"You're about to be playing in an entirely new ballgame if you've been marketing exclusively to baby boomers – unless you have a timeless product or service," writes syndicated columnist Mildred Culp in a June 29 article, "Expand Your Marketing from Boomers to Gen Y."

The piece ran in the Dallas Morning News, among other papers, and Culp interviewed Social Technologies' futurist Andy Hines about how to connect with Millennials via their interest in environmentalism and sustainability, community, social responsibility (including humanitarian issues), and the Internet.

Appealing to those things is essential, said Andy Hines, a futurist in the Houston office of Social Technologies LLC. Mr. Hines said that Gen Y's questions are geared toward obtaining tangible results, such as "How do we make the community a better place, the environment safer? What do we do to translate into people getting more food?"

His advice to business leaders: "Bring in a Gen Y intern to mentor you."

For more information on what appeals to Millennials, read a study that Hines and his team at Social Techonologies conducted last year for MTV on the "Future of Youth Happiness: What makes 12-24-year-olds happy?" Or, view the entire presentation.

By engaging consumers through all five senses, not just sight or hearing, multisensory marketing strategies seek to evoke deep personal identification with products. The practice is being driven by advancing science and technology (especially brain science), consumer demand for affordable luxury, and competitive pressure to find new ways to differentiate products and brands.

We wrote about the multisensory marketing trend in our Global Lifestyles (pdf) project a few years back, and the interest continues to build. Here are a couple recent items of note we've come across about the use of smell in selling:

• A recent article in Emirates Business 24|7 (registration required) suggests that global spending on aroma marketing will hit $220 million in 2010, up from just $30 million in 2003.
  
• There's a new book out called Whiff, by C. Russel Brumfield, that looks pretty interesting. He was the keynote speaker at the First International Scent-Marketing Conference in NYC. See a couple minutes from him on AdAge.com.
  
• Travellodge UK is now offering scented rooms. Their press release mentions scents including the sea, baby powder, fresh cut grass, apple pie, and chocolate.
  
• And if those scents don't please you...there is always the AromaUSB...which uses power from a computer's USB port to deliver scents, and according to the website is perfect for "marketing campaigns...[and] keeping your brand or business in customers' minds."
  

Image: Joe M500 (Flickr)

Hat tip to airsensenews.com.

"Location, location, location," is increasingly becoming the mantra around new media services, and 2008 seems poised to be a year of growth for hyperlocal content delivery and other location-based services.

Google recently unveiled a new feature on its Google News page--Google News Local, allowing readers to get news occurring only in their local area. Google is moving into this space at a time when GPS is making people more aware of their surroundings and driving innovations in localized content in the form of location-based services like mobile ads for local businesses. Google's local news service joins dominant localized news site Topix.net and newcomer EveryBlock in this content area, and many Internet users will benefit from having better access to news in their area.

Google isn't the only major company taking advantage of hyperlocalized content.

Click to read more ...

Ladies, how would you feel if your admirer sent coupons to your mobile phone as a sign of his affection for you?

Apparently, South Koreans don't mind at all. SK Telecom's "Gifti-con" service lets users send coupons to each other's phones in the form of messages with bar codes that can be scanned at the point of sale. The service has seen year-over-year growth of 700% since its launch in 2006, with 300,000 users sending over $1 million worth of coupons to each other per month. Such an exchange can be quite romantic (or creepy, depending on how you look at it), according to this article:

Kim Mi-ran, a 20-year-old co-ed, smiles at a text message that she has just received on her mobile phone. It says, "Enjoy an Ice Caramel Macchiato coffee at Starbucks." It was from a male student whom she had met socially, but seldom talks to her.

"I like this way of letting her know my interest in her," grins the male student who sent the gift coupon by phone.

"I would be a little too nervous to call her and say 'hi," he adds.

The SK Telecom representative quoted in the article claims that the service was created to nurture human relationships, and I think it's great that services like this let people go beyond merely communicating to actually doing something nice for one another. Shy males are more willing to show their feelings through these gifts since they are discreet and practically effortless. The representative even provides the example of people buying more intimate gifts, such as underwear, for their lovers since the service shields them from embarrassment.

Cynics may say that this is another example of technology eroding face-to-face interaction. Personally, I'm hoping that things work out for Kim Mi-ran and her gift-coupon texting admirer.

