Zeitgeist Report: What Moves Switzerland - Interview with Lukas Diem, TBWA\ Zurich

Werbewoche.ch: With the Zeitgeist Report TBWA\Zurich brings itself not only as an agency, but also as an "Thought Leader" into the discourse. How did the idea for the project come about?

Lukas Diem: The fact that we deal with the topic of Zeitgeist is nothing new for TBWA\. In recent years, we have repeatedly examined trends in Switzerland and developed content on them, which we have regularly published in Werbewoche, among other publications. With the new Zeitgeist Report we wanted to bring a breath of fresh air into this topic again and live up to our claim as a leading player in the field of cultural intelligence.

And why is it important that agencies not only know and analyze trend reports for their customers - but also write them themselves?

As an agency, it is our job to look at consumer behavior and anchor our clients' brands in the current culture in a relevant way. With this in mind, it's critical to both understand prevailing trends accurately and anticipate emerging cultural dynamics early on. Of course, there are already numerous other sources to consult, and we do that as much as anyone. But as part of the TBWA\ network, we have an ace up our sleeve - The Zeitgeist Spotters. These are around 300 colleagues worldwide who systematically document trends and cultural changes. The collected findings are summarized annually in the so-called "Edges" and made available to us. This alone is a great basis that we have always used in our work. But now we wanted to go a step further and validated these global trends locally by surveying the Swiss population. As a result, we now have an even clearer picture of what moves Switzerland today and where people's attitudes and behavior are heading in this country.

Our world is changing constantly and with increasing speed. Not dealing with this as a brand is not an option.

 

What are your main goals with the report, and how has it been received so far?

With this report, we are now sharing the key findings from this study. In the background, we have also created a comprehensive database that allows us to go into depth and gain specific insights for our clients. The goal, of course, is that this will further enhance the cultural relevance of our work, and thus the communicative presence of our clients. The interest in and feedback from the Zeitgeist Report show us that we are on the right track. It's obvious - our world is changing constantly and with increasing speed. Not dealing with this as a brand is not an option.

How did you proceed methodologically in the creation of the study? Identifying trends and social developments can be a delicate and complex undertaking...

That's right. Not everything that is perceived by the public is automatically a trend. Trends are not necessarily relevant to society as a whole, and not everyone changes their behavior just because others do. That's where it's important to take a closer look. As mentioned above, we first examined the trends documented globally by our Zeitgeist spotters to determine their relevance in Swiss society. For each trend, we asked whether it was being observed and whether the respondents saw themselves as part of this movement. In the end, we were thus able to classify how much the respective trend is already manifesting itself in Switzerland. In order to do justice to the diversity within the population and to understand in which parts of society a trend is occurring and to what extent, we segmented the respondents. Here, Omnicom Media Group was a valuable partner with its research expertise. We didn't simply segment by demographics, but additionally identified clusters within the population based on interests and affinities. We believe this gives us a much more accurate picture of where trends are emerging in Switzerland. We then used these findings to derive recommendations for action for brand communication, as well as for communication and media planning.

It is often a matter of a kind of recollection

 

What - in your opinion - are the most important findings of the Zeitgeist Reports? 

Of the 36 "Edges", i.e. the globally documented trends, ten can be observed in the Swiss population as a whole, while a further ten trends are emerging in one or more segments. The themes are sustainable consumption, mobility behavior, new ideals of beauty and changing attitudes toward performance and work. It was particularly exciting and in some cases surprising to see which parts of the population respond to which trends. Among other things, the report shows that originally highly personal and private topics such as health, the body and nutrition are increasingly becoming the central topic of social discourse. In Switzerland, young women in particular often feel pressured by this. This group is also increasingly questioning its own media and consumer behavior and in some cases radically changing it in order to counteract stress and strain. In general, we find that it is often a matter of a kind of reconsideration. Be it in the context of values and traditions, the handling of data and technologies, or our attitude toward nature.

In the coming years, will you increasingly focus not only on integrating trends into your work - but also on anticipating or even setting them yourself? Where is the path going?

Definitely yes. Cultural Intelligence is to be further strengthened and expanded as a mainstay of the agency. We firmly believe that our clients will benefit from this. With "TBWA\ Shift" we have also recently launched a new line of business. As a brand consulting and innovation platform, which also includes a cooperation with the Zurich-based think tank W.I.R.E, the team works in an interdisciplinary manner on the early identification of opportunities that arise from cultural and technological change. Whether we will be able to set trends ourselves remains to be seen. In any case, we want to ensure that we are "ahead of the change" together with our customers and not only anticipate cultural change, but shape it.

About the Report:

In the Zeitgeist Report 2022, TBWA\ Zurich, in collaboration with Omnicom Media Group Switzerland, presents the most important cultural trends in Switzerland. Based on insights from over 300 globally active "Zeitgeist Spotters," the Swiss population was surveyed on more than 30 trends. The results show which of these global trends are particularly relevant in Switzerland and take a close look at their significance for brands and communications. The digital report can be downloaded at www.zeitgeist-spotter.ch free of charge. A strictly limited print version is available by ordering via [email protected].