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ZENITHOPTIMEDIA’S COMPILATION OF EMERGING TOP TEN TRENDS ENGAGING THE “ALWAYS ON” CONSUMER

2013

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FORCES SHAPING EMERGING TOP TEN TRENDS How do the identified trends relate to the political, socio-economic and technological developments which impact consumers’ lives? The PEST (Politics, Economy, Social and Technology) analysis shows what influences consumers’ adoption of trends, helping us better understand the evolution of these trends and shows how we might best use this knowledge to engage with consumers. We have identified three major global developments and their impacts on consumers and businesses:

1. REMAPPING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY BOOSTING CONSUMER CONFIDENCEGlobal economic power is shifting. Once-powerful economic superpowers are plagued with economic stagnation, with unemployment numbers at an all time high. Most European countries are implementing austerity drives, forcing consumers to rethink their spending, even on basic necessities like food, housing and healthcare. The USA is no better, with the debt ceiling crisis continuing to cast a gloom.

However, the continued growth of the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) carries a glimmer of hope. According to the World Bank, China has now become a middle-income country, based on per capita income. Increased discretionary income in growing economies means we can expect aspirational trading up, an appetite for global brands and for world experiences that are now within grasp for these consumers. Global brands need to understand how remapping the world economy affects demand for both their product categories and brands, to give them an idea of how to best project their brand identities and communicate brand relevance in diverse economic landscapes.

Consumer confidence is a great way to shed light onto consumer demand, since consumers who are confident of their position in life are more likely to spend.

GLOBAL CONSUMER CONFIDENCE SURVEY58 Countries - 3 Month Trend

At this time of year, we’re bombarded with annual trend reports by leading media companies, consulting firms and advertising and digital agencies alike. While such reports are valuable

in identifying trends in specific areas (like consumer, marketing, digital and social media), a big picture view is necessary. ZenithOptimedia’s Compilation of Emerging Top 10 Trends Report, Engaging the “Always On” Consumer, sums up the crucial trends for marketing communications for the upcoming year. What are the driving forces behind the trends that will shape 2013? How are these trends related to one another? How do these trends impact how we engage with consumers and what do they mean for brand communications in 2013 and beyond?

COMPILING THE TOP TEN TRENDSOUR METHODOLOGY How do we engage our customers moving forward? The Top 10 Trends have been sourced from leading trend companies, according to a rigorous methodology:

1. Recurring themes and trends sourced and distilled from leading reports

2. Investigation into how technological developments, socio-cultural changes and economic developments provide context for understanding the implications of these trends on businesses and consumers

3. Trends grouped and macro trends distinguished from micro trends

4. Where needed, trends have been redefined and re-named to really capture their meaning

We have sourced our Top Ten Trends from the following:

Global Average 92

India 119

Indonesia 119

Philippines 118

United Arab Emirates 114

Saudi Arabia 113

Thailand 112

Brazil 110

China 106

Malaysia 105

Switzerland 104

Egypt 103

Norway 102

Canada 99

Australia 98

Singapore 98

Peru 97

New Zealand 95

Chile 94

Austria 93

Denmark 92

Pakistan 91

Colombia 91

United States 90

Turkey 90

Hong Kong 89

Belgium 88

Vietnam 87

Russia 87

Sweden 87

Germany 86

Israel 84

Mexico 84

Netherlands 83

Venezuela 82

South Africa 78

United Kingdom 77

Estonia 75

Finalnd 75

Argentina 75

Latvia 73

Lithuania 72

Czech Republic 70

Taiwan 70

Poland 69

Ukraine 69

Ireland 67

Bulgaria 64**

Slovakia 62**

France 61

Romania 60

Japan 59

Spain 48

Italy 46

Greece 46

Portugal 41

Croatia 41

South Korea 40

Hungary 37

+ or - changefrom Q2 2012

101 & higherMore Optimism

100 & lowerMore

Pessimism

ASIA PACIFIC

EUROPE

MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA

LATINAMERICA

NORTH AMERICA

Source: Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions, Q3 2013* Survey is based on respondents with Internet access. Index levels

above and below 100 indiacate degrees of optimism/pessimism.** Bulgaria and Slovakia are new markets in Q3 2012

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ZENITHOPTIMEDIA’S COMPILATION OF EMERGING TOP TEN TRENDSBased on recurring trends identified from reports sourced from a range of leading media companies, consulting firms, advertising and digital agencies, our compilation of the Top Ten Trends lists the most relevant for ones for engaging with consumers in 2013:

Facing tough times, consumers in the least confident economies will still spend, but their purchases will be carefully considered. To maintain their quality of life, less confident consumers will be chasing great deals on high performing products. Confident consumers, especially those from growing economies, are more willing to spend. Hungry to move up the social ladder, they welcome aspirational brands that both act as a badge of success and empower self-expression. As consumer cultures in growing economies evolve, there is a hunger for brand stories, as consumers are working out how associating with global brands affects both their personal and social life. For global brands, this means they need to maintain consistent brand values while building emotional connections with these consumers, with appropriate value exchange that is in line with market sophistication and economic climate.

