Too many opportunities and demands are putting pressure on our youngest generation, as well as fewer apprenticeships and the financial crisis in surrounding countries. The desire for security, for conservative values such as family, security and success, is increasing, says Alain Messerli, Head of Zurich at the marketing research and consulting company Happy Thinking People, describing the general situation of "Generation 2.0. But sustainability is also an important point of reference - people today want to buy "justifiable" products, contrary to the "cheap is cool" mentality. This is nothing new, as can be seen in Migros' product range, for example, which has been available for some time. On its own website, for example, the retailer lists the values "Swissness," "regionality," "sustainability," "freshness," and "value for money. With this positioning, Migros follows the values described above, and already with good success. It is not for nothing that Migros was perceived as the strongest brand in Switzerland by the Brand Asset Valuator of the Y&R Group in 2013. However, Migros' success cannot be attributed solely to the adaptation of the above values, but above all to another factor: The retailer is consistently addressing the shift in values of Swiss consumers toward individual ideals. In concrete terms, this means not adapting the brand and products to the respective - sometimes fast-moving and divergent - change in values, but instead expanding the entire product range. The right thing for every value, so to speak.
One brand for all
In the case of the retail trade, a possible promising adaptation to the individualized expectations can be seen in the expansion of its product range. Werner Schaeppi, founder of MRC Marketing Research & Consulting, also cites the retailers Migros and Coop as shining examples of a reaction to the individualized value attitude. Here, the customer finds not only organic/ecological product lines, but also savings offers and lines for consumers with a higher demand for quality, according to Schaeppi. In addition, the two are also involved in the cultural sector - for example with the Migros Culture Percentage. And both also offer fair trade products. Migros and Coop obviously want to appeal to all value groups - environmentalists as well as thrifty people, cultural supporters as well as gourmets. Everyone can shop at the two large Swiss retailers without neglecting their ideals. Or to put it briefly: they have taken up the change in values toward more individuality and implemented it very successfully. Coop has also been revealing this strategy for some time in the baseline "for me and you" - in other words, for everyone. According to Schaeppi, the adaptation to the change in values took place through a targeted differentiation of the brand architecture: "Instead of adapting the brand core to the respective change in values through constant adaptations, Migros and Coop simply expanded the brand, respectively united further subbrands and categorized labels under the umbrella brand." In this way, Migros and Coop succeed in gathering all claims under one roof.
Werner Schaeppi clearly sees a shift in values toward individualized consumer perception and expectations. This change, he says, is due not least to the increasing digital abundance of information, because anyone can obtain information anywhere at any time. This gives rise to different opinions, values and perceptions. But individualization is also accompanied by an increased influence on production conditions, emphasizes Schaeppi: "If I search the Internet for information, for example for pictures of the new iPhone, I will find 50 different pictures," says Schaeppi. Which source should you trust? Accordingly, the abundance of information has three effects: On the one hand, consumers are very well informed. They can no longer be fooled, and they know very precisely whether their values are actually represented by the product. Secondly, each consumer can now follow his or her own values exactly; develop an individualized value system. And thirdly, a stronger brand loyalty develops as soon as the consumer has found a brand that he believes he can trust. Schaeppi explains that it is not enough to simply expand one's own range of products according to values in order to appeal to a broad customer base, because consumers are always in a position to obtain precise information about products, their production conditions and the background of companies - and they have become more critical.
As an example, Schaeppi refers to the technology industry: "The joy of my new digital device is dimmed when I learn of unfair production conditions for the manufacturer's employees." Today, he says, companies need to respond very quickly to customers' needs, and not just by cosmetically adjusting their brand image. Changes would have to happen directly to the product. "Because the consumer informs himself," he reasons. And a brand very quickly ends up offside if it does not take into account the values of its customers. In concrete terms, this means more responsibility not only for the producer, but also for the consumer.
This is also the thesis of Peter Michael Bak in his newly published book "Business and Corporate Ethics". He points out that consumers today have a very strong say through their demand. "Through our consumer behavior, we play a major role in shaping economic processes," he writes. Accordingly, he says, we are also responsible for the way in which we do business and the associated consequences.
For this reason, more and more customers are focusing on a particular brand whose values match their own and which they can trust, says Schaeppi. This is also an effect of the fact that anyone can find out about anything, anywhere, at any time. Today, more and more companies that represent a smaller group of customers with a specific set of values are expanding their product range into various segments. This means, for example, that the customer of an organic store can also buy clothes produced on the basis of the same value attitude in the same store under the same brand, as well as perhaps stationery accessories. This trend leads in the direction of specialization, except that the company does not specialize in a particular product, but in a particular value attitude. In line with this attitude, the brand then offers products from different segments. In other words, the opposite of the Migros strategy.
