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Adidas puts its tech foot down
Wellness challenge is a win-win
ISM Highlights Europe’s Winter of Wonder
Consumers opt for boutique social media experiences with maximum utility
A dawning awareness of just how much of a time-suck the big online social networks can be—along with their increasingly corporate and sterile feel—has many consumers (Millennials in particular) cutting down on Facebook time and simultaneously seeking out more enriching and distinctive experiences at niche sites. Tedious status updates on people you don’t really care about much? Waste of time. Forming new connections that help deepen your engagement with a particular passion? Maximum return on time invested. An August 2009 survey of 18-to-24-year-olds by Mindshare found that 40% of 1,200 consumer respondents now visit social networks based on particular interests, such as TV, music or movies. Impassioned consumers are choosing to spend their mouse-clicking time at a wide array of niche sites. We’ve organized them into the following categories:
Game On: Hardcore gamers are their own closely bonded subculture, so it only makes sense that they would migrate to their own separate soc-net playing fields rather than linger among the plebes playing brain teasers on Facebook. Sites like Avatars United and Raptr let gamers socialize their experience completely. The sites offer the built-in bonus of building gaming-bud relationships and easier access to digital goodies, without the downside of a consumer’s whole social circle knowing just how much time they spend hacking and slashing in a digital world. My Soc Net, My Self: With millions of Americans now on Facebook and tweeting away, minority groups and special populations are seeking out social media that’s tailored to their experiences. Black indie-rock lovers dish on “T.O.B.E.” (The Other Black Experience) in Afro-Punk’s online community, while Veterans of America’s Afghanistan and Iraq wars share their unique experiences at IAVA.org. Numerous U.S. Latino social networks (Batanga, QuePasa.com) have sprung up, facilitating communication between each other and friends and family abroad. Self-professed “freaks,” be they black-fingernailed goths or evangelical Christians, have their own soc nets (Vampire Freaks and Faith Freaks, respectively) where millions commune. Show Me the Money: Connecting with like-minded others is good. It gets great when the love of a swinging deal constitutes common ground. E-retail sites with a social networking twist like WujWuj and Groupon are harnessing the power of social media to lower prices, while online philanthropic sites like FreeCharityCars.org go one better by creating social networks that allow consumers to feel good about giving or ecstatic about receiving. Other niche social networks with a personal-gain twist include test-prep source GrockIt and investing platform Kapitall.
It’s taken a period of adjustment, but ISM sees consumers—especially teens and 20somethings—increasingly compartmentalizing their digital identities to maximize the utility of their time spent online. Although ISM predicts the number of members on these niche sites will likely always be dwarfed by the major players, their passionately connected members constitute an engaged audience that, taken as a whole, is simply too large to be ignored.
Why consumers don’t find out about data breaches
It seems pretty obvious that when electronic fraud happens, consumers want to hear about it first from their financial services providers. But, surprisingly, that’s all too rare, according to a recent study by the Poneman Institute. Poneman found that data breaches occurred twice as often in 2009 as 2008, and yet companies that had been the victims of hacking were slow to tell their customers. Just 36% of the companies studied notified their customers within a month of the attack. Why? It turns out that consumers who are notified of data breaches are all too eager to take their business elsewhere, and early notification tends to accelerate that process and add expense due to customer “churn.” It’s a Catch-22: Consumers want to be told as quickly as possible about data breaches, but then they’re more likely to take their business elsewhere. The best approach, of course, is to make sure the breaches don’t happen in the first place. ISM believes companies today must strive for a standard of full and free disclosure when they screw up, even if it means losing business. We also believe that being proactive, authentic, accessible, truthful and quick to resolve issues are all virtues that consumers want to see a company display, especially in the midst of a problem or crisis.
Corporate Climate Counts report reveals who’s green and who isn't
For consumers interested in greener purchases, the third annual Climate Counts score card is a handy tool to compare sustainable practices among companies. The scores are based on 22 criteria including the company’s carbon footprint, environmental lobbying efforts and public declarations of climate change measures. Nike scored 83 out of 100, making it the top-ranked company for the second year in a row. Amazon.com, Burger King and Playmates Toys were at the bottom of the heap with 14 or lower. As a companion to the study, there’s now a free iPhone app available through the iTunes store for shoppers to check climate scores and send emails directly to the companies. ISM finds that any tools that help consumers track corporate greenness (and greenwashing) are viewed as welcome aides in the quest for transparency and accountability. Figuring out what companies are green and what aren’t is still confusing for consumers. Simplicity and reliability rule when it comes to leading them through this morass.
Adidas puts its tech foot down
Add augmented reality to 2010 fitness footwear trends. Adidas has equipped the Adidas Original AR Game Pack, their newest line of men’s sneakers, with virtual gaming technology. Users hold their sneaker tongues up to a webcam to activate a game code, which gives them access to an interactive 3-D Adidas Neighborhood world where their shoe acts as the controller! Adidas plans to release three more augmented reality games including a skateboard game, a Star-Wars-like game and a music-based game. The shoes will cost between $65 and $95. ISM sees a future increasingly filled with integrated tools that elevate an ordinary touch point into the extraordinary. Everything is suddenly in play, literally.
