You are on page 1of 27

Multiplicity &

the implications for segmentation


2

Web 2.0: transformation from one thing to another

DUALITY MULTIPLICITY
A fascinating escape from normal Now digital is part of life, we
life. ‘Otherness’ and wonder don’t even notice we’re doing it

Post Digital Age: being many things, all at the same time
3

Social Media responsible for this surge in multiple identities:


young people are consciously constructing different ‘faces’

People have always had different parts to their whole. Social


networking has turbo-charged this identity fragmentation
4

A new approach to life: rejection of one career, one skillset,


one area of expertise

•  Portfolio careers

•  Creative generalists

A new youth mindset: life offers a constant churn of possibilities


5

What does this mean for brands? What does this mean for
consumer segmentation?

Many models assume attitude Adopting new behaviours is


& values shape behaviour now changing attitudes &values

Difficult to use ‘precedent’ to predict future behaviour because


too much changes too quickly
6

From fragmentation to finding the universal…

•  A quest to separate out the •  In a world of extreme


homogenous mass fragmentation

•  To add subtlety and craft to •  A quest to look for things


mass marketing which draw us all together
‘Segmentation Model’ to ‘Commonality Model’
7

John Lewis Ad: online sales increased by 39.7%

A shared common biological journey: from the cradle to


the grave
8

So what?

•  Analyse the cultural landscape for shared


universal desires – extreme unification

•  Young people feel they belong to a multitude


of different segments... And demand that
brands recognise this

•  In a world of personalisation tools such as


PVRs and recommendation engines, young
people choose to self-segment: to select
relevant information and tune-out the rest

•  The rise of location based social networking:


we have lots of different contexts in our daily
lives (based on geography, mood, the people
that surround us, our work/social context
etc).

•  Can our mobile device predict our segment


based on our context?
The Homemade
Economy
10

In a post recession age, young people have lost trust in


traditional institutions

The rise of the Homemade Economy


11

Alternative, informal forms of “transaction” are seen to be more


positive, and sustainable

Rental : move from Homemade currencies:


ownership to access new online and offline
equivalents

Focus on benefit and experience rather than product and


ownership
12

Exchange
Mushrooming communities
providing infrastructure for
exchange networks and recycling

The Spotify model, FON Community –


music in exchange for People can become a ‘hotspot’
ads rather than -  use of the other 1.5 million
ownership… and now hotspots within community for
they’ve gone social! free
-  opportunity to make own
revenue
13

Check ins
Location based social networking where life is like a
video game: checkins can translate into real life credit
and freebies

Starbucks has launched a


Foursquare initiative where
visitors who check in at retail
locations using Foursquare will
earn customer rewards. The
mayor drinks for free!
14

So what?

•  What is the added value of


buying a new product?

•  An opportunity to expand into a


more diverse range of value
streams – experience, avatar
currencies…

•  Think about Foursquare and what


it could bring to the brand
Value vs.
Values
16

Social media gives young people a voice and allows them to ‘get
involved’

But are they actually changing the world?


17

The rise of ‘armchair’ ethical and political action

“If I want everyone to go to my website and buy my new book, it’s incredibly
useful to have 100,000 followers on Facebook. If I want to start a political
movement to overthrow a tyrannical regime, it may be less useful”
Malcolm Gladwell , Vancouver Mail April 2010

Signing a petition online ‘ticks a box’, and alleviates


guilt…
18

But does it change behaviours? Social media activity may detract


from real action…

More than half of 18- to 24-year-olds are not registered to


vote, according to the Electoral Commission

Young people like the ‘feeling’ of activism without actually


following through
19

Autism Talkathon

For each person that Talks about


Autism on Facebook, Twitter or email,
the autism charity Treehouse received
£1 from TalkTalk

Allows consumers to translate online action to real donations


while simultaneously exhibiting TalkTalk’s ethical credentials
20

So what?

•  Find ways to make young


people ‘feel’ like they are making
ethical choices
•  Online ways of making a
difference (click to feel better,
petitions etc)
•  Simplifying everything (less is
more)
•  Help young people navigate the
chaos, be a signpost
Crowd Sourcing
22

Young people are creating more content than ever before: only
30% of content consumed is professional

"The collective wisdom of the British


people is much greater than that of
a bunch of politicians or so-called
experts”
Jeremy Hunt, shadow culture
secretary Dec 2009h

More than 82 million people in


the US created content online
during 2008, a number
expected to grow to nearly
115 million by 2013
Emarketer.com

The Crowd is a powerful animal… and brands, media and even


political parties are racing to harness its power
23

Brands are starting to harness the power of the crowd and


outsource creativity to the empowered, prolific youth

X
"We believe Peperami is a brand that deserves radical creative solutions and are
confident taking our brief out to thousands rather than a small team of creatives will
provide us with the best possible idea and take our advertising to the next level
Peperami marketing manager, Noam Buchalter

HOWEVER

Won by two recently redundant creatives, working as freelancers…

Can the Crowd really produce moments of genius from amateurs,


or is it simply a means to access a broader pool of experts?
24

When Crowd Sourcing goes bad…

Vegemite – iSnack 2.0 was a


difficult attempt to reinvent a
national favourite
25

Crowd sourcing has a lot of buzz, but can it deliver true


innovation?

Secrecy
Silence
Mystery
A closed
community of
developers

Apple has an unwavering belief in their thought leadership


26

A middle way that captures the artistry within the brand and
encourages the creativity of the community?

The Many
The Few
The Amateur
The Expert

Conversation
Monologue

“Monologues provoke, inspire, move, motivate and set agendas.


They are the essential beginnings for something else”
27

You might also like