Page 3 Profile
Trendspotting
by Carolyn S. Ellis
L&HA Features Editor
JWT recently released its annual report, 10 Trends for 2012, highlighting trends that will drive or significantly impact consumer mind-set and behavior. JWT, formerly J. Walter Thompson, is one of the world's largest marketing communications agencies. With 200 offices in 90 countries, JWT employs nearly 10,000 marketing professionals. We spoke with Ann Mack about the trends financial professionals should watch.
L&HA: What is the JWT trendspotting project?
AM: 10 Trends for 2012 is our 7th JWT trends forecast. The trends we spot have real weight and momentum and will be with us for the next 3-5 years. For this report we used qualitative as well as quantitative methods in the U.S. and in the U.K. We talked to influencers and experts across various sectors including technology, luxury, and academia. More than 70 JWT planners in our global network contributed, telling us whether a trend is translating in their market and if so, how.
L&HA: How long have you been involved?
AM: I have been involved for the past seven years and have been dedicated primarily to this project for the last five, so I have seen trends evolve. They don't happen in isolation. Trends tend to intersect and work in tandem.
L&HA: How does the New Normal apply to financial products and services?
AM: I don't know how specific I can get for your sector, but I can tell you about navigating the new normal and what it means for brands. The new normal started at the height of the Great Recession when people were trading down, cutting back, and clipping coupons. The new normal has become a prolonged normal especially in the developed world. We are seeing more brands in more categories opening up entry points for extremely cost-sensitive consumers. There are new opportunities in stripped-down offerings, smaller sizes, and otherwise more accessible products and services.
L&HA: It's taken a little while for us all to figure out the economic downturn isn't going away soon.
AM: Exactly. Initially people were hoping that it was just going to be a one- or two-year phenomenon, but there is still a lot of economic uncertainty. As a result people are adjusting their buying behavior accordingly.
L&HA: 10 Trends mentions population segments like Generation Y, Generation Go, and the Millennials. How are these groups managing to survive and succeed?
AM: These groups overlap. The Millennial Generation includes those born between 1978 and 2000. Generation Go is the older cohort currently entering the workforce (if they are so lucky). In contrast to how the press is painting them as a 'Lost Generation,' they are actually finding opportunity in economic adversity. Out of this continued joblessness or discontent with the status quo is springing an unprecedented entrepreneurial mindset. This generation is used to collaboration, an open source environment, and getting things done quickly. Technology has obliterated many traditional barriers to entry.
L&HA: Of the ten trends you present, I would say Marriage Optional and Aging are the two most relevant to financial professionals.
AM: In Marriage Optional we demonstrate that women are indeed taking an alternative life route that doesn't necessarily include marriage. 'Happily ever after' is being redefined as a household of one, co-habitating, or single motherhood. Let's face it. In the U.S. women earn 60 percent of all bachelors and masters degrees. They earn about half of all law and medical degrees and 43 percent of MBAs. Therefore they are gaining in the workplace. Women have qualities held in high esteem these days, like the ability to negotiate and to communicate both verbally and in the written word.
Men, meanwhile, are losing economic ground. The U.S. downturn was dubbed the Mancession because men lost jobs at a faster rate than women in 2008 and 2009 primarily because of the sectors that were affected- construction and blue collar jobs. It used to be that marriage helped a woman's circumstances, and that is no longer the case. Additionally, motherhood is untethered from marriage now. Having a baby without a husband is easier than ever.
L&HA: The challenge is to find ways to get younger women and men to buy the insurance and retirement products they need. Can we learn something from the DeBeers Jewellery campaigns for 'right hand rings' and 'Just Because' that encourage women to purchase their own diamonds?
AM: Many financial products and services are marketed to families or married couples as they begin their life together and think about life's checkpoints. They are not necessarily speaking to the single adult. It's a matter of raising awareness among this new cohort that they need these products and services.
L&HA: In the section titled Aging, you present new perceptions resulting from increasing longevity and good health and new terms like middlescense, 'peerents,' and 'Glam-Mas.'
AM: You have heard it time and time again, that 40 is the new 30, 50 is the new 40, 60 is the new 50. That's with good reason because we are living in an aging world. The first of the Boomers are just hitting 65, so it's a very lucrative market. Boomers are not seeing 65 as a point of retirement but as a time to launch second or third careers or take up a hobby they have always wanted to pursue. There are wonderful depictions of older people in media and pop culture. Marketers need to make sure their assumptions are current and they understand that not everyone is yearning to be young.
L&HA: It would be great to have an actuary here to comment on how mortality compares to perceptions of aging. A 65-year-old might look fabulous and feel well but still have diabetes or a history of cancer or heart disease.
AM: That would be interesting. I would suggest that if 65 is no longer certainly the point of retirement, is it a misnomer to call it retirement planning? Is there another name for it? That's a question for those in the financial sector and those catering to the over-65 set.
L&HA: And for those who would like to learn more about JWT's trendspotting?
AM: Here's a link to our 10 Trends Executive Summary on SlideShare. And here's the link to the 2-minute video, a quick and easy view of our 120-page report:
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