few blocks down the street we developed a future customer strategy for our long lasting customer Proximus.

Closer to home we’ve been working with Nationale Nederlanden, developing a new health proposition. Not all details can be shared but we are currently involved in the creative process and we hope to share more after the summer.

Furthermore our summer is filled with new projects. We’re working with KWF on a new concept, starting a series of workshops for MN Pensioenfonds, writing a trend report for Eurapco, preparing the annual innovation month of Discovery Networks and many more.

But we’re never too busy. Wanna know how our insights can be useful for you? Just give us a call.

Cheers and enjoy your summer.

And we’re live in 3, 2, 1… The new KRO-NCRV homepage (a dutch media organization, developing TV, radio and online programs) is a pleasure for the eye and user friendly. Trendsactive is responsible for the strategy, design and copy guidelines. The result: a fresh design, more context, vision and a central role for the KRO-NCRV content. We enjoyed working together with KRO-NCRV!

Go check out the homepage yourself here.

Trend research shows we live in a trust crisis. This is partly due to the abundance of information, filter bubbles and fake news.
Still, Millennials have a positive view on the future. They are the ones who have the media literacy to navigate straight to the brands they trust.
How do you ensure Millennials to believe in your brand? How do you connect with them in a trustworthy and relevant way?

Trendsactive and VICE Belgium personally invite you to the first edition of ‘VICE Insights’ on Thursday, June 7. Through sharing research, strategy and practical examples, VICE Insights will help you explore how to remain relevant to millennials in the future.

Don’t want to miss out? Please RSVP now. Places are limited so let us know if you will join us.
RSVP here.

VICE HQ Brussels
62 Quai des Charbonnages 
Molenbeek-Saint-Jean Bruxelles 1080

3:30 PM – 6:00 PM 
Drinks and food afterwards

Last week we had the privilege to present in Rome for Eurapco. Eurapco brings together some of the best and brightest insurance companies from Europe. Fueled with an inspiring and collaborative spirit we came together to learn more about European millennials. We presented our trend report on Millennials and insurances. The first edition of this report was created for Achmea, but has now been translated and filled with additional European insights. An important question is; Are European Millennials all the same?

Let’s get the elephant out of the room. The answer is yes and no. It would be downright ignorant to disregard the differences between individual Millennials. There are just as many differences between Millennials and Baby Boomers as there are between Millennials from Spain and from Finland, or even between Millennials from Madrid and Barcelona. However, generations do think, feel and behave alike. For anyone working with Millennials in an organization, it is easy to confess that there is a difference in how you motivate, collaborate or communicate with them compared to other generations. Besides your own experiences, we can tell from years of research that academics agree that generation-thinking is a valuable way of structuring our world.

Generation-thinking is not something new, however it is definitely not old enough to have lost its value. For decades, social scientists from the fields of sociology, anthropology and psychology have been studying ‘the youth’ and generations. The language, culture, digital behaviour, norms, believes and values between generations differ. Even though there are differences in economic and political situation between European countries, there are substantive issues and influences that define Millennials in Europe. Much of what influences and drives the behaviour of any generation is their common experience in technological developments, cultural and societal shifts, and economic growth (or fall) of Europe overall. This common experience is shaped during the formative years of Millennials (10-25 years). Evidently, understanding generations is key to be customer-centric as an organization. More good news, by understanding a generation you understand a huge cohort of your (potential) target group. That makes it not a just a scientifically proven, but also practical way of segmenting your target groups. There are 100 million of these Millennials living in Europe. The Eurapco partners now have the insights to become Millennial-proof. Are you?

Photo credit: Toa Heftiba

People love to make fun of Millennials, the generation born between 1981 and 1997 who are obsessed with taking selfies. More recently, Millennials have been the target of ridicule for spending too much money on overpriced avocado toasts instead of saving to buy property. Based on this comment, the BBC did some research and they created an Avocado Toast Index to show just how many avocado toasts it would take a afford a deposit on a house in 10 different cities around the world. I’m a Millennial living in Netherlands, and I was curious about what the stats and figures were for the local Dutch market. This is what I found:

• On average, property costs €4.990 per m2 in Amsterdam (yes I’m aware that the housing market in the Dutch capital is over the top, but Amsterdam has been ranked as one of the best cities to live in for Millennials).
• So for a 90m2 property in Amsterdam (just to align with BBC’s Avocado Index), it would cost €449.100 (that’s roughly half a million!)
• A piece of avocado toast in Amsterdam ranges from €7 to €9 euros… so let’s say the average avocado toast price is €8

So there you have it, it would take an equivalent of 56,137,5 avocado toasts to afford a 90m2 house in Amsterdam.

