A couple of months ago, I posted a blog titled “Economy to Remain Sluggish” which cited a number of economic predictions.¹ Based on current economic indicators, it would seem that previous predictions of the economy remaining sluggish have proven to be quite apropos. Real estate continues to have a difficult time with more residential foreclosures expected. Meanwhile banks are extending due dates for payments on record levels of at-risk commercial real estate loans to keep them classified as “performing” in an attempt to preserve capital. A high unemployment rate remains largely unchanged–especially considering that any recent offsets were, in the main, coming from temporary jobs in the public sector such as those associated with the census. In other words, we’ve seen very little offsetting growth in the private sector.

Not surprisingly, consumers have continued to be cautious with their hard-earned money. Recent data from the Commerce Department suggests that the rate of personal savings is on the rise, now at 4%.  Historically speaking, the rate was 12% in the early 1980’s and had fallen to 1% in recent years while the 50-year average is 6.9%.  A recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers indicated that 13% of households are saving at least 7% of their income and, in the next five to ten years, 36% of all households can be expected to do the same.²

According to a recent study of nearly 3,000 US adults conducted by Pew Research Center and consistent with findings from economy studies Trone has conducted over the last 20 months, 71% of Americans have resorted to buying less expensive brands. Interestingly, 57% have cancelled or postponed a vacation and 49% indicated they’d loaned money to someone in need.³ Data from the Trone studies also indicated that much of the reported brand switching behavior will be permanent. On average, 59% of mothers across seven product categories indicated they’d be likely to stay with their newer, less expensive brands.

Peter Boockvar of the firm Miller Tabak summarized as follows:

“People are now going to save more. Spending decisions will be based more on stable money in the bank, not your 401(K).”

Given the cautious attitudes and behaviors of consumers – especially their willingness to switch to less expensive brands and stay with them – brands need to be on top of their game. Present circumstances represent an increase in opportunity for relatively lower-tiered, lower-priced brands. A well-developed strategy to gain market share is imperative. On the other hand, incumbent brands had best develop a strategy for maintaining market share and minimizing customer attrition. Now, more than ever, brands need to be strategically planning for their future. Now is the time for brands to be investing in their future.

Notes

1 https://intranet.trone.com/EmployeeV3/TroneWebsite/index.php/our-culture/blog/page/2/

2 http://www.minyanville.com/investing/articles/savings-pricewaterhousecoopers-us-savings-rate-saving/7/7/2010/id/29060

3 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703374104575337120086218434.html

So little of advertising is still advertising. But fortunately ideas are still ideas. I’ve collected a few examples here that show off some creative ways that ambient and social media have been used. These are brands that have gone beyond the standard Facebook product page or the CEO Twitter account to bring some creativity back to marketing.

Coffee Company PowerPoint Slide

This coffee company in the Netherlands offered a free cup of coffee to students who slipped a Coffee Company slide into their PowerPoint presentations. Pretty cool to have a word from your sponsor in the middle of your slideshow.

Terminator Salvation Twitter game

This nicely executed movie promotion enticed Twitter users to watch for tweets from @resistance2018 which contained fill-in-the-blank puzzles, word jumbles, and trivia. Players could rack up points by “decoding these transmissions” in a reply tweet.

Papa John’s Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is one of the most notable new media tricks around. It’s a way of getting a users webcam to trigger a 3-D animation on screen. It really gives you the illusion of a hologram. (Is that redundant?) Papa John’s, GE, and Mini are some of the brands who are already making use of it.

Green Works Reverse Graffiti

This eco-friendly mural was created for the launch of Green Works, a 99% plant-based cleaner. San Francisco’s Broadway Tunnel was the filthy backdrop for the artwork of indigenous plant life, which was cleaned with the product. Pretty amazing product demo.

Milky Way Movie Theater Line Barrier

Although it’s questionable whether or not this was produced, it’s still a really fun idea—a great example of why it pays to think about where your target spends time.

Flea Spray Mall Floor Graphic

This giant floor decal lets the foot traffic on the ground floor of an Indonesian mall become the fleas on the dog. I do wish they had rotated the dog image 180 degrees so he wouldn’t look like a pork chop. And the line could be better. But still-great idea.

Iams Frisbee

While we’re on the topic of dogs, take a look at this cool giveaway from Iams dog food. To promote the healthy and strong dogs message, they created these plastic frisbees to look like 10kg weights to be distributed at dog parks.

STA Travel Facebook Page

Few brands with Facebook pages support their fanbase the way this student-focused travel agency does. They give their page a human voice with lots of interaction, contests, giveaways, etc. Plus, they constantly create incentives for users to become fans, which, when they do, ripples through the networks of Facebook friends.

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There’s still so much discussion around marketing through social media and making the most of limited media budgets. We will have to not only master these media options, but continually find new touchpoints as well.

Let’s remember to send a postcard to our old friends Print and Television—let them know we’ll still visit from time to time.

In the days of computers going to TVs (think TiVo, DVRs) and TVs going to computers (think Hulu, Fancast), we’re seeing another phenomenon on the rise: people using their computers while watching TV.

A recent study and article posted on Ad Age not only confirmed what I’ve found myself doing more and more over the past few years but revealed that a whopping two thirds of Americans use a computer at the same time they watch TV. Not only that, but about one third of consumers reported using a computer—correspondingly, being online—50% or more of the time they watch TV.

Similar to what we discovered in the online segmentation research Trone recently conducted, these online behaviors and usage are not drawn by age. It’s not only your younger generations who are Facebook-chatting each other as So You Think You Can Dance plays in the background. Even older demographics are on their computers 36% of the time their TVs are on.

There are other various interesting bits around this recent study. For example, women are more prone to multitask with the computer and TV than men. In the table below, you can also see a breakdown of top actions performed online while watching TV. Notably, only 13% of consumers report visiting online content that’s related to what they are watching on TV.

This presents brand marketers some new opportunities and challenges when it comes to reaching and engaging consumers. The computer-and-TV multitasking behavior is just one of the many rising examples of consumers living between online and offline worlds on a day-to-day basis. As media technology advances and integrates at accelerated rates, we must not only aim to incorporate cross-platform campaigns, but unmass our messages through the growing streams of media vying for consumers’ attention.