Individual herd behavior
Having confidence in a brand and the certainty that one's own values are really reflected in the choice of a brand - this seems to be an important factor, especially for the generation of unlimited information. Brand trust is apparently also a primal value in the fashion sector. Cécile Moser, Junior Consultant at Concept Communication and Master's student in Cultural Analysis, also sees a general shift in values toward more individualization. In the style area, however, she sees more of a herd behavior than an individualization. The fixed value of "security" is pretty strongly anchored here, says Moser, herself a representative of "Generation 2.0" and a fashion blogger. Fashion customers tend to be reserved, don't dare to do much, and are more concerned with security and acceptance. She cites the hipster retro movement in Zurich as an example. She gives the impression that they know the values of the original movement, but don't live them - a rather superficial representation of values that only affects clothing fashion, without any further impact. On the blog of the Concept agency, she even writes: "Hipsterism has absolutely nothing to do with individuality. The hipster is in a completely passive follower role. As a counter-trend, Moser sees the prosumer, a consumer and producer in equal measure, who helps to shape his products himself. And this is where Moser's view of the current attitude toward values coincides with the findings of the researchers: Today, it's all about inscribing oneself in the right discourse, defining one's style and positioning oneself. Everything runs and defines itself through consumption, says Moser. She thus also confirms the trend mentioned by Schaeppi that changes have to happen directly to the product. This is primarily due to a rapidly growing exchange of information and the urge of "Generation 2.0" to position itself clearly and individually through consumption - but at the same time on the safe side, under the protective hand of a trustworthy, strong brand.
Storytelling with stringent values
But how can trust still be built up with such individualized values? And what does this mean in concrete terms for brand positioning? On the one hand, one could of course claim that value attitudes today are too complex and brand perceptions too arbitrary to allow a brand to adapt to a change in values at all. The "freedom generation" of the 1960s or the "conservative generation" of the 1920s would have been easier to assess and address, says Alain Messerli. And yet, clear leaders in brand perception can be identified, such as Migros or the modern leader Google. However, their brand perception can no more be successfully imitated than an abrupt adaptation of the brand to a change in values would make sense. However, according to Messerli, it is possible to adapt the story that the brand tells to current value attitudes, as long as the story telling remains stringent. In other words, the brand story can be retold to suit the prevailing mood of the times, and the charisma of the original story can be recharged again and again, as long as it does not contradict itself. According to Messerli, story telling in itself has a much stronger binding effect than, for example, adapting to a new set of values.
Messerli is thus addressing brain research on episodic memory: "Our brain creates meaning by shaping the stimuli to which the individual reacts emotionally into episodes that combine to form an autobiographical story," Messerli recalls from his article in the VSMS Yearbook 2010. In other words, we remember primarily in the form of stories, and often unconsciously. This is because the above-mentioned stimuli from our environment are filtered by the adaptive subconscious without the aid of the conscious mind, as Timothy Wilson already pointed out in "Strangers to Ourselves".
Consequently, stimuli are selected and interpreted, and actions are derived from the resulting patterns. This could be, for example, the unconsciously controlled decision to reach for a product at a shelf or not, explains Alain Messerli. It is possible that this decision has more to do with a smell, a childhood memory or an impulse than with a conscious purchase decision.
Trend research trend
Individualization, specialization, hipsters, prosumers, bloggers - trend research works out pretty well for individual brands or products, as you can see. Alain Messerli also believes that trend research is relatively easy to implement for individual brands. However, it becomes a little more complicated and also more unmanageable as soon as one deals more concretely with individual values. Messerli explains: "Trend research is primarily concerned with tracing current trends and sales hits back to sociocultural and psychological backgrounds. These findings then allow conclusions to be drawn about general value attitudes and trend phenomena that are stable over time. In this way, it is not only possible to identify trends, but also to make forecasts for the future. Sounds logical and relatively easy to implement. Now for the part that is difficult to grasp: individualization, for example. Generation 2.0" may want values such as sustainability, family and career, but for each consumer "sustainable" means something different, explains Alain Messerli: Is it the production conditions, or is it the environmental impact of transport, breeding or wild catch? The questions surrounding sustainability are so complex that many don't like to deal with them. As a result, the very concept of "sustainable" is divergently understood. In other words, those who want sustainability do not necessarily mean "sustainably produced". Werner Schaeppi also sees a fundamental problem with trend research here: not only does the customer surveyed often not even know which "sustainable" is meant exactly; ecological, economic, social - or whatever the customer has in mind. In addition, the conditions for quantitative market research are relatively poor. Because of the enormous time and cost pressure, not only the quality of the individual surveys suffers, but also the training of the surveyors themselves.
Many such factors could influence a quantitative study. MRC is therefore increasingly relying on qualitative surveys, emphasizes Schaeppi. Although these then only operate with small samples, it can no longer be assumed in principle that a representative group has been reached even with quantitative surveys. This is because of the variety of relevant communication channels and the marketing-critical attitude of the population. As an example, Schaeppi cites a study with the main question "Advertising in public spaces" and asks rhetorically: "Don't you think that the very group that doesn't want to be advertised to is more likely not to be found in the telephone directory? In general, this survey is more likely to reach that part of the population that has nothing against advertising in principle or at least does not vehemently seek to distance itself from it. Another part would have to be reached through other channels. For this reason, social media channels and other new communication platforms will probably be increasingly included in market research in the future. Even if this is ultimately no guarantee of having reached a representative part of every population group.
Ursina mason
