SparkBlog by The Hartman Group

Weekly Six: Meat chocolate and social-networking fatigue

The Meat and Chocolate Trend
"As long as you stay on this side of the sweet-savory line, the meat and chocolate trend is a great one."

Obesity problem big on everything, not just people
Obesity epidemic forces venue to make seats bigger

10 Best Things We'll Say to our Grandkids
Ready to feel old?

Grow your own meat
We might not have flying cars, but...

Social networking fatigue
Vanity Fair's share tool might be a bit much

Steampunk Insects
Nothing to say, just super cool

Enjoy!

Coupon Clipping and the Theatrics of Thrift

A recent New York Times article, A Clip-and-Save Renaissance, pronounces that coupon clipping is chic again. Whole groups of people who once shunned clipping coupons, the affluent and the young, are getting out their scissors. According to the article, coupon redemption rose for the first time since the early 1990s with a 10% jump in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the same period a year earlier.

What's behind this trendy behavior?: Consumers are responding to the recession and the events around them with a repertoire of thrift-seeking behaviors we call the Theatrics of Thrift. What we are finding is that simply engaging in these thrift-seeking behaviors helps to alleviate our collective anxieties, the stress in our day-to-day lives:

“I don’t really understand the details behind much of what is going on, and I surely don’t feel like I have any of the answers to this mess, but I know what I can do is try to help my family save wherever possible…”

“…at the end of the day, all I can do is to try to do my part.”

“I mean, how would I feel about my role as a mother and the family shopper if I just continued in my same old routine while the world seems to be going to hell…”

Simply put (or not so simply put): We engage in the Theatrics of Thrift by altering our traditional (pre-recessionary) shopping behaviors and styles in certain patterned ways that serve as an antidote to the current collective anxiety regarding the economy and our institutions.

While traditional coupon behavior is surging, here are a few insights on keeping your eyes online:

• Online coupon behavior is much more diverse, unpredictable and uncontrollable
• 100% of the qualitative consumers reported online as an important source of coupon collecting and nearly 80% reported “mommies groups” as an important source
• Many online “mommies” groups often limit access to outsiders with complex vetting processes
• A surprising number of qualitative respondents (~1/3) reported regularly purchasing coupons on secondary markets such as eBay

Retailers and manufacturers alike need to become increasingly creative and flexible with their coupon strategies—especially as consumers abandon traditional media for online media.

(Watch for more on the Theaters of Thrift in the coming weeks.)

R&D goes to the consumer with Vitamin Water's Flavor Creator

Today, Springwise talks about Vitamin Water's new Facebook application, allowing consumers to help create their newest concoction:

'Sorry to pull you away from checking out your ex’s photo gallery, but Vitaminwater needs your help.' Offering an alternative use for Facebook, the beverage company is inviting users to create new flavours and vitamin content.

After adding the FlavorCreator app from Vitaminwater’s Facebook page, users can help influence the flavour, functional benefits and design of the new water. First, they are invited to choose their favourite of ten flavours, picked from the ten most mentioned flavours elsewhere on the web according to the app’s ‘buzz meter’. (Which means the crowds are indirectly and unwittingly contributing, too.) The second step lets users play games and answer quiz questions, helping Vitaminwater understand the most desired nutritional benefits, and which functional ingredients to add to the drinks. The last step lets users name the flavour, and decide the aesthetic and copy to be used on the bottle.

Product development contests aren't new, of course. But Vitaminwater stresses that this isn't just another marketing program: like Coca-Cola’s new Freestyle machine, the app enables the company to get feedback on the tastes du jour, producing products that are more likely to become best-sellers. R&D, product promotion and branding building: not a bad result from customers frittering away time on their lunch breaks ;-)

Examples like these demonstrate that our notion of choice is undergoing great transformation. Whereas we've always enjoyed lots of choice in the marketplace—new colors, new shapes, more interesting flavors, new sizes—our more complex, flexible, global economy ensures more diverse, more authentic and higher quality choices. Who cares about Coke, Tab or Diet 7-UP when you can choose between many hundreds of specialty beverages, many of which have themselves grown out of authentic cultural traditions (e.g., San Pelligrino, Orangina, Jones Soda, Frappucino, etc.).

