For the past couple years, I’ve shared the results of the JWT annual year-end forecast of trends for the upcoming year.  In the past, we’ve seen predictions for the massive adoption of location based services (2010) and the coming of the Non Commitment Culture (2011) — both of which have come to be.

So I was looking forward to their 2012 report and it did not disappoint.  I had a chance to ask Ann Mack, JWT’s Director of Trendspotting a few questions.  But before we get to her answers — check out their executive summary.

Q. Which trend strikes you as the most surprising?  That was my first question for Ann Mack as well.  Here’s what she had to say:

The trend that surprised me the most was Generation Go. The Millennial Generation has been cast by many in the media as the “Lost Generation,” but this trend turns that notion on its head.

Consider this: In the U.S., 52% of Millennials said they would start their own business if they lose or have trouble finding a job, according to a survey JWT conducted in November, up from 25% in 2009. Nearly 6 in 10 agreed that “My friends are doing interesting entrepreneurial things to make more money,” up from 34% in 2009. This indicates that there’s a solid entrepreneurial streak among Millennials, one that has significantly increased in the past two years.

Twentysomethings in the developed world are finding opportunity in economic adversity. Out of continued joblessness or discontent with the status quo is springing an unprecedented entrepreneurial mindset, enabled by technology that obliterates traditional barriers to entry. A so-called Lost Generation is transforming itself into a uniquely resourceful cohort.

Q. Navigating the new normal seems to be more about re-packaging (less frills University degree, smaller pack of gum, fewer featured tablet like Kindle Fire etc.) than offering something new.  How do you think this will manifest itself in the services arena?

You’ll see more services that strip out amenities and features or lower quality standards, DIY options (e.g., Ikea-style assemble-your-own items), off-peak or otherwise restricted offerings, and unbundled/more flexible services and subscriptions.

Equinox gyms, for instance, opened Blink Fitness at the beginning of 2011: The pleasant, polished fitness centers cost just $20 a month (more than $100 less than Equinox gyms in the area), offering the basics and nothing more.

Meanwhile, prepaid, no-contract phone plans—which have been a minimal part of the U.S. mobile market—are now the fastest-growing segment. A new low-cost, no-contract T-Mobile plan offered through Walmart, for example, allows for unlimited Internet access and texting but only 100 voice minutes. The carrier also now offers three Pay by the Day plans, charging customers only for days they use their phones.

Q. How does the trend Reengineering Randomness and the hunger for new/different work in light of both the information overload syndrome and desire to simplify that everyone seems to be dealing with about these days?

To your point, most people welcome the extraction of irrelevant or less interesting information and options. But most people recognize when they are in a rut. Reengineering Randomness is about reaching consumers through surprise and delight, online and off, while avoiding their overstimulation.

As consumers increasingly rely on Hyper-Personalization to help them navigate the Web and the wider world, the random element will come to represent the human touch. Increasingly, breaking through the personalization bubble will become an important way to grab consumers’ attention. By providing a dose of the unexpected, brands can inspire consumers who crave discovery and perhaps find new markets as well.

If you’d like to see the entire 102 page report, you can purchase it here.

Author: Drew McLellan    Drew McLellan on the Web Drew McLellan RSS Feed

Drew McLellan’s a 25+ year marketing agency veteran who lives for creating “a ha” moments for his clients, clients’ customers, peers and audiences across the land. Sadly, for his daughter, he attempts to do the same thing at home.

Drew’s favorite tools for creating these moments are vivid story telling,… View full profile

This article originally appeared on Drew’s Marketing Minute and has been republished with permission.

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CRM has failed to deliver customer loyalty; is Social CRM headed the same way?

In Bob Thompson’s latest post he asserts  that CRM failed to deliver the primary objective of CRM: customer loyalty.  Bob goes on to say that he doubts that Social CRM will cultivate customer loyalty despite all the promise and hype that surrounds it.  Why?  Because the focus of CRM has been value extraction and not value creation as illustrated by the following definition of CRM in an IBM paper:

“CRM strategy, enabled by processes and technologies, is architected to manage customer relationships as a means for extracting the greatest value from customers over the lifetime of the relationship.”

Bob is saying that in his world he is a person what wants to be treated as a person yet organisations embedded in the CRM mindset are likely to view him as a “lead” or a “deal” or an “incident”.  Bob is pointing out that as a person he wants an “I-Thou” relationship and not an “I-It” relationship:  Bob wants to be treated as a fellow human being, treated with dignity worthy of a fellow human being, not just an economic object to be managed by the organisation for its purposes.  It looks like Lior Arussy agrees with him.