– Tracy

Photo credit: Wenni Zhou

Hot off the press – our new Connected Society trend report of 2018 is out! To be customer-centric in the modern digital age, brands should be developing innovations and big ideas that are true to the brand and founded on insights that resonate and inspire with real human beings. In this trend report about the current Connected Society, we explored the drivers behind people’s use of technology, and in turn the new behaviours created from people’s use of technology. What is driving people’s addictive use of connective devices and in turn, how are people defining control over their use of technology? In the next few blog posts, we will be sharing our insights (in bitesize format) to these questions. But you can also download the full trend report here at this link.

The main theme of our Connected Society trend report is that people have an ambivalent relationship with technology. On one hand, they are addicted to using connected devices. Meanwhile, people are becoming more aware and increasingly questioning the role that technology should have on their lives in the state of constant connectivity. In people’s search for control over technology, not only are they questioning and redefining their physical interaction with technology (e.g., unplugging for off-line moments), they are also judging their emotional relationship with technology – trust.

The past year of 2017 has seen political upheaval, fake news, confusion and social change.  People are now living in a connected, post-truth world, where public sentiment is characterised by a lack of trust. So in this social climate where distrust and suspicion is the default, who can people trust?  Apparently, not governments, businesses, NGO’s, or the media.  In fact, the Edelman Trust Barometer 2017 has revealed that all four major institutions (i.e., government, media, businesses, and NGO’s) have reached the lowest levels of public trust.  But what about technology?

“In the last 18 months the conversation about security and privacy has moved from the tech pages to the front pages of newspapers… [and]… we’re looking for businesses to be more transparent about what data is being collected, how it’s being used and with whom it’s being shared” said John Curran from the consultancy Accenture [Source: BBC].

According to a Pew Research poll, almost three-quarters of Americans said it is “very important” that they have the right to control who can access information about them, and 65% also say it is “very important” to control what information is collected about about them. Moreover, research by Kantar TNS reveals that when it comes to data, consumers are increasingly concerned about the amount of personal data that companies know about them, and many also express the sentiment that they are on the losing end of an unfair exchange. Ironically, oftentimes people’s concerns over their privacy do not always translate into actual behaviour.  Look for example at the popular online dating app, Tinder, for instance. When these 50 million signed up with the app, did they consider or are they even aware that the app is potentially collecting 800 pages worth of personal information about them?

Describing this intention-behaviour gap, researchers call this contradiction between people’s attitudes towards privacy and their actual behaviour the “privacy paradox”. But then again, research shows that it would like approximately 200 – 250 hours (equivalent to a month at work each year) if people were to  actually stop and read all of them for every website that they visited. No wonder the privacy paradox exists… In anywise, despite the privacy paradox, if consumers voice that they have a need for control and that they have concerns over the privacy on their personal data, it would be arguably favourable for companies to provide their customers a great experience in return. Indeed, research by Capgemini Consulting reveals that an estimation of 64% of customers were ready to share their personal data but only under the condition that it helps improve the quality of the customer experience offered to them.

It appears that people have an ambivalent relationship with technology – they see the benefits and exciting opportunities technology could offer, but are becoming more aware of the potential risks that could threaten and/or infringe on their autonomy and control. So what can brands do with the knowledge that technology is raising concerns about trust and privacy?  Give transparency and reassure people about what you do with data and technology. Reassure people and give them a sense of control over their (digital) life. In short, make sure you are trustworthy.

Hot off the press – our new Connected Society trend report of 2018 is out! To be customer-centric in the modern digital age, brands should be developing innovations and big ideas that are true to the brand and founded on insights that resonate and inspire with real human beings. In this trend report about the current Connected Society, we explored the drivers behind people’s use of technology, and in turn the new behaviours created from people’s use of technology. What is driving people’s addictive use of connective devices and in turn, how are people defining control over their use of technology? In the next few blog posts, we will be sharing our insights (in bitesize format) to these questions. But you can also download the full trend report here at this link.

