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ICONOCULTURE UNVEILS BIG IDEAS 2010
Iconoculture Identifies Overarching Trends That Will Shape Consumer Behavior in the Coming Year MINNEAPOLIS, MN — December 10, 2009 — Iconoculture, the leading consumer research and advisory company, today unveiled the top nine Big Ideas that will inform consumer behavior in 2010. In a marketplace defined by embattled yet empowered consumers, the values and trends identified by Iconoculture explain how consumers are likely to respond and react in 2010. Iconoculture provides companies with the most comprehensive consumer insights, indicating why consumers behave in a certain way and what impact those behaviors will have on businesses. Iconoculture’s Big Ideas 2010 trend series covers multiple categories and demographics and offers immediate and far-reaching implications for brands, businesses and agencies. Through a combination of research and expert analysis, Iconoculture helps organizations understand what trends are on the horizon, where these trends are heading and how to use the insights to stay ahead of consumer demands and expectations. The “Big Ideas 2010” trends identified by Iconoculture as critical influences on consumer behavior include:
- Big Idea 1: The Face of Recovery — Consumers are taking note of who won, who lost and what the “new normal” looks like. Some have become forever-savers, some will return to big-spending ways when better times are back again.
- Big Idea 2: Social Media Scale-Back — Consumers’ growing awareness of the transparent nature of their online lives has them keeping a much closer eye on their digital footprint. That doesn't mean they're willing to live as cyber shut-ins. But it does mean that savvy consumers are now in the process of deciding what degree of personal disclosure and social-net activity they can deal with.
- Big Idea 3: Indulgence Offsetting — Sin is in, as long as it’s balanced by something positive. The Great Recession has rendered over-the-top expressions of luxury gauche. Yet consumers are still rewarding themselves, employing strategies ranging from permissible and rationalized indulgence to simplified and responsible acts of pampering.
- Big Idea 4: Not Gonna Take It — Sigg. BPA. E. coli. Tea parties. TARP rage. To put it simply, people have some edge to their attitudes. But in 2010, that won’t mean futile stewing. Citizen-consumers are feeling empowered to tap the crowd for power and change.
- Big Idea 5: Recontouring Commerce — Consumers (a.k.a. the new R&D team) are working with retailers and peers to shape their shopping experiences, upending the traditional business/shopper dynamic. Giving direct (solicited) feedback to companies is accompanied by an even more subversive twist: relying on swaps to work outside the system altogether.
- Big Idea 6: Multiracial Rising — Entering the second decade of the 21st century, we can firmly assert that we're living in a multiracial America. The growing demographic is enhancing, complicating and changing U.S. culture. People of multiracial descent are making their issues known, while policymakers and marketers are attempting to understand them. We can help.
- Big Idea 7: So Healthy Together — Unemployment and volatile change in healthcare has the topic of health at the top of people’s minds. A cultural shift is happening as consumers are increasingly forced to accept personal and community responsibility for their own wellbeing. An alternative/prevention mode will trump doc-outsourcing in 2010.
- Big Idea 8: Water We Wasting This For — Water-sustainability savvy is mainstreaming, thanks to successful media campaigns and droughts at the local level. From the chemical dangers of drinking water to the inefficiency of water use in product manufacturing, “blue gold” is one hot topic for consumers.
- Big Idea 9: Simplicity Speaks Volumes — The penchant for the simple life is trickling down to product packaging, yet consumers have ever greater expectations for complete information (about ingredients, manufacturing, provenance, safety, and more). In 2010, watch for the rising importance of clutter-clearing on labels without violating a consumer’s right to know.
To speak with Iconoculture’s Consumer Strategists about any of the 2010 Big Ideas, contact Laurie Healy at lhealy@iconoculture.com or 612-642-2207. About Iconoculture
Iconoculture, the leading global consumer research and advisory company, delivers the most comprehensive consumer insights — quickly and more cost effectively — to Fortune 1000 corporations and agencies. Iconoculture integrates consumer information from multiple data sources and combines it with expert interpretation and analysis by the industry’s largest Advisory Services team to produce targeted insights. We illuminate not only what's important to consumers worldwide, but also why it's happening and where it's heading. For more information, contact Iconoculture at 1-866-377-0087 or visit us online: www.iconoculture.com.
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