2. THE CONNECTED WORLDACCESSING CONTENT REGARDLESS OF TIME, PLACE OR DEVICEIn a review of the recent 2013 CES (Consumer Electronic Show), the annual event for diehard tech fans, Advertising Age commented that, based on the products shown, the event should be renamed the “Connected Everything Show”. A huge proportion of new gadgets at CES, including ultra high definition TVs, washing machines and assorted robots, were connected to smartphone and tablet apps for display, control, and sharing and manipulation purposes. Web-enabled screens dominate our present day lives, which will only become more apparent as ownership of smart phones and tablets reaches critical mass. By 2013, Gartner predicts that mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide and that, by 2015, over 80 percent of the handsets sold in mature markets will be smartphones. This trend is global. For instance, mobile is fast becoming the PC of Africa. For the first time, Nigerians accessing the Internet via mobile surpassed the number of desktop users.

To match consumers’ “always on” lifestyle, marketers need to transform their mobile engagement strategies. Today’s society expects us to make the most of life by cramming experiences in every moment, which is what drives consumers’ strong desire live in a connected world. Brands need to consider how consumers’ use of various gadgets fulfills their need for instant gratification.

Smartphone-use is much more utilitarian than use of tablets or televisions. Multi-tasking across different screens and staying connected on social media platforms at all times is prevalent today. For example, 51% of those who post on social media while watching TV aim to connect with others watching TV.

As consumers no longer have a linear and static approach to media consumption, brands building engagement eco-systems will need to take into consideration the types and depth of content, publication frequency and location-based content that best matches different gadgets. Brands looking to be a natural part of consumers’ “always on” lifestyles will need to be prepared to respond to their customers 24/7/365 and keep them engaged by creating meaningful and fresh content.

3. BIG DATAIT’S TIME TO GET PERSONAL The booming role of big data in reshaping consumers’ relationships with brands is glaringly apparent in most trend reports. The explosion of consumer-generated data in myriad mobile and social media forms can be used to improve brand relationships, as the data offers a deeper understanding of consumers’ lives. As the basis of personalized and helpful suggestions, such data can have significant impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Interpreted in the right context and perspectives, data lets brands build a predictive model to improve their ROI, thanks to behavioural targeting and personalised customer needs. This, in turn, improves conversion while optimising production and distribution efficiency. As marketers embrace live marketing, sensitivity when managing consumer interaction needs to stay on top of our minds. After all, there is a fine line between being helpful and being a cause for complaint for invasions of privacy or security breaches. Big data is not just something brands should take advantage of: it is also an opportunity for brands to work out how to use the data to genuinely help meet consumers’ needs.

Consumers leave footprints everywhere on the Internet, and brands are following their movements closely. While many consumers have been sharing their information without realising it, this situation may be changing. According to NielsenWire.com, 77% of smartphone users express concern over personal data collection, with 55% wary of sharing information about their location via smartphone apps. However, while consumers are newly aware of data creeping into their lives, they are also open to getting something out of it. They continue to seek security, control, convenience and enjoyment in their lives, and judge brands’ data based endeavours on how well these needs are fulfilled. According to Iconoculture, consumers will unconsciously evaluate their brand relationships through a give-and-take lens. By focusing on delivering relevant, contextually appropriate experiences that address consumer needs, brands can make data work for them, taking their consumer relationships to the next level.

Socio-economic and technological developments show that today’s consumers’ value both accumulating knowledge and instantaneous experiences, which fulfil their need to be confident and in control. Even though consumers’ lives are changing fast, harvesting big data can help us anticipate their behaviour and what this would mean for products and brands. Instead of depending on historical data to provide us with insights to help generate demand and consumer engagements, live data will help us stay ahead of our consumers. It is time we fully embrace live planning to drive the business forward.

