By Marc Dresner, IIR USA

Mikel Cirkus, Global Director of the Conceptual Design Group at Firmenich, says the fragrance and flavor manufacturer has perfected an approach to identifying and tracking trends from germination on the bleeding edge to mainstream fruition.

Mikel Cirkus

The technique involves a series of steps, often beginning with immersion in surprisingly unsavory quarters where the next ‘It’ colors, scents and flavors originate.

Cirkus has successfully deployed the method for both internal advantage and to help Firmenich’s clients stay ahead of the curve in everything from fragrance to food.

In this brief Q&A with the Shopper Insighter expert interview series, Cirkus gives us a whiff of this unique approach…

Q: Tell us about the process you’ve developed at Firmenich to identify emerging trends and translate them into actionable projects.

MC: Identifying new market categories can be more or less forecasted, not predicted, by utilizing new research channels—like ‘the street’ itself—that take advantage of and engage the ever-evolving consumer. Ultimately, you can have a product that is completely consumer-created—often before they even know they’ll need it or, better yet, want it.

Q: How can manufacturers of fast-moving CPGs capture the pulse of emerging trends to fuel their product development pipeline?

MC: It’s about meeting the needs of their current consumer, but also about the consumer of the future and the new segments that will emerge, just as some segments will ultimately disappear. It’s difficult to use focus groups to test against the future. Trend identification enables a more targeted methodology to bring to fruition the drivers of liking for future products or services.

Q: What can be done by organizations to enhance the flow of trend insights to their internal teams or stakeholders?

MC: Innovation can’t be done in a silo. It has to be a collaboration. Teams need to work together cross-functionally, cross-divisionally. A fully integrated approach to new product development begins by demystifying the language and methodology of trends and incorporating consumer insights. It’s a process of connecting the dots to form a new picture. One that everybody sees and believes in.

Q: How does your approach differ from conventional “cool hunting”?

MC: Spotting trends, as I mentioned earlier, isn’t about finding that one next big thing; it’s about observing change. What’s new, what’s the same, what hasn’t changed over time, what has evolved, what has disappeared completely? These are the repeated observations that separate a trend from a so-called fad. It’s deeper, more cultural. It’s a communication coming from the edge and watching it migrate to the mass in consumer recognition and appeal. It doesn’t just come and go. It evolves over time. The process is more like mining than hunting. It’s more akin to being cultural anthropologists than a marketing futurist.

Q: How can identifying trends help organizations formulate strategies that anticipate the needs of their evolving consumer?

MC: Everybody wants the answer to the same question: “What’s next?” It doesn’t matter what industry you work in, the rate of change and exponential growth in information and technology /science has turned “innovation” into a job title. Market Intelligence, Consumer Insights, R&D, Business Strategy—it doesn’t matter—all realize they must cultivate a consumer-centric organizational culture that incorporates the voice of their customer across the entire product development pipeline. To quote the now cliché from “Field of Dreams” – ‘if you build it, they will come’. There is a real flow of information out there that can be tapped into. ‘What’s next?’ Is not a mystery to be solved. You don’t need a crystal ball. It’s a process of observation. An awareness.

Editor’s note: Mikel Cirkus will share Firmenich’s trend spotting approach in detail at the 12th Annual Shopper Insights in Action conference in Chicago, July 18-20, 2012.

For more information or to register, please visit www.ShopperInsightsEvent.com. Mention VIP code to save an additional 15% off the standard rates: SHOPPER12BLOG.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/INTERVIEWER

Marc Dresner is IIR USA’s senior editor and special communication project lead. He is the former executive editor of Research Business Report, a confidential newsletter for the market research industry. He may be reached at mdresner@iirusa.com. Follow him @mdrezz.

These stats dovetail quite nicely with Forbes’ look at retailers and their love affair with tablets.

While browsing Pinterest on evening, I came across a 2012 Q1 Shopping Insights Mobile Study produced by RichRelevance that compares mobile shoppers to iPad shoppers and an accompanying infographic, which I wanted to share with you.

You can access the study here.

At Shopper Insights in Action 2012 you will hear real-world stories from those you admire most on how they’re using customer research to revolutionize their retail brand, attract new shoppers, drive loyalty, differentiation and relevancy today.