[via textually.org] 

Image: yisris (Flickr) 

If you've watched a TV commercial or music video lately, you've probably  noticed that a new style has emerged.

That's thanks to companies like California-based Motion Theory, writes reporter Diane Mehta in an article entitled "Loco Motion" in the February 2008 issue of Fast Company magazine. These producers are "reinventing the TV commercial, even the look of video itself, and changing the way advertisers and other clients connect with the public," explains Mehta, who asked Social Technologies' Chris Carbone to weigh in on the trend.

He said the visual-effects trend is about ratcheting up expectations:

"Younger consumers--digital natives--grew up in a world where their baseline was The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, and Spider Man," he says. "But now that world-class effects are the standard, visuals need to be integrated in the message even more than in the past, and that's true of movies or marketing."

View the entire article.

Image: Motion Theory, Modest Mouse "Dashboard" for Epic Records (www.motiontheory.com)

On January 9, Social Technologies' Kristin Nauth appeared on Spark, a CBC radio show in Canada hosted by Nora Young, to talk about multisensory marketing (or sensory branding), a topic she has written about for Global Lifestyles, one of our multiclient projects.

According to Nauth, many companies are finding that when they engage consumers with multiple sensory touchpoints—not just the traditional sensory channels of sight or hearing—they can enhance consumers’ emotional connection with their products and brands.

Listen to what Kristin had to say on the CBC Radio podcast. Or, read what Kristin thinks is driving multisensory marketing.

Image: pedrosimoes7 (Flickr)

World 2 companies trying to stake a major claim in World 1 are facing some serious obstacles. Most recently, Tata Group--one of India's largest conglomerates--was rebuffed as it tried to make a move on two World 1 companies in just two weeks. From an article on FT.com:

After the Tata-controlled Indian Hotels, owner of Taj, increased its stake in [luxury hotel chain] Orient-Express to 11.5 per cent, Paul White, chief executive, wrote a blunt letter, saying a link with the chain was not in shareholders’ interests.

He said: “Any association of our luxury brands and properties with your brands and properties would result in a reduction in the value of our brands and of our business and would likely lead to erosion” in Orient-Express’s premium room yields.

This follows reports last week that US dealers of the ailing Jaguar had objected to Tata Motors as a potential owner of the luxury marque, which, along with Land Rover, has been put up for sale by Ford, its US owner.

Referring to “unique image issues” associated with Indian ownership, Ken Gorin, Jaguar Business Operations Council’s chairman, said the US public was not “ready for ownership out of India of a luxury car brand such as Jaguar”.

In the end, it appears that Ford will let Tata purchase its Jaguar and Land Rover luxury brands. However, the initial resistance by Jaguar dealers to the sale probably wouldn't have ever occurred had a World 1 company tried to purchase the brand. How this plays out could be telling for both the future of World 2 companies entering World 1 markets as well as for luxury branding:

• Will World 2 companies continue to be rebuffed when it comes to luxury acquisitions, requiring them to create new market share by developing their own luxury brands?
• Since luxury brands are often built on their reputations for quality and authenticity, how long will it take for World 1 consumers to accept luxury products from World 2--mostly known for cheaper, lower-quality, commoditized and/or pirated products? And, if so, how will World 2 companies shed this traditional image? 

In an article published Dec. 13 on Tech News World entitled, "Jackass 2.5' Online-Only Release: Smart Stunt or Half-Assed?," reporter Erika Morphy asked experts: will movies be as successful as TV shows and videos have been in moving to the Web?

Social Technologies' futurist Simeon Spearman said:

The dedicated "Jackass" fan base will have no problem going online to watch its next iteration. That's precisely where they prefer to get their fix.

The film's target audience is mainly composed of those who already watch videos online: young men who have grown up with the Internet and are mainly responsible for the success of online video to this point. It is a natural fit for 'Jackass 2.5' to be released in this fashion.

However, I don't think the studios should believe that if this film is successful online that films for older audiences less familiar with online video will see similar success. Surveys have shown that most consumers still prefer watching video on television sets than on their computers. Films catering to younger audiences will likely see more success under this distribution model.