EVERYWHERE COMMERCE 1Shop Anything, Anywhere, Anytime

GLOBALSHOPPING 2Brands Becoming Global Citizens

CURATEDSELF 3Presentation of Self Online

VISUAL INFO-GRATIFICATION 4 Discovery Through Engaging Images

5 FRIEND SOURCINGRECOMMENDATIONS 6In Friends We Trust

CHANNELKNITTING 7 Offering IntegratedExperience Across Devices

REMOTECONCIERGE 8

SOCIALCARE 9Customers Turn To Social Media For Customer Service

PLAYVANTAGE 10Experience Everyday Life Through A Playful Lens

Discovery Through Engaging Images

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VIDEOSHARING Storytelling on YouTubeand Beyond

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Shop Anyth

A Personal Assistant For Mobile DevicesFor MobMobExperie

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RECOMMENIn Friends We Trust

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As the digital age brings the world closer together, it also brings global brands to consumers all over the world. For consumers from growing economies, eager to catch up with rest of the world, this opportunity is particularly welcome. As we become part of the emerging world community, we want to find ways to connect with each other. Social media has enabled us to enjoy new experiences, appreciate different cultures, discover and support international values and even be part of a brand’s global community. Fans will enjoy richer brand experiences when brands highlight shared values and celebrate the diversity among their fan bases. By tapping into this base, brands can expects fans to help co-create products that combine global appeal with relevance to local needs.

STATS:• Top 100 global brands have more than 299 million fans on Facebook

• Facebook reached 55% of the world’s global audience, accounting for roughly 75% of time spent on social networking sites and one in every seven minutes spent online globally

Source: thesocialskinny.com (2012)

BRAND ACTIONS: • Keep consistent positioning and identity when building a global

brand

• Consider leveraging on brand assets that have universal appeal when looking to optimise content distribution and activation program

• At the local level, global brands need to identify the most relevant value exchange to deliver brand experience in line with consumer sophistication and economic landscapes

EXAMPLE: DOVE GLOBAL FACEBOOK PAGE

Truly global brands can now reap the benefits of both global and regional online content with Facebook’s single, Global Page-structure. With this new structure, Facebook users will be directed to the best version of a Page, depending on the country those users are in. This will allow them to see localized cover photos, profile photos, Page apps, milestones, “about” information, and news feed stories from Pages — all while remaining part of the global brand community.

The benefits of the Global Facebook Page include having control over the content from around the world, a centralised set of statistics and “talking abouts” combined with the relevance for consumers that stems from having a local element. However, this functionality may not yet be available to all brands. Additionally, there is also a need for community managers to be attuned to differences in language, culture and relevance when providing content for the Global Page, as well as practical considerations such as not including time of day, or mentions of the weather when updating the Page.

Smartphone or tablet users are embracing a world where consumers can search for anything and buy (almost!) anything, at any time. Purchase behaviour and experiences have been transformed. Along their shopping journeys, consumers move back and forth between various in-store, online and mobile channels. For instance, consumers increasingly use connected devices to shop around in their own time, before heading into a physical store for the final purchase. They expect seamless interactions with retailers across all channels, value instant access to necessary information, and are looking to secure the best deals according to their geographic locations. Marketers need to optimise their mobile platforms to facilitate consumer purchase decisions and e-commerce, with tailored content based on how each touch point is used.

STATS: • 67% of us start shopping on one device and continue to

another

• 59% of smartphone shopping is done at home, while 41% done out of home

• 81% of smartphone shopping is spur of the moment

Source: Google’s The New Multi-screen World: Understanding Cross-Platform Consumer Behaviour (2012)

BRAND ACTIONS:• Today’s “always on” lifestyle means that brands need to be responsive to consumers by implementing real-time marketing to meet consumers who are in a shopping mood

• E-commerce infrastructure needs to be up and running across all mobile platforms

• A mobile-optimised site providing simple, useful and engaging experiences will encourage customer engagement

• The best mobile commerce apps casually and non-intrusively allow consumers to discover things they might want to buy without realizing it

• Linking mobile customers to big data via mobile apps will let brands understand consumers’ search, purchase behaviour and user feedback. Harvesting such data offers great opportunities in behavioural and contextual targeting as well as personalisation

EXAMPLE: AMAZON.COM During the 2011 holiday shopping season, Amazon came out on top in terms of mobile consumer satisfaction, according to research conducted by Foresee. Amazon understood all aspects of the mobile shopping experience, compared to traditional retail stores, important to new users. Offering the Wal-Mart (WMT) experience – total selection, low prices, and rapid delivery – for mobile users, Amazon combined a strong front-of-house offering (like website design, recommendations, one-click shopping and reviews) with back-of-house competence (such as logistics and distribution). Though not identical, Amazon’s mobile platforms have a similar look to its main site, making users comfortable. The basket and search functions are positioned in similar places, both displaying recommended products on the homepage, and past purchases are synchronised across platforms. Relevant results and easy searches that correct misspellings are key.