Martha Walsh

Keynote Spotlight: Walmart’s Path-to-Purchase Through the Lens of Trip Type
Martha Walsh, Director, Global Customer Insights, WALMART

The language of trip types is nearly ubiquitous; whether a shopping cart contains 3 items or 30 or the weekly grocery trip is referred to as a ‘Stock Up’ or ‘Variety’. Trip types provide manufacturers and retailers common ground on which to build strategies to drive loyalty and sales.

Learn how Walmart drives higher shopper engagement by applying key learnings around specific trip types and the key touch points that enhance or detract from the shopping experience.

Gain insight into the full Walmart retail perspective from these other storytellers:

• Sharonda Britton, Director of Marketing, African American and Asian, WALMART
• Deanna Canedo, Director of Marketing, Hispanic, WALMART
• LaNoir Washington, Senior Manager, Global Consumer Insights, WALMART

23% of 2011 client-side attendees were retailers, four times more than the industry standard and the 2012 event is already set to be the shopper event that will make history.

Retailers confirmed already include:

TARGET
BEST BUY
CHARMING SHOPPES – LANE BRYANT, FASHION BUG
AND CATHERINES PLUS
STAPLES
CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT
7-ELEVEN
FEDEX
FUTURE GROUP INDIA
SAM’S CLUB
ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
Aramark
Canadian Tire
Harley Davidson Motor Company
PETCO Animal Supplies Inc
Sunset Foods Inc
Dayspring Cards
Family Dollar
Lowe’s Food Stores, Inc
Goodyear
Clearwater Seafoods
Total Hockey

Download the 2012 Agenda to see full details on all of this year’s sessions. Build the future of retail through collaboration.

Sign up today to reserve your spot.

Register by May 25th and Save up to $200. Mention VIP code to save an additional 15% off the standard and onsite rate: SHOPPER12BLOG.

www.ShopperInsightsEvent.com
Email: register@iirusa.com
Phone: 888.670.8200

While the coupon format may have morphed from pieces of paper shoppers cut out of the weekly circular to digital scans they store in their trusty smartphones, their popularity continues. Chew on these stats: 20% of smartphone users redeem mobile coupons and that number is expected to increase to 30% in 2013.

Kate who blogs here, has given us permission to repost the storytelling piece below in its entirety:

The whole story

In HBR last month [Feb.2012], Roger L. Martin writes of the “new capabilities” he knows businesses need. The piece is called “Don’t get blinded by numbers.”

Capabilities is a great word. It that implies not simply system or framework but people, talent, time, attention.

Like Kieran Levis, a man I count as a friend and whose work I admire, I use the word “capability” often. Capabilities aren’t inert. The term is meaningless without people doing something. In other words, capability connects up system (which can be inorganic) or framework (which can be abstract) with people’s behaviours.

Martin says:

“The successful strategists of the future will have a holistic, empathetic understanding of customers and be able to convert somewhat murky insights into a creative business model that they can prototype and revise in real time. To do all that, they’ll have to be good communicators, comfortable with ambiguity and ready to abandon the quest for certain, single-point answers.”

When we at KILN do Future-Tense Storytelling, we’re  using empathy to convert a dry concept into a story that comes from a possible future and shows us in the here-and-now why a concept might be worth developing.

Future-Tense Storytelling is a tool to win buy-in that invites decision-makers to think beyond the formal business plan or the existing archive of data. It drives conversations inside companies about what products and services to invent…and why. Developed fully, the story is bigger than the formal tools applied to organise action. Story isn’t just one component. Revenue projections, operational plans are like pages – the story is the book.

Winning buy-in with Future-Tense Stories means having a conversation that gets to affirmations like:

1) Great, let’s take this concept further….now what’s the best next-step? (Team, have answers at the ready to keep momentum. Using tools like paper-prototyping, role-play, and quick-and-dirty surveys not just of consumers but of all the stakeholders easier to reach will help you grow the concept without huge up-front expenditure.

2) Ok, I’m seeing some value for some people. But I don’t feel there are enough of ‘em. Can you tell me more about the size and distribution of people like this now….and in the future? (Team, mine the research you have before tapping into discretionary budget to learn more.)

3) Hmm. I’d like us to be the company meeting the need you flag. But is this really the best concept to fulfil it? (Team, think more around “In what ways might we [verb] for [user group]?”)

