John Gerzema, chief insights officer of Young & Rubicam Group, began his presentation at the Adobe Omniture Summit 2011 Thursday morning with a slide saying, “Everything will be all right.” With that he set the stage for a look into the new world of business, brands, and marketing in these post-recession days.
There is a trend toward optimism in the country, offered Gerzema, with the American consumer “moving from mindless to mindful consumption.” “And social media,” he said, “makes people feel as if they have more power.”
Prime among the lessons he learned doing research for his recent book, Spend Shift, is that people now, more and more, equate happiness with needing less. In tandem, the public has become extremely “values conscious.” “People like doing business with companies that share the same values that they do,” Gerzema said. “There is a rejection of institutional B.S. It’s all about actions, not words, and there are new priorities in expectations for brands.” He noted that “kindness,” along with “leadership” and “friendliness,” we among the prime traits people are looking for in brands today.
Calling it “the new American frontier,” Gerzema told the General Session audience in Salt Lake City that “there is a movement from “industrial to industrious thinking.” “We are now rewarding people and companies that show goodness and professionalism,” he said.
Gerzema concluded that people will now support companies that do the right thing. “People don’t want to choose between virtue and value, but they seem to be willing to pay a premium for virtue,” he explained. “There’s a trend toward ‘co-opetition,’ and this is a time of tremendous opportunity for companies to inspire and create and add value for the customer. People will spend with companies they admire, and there’s an emerging market for value-led innovation, which can create a competitive advantage for businesses going forward.”
To view the PDF of Gerzema's presentation, click here.
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