Image: Elliott P. (Flickr)

What are our futurists reading? The following are some sources that are sparking the interest of Social Technologies' analysts at the moment:

Image: Social TechnologiesJohn Cashman:

• China CEO: Voices of Experience from 20 International Business Leaders, by Juan Antonio Fernandez & Laurie Underwood -- I’ve been slowly picking my way through this fine collection of insights, anecdotes, and advice from leaders of prominent multinationals such as Carrefour, BP, Unilever, and GE. They share their experiences, good and bad, on entering into China’s complex business landscape. The advice ranges from practical discussions on how to choose expatriate staff with the temperament for China (hint: don’t forget the effects of relocation on the employee’s family), to advice on the best strategies for entry into the Chinese market (Go it alone? Joint venture? Strong or weak joint venture partner?), to creating the proper incentive structures for managing Chinese staff (education and training opportunities, rapid advancement, and impressive-sounding titles seem to be a good place to start).

Matt Sollenberger:

• "The End of Cheap Food," in The Economist -- The Economist argues that higher food prices are not a spike but are, in fact, here to stay due to a collection of underlying factors they lump under the term “agflation.” However, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization and the IMF tell a slightly different story.

Gio Van Remortel:

• “A Lush Business,” by Vitisia Paynich in Electronic Retailer magazine -- Lush founder and CEO Mark Constantine discusses the business approach of his wildly successful soap and cosmetic store. The company uses organic ingredients for its products and also employs a strategy of transparency and interactivity with its customers. The story piqued my interest not only because ethical consumption and transparency are trends that we monitor, but also because a colleague expressed such enthusiasm on seeing the story headline and mentioned how much she loves their store. The article confirms that this type of customer enthusiasm has much to do with their growing success.

Image: Paul Keller (Flickr)While it makes an amusing title, "Matt has purchased condoms" isn't something I'd like broadcast to the world (at least, without my consent). Yet, that could've very easily happened with the launch of Facebook's Beacon program.

As it was originally designed, Beacon surreptitiously planted tracking cookies in the browsers of Facebook users; when interacting with a site that had partnered with Beacon, Facebook proceeded to publish an announcement of this activity for all of your friends to see--whether you're buying movie tickets or shopping for personal items that you'd rather not have your friends know about, let alone your younger siblings.

Click to read more ...

After my first entry, I received a comment to the effect of, “Yeah, but did anyone say anything about branding at this branding conference?” Between the typhoon, flight cancellations, and blogging delays brought on by the continued Great Firewall denial of the subversive Changewaves blog host, my intentions to rapidly update were thwarted, and I was unable to post further thoughts on the conference until today.

Without further ado, here are some takeaways from the 4^th China Branding Roundtable: Winning Moves for a Changing Game, put on by The Economist:

• The Chinese service sector is undervalued, or, as Stephen Xu of the Economist Intelligence Unit put it (paraphrasing), there’s simply no way that the Indian or the Zimbabwean service sectors are larger than China’s even though official figures suggest this is the case. Xu’s was the first of many “undervalued and underestimated” comments about China at the meeting.
• A key challenge for the Chinese government as well as for marketers/ branding experts in China is how to help stimulate consumption while slowing savings and investment, something that may continue to be difficult given the country’s recent history and the starkly different generational experiences at play. These generational differences may suggest future propensity to spend as China’s younger population creates its own identity, but the experts aren’t too sanguine about a sudden explosion of spending in the next five years or so. I’d liken it to the difference between the Depression-era generation and baby boomers in the US, though it’s still far from clear if the current young generation of Chinese will spend like US boomers.
• Several speakers pointed out the value of being a first mover either in the overall market or into some of the 270+ tier two and below Chinese cities that have over 1 million inhabitants. One offered cTrip, the Chinese online hotel & flight booking service akin to Expedia.com, as an example. The second player in the China market, eLong, is relatively less used.
• Advertising and marketing giant WPP expects a lot from non-traditional media in China’s future. CEO Sir Martin Sorrell anticipates two-thirds of WPP’s business will come from non-traditional media in the next 5–10 years. High and rising advertising prices for spots on Chinese TV will drive the transformation.
• Chinese companies are improving their ability to understand emotional and brand components behind their products while MNC’s have come a long way in improving their ability to cater to Chinese consumer tastes.
• Several speakers talked about ways they differentiated their companies to build brand loyalty. All acknowledged the challenge as well as the opportunity of moving up the value chain and becoming something more than a commodity for cost-conscious Chinese consumers.
• According to Landor Associates Managing Director Allen Adamson, there may be opportunities for branding and marketing experts to develop new touch points for customers in China that they can use to experience and familiarize themselves with the brand in a different context. Adamson used some World 1 examples including the Apple Genius Bar, the LG Wash Bar, and the Nokia Silence Booth.