In all this, it’s worth remembering that innovating inside companies is as much about growing conversations — because they create the trust and passion for a concept — as it is about passing through formal mechanisms. Grow the trust and passion, and often the investment will follow.

Of course, fails will happen. Just because a concept fails to make it through the final gate, doesn’t mean the conversations weren’t worthwhile. Fails don’t need to be total – in every fail there’s something to take forward into the future, a learning, a new relationship, an insight to drive more ingenuity.

Learning continuously is  perhaps the most important (if toughest) dimension of the ambiguity Martin asks us each to embrace.

Republished by permission of the author, orinally published here.

About the Author:

You can follow Kate Hammer via Twitter here. To learn more about Kiln and firing up corporate innovation with trend intelligence, visit www.kilnco.com.

 24-26, October 2012

 Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Institute for International Research (IIR) is currently seeking corporate practitioner presenters for: 

 The International Shopper Insights in Action Event

Due to the high volume of submissions, we suggest you submit your proposal early and no later than 30 April 2012 to Rachel McDonald, Event Director at rmcdonald@iirusa.com. (Only proposals from FMCG, retail and corporate practitioners will be considered, for all other submissions please see sponsorship section below). 

Papers are being accepted on a rolling basis,
we suggest you submit your proposal as early as possible.
If this is something you’re interested in considering, please let me know
as sessions fill up quickly.

The International Shopper Insights in Action Event unites the world’s most influential FMCG and mass retailers to share best practices, industry innovation and showcase the commercial value of activating research at retail. Multi-national leading researchers, category managers, shopper marketers, digital marketers and industry experts attend to explore consumers and shoppers, how they shop, why they buy and how the digital world is changing everything.

In 2011, The International Shopper Insights in Action Event welcomed 300 attendees representing over 30 countries to explore changing shopper behavior and the future of retail. Speakers represented the most prolific minds in retail and FMCG including Tesco, Carrefour, Nestle, Lego, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and much more.

Staying true to its brand, the conference is 100% focused on practical lessons that illustrate activation at retail. Always focused on the “IN ACTION,” every presentation must showcase both the research and what was done with the research, moving beyond theoretical to real-world lessons.

CONTENT AREAS FOR 2012:

• Activating the Shopper Along the Journey to Purchase
• Innovation in Private Brand
• Category Reinvention & Retail Leadership
• Shopper Segmentation Research
• New In-Store Activation Strategies
• Leveraging Digital Insights
• Mobile Shopping Innovation
• New Collaboration Methods Between Brands & Retailers
• Measurement, ROI and Data Evaluation
• Macro Trends & Innovation Impacting Today’s Shopper & Consumer
• Economic Outlook Update
• Insights Across the Total Store
• Retail Reinvention
• Growth in Emerging Markets
• Collaboration Between Insights & Marketing
• Channel & Shopper Migration
• Modern Trade vs. Traditional Trade
• The Power of Neuroscience
• Social Media to Gather Insights & Drive Brand Loyalty
• Translating Shopper Behavior into Retail Growth
• Insights in the Store Case Studies
• Technology as a Research Tool & Shopping Tool Case Studies
• Understanding Shopper & Consumer Motivations per Channel
• Leading-Edge Technologies & Trends
• Understanding How Your Brand Lives in the Consumer’s Life
• Insights that Align all Your Marketing Activities
• Integrating Traditional Research Around Categories/Brands AND Shopper Insights
• Reaching Shopper and Consumers at Every Touch Point

We are also happy to consider topics not listed here that you feel would add value and be appropriate.  

Speakers receive FREE admission to the conference as well as any pre-conference symposium.

Sponsorship & Exhibiting Opportunities

What if I am not a corporate practitioner (from a client-side company) but still would like to participate?

More than 70% of our content will be delivered by corporate practitioners from retail and manufacturing. If you are a consultant or solutions provider and wish to be a part of the program, please contact Jon Saxe, Senior Business Development Manager at jsaxe@iirusa.com or 646-895-7467. We will customize opportunities to fit your needs from speaking, branding, networking and/or exhibiting.   