Though variety is now expected (as Vitamin Water clearly knows), it can often contribute to consumers' sense of time pressures, confusion and stress. Consumers, therefore, are seeking greater connections with the products, brands and retailers they choose. Today, you can no longer differentiate yourself on health benefits alone, but rather you need to provide consumers with an aspirational connection to who they envision themselves to be. It's this kind of empowerment, ownership and investment that breeds brand loyalty. Here, Vitamin Water provides an example of brand loyalty by way of ownership. They are beginning to relinquish some of the control of the brand. We've always said that letting go a great step in new brand engagement.

Remember that your brand is about the sum total of product experiences as understood by your consumer.

Don't be afraid should your consumer transform your product or service in ways you might never have imagined. Encourage customer-led innovation strategies. Keep an open mind when consumers begin playing with or transforming your brand.

"We'll never have complete control over the brand..."
    —James McDowell, Vice President at Mini USA

"As consumers wrest control away from brand management control freaks...get over it. Turning your brand over to the consumer is taking control—and in fact, if you do, they'll return it to you in better shape."
    —Russ Klein, President, Global Marketing Strategy & Innovation, Burger King

"Today the customer is in charge, and whoever is best at putting the customer in charge makes all the money."
    —Stephen F. Quinn, Chief Marketing Officer, Wal-Mart Stores Division

Weekly Six: Sensitivity glasses, comfy cows and top tens

Glasses, Gloves Simulate Geriatric Impairments
Putting marketers in the old peoples' shoes, literally
via Ad Lab

AmazonBasics
Amazon.com goes private label

Cows on mattresses
Comfy cows are more productive

Cheese or Font?
Take the quiz...it's harder than you think!
via idsgn

Happy Park(ing) Day
Turning metered parking spaces into temporary parks

And, top ten lists...
10 record-breaking foods

10 Weirdest Celebrity Food Commercials

Is Gluten the new boogeyman?

If you missed it, September 13th was National Celiac Disease Awareness Day. But don't worry because October is Celiac Disease Awareness Month. The whole month!

This begs the question: Is gluten the new boogeyman? Consumer interest in gluten-free eating habits—as well as gluten-free products—is unquestionably on the rise; and foodservice, food retailers and CPG companies are quickly jumping on the trend.

While many marketers have estimated 15% to 25% of U.S. consumers are interested in gluten-free products, our own research concludes that the number is 13.2%, or about 40 million people (data gathered by the Hartman Group from a nationally representative sample of 1,730 US consumers fielded in July, 2009).

While this is currently a sizeable marketplace, important questions remain regarding long-term opportunity. Is gluten-free an enduring trend with serious legs? Or, alternately, is our collective interest in gluten-free merely a passing fancy much like low-carb dieting? Likewise, while there is no question that sales of gluten-free products are experiencing rapid growth, one must remember that any new category experiences such growth. It’s easy to generate impressive growth results when you start from zero.

Happy Celiac Disease Awareness Month, everyone!

For more, sign up for our free 15-minute webinar: Gluten-Free: Context, Insights & Predictions, 09.17.2009, 10AM PT

Weekly Six: Candy pills, knitworking and cute goes big time

Is it candy or medicine?
Handy chart and quiz...test your skills
via BuzzFeed

Social knitworking
Knitting and social media does it get better

Teens Don't Tweet
The Onion's Take (...find out what we've said on the subject)

PetCare Robot
Pet luxury continues with Fido's virtual playmate

Energy clock
Depicts visualization of your energy use...with built-in guilt chime

When cutesy gets serious
Cute design that isn't dumb

Enjoy!

Weekly Six: Recycled designs, paying the fines...and bacon

Recovered and Recycled
Clever and Crazy Recycled Design Ideas from Latin America

Sustainable Ice Cream:  Warm Not Frozen
Ben & Jerry’s May Make Warm Ice Cream to Reduce Emissions

GOOD Growin'
Redesign Your Farmers' Market

Do the Right Thing...or Pay the Fine
All over the world, new laws are forcing people to go green

Food Flags
Sydney International Food Festival

And for our bacon lovers...in celebration of International Bacon Day (9.05)

Sweet Meat - Feast Your Eyes

How to Use Bacon to Make Your Life Incredible and Amazing

Bacon Love

Enjoy!