Wellness challenge is a win-win
The Rochester Business Alliance and Wegmans Food Markets threw down the 2010 Eat Well Live Well Challenge, the largest community wellness program in the country. By enlisting businesses with an interest in reducing their health insurance costs, the program challenges employees to eat five cups of fruits or vegetables per day and use a pedometer to record activity. Registered employees and their families compete inter-business for prizes based on measurable results. As of 2010, the challenge includes 125,000 people and over 300 businesses in the Rochester and Buffalo, NY area. ISM believes losing weight and living healthy are not only becoming a bigger priority for individuals, but wellness increasingly provides a platform for your business to participate in the effort and turn it into a community priority. Plus, there’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition to make anything, even broccoli, a little more fun.
ISM Highlights Europe’s Winter of Wonder
To help drive leisure business to a selection of Four Seasons hotels in Europe during the winter and spring, ISM recently developed a digital campaign highlighting events and activities taking place in nine destinations in categories including art, theatre, sports, food and wine, etc. Audience attention is captured by destination or by interest—featured in a series of emails to over one million consumers, online at Four Seasons Magazine and fourseasons.com and via Twitter and Facebook. See more here. |
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6 in 10 people would buy and recommend a brand that gave back to society or helped the environment, even if it wasn’t the cheapest, according to Edelman’s global Good Purpose poll.
-- Reuters 12.22.09
37% of kids said the person they look up to most in the world is their mother, in a Time for Kids/KidsHealth survey.
-- Time for Kids 1.22.10
Between 1977 and 2002, the percent of the American population eating three or more snacks a day increased to 42% from 11%. Further, researchers found, the percent of children surveyed who said they had eaten three meals on the previous day went down, while those who had had a snack went up more than 40%.
-- NYTimes.com 1.20.10
Only about half of all Americans with depression receive treatment of any kind. Only 1 in 5 are getting care—talk therapy, medication or both—that conforms to American Psychiatric Association guidelines, according to the study which appears in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
-- NYTimes.com 1.12.10
Anywhere from 40% to 50% of employers are running credit checks on potential employees.
-- American Consumer News 11.7.09
Across Florida, the early-bird special is experiencing a revival among middle-class families, singles and hip couples. Many restaurant owners also report behavioral changes like coupon use, sitting down only after studying the menu and wasting less food. Customer ages range from 80 down to 19.
-- NYTimes.com 1.8.10
Reaching and staying in the middle class is an attainable goal—but one that’s getting harder to hit, according to a Commerce Department report that notes that family incomes have fallen as housing prices have jumped 50% since 1990, tuition for four-year public colleges soared 60% and healthcare costs skyrocketed 155%.
-- Los Angeles Times 1.25.10
More divorced parents are using virtual visits (IM, video conference, etc.) to keep in touch with their kids, and as a result Illinois now includes virtual visitation among the rights of noncustodial parents, making it enforceable by a judge and creating a legal right for cases when parents cannot agree.
-- Chicago Tribune 1.22.10
The number of Americans turning to hospice for end-of-life care has climbed dramatically—from 25,000 in 1982 to 1.45 million in 2008, as more and more people choose to spend their final days at home or a patient facility rather than in a hospital pursuing aggressive treatments.
-- Los Angeles Times 1.22.10
A growing group of aging motorcyclists are riding trikes: three-wheeled motorcycles that provide the stability and comforts of a car while still allowing riders to feel the wind in their face. Industry experts expect to see more trikes in the coming years as Boomers age out of bikes.
-- AP 1.24.10
The days of the server who doesn’t write orders down appear to be numbered, according to restaurant owners and industry experts. It’s a result of increasingly complicated orders (nutrition concerns), people going out in larger groups, and a generation that seems less comfortable with memorization.
-- Washington Post 1.12.10
A study published in Public Health Nutrition found that overweight owners tend to have overweight dogs, but no such relationship was seen between owners and cats. Researchers say it’s because dog owners either walk or don’t walk their dogs. That doesn’t hold for cats, which tend not to be walked.
-- Los Angeles Times 1.14.10
People are happier and feel better on the weekends, no matter what profession or salary and even among those who love their jobs, according to a U of Rochester study, which also found that people feel more competent during the weekend than they do while at their day-to-day jobs.
-- Los Angeles Times 1.5.10
If you’re lucky enough to have a job in this economy, chances are you dislike it. Only 45% of people surveyed are happy in their jobs, according to a Conference Board poll. That’s the lowest level since 22 years ago, when more than 6 in 10 people were satisfied.
-- StarTribune.com 1.6.10
Product placement is worth about $2.7 billion a year in the U.S.
-- BusinessWeek 1.7.10
About 1 in 7 Starbucks transactions in the U.S. involve use of a Starbucks card.
-- AP 12.21.09
A Utah State U study found that, for wives, disagreements over finances and sex were good predictors of divorce, but finance disputes were much stronger predictors of divorce. For husbands, financial disagreements were the only type of common disagreement that predicted whether they would get a divorce.
-- New York Times 12.7.09
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