Amazon’s one-click payment method is a big part of its online success: making purchases incredibly simple encourages shoppers to return. By saving customers’ card details and delivery addresses, they only have to enter a username and password to make a purchase. Making the checkout as simple as possible, to encourage impulse purchases and save consumers from wasting time entering credit card numbers, is very valuable on mobile. Similarly, a barcode scanner helps Amazon app users to find deals on the Amazon site when they’re out shopping on the high street. Finally, while many retailers only have iPhone apps (despite Android having half of the global market share), Amazon shoppers can use either their iPhones, Androids, Blackberrys or Windows Phones.

EVERYWHERE COMMERCE 1Shop Anything, Anywhere, Anytime

GLOBALSHOPPING 2Brands Becoming Global Citizens

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Sure, consumers are accustomed to googling for instant access to information, but in 2013, search goes beyond text alone. Visual-info gratification is the next frontier, as is creating brand engagement through compelling images. In 2012, thanks to the likes of Instagram and Pinterest, visual social web took off as consumers embraced visual sharing. Brands can leverage consumers’ search and shopping experiences by enticing them with creative and engaging visuals.

STATS: • 44% of online users are more likely to engage with brands that

they post pictures of in their online newsrooms, compared to other media

Source: ROI Research (2013)

• 70% of Pinterest users use the site for shopping inspiration

• There is a high correlation between pinning and subsequent purchasing

Source: Harvard Business Review (2012)

BRAND ACTIONS: • To take advantage of this trend, brands can be both content creators and curators, sharing visuals of their brand world and, better still, providing brand entertainment

• Attractive and relevant photos overlaid with text are a simple way to tell a story, even serving as teaser for in-depth content

• Brands can start building visual social communities on Instagram and Pinterest and host user-generated art. It is not just about the products, but also about interesting themes related to the brand

• Put the spotlight on the fans while serving as a listening tool for brands to find out more about what interests their consumers

• Brands can nudge consumers who pin their photos by serving them “call to action” messages

EXAMPLE: KATE SPADE NEW YORK

Rather than pin products that Kate Spade sells, the brand’s marketing department has been trying to operate the same way other Pinterest users do — by pinning inspiring or pretty pictures that happen to fit well with the brand. Pinterest has essentially become a public mood board for Kate Spade. (A mood board is a collage of related images that marketers often use while preparing campaigns or new designs so to give staff an idea of the “feel” of the new product.)

In the recent “Pin It to Win It” contests, Kate Spade offered substantial prizes to four respective pinners who captured the spirit of each contest. The “Ride Colourfully” contest gave away four custom-designed Vespa lx-50’s to the Pinterest users who created the best boards inspired by the vibrant scooters. To enter the contest, Pinterest-users added hashtags like #RideColourfully and #Vespa to their pins. This allowed effective search of the contest boards and increased virility of the pins. Kate Spade also promoted the contests across various social platforms including Facebook, Twitter, email campaigns and blogging. This contest showed an overwhelming affinity for vintage-inspired fashion and zippy pastels: all potential inspiration for upcoming fashion lines.

Kanye West recently declared on Twitter that, ‘If I had to be defined at this point I’ll take the title of an inventor or maybe curator’. However, the title ‘curator’ no longer belongs to the people running museums, art galleries … or even Kanye West. The web has democratised the ability to spot things and given us all the opportunity to reinvent ourselves with our social media posts. Embracing curated consumption, we are “always on” and socially connected, feeling compelled to source the latest and ideally differentiated content to share. Excelling at putting together varied content helps define who we are in digital terms, makes people pay attention to us and boosts our power to influence others. Brands will need to learn how to use the web to give consumers a valuable curated experience.

STATS: Among marketers who curate content:

• 76% share curated content via social media channels

• 57% share content via personal email messages

• 54% share content via blogging

Source: Curata (2012)

• 3.5 billion pieces of content (web, new stories, blog posts) shared each week on Facebook

Source: econsultancy (2012)

BRAND ACTIONS: • Just like people, brands need to be curators, adding value and relevance to their fans and followers, making them go-to-resources for fun and timely content

• Consumers’ interest graphs can help brands identify varied interests that make up someone’s personal identity and connect them with like-minded people

• ZenithOptimedia’s Socialtools can provide brands with insights into the content themes most liked, commented and shared by their fans or followers

EXAMPLE: PEPSI PULSEPepsi’s “Live for Now” is both a rallying cry and the spirit the beverage giant hopes to embody with its new pop-culture-focused campaign. Based on extensive global research with thousands of fans, “Live for Now” centres around a major new social and content curation platform, Pepsi Pulse, which marks an ambitious foray into social media. It also marks a brand-wide re-emphasis on pop culture and entertainment, which have long been Pepsi staples. In the spirit of what Pepsi dubs “Now Culture”, the HTML5-powered Pepsi Pulse provides engaging, immediate and interactive, aggregated content for users. Pictures, tweets, and news items are pulled from premium content sources, filtered by social ranking, and gathered to form the top 10 stories at any given moment. Users will also be able to organise content around categories such as music, design, and sports. Aside from producing pop-culture cheat sheets, the site offers live-streamed concerts and feature an interactive component, with challenges from musicians and celebrities, who have endorsement deals with Pepsi, such as Nicki Minaj.