In the last two blog posts (here & here), we talked about how people are using connected devices “addictively”. On the other hand we also see more and more people are taking steps to exert control over such constant connectivity.  People are longing for “offline” moments and making effort to disconnect in order to be “online” and reconnect in the real world.  Indeed, in the wake of fake news, filter bubbles, surveillance, and privacy breaches (the list goes on…), 2017 has been deemed as the year of “The Great Awakening“, where there is a growing awareness and realisation of the serious implications that technology play on their lives, accompanied by the potential threats and negativity. That said, in 2018 people are more actively looking for control and seeking to moderate the role of technology in the year of “The Great Reckoning”.

This widespread realization of an ‘always-on lifestyle’ gave birth to the need to unplug and disconnect. People are deliberately looking for offline-time. This is manifested in challenging oneself for a digital detox in one day or more organized for a whole week.  Also phone stacking made its appearance as a social phenomenon. If you just don’t have the willpower to unplug and disconnect, well there are places, from bars to holidays where you literally don’t have the choice because wi-fi signal is deliberately blocked or made unavailable, so you can really focus on the moment and make real social human connections. It is not just the public that is doing some soul-searching in redefining their relationship with technology, even policy makers and corporate companies are recognizing the necessity for employees to unplug and disconnect.  In France, a law known as the “right to disconnect” came into effect last year stating that employees have to legal right to avoid work emails outside of working hours. What’s more is that even insiders from the tech world are counter-reacting. Recently, the Center for Humane Technology was launched by Tristan Harris, former Google design ethicist, along with other prominent former tech insiders and CEO’s, is calling on the companies themselves to redesign their products with ethics, not purely profits, in mind; and calling on Congress to write basic consumer protections into law. They are trying to encourage both the tech world and consumers to move forward to a more conscious, healthy and, ethical way of using technologies.

Both insiders and outsiders are unplugging, because people want to keep control over their behavior. The reason is simple, being in control is crucial for wellbeing. So what can brands do to help people find a sense of control? People want to disconnect because they feel overwhelmed by the constant connectivity and overstimulation induced by technology. As a brand you should stop adding to the abundance and over stimulate, rather offer mindful moments in the customer journey. For example, IKEA’s Hjärtelig collection is here to help consumers unplug and unwind. Designed by Andreas Fredriksson and Maja Ganszyniec,  the collection was inspired by research points from Ikea’s annual Life at Home report that people have trouble disconnecting from work when at home, experience FOMO, and are distracted by their phones. Although it’s not clear how a canopy bed can really help people fight their addiction to smartphones, but we can imagine that it’s easier to mediate, relax, and unwind from all the digital distractions at home when it is decorated by furniture and accessories that look like they came from a yoga studio.

Hot off the press – our new Connected Society trend report of 2018 is out! To be customer-centric in the modern digital age, brands should be developing innovations and big ideas that are true to the brand and founded on insights that resonate and inspire with real human beings. In this trend report about the current Connected Society, we explored the drivers behind people’s use of technology, and in turn the new behaviours created from people’s use of technology. What is driving people’s addictive use of connective devices and in turn, how are people defining control over their use of technology? In the next few blog posts, we will be sharing our insights (in bitesize format) to these questions. But you can also download the full trend report here at this link.

Technology gives almost anything we can ask for at our fingertips. Click and you shall receive with minimal effort and minimal time.  With a touch of a button, we can access an enormous selection of movies on Netflix, a full library of e-books on Amazon, a huge inventory of clothes and shoes on Zalando.com and the list goes on. There is no delay.  The digital world with constant connectivity has fostered the so-called “IWWIWWIWIWIW” – “I want what I want when I want where I want” consumers who expect instant gratification at a click or tap.

While patience has long been considered a virtue, it doesn’t seem to be so relevant in the current Connected Society.  Indeed, according to the “The Instant Gratification Nation” report by Fetch in collaboration with YouGov, more than two-fifths (42%) of UK consumers admit that they have less patience today than they did five years ago [1].  A main conclusion from this report is that the rise in impatience is attributed to people’s almost complete reliance on technology in their everyday lives.