If you aren't aware of the emerging genre of serious games, you should be. To quote a recent Global Lifestyles brief on the subject mentioned below, "Serious games—games that provide players with opportunities to learn and understand complex situations or different points of view—have emerged as a distinct subset of video games. Creators of these games are taking the definitions of “play” and “learn” in new directions, often blending the two creatively."

Two items caught my eye recently on the topic: announcements about the second annual Serious Games Summit, coming up next month in San Francisco, and the creation of a new academic degree at Michigan State University in serious games design. While a lot of column inches and blogs have been consumed with discussion of sexier games like Second Life lately, the serious games movement has been spreading from a core of more political games into a more complex family tree of genres, as seen in the table to the left.

While serious games such as Darfur Is Dying and A Force More Powerful are among the best known examples, politics and advocacy are only two of the categories these games belong to. Interesting development is now happening in health care, for example, where serious games are being developed as both educational tools and simulators, and also for pain relief, as in the case of Free Dive, a game designed to distract young patients during painful medical procedures. (My children's' dentist has been on to this idea for some time, allowing his patients to play with Gameboys during some procedures to take their attention away from his tools and their throbbing teeth -- thanks Dr. Ed!) Serious games are also being used to help returning Iraq war veterans cope with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder by simulating the sensory stress of combat conditions in a safe environment.

Where do serious games go in the near future?  Two of the half dozen possible directions we identified are:

• Broader applications—In only a few years the spectrum of applications for serious gaming has broadened to include everything from aiding cancer research to learning how to topple a government. Growth will likely be strongest in applications for job training, education, and “advertorial” content.
  
• More commercial use—Commercial uses for serious games have yet to take off, but the ability to attract new customers via advertorial games with a serious edge will be a strong lure for business. Companies need to be careful treading in this area, however. The tool may cut both ways as some consumers take offense at the blatant mix of commercialism and "education". One can imagine a pharmaceutical company using a game that raises awareness of a health condition while touting a brand-name drug, for example.
  

It's the holiday season, and the aromas of baking, evergreens, wood fires, and even the scent of new things -- clothes, perfumes, candles -- form a part of the overall experience. We relax, feel at home, or just know that something exciting or enjoyable is coming because of what our noses tell us.

As consumers max out on sensory experiences of the eye, ear and tongue, those who wish us to open our wallets have begun to tap the sense of smell -- and the evocative sense memories triggered by aroma -- to persuade us.

The past decade has seen an explosion in the use of scent as a new way of accessorizing the home, bringing aromatherapy from the expensive spa to everyone's bathroom, kitchen or car, to the tune of $4.4 billion in sales each year. That's a lot of smell! Specialist consultants and product developers have emerged to tailor just the right odeur for the moment or location. Newer brands such as Method, as well as resurgent older brands and processes previously used in creation of exotic perfumes, are drifting into the mass market to help us paint a sense picture in our living environments. There is even a film opening at the moment in the US, Perfume: The Story of a Murder, which adds a touch of suspense and drama to the business.

Retailers don't just sell the scents, they use them to soften up the consumer.  According to the Washington Post, toy chain KB Toys has used the childhood smells of Creamsicles and Play-Doh to make purchasing parents think of happy childhoods (there is even a Play-Doh cologne out the for those who didn't get enough of it up their noses as kids). Expensive English shirt tailor Thomas Pink pumps in the smell of linen. Recently, the creators of the "Got Milk?" campaign made the headlines by wafting the smell of freshly-baked cookies into San Francisco bus stops, drawing complaints from environmentally sensitive citizens.

Two trends come  to mind to explain the boom in aroma: the desire of World 1 consumers to personalize their worlds down to the last detail -- to be the architects of their own atmospheres --and of marketers to appeal to higher (or lower) forms of experience to break through the noise and reach consumers where it counts, the hippocampus. Neuromarketing is reaching new heights, and appealing to sense memories by smell is just the next step.