CURATEDSELF 3Presentation of Self Online

VISUAL INFO-GRATIFICATION 4 Discovery Through Engaging Images

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Never before has the consumer played such an important role in marketing, thanks to photo sharing, recommending services and products, and exchanging experiences. Shoppers are influenced by advice and recommendations from friends and people they follow on social sites. Recommendation engines are a perfect example of how brands can use big data to their great advantage. Content distribution and activation platforms are becoming more commonplace, and enable consumers to share brand content with their friends and followers.

STATS: • 57 % have asked their friends on Facebook for advice before

purchasing a product

Source: Luxury daily (2012)

• 53 % of people on Twitter recommend companies or their products in their tweets

• Brand advocates are at least 5x more valuable than average customers because they spend and recommend more than average customers

Source: Zuberance (2012)

BRAND ACTIONS:• Discovering their brand advocates and what makes these

influential customers tick is important for brands

• Once we understand what motivates brand advocates to recommend brands and products, reward them by giving them what they crave most

• Build and grow advocate communities on online, social and mobile channels and mobilize them to recommend the brands

• By applying social listening, we can learn why and how these advocates are recommending brands and products. These insights help us serve them with relevant content for them to recommend

EXAMPLE: ALDI Supermarket chain Aldi shows how brands can play to their strengths to drive positive recommendations on social media platforms. On the recently launched campaign called Britain’s Biggest Savers, fans of the brand’s UK Facebook page have the chance to win £100 worth of vouchers, by sharing the savings that they make by shopping at Aldi, rather than rival supermarkets. The campaign has received a strong response, effectively driving positive advocacy by encouraging consumers to discuss the brand’s key strengths over rivals. Consumers say they “saved” by switching to Aldi from rival supermarket chains, call it the “best” supermarket and say they “wouldn’t shop” elsewhere. The campaign also successfully drove brand love: even comments that were not strictly “advocacy” statements were positive about the brand, with some saying they “love” shopping at Aldi. Aldi’s success suggests brands can effectively promote online advocacy by highlighting their strengths over competitors.

While online video is not new, it is going to take off in a big way in 2013. The rollout of 4G has led to data speeds fast enough to cope with increased video sharing. Online businesses and product demo videos will become more popular with ever-improving internet speeds, and product demonstration videos will be used more frequently to address even the needs of apprehensive customers.

Beyond YouTube and Vimeo, new video sharing sites are gaining traction. For example, Qwiki allows users to quickly create amazing interactive stories. The next big thing in video social sharing is Vine, an iPhone app acquired by Twitter and released at the end of January 2013, which allows users to share a maximum of six seconds of video at a time. Cisco predicts that 90% of consumer IP traffic (the majority of total IP traffic) will be video in 2013. Tapping into video sharing’s potential, brands need to both create videos that consumers really want to be part of and find ways to reach as many viewers as possible.

STATS:• 500 years worth of time is spent on watching YouTube every day

• 700 YouTube videos are shared on Twitter every minute

Source: MindJumpers (2013)

• Although YouTube links are posted about 8 times more than Facebook videos, both these options generate a similar number of Likes, Comments and Shares

Source: Socialbakers (2013)

BRAND ACTIONS: • Brands can get inspiration from video sharing sites, such as Viral

Video Chart, to help identify currently trending popular culture as a guide for both content curation and creation

• In order to create videos that consumers want to be part of, goviral, a leading video distribution network, found that fortune favours the brave. The top brands on the first Top 100 Social Equity Brands, like Red Bull, Old Spice and Nike, repeatedly disrupt the expected, sparking agenda-setting conversations

• To increase viewership and sharing, brands can consider cross-promoting across different touch points, embedding videos in relevant interest-related content and encouraging calls to action for sharing

EXAMPLE: RED BULLAccording to goviral’s social equity study, Red Bull boasts the greatest amount of “social video equity”, thanks to having both genuinely embraced the medium and successfully engaged web users. Red Bull has expanded its reach to sponsorship, hosting of a variety of events and spectacles designed to draw attention on the web and in real life. These include their Air Race series, the Flugtag air competition and the record-breaking Space Jump. The Space Jump, organised by Red Bull Stratos, was a world record attempt by daredevil Felix Baumgartner to break 4 world records, including highest free fall, fastest free fall, longest free fall, and highest manned balloon flight. The event also managed to set a new record for the “live stream with the most concurrent views ever on YouTube.” At its peak, there were more than 8 million concurrent live streams. The jump was broadcast on Red Bull’s YouTube channel, as well as cable television. In the months leading up to the event, Red Bull managed a complete social media and digital marketing campaign that is still going strong in distributing the content.