Disgust and delight: tale of two customer experiences

Lior Arussy, in his latest post, writes: “I HATE BEING TAKEN FOR GRANTED. I HATE WHEN THE RELATIONSHIP IS ONE WAY AND ONLY WORK WHEN IT IS GOOD FOR THE COMPANY. I ESPECIALLY HATE BEING TAKEN FOR A RIDE AND NOT BEING NOTIFIED ABOUT MORE SUITABLE (AND AFFORDABLE) PLANS. I VIEW THAT AS A BREACH OF TRUST. “

In contrast, Elizabeth Glagowski is delighted with the way an eBay seller has treated her, so much so that she titled her post “Customer Service Blunder Leads to Holiday Cheer”.  Why?  Because the eBay seller responed within an hour, apologised profusely for sending over the wrong T-shirt, promised to send the right one straight away, told her to keep the wrong T-shirt as it is similar to the right one, and he told her to pick another item in a certain price range and offered to send that to her free of charge to compensate her for her troubles.

What is going on here?  Why is Lior so upset and Elizabeth so delighted that she is being an advocate for Paul the eBay Seller?  We are in the realm of human emotions and particularly the emotions of disgust and elevation.

Disgust: its role in social relationships and the moral order

In “Wired to be Inspired” Jonathan Haidt writes:

“..when my colleagues and I actually asked people in several countries to list the things they thought were disgusting, we repeatedly found that most people men­tioned social offenses, such as hypocrisy, racism, cruelty, and betrayal”.

“When we find social actions disgusting, they indicate to us that the person who commit­ted them is in some way morally defective. In this light, we seem to place human actions on a vertical dimension that runs from our conception of absolute good (God) above, to absolute evil (the Devil) below.”

“Social disgust can then be understood as the emotional reaction people have to witness­ing others moving “down,” or exhibiting their lower, baser, less God-like nature. Human beings feel revolted by moral depravity, and this revulsion is akin to the revulsion they feel toward rotten food and cockroaches. In this way, dis­gust helps us form groups, reject devi­ants, and build a moral community.”

Read this article on how some insurance companies who have bought into the McKinsey system are generating bumper profits by deliberately causing delays and hardships for customers – especially when they are at their most vulnerable.  How does this make you feel as a human being?  Are you disgusted?  If you are wondering about the power of disgust then think about the News International phone hacking scandal.  News International had successfully muffled the politicians, the police force, the information commissioner etc for years.  Yet, when the public became aware that a dead schoolgirls (Milly Dowler) phone had been hacked the public disgust meant that the politicians had to take action.

Elevation: its role in social relationships and the moral order

Have you ever been moved, touched, inspired by seeing, reading about, or hearing of a stranger doing a good deed for another stranger?  If you are like me then you might even have noticed tears streaming down your face combined with a strong desire to do good deeds and be a better person.  Why are human beings so powerfully affected by the sight of one stranger helping another stranger?   Here is what Jonathan Haidt has to say on the matter:

“I have defined elevation as a warm, uplifting feeling that people experience when they see unexpected acts of human good­ness, kindness, courage, or compassion. It makes a person want to help others and to become a better person himself or herself.”

“Most people don’t want to rape, steal, and kill. What they really want is to live in a moral community where people treat each other well, and in which they can satisfy their needs for love, productive work, and a sense of belonging to groups of which they are proud. We get a visceral sense that we do not live in such a moral world when we see people behave in petty, cruel, or selfish ways. But when we see a stranger perform a simple act of kindness for another stranger, it gives us a thrilling sense that maybe we do live in such a world.”

“The most commonly cited circum­stances that caused elevation involved seeing someone else give help or aid to a person who was poor or sick, or stranded in a difficult situation”

“Love and a desire for affilia­tion appear to be a common human response to witnessing saints and saintly deeds, or even to hearing about them second-hand. If disgust is a negative emotion that strengthens ego bound­aries and defenses against a morally reprehensible other, then elevation is its opposite—a desire to associate with those who are morally admirable.”

What’s the lesson?

If you want to cultivate customer loyalty (an emotional bond) then heed the words of Immanuel Kant:“Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time, as an end”

If that is difficult to understand then imagine that the Customer is present inside in your business – she is sitting on your shoulder.  Is she left disgusted or elevated by how you are thinking, what you are doing and your motivations behind your actions?

A final thought

For as long as the Customer is simply a means to an end, and greed and fear are the driving forces behind Customer initiatives, companies will fail to cultivate customer loyalty in the social sense of a heartfelt allegiance.

Author: Maz Iqbal    Maz Iqbal on the Web Maz Iqbal RSS Feed

Maz is a customer focused business strategist and a management consultant. He specialises in customer strategy, customer experience and relationship marketing. Maz has a deep interest in people, relationships and business. He shares his views on all things customer at The Customer Blog (www.thecustomerblog.co.uk)…. View full profile

This article originally appeared on THE CUSTOMER BLOG and has been republished with permission.

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