Rewards for success

By the time you read this, the cacophony and the celebrations of welcoming a new year would have died and the inbox would have been decluttered of all new year messages. A change of year is a strange point in our lives. Calendar years, for some strange reason, mark periods which we would like to perceive as blocks of homogeneous actions or thinking. We, are, therefore, compelled as detainees of tradition to work on ourselves in these 365-day blocks, and make pledges which go by that worldly expression of ‘new year resolutions’.

Trend-watchers and marketers are no less. We also love this rather pompous exercise of predicting how people are going to behave in the coming year. Now, for a cool-hunter who has been on this journey of mapping the behaviour, disposition and attitudes of the ‘cool folk’ (people in the age-bracket of 14-34 years), change of year is too tempting an opportunity to miss. We feel our dawdle to stay confined to the study of behaviour and approach of this robust group as consumers or prospects ‘targeted as audiences’ by brands is far lower on risk than what most soothsayers are predicting elsewhere.

The consumer as emperor

If customer was king so far, 2013 will perhaps be a watershed year where the king will mount the throne of an emperor. And the emperor is going to make all brands slavishly submissive, or would want them to behave that way. Now as the cool folk have attitude (and loads of it) they would want their kind of brands to have one too, and will not take to those brands that are subservient.

And that’s the the paradox - and one of the biggest challenges for marketers. Their task, an arduous one at that, will be to keep their brand’s dignity and egotism intact while still in the emperor’s service. They would want their brands to offer them discretion, elasticity of choices and options to make the most of their experience. And this rather delirious demand of the prospects will have to be met not just in the real world, but online too.

Already, one is seeing signs of this, with portals such as jabong.com offering free trials for 30 days. There are other online players such as yebhi.com who offer a range of products on delivery for one to try and select at no extra cost. It doesn’t take much to predict the increase of e-businesses, and if these set-ups can get their math right, 2013 would only be a manifestation of this trend.

All through the last year, in the Cool Hunt column, we have been talking about how cool folk operate on either side of the spectrum. So while they want brands to become slavishly submissive on one end, they depict staunch brand loyalty at the opposite end. One has to just look at the queues at Starbucks in Mumbai’s Fort area, where people are clambering over each other to enter the café. And please don’t tell me it is about the coffee, for we Indians know a thing or two about coffee. Apple keeps demonstrating a similar following at each of its launches.

The ‘je ne sais quoi’ factor

So what is the trend we see here? Is it that brands either have to be slavishly submissive or make bondmen of consumers? There is certainly a big gap between these two extremes and many brands operate there healthily. Our constant probing of the segment indicates that the tendency of most consumers in 2013 will be to make brands submissive but will allow concessions provided the brands cater to consumers’ active needs. Intangible benefits will reign supreme in the hierarchy of factors for buying and the brand attitude will play a major role in building the brand’s overall salience. For a lot of us wanting to find the reasons for Samsung’s rise at the cost of Nokia’s decline, the reasons are hidden in here as well.

Need fulfilment

Social scientists and management champs have revised the original hierarchy of needs proposed by Maslow and have included quite a few needs that manifest in the modern world. Of those, the cognitive (need to acquire knowledge, meaning, self-awareness) and aesthetic (beauty and balance) needs are likely to become more conspicuous. They sit above esteem needs, and the liberalised, urbanised, prosperous Indian middle class wants to break the shackles of conservatism. Therefore, brands that allow for expression of cognitive and aesthetic needs will be lapped up more than those thatfollow the conventional path. Entertainment, arts, sports, beauty products, spas, books, and gadgets will be the biggest beneficiaries.

Of success and rewards

Another trend that we will see peaking in 2013 is that of celebrating success unapologetically. Economic successes will increasingly find expression in fancy cars, watches, accessories, eating out, alcoholic beverages and trendy homes. The cool folk will slog hard and earn well, and then splurge on rewarding themselves like never before. These categories select themselves automatically but even those that position themselves as ‘rewards’ will find takers by the thousands.

Green will win

And finally, this group will allow environmental consciousness to surface in purchases. Brands viewed as friendlier to the environmental cause will find more takers from among the 14-34 year olds. Maybe it is time to reposition a Tata Nano or a BSNL phone connection on these lines.

Giraj Sharma is an independent brand consultant and a compulsive cool hunter.

Cool Hunt was carried out right through 2012 in five metros and mini-metros. The trends were picked during these fortnightly probes.

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