5VIDEOSHARING Storytelling on YouTubeand Beyond

FRIEND SOURCINGRECOMMENDATIONS 6In Friends We Trust

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Today’s technology enables us to have a personal assistant in our mobile devices. For example, we can use our voices to have Siri send messages, schedule meetings, make phone calls and recommend restaurants nearby, while the Nike+ app tracks our workout record. There is a growing demand for apps, which can be used as a replacement interface with companies and brands in the future. Brands need to be prepared to serve consumers with relevant services on their apps, creating meaningful and engaging interactions to encourage continuous access.

According to Iconoculture, there are 4 ways for brands to use big data to create meaningful user experiences. “Facilitating Flow”, or using data to transform traditional appliances like thermostats to “smart” ones that are linked to a Wi-Fi system, automatically adjust to their environment and operate remotely by smartphones. A far cry from tacky, profile-based promoted tweets, “Pertinent Personalization” gives consumers useful information on the fly, such as monitoring the food and nitrate levels in their food or using Domino’s of Japan’s GPS-based delivery service. “In-the-Moment Magic” rewards actual product involvement over rote check-ins, helping build community in seamless and appropriate ways. No longer the domain of die-hard lifehackers, “Reinventing Routines” shows how an increasing number of consumers are improving their habits via apps and devices that can help them track things like their health and spending.

STATS:• 45 billion apps download as at end of 2012 generates revenue

of $15 billion

• By 2016, the figures will rise to 305 billion apps and generating revenue of $74 billion

Source: Gartner (2012)

• From 2010 to 2011, the number of mobile retail apps increased by 350%

• In 2011, the average number of apps installed on each smartphone was 32. In 2012, that number grew to 41

Source: www.trainfusion.com/mobile (2012)

BRAND ACTIONS:• What does the consumer want? Mobile apps are where consumers go to interact with their favourite brands. Brands can encourage repeat usage and get the most out of the interaction by focusing on the user-experience

• Apps can be used as a jumping-off point for getting consumers interested in other advertising channels

• Apps are expensive: continuously track their performance and consumer responses to justify the costs of resources and infrastructure

• Data generation can help brands anticipate the type of services and content welcomed by consumers and deliver the value exchange needed. Brands should see apps as customer service – an icon-click away

EXAMPLE: THE NEW NIKE+ RUNNING EXPERIENCE

With an app for iPhone, Android and Facebook friend tagging capabilities, the redesigned Nike+ Running App seeks to empower its over 7 million worldwide users to track, measure and share their runs. Making great use of smartphone technology, the app lets runners track their progress even during the run, check their stats, or change the song they’re playing. Knowing that motivation is the key to keeping up a training programme, several features encourage runners to pick new goals, summarise factors such as the weather and compare their results with other members of the community.

Consumers multi-tasking across different touch points calls for a brand engagement eco-system that serves different content, brand experience and calls to action suited for each touch point. The more touch points and channels a brand uses, the more likely consumers are to see brand updates, engage in conversation, and build rapport with the brand. Nevertheless, consumers can only cram in so much content within the snack time allocated for each touch point.

Marketers must understand that for consumers, brand experience migrates across different platforms and devices. Consumers will expect marketers to know them, remembering their interactions with the brand in the past – regardless of platform, device or environment. Therefore, when we think of weaving together content, different touch points should tie up all the loose ends, help consumers understand the complete brand story and provide them with an integrated user experience.

STATS: • 90% use multi-screens sequentially to complete a task Source: Google’s The New Multi-screen World: Understanding Cross-Platform Consumer Behaviour (2012)• 80% of smartphone owners, 81% of tablet owners and 73% of

laptop owners use their devices in front of the TV• 41% of people have used one of these devices to browse for a

product after seeing it in a show or advertSource: EDigital Research/ IMRG (UK, 2012)• 62% of people use social media while watching TV – 18

percentage points more than 2011’s finding• 40% of them are discussing what they’re currently watching on

social networksSource: Ericsson (2012)

BRAND ACTIONS:• Big data will help track how consumers move between and

engage with various online channels

• Yesterday’s siloed planning no longer cuts it. Today’s connected world requires campaigns to be conceived, developed and produced along a multi-screen strategy with content that optimises devices’ capabilities and taking context and environment into consideration

