2016: Swimming in a 'C' of trends

G’day and wishing our readers a very happy 2016! As we welcome the New Year, we also get to embrace a fresh set of trend predictions. JWT’s Intelligence Future 100 Report gives us plenty of trendy food for thought.

I like to use the framework of the 4C’s (Consumers, Culture, Category and Context) as a way of categorising information, transforming learnings into insights and creating a powerful consumer ‘connection’. We can also apply this model when analysing trends and their underpinning insights. In this light, here’s a look at some of the top 2016 trends and ways in which brands have already started to take advantage of the forces at play.

Consumer trend:

Neuromarketing: Advances in technology have elevated ‘Neuromarketing’ from being a noughties buzzword to a serious 2016 science which helps shape our understanding of consumer motivations. While neuroscience is in no way a substitute to speaking with consumers and observing their actual behaviour, when used alongside classic research techniques, the implications can be powerful – offering a deeper understanding of how consumers make decisions. In recent times, neuroscience techniques have helped brands predict advertising effectiveness during the development stage as well as analyse drivers of post launch success/failure. An example of this is where Snickers’ used Neuroscience to predict the success of their Aussie Builders campaign where researchers investigated the differences between how 50 females & 