How to Submit

 For proper consideration, please include the following information with your proposal:

• Proposed speaker name, job title, and company name
• Complete speaker contact information – address, telephone and e-mail
• Short biography of speaker (50-75 words max)
• JPG headshot photo, minimum 300 dpi
• Title of presentation (one line, benefit oriented)
• Short summary of content to be delivered (no more than 75 words), followed by three bullet points of what audience members can expect to “take away” from the presentation

Due to the high volume of proposals we receive, not every submission is selected. We rely heavily on four components:

1. Proposal is from retail and brand corporate executives in leadership roles
2. Content matches interest of audience identified through research.
3. Compelling topic that showcases something new and exciting. It must show how insights were leveraged to drive action/sales/loyalty.
4. Speaker is able to provide details in the format of a case study or interactive session. This event is about sharing with members of your industry, so the speaker must be willing to showcase the “how-to” details.

Those selected will be notified no later than 9 May 2012.

Thank you for your interest in Shopper Insights in Action.

Stay tuned for more details on the event website at www.shopperinsightsintl.com

I don’t want Blyth Danner telling me about osteoporosis. But I’d be more than happy to see her represent makeup, handbags, shampoo, yogurt or many of the hundreds of products I do buy.

And therein lies the problem with boomer marketing. For the most part, advertisers haven’t yet caught up with the notion that their BIGGEST CONSUMER GROUP is aging.
Based on the current U.S. television ratings system, once you reach 55 you drop out of the measurement system. In T.V. terms, once you reach 55, you’re all but valueless. The problem with that, of course, is that the 55-to-64 demographic is the fastest growing in the county. Meanwhile, the 18-to-49 group is shrinking.

We need to stop seeing boomer age shoppers as the “ancillary bonus” we reach with younger-focused marketing. It’s time to start speaking to boomers directly.

So how do we encourage today’s marketing teams to incorporate boomer-centric messaging into their advertising campaigns? We educate them and help them do good work.

1. Convince Them Of the Value
Boomers have money and they spend it. According to a 2010 study conducted by NBC Universal, the 55-to-64 age group spends more than $1.8 trillion annually.

Boomers control 75-80% of the nation’s household wealth. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that people aged 45-to-54 and 55-to-64 had the highest median weekly earnings of any age segment in the United States: $844 and $860, respectively.
Millennials ages 20-24 had weekly earnings of only $454 and people age 25-to-34 earned $682.

The NBC study showed that boomers spend more than the average consumer on things like large appliances, home improvement, dining out, and cosmetics. And when it comes to electronics, boomers are keeping pace. According to the NBC study, boomers were just as likely as those ages 18 to 34 to have high-definition televisions, digital video recorders and broadband service.

2. Foster Good Work
The next step is basic marketing – you learn and you test. Do I believe today’s Millennial and Gen X marketing teams can do a stellar job marketing to boomers? Absolutely I do. Just as I believe a group of guys can develop a solid campaign for Kotex. It takes respect and sincerity of mission. Anyone with an honest intention to do quality work will spend the time to learn their audience.

As marketing leaders, we need to push our teams to get familiar with the boomer audience. They need to create campaigns they believe will perform well and then we need to test those campaigns – just as we do with any marketing effort.

In the end, marketing to boomers is not complicated. Forget all that vague advice about ‘speaking their language’ and ‘avoiding condescension.’ The main thing we have to do is simply make sure boomers are on the agenda.

Once you start engaging with them, they’ll respond. After all, money talks and boomers have it to spend. But just remember, just because someone is over 50 doesn’t mean they’re falling apart.

Boomers: which marketers are speaking to you?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christine is group president at Ryan Partnership Chicago, a leading expert in promotion, shopper, and digital marketing campaigns for emerging and established consumer brands. She also blogs at blog.ryanpartnershipchicago.com.

- Hanes’ category norms and stability
- Lessons on partering on a mass level with retailers
- Best practices for vreating a culture of research debate and innovation
- And more! Watch this episode on the Shopper Channel and subscribe here!

Editor’s note: The Shopper Channel is produced by the 12th Annual Shopper Insights in Action conference, taking place July 18-20, 2012, in Chicago, Il.

Official Hashtag: #Shopper360

For more information, to view the 2012 agenda or to register now, visit www.ShopperInsightsEvent.com. Mention code to save an additional 15% off the standard rates: SHOPPER12BLOG

ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER
Marc Dresner is IIR USA’s sr. editor and special communication projects lead. He is the former executive editor of Research Business Report, a confidential newsletter for the market and consumer research industry. He may be reached at mdresner@iirusa.com. Follow him @mdrezz.