• Marketers can use smartphones or tablets as a second screen to supplement television watching as a good option for cross-platform advertising, reusing content but varying the call to action

EXAMPLE: COORS LIGHT DRINKS IN SUCCESS ON XBOX LIVE

Coors Light launched a very popular brand campaign across digital and TV platforms called “Closer to Cold” featuring action hero, Jean-Claude Van Damme and positioning Coors Light as the world’s most refreshing beer. They turned to Xbox LIVE to build on the success of that effort driving salient campaign reach and creating opportunities to sustain engagement with their video content. Additionally, they wanted to further develop social provenance and drive bonding scores among 18-34 year olds - primarily males - who fit the “Social Explorer” persona, and enjoy being at the heart of any party.

Coors Light partnered with Xbox LIVE to offer a Branded Destination Experience (BDE) where gamers could watch videos, play a game and win prizes, download themes and pics, purchase the product with their mobile device, and connect with the brand on Facebook. Ads for Coors Light BDE, which was the first alcohol BDE on Xbox LIVE, ran on the following Xbox LIVE channels in the United Kingdom: Home, Video, Game, Music and Apps Twist.

Xbox LIVE integrations produced ad recall of fifty-percent - well above the norm, given the campaign only ran during the 8pm - 6am time slot. While all features were used by at least one-quarter of gamers who visited the site, the Watch and Win video was the most popular.

Nearly half of gamers who recalled the campaign said they had a “much more positive “ or “more positive” opinion of Coors Light. The most frequently cited reasons for their positive opinion change were:

• The ads made them “more interested in Coors Light”.• “They think that Coors Light is forward-thinking.• They “feel that Coors Light is relevant to me”

Positive impressions of the brand translated into action. True to their social nature, these Social Explorers generated buzz around Coors Light, purchased it and went online to investigate.

CHANNELKNITTING 7 Offering IntegratedExperience Across Devices

REMOTECONCIERGE 8A Personal Assistant For Mobile Devices

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In our busy, connected lives, crammed full of experiences, consumers are likely to welcome play as escapism and a way to de-stress. When children play, they lose track of time, unleash their creativity, and open themselves up to new ways of doing things. Most importantly, playing is fun. Unfortunately, as our society becomes increasingly automated and stressful, most adults have forgotten how to play. Brands should consider adding play as part of the brand experience. This can help consumers see brands in a new light and become active participants in the journey of discovery.

STATS: • 53% American and British adults feel they do not do things ‘just

for fun’ anymore

• 68% of these adults also feel over the years, their day-to-day life has become structured and less creative

Source: jwt (2012)

BRAND ACTIONS: • Have fun!

• This is an opportunity for great creative work – but stay true to brand voice and identity

• Play is a break from real life for consumers. Helping them experience everyday life through a playful lens will draw them into the present moment, potentially transforming their mood, and is a straightforward way that brands can be useful for consumers

• Including their friends in play will encourage consumers to share moments and be part of their conversations, so tie back in with other media platforms

EXAMPLE: CADBURY SPOTS VERSUS STRIPES CAMPAIGN Cadbury’s “Spots versus Stripes” campaign is built around the “play” concept. Beginning around the London 2012 Olympic Games, people are encouraged to get together to play games, siding with “Spots” or “Stripes” teams, whose results are then updated in real time. Regardless of if the game played is hopscotch, football, or and online game, participants then earn points for their team and can claim prizes. Built around a website hosting over 207,000 users, the Cadbury Spots v Stripes Community Programme, in association with the charity Groundwork, brings people together and builds stronger communities, based on a spirit of participation and inclusivity. A great success, over 898,000 points have been claimed, with more than 275,000 fans for the campaign-specific Facebook page.

Social care is a way for brands to provide regular service through social media platforms. Customers are turning to social media for customer service, as part of social media’s dramatic impact on how people interact with each other and brands. The nature of social platforms means consumers expect brands’ responses to customer queries to be quick, pro-active and of high quality – all crucial in generating earned media and brand loyalty. Research from McKinsey shows that a single negative post on social media has, on average, as much influence on customer decisions as five positive posts. Given consumers’ 24/7/365, “always on”, lifestyle brands need to really get customer service right.