Look for companies to knock on your smell gateway more often as food companies, car companies, real estate agents, hotels, banks and anyone else with a profit motive and scent consultant seek to tap the buyer's deepest urges. After all, who doesn't want to think of a day on the beach or a warm plate of cookies?

Years ago, a former colleague confessed a dirty little secret to me after I stumbled upon her rinsing out a disposable Starbucks cup in the office kitchen: she would splurge on Starbucks every couple of weeks in order to get the Starbucks cup, which she would fill with office-brewed coffee in the interim. She didn’t Rinse, Reuse, and Recycle the cup because her environmental conscience instructed her to do so; she did it because she wanted people to think she was having a latte! I found it wrong on so many levels: Why did she care? Why did she think we cared? Why didn’t she just buy a reusable Starbucks tumbler?

An article in today’s WSJ reminded me of this incident. Starbucks is looking to expand its franchise in China, land of up-and-coming consumers -- and of counterfeit goods.

For decades, street vendors in cities around the globe have been selling knock-off Rolex watches, Kate Spade bags, and Polo shirts to people who care more about the status a name-brand product conveys than quality or authenticity. Given that Starbucks is truly pricey for China, how long will it be before some clever Chinese manufacturer starts selling knock-off Starbucks paper cups for people like my old colleague who want the status without the cost?

Parenthood seems to enhance futurist capabilities. With a one-year-old in tow, I personally have become more astute about marketing schemes. No longer are companies just competing for my dollars, they’re also clamoring for my daughter’s future allowance, and ultimately her grown-up spending dollars. As such, I am more apt to consider how a current purchase will have multiplied impact down the road.

Case in point: the Wall Street Journal recently catalogued a new series of designer bouncy seats. Yep, bouncy seats. On the whole, anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that bouncy seats work for a total of about 3 months, before the infant realizes there’s a fascinating world beyond the plastic toys dangling in front of them. And yet here the marketers are, presenting these options to vulnerable first-time parents or eager Boomer grandparents ready to shell out for the very best.

One look at these streamlined seats, and suddenly, the bouncy seats at the typical baby superstore seem terribly over-stimulating and gaudy, what with their jungle and aquarium themes. It’s not enough that new moms can deliberate for months over whether a Kate Spade diaper bag is worth it, now there are obnoxiously tasteful Kate Spade bouncy seats, and strollers to deliberate over as well! I can have a house entirely designed by Kate Spade, without her ever stepping into my home.

While a generational perspective is still forming regarding today’s infants and toddlers, marketers are certainly not deterred by lack of information. Tentatively termed post-Millennials, the kids born between 2000 and 2017 will number close to 79 million (see Pop 1 here), and might inherit certain buying preferences from their Generation X parents.

In recent years, traditionally Generation X stores have brought out new lines targeted to the kids of Generation X, including Pottery Barn, JCrew, and the Gap. A quick scan of the children’s clothing at a department store will include brand names ranging from Juicy Couture, Ugg, and Adidas, to Burberry. On any given day, Hollywood influence seems to be overtaking common sense. One fellow Social Technologies parent recently noted the “siren call of the Bugaboo”— that a $900+ stroller would even be a passing thought for a confirmed non-celebrity such as myself speaks volumes. Such is today’s consumer climate. No judgment here—I am the first person to have considered such notions as possibilities for myself. A quick scan of my budget quickly brings me back to reality, but I still dawdle at the fancy store windows.

But the question remains. If a sizeable number of today’s kids are accustomed to Baby Uggs, Seven Mankind jeans, Pottery Barn Kids bedroom furniture with matching linens, and Kate Spade strollers from birth, what does this signify for their consumer decisions as they get older? While some Generation X parents shelled out for organic everything, it will be interesting to see if the kids develop the nutritional preferences their parents are trying to cultivate. Conversely, it is easy to imagine these little tikes rebelling against all the “couture” choices, seeking something entirely different. For the Xers out there, we may have dressed like Madonna or Michael Jackson, but today’s kids may find more diverse icons to emulate at the click of a mouse, or iPod, or whatever the techie rage is in 2015.

But it remains to be seen whether the “status bubble” will pop, and if so, when. Let’s hope that it happens before Kate Spade begins to design entire neighborhoods.

(Image: Social Technologies)