Intriguingly, being spoiled by the instant gratification consumers get from technology from the online digital web, consumers are increasingly expecting the same kind of treatment in the offline world. For example, the Uber you see on your phone is soon the Uber parked in front of you.  Uber found that people’s expectation of how long they should have to wait for a taxi declined by 30% in one year [2].

Yes, getting what they want when they want and where they want is something that in our opinion another incentive that that further reinforces people’s addiction to connective technology. So in the online world there is no time for loading screens, and same for the offline world there should be no more queuing. The IWWIWWIWIWIW consumer is demanding. This is because the speed and instant gratification that consumers get from technology create new expectations, and therefore as a brand you are not competing with brands within your sector, but also with disruptive technology all around. Brands should therefore be instant and on demand; and look for which elements in the customer journey that could be even faster and real time.

Sources:
[1] Fetch. (2017, October). The Instant Gratification Nation (Rep.). Retrieved https://marketing.wearefetch.com/content/2017/10/Fetch_2017_October_Whitepaper_InstantGratification.pdf

[2] Uber. (2015, January). Uber Expectations As We Grow. Retrieved from https://www. uber.com/newsroom/uber-expectations- as-we-grow/

Hot off the press – our new Connected Society trend report of 2018 is out! To be customer-centric in the modern digital age, brands should be developing innovations and big ideas that are true to the brand and founded on insights that resonate and inspire with real human beings. In this trend report about the current Connected Society, we explored the drivers behind people’s use of technology, and in turn the new behaviours created from people’s use of technology. What is driving people’s addictive use of connective devices and in turn, how are people defining control over their use of technology? In the next few blog posts, we will be sharing our insights (in bitesize format) to these questions. But you can also download the full trend report here at this link.

As a social species humans have fundamental desire to connect and bond with others, and connective devices especially smartphones, act like a drug that gives us the pleasure for the social interactions that we crave. Looking at the statistics, the majority of time that people spent on their smart phone is for social-related activities. Insights from data collected by Google also reveal that messaging apps, social media apps, and email apps are amongst, if not THE, the most highly used apps for smartphone users [1]. According to a survey by YPulse, for Millennials messaging is a top smartphone activity, with social networking coming in second place [2].

Indeed, brain-imaging research reveals evidence that the reward centres of the brain light up when people are using social media. Sounds a bit narcissistic but people really do like sharing and talking about themselves. There is different research showing that talking or sharing information about themselves on social media fires up people’s reward centers (i.e., nucleus accumbens) in the brain. For example, researchers observed that when people saw their Instagram posts were liked, their nucleus accumbens lit up [3]. Or when they disclose information about themselves [4], like a status update on Facebook, AND get positive feedback it really gets the reward centers up and running [5]. Note that these are the same circuits in the brain that would be activated when you are feeling good – like eating chocolate or winning money, or even taking drugs.

In other words, people get a “high” when they use social media through smartphones because it’s rewarding.  Social connections make us feel good – it gives us a hit. While the social networks formed online may be abstract, large, complex, and super modern, they also reflect universal and fundamental human tendencies that emerged in our prehistoric past when we told stories to one another around campfires in the African savannah. So from here on, brands should make sure that they give people the socially rewarding experiences that they crave. Brands should create content that encourages social interaction. For example, this could be both handy, relevant, and useful information, but also entertaining and humorous content. So think of anything that would make people want to share or would give them a digital “pat on the back” (e.g., Likes, smileys, reviews, etc.)

Sources:
[1] Google. (2016, September). How People Use Their Devices What Marketers Need to Know (Rep.). Retrieved https://storage.googleapis.com/think/docs/twg-how-people-use-their-devices-2016.pdf

[2] YPulse. (2016, August 1). What millennials & teens are doing on their smartphones every single day. Retrieved from https://www.ypulse.com/post/view/what-millennials-teens-are-doing-on-their-smartphones-every-single-day1

[3] Sherman, L. E., Payton, A. A., Hernandez, L. M., Greenfield, P. M., & Dapretto, M. (2016). The power of the like in adolescence: Effects of peer influence on neural and behavioral responses to social media. Psychological science, 27(7), 1027-1035.

[4] Tamir, D. I., & Mitchell, J. P. (2012). Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(21), 8038-8043.

[5] Meshi, D., Morawetz, C., & Heekeren, H. R. (2013). Nucleus accumbens response to gains in reputation for the self relative to gains for others predicts social media use. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 7, 439.