STATS:• Nearly 1 in 3 social media users prefer to reach out to a brand for

customer service through a social channel compared to the phone

• 71% of those who experience positive social care are likely to recommend the brand to others compared with 19% who did not receive any response

Source: NM Incite (2012)

• More than 50% of Twitter responses are within two hours, a lot shorter than most companies’ response windows

Source: Harvard Business Review

BRAND ACTIONS: • Set up a specific customer service account so that customers

know they are going to the right place to voice their issues, boost brand recognition, garner trust and improve customer satisfaction. Customers who feel like they are being heard come to trust the brand

• Speed is everything in responding to consumer’s queries. Managing consumer expectations about the time required to resolve their query is essential

• Step back to look at underlying reasons for customer issues. Identify the root of the problem. If there is a need to fix the company’s process or infrastructure, resolve this problem once and for all

• Track social care responses and tie it back to customer satisfaction, as social care has a crucial impact on earned media and loyalty

EXAMPLE: BEST BUY How do you manage the surge in Twitter content? Best Buy developed a new, innovative approach by leveraging the power and content available in the community by launching “Twelpforce”. Accompanied by a national advertising campaign, the Best Buy Community added a TwelpForce board and Twitter feed. Unlike traditional Twitter feeds, that field incoming questions or comments from specific hashtags, this allows the community team (and any other user with permission) to respond to questions directly from Twitter. Should a tweet contain useful information, a community team member can automatically create a new thread directly on the board, adding to the community’s knowledge base.

Users know that if they go to @Twelpforce, they are going to get assistance. Twelpforce tweets really helped continue the conversation with the community, beyond the original poster. Best Buy’s community is thriving. During an average quarter, around 600,000 customers visit the community, with 20,000 messages (in total over 77,000 messages and counting) and looking at over 22 million pages of content.

SOCIALCARE 9Customers Turn To Social Media For Customer Service

PLAYVANTAGE 10Experience Everyday Life Through A Playful Lens

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CONCLUSION“Always on”, today’s consumers want to be engaged with brands – but on their own terms. Using the increasingly available and specific data, brands need to deep-dive into consumers’ needs and motivations, if they are to fully understand how consumer appetites and expectations of brands are influenced by the remapping of the global economy and the connected world.

Embracing the Top 10 Trends to give consumers the confidence to navigate different pathways, we do consumers a favour by simplifying rather than overwhelming them with content.

WE CAN SERVE THESE CONSUMERS BY:1. Directing them to sources they trust2. Provide relevant content at each stage of the pathways3. Offer simple guides to help consumers weigh their options4. Have call to action messages to speed up transactions

With social influence playing a huge role in almost all aspects of consumers’ lives, they want to be confident that their choices of brands reflect what they stand for and who they are. Branded content helps consumers shape their own, curated, online presence about how brands are part of their lives, which is particularly important among the confident consumers in emerging markets.

The Emerging Top 10 Trends go a long way toward fulfilling consumer appetite for content that is “always on”, personalised, visually engaging and share-able. Live planning will change how we engage with consumers in 2013 and beyond. By anticipating their needs, based on data captured, we can offer relevant, engaging streamlined content across the different devices and pathways that are characteristic of today’s consumer. These need to be consistent and accessible across multiple platforms and geographies. Matching consistent brand identities with easy-to-use checkouts and efficient deliveries, mobile technology can be a great way to encourage spontaneous shopping, as shown by Amazon’s success.

Strong brand relationships start with serving consumers at their own terms and engaging our consumers in a time where visual search and video sharing is booming means marketers have to not only produce work that is visually compelling, but they also have think outside the box, embracing a “lifestyle” approach to building brands. Kate Spade’s Pinterest competition is a great example of a brand that not only understands how a new social network works, but who really got into the spirit of it by encouraging real creativity, rewarding excellence and staying true to its brand identity. In 2013, brands will have to think like the content curators they’re targeting. Setting the right mood and really honing in on and rewarding real advocates with what matters to them, and consistently acting as a “remote concierge” might be a good option for some brands. Apps are increasingly popular and a great interface for brands, but are also expensive to keep up; make sure that the figures add up.

Part of the excitement of social media is that it allows us to share the good, the bad and the ugly with friends and followers. We trust our friends to give us recommendations, and we also take heed when we see a negative review of a product or service online. Great customer service is key for the “always on” consumers, who increasingly use social media to address service complaints. Rapid and accurate responses to queries need to become par for the course for brands. However, this is also an opportunity for brands to build their online communities, both by proving that they care, and by offering a platform for users to meet and share experiences.

Finally, brands need to remember that relevance and fun should stay a part of the picture. Fans enjoy apps that help them in their daily lives, but they also enjoy having a good time – an increasingly important consideration given the stresses and information overload of today. Despite the major technological changes, consumer’s needs and motivations do not change that much. To build long lasting relationships with the “always on” consumers, we have to create emotional connections and show them we care what they care about.

If you have any questions or require further information about this report, please contact:Linda TanConsumer Insights Director 24 Percy Street, London, W1T 2BS+44 (0) 207 961 3301linda.tan@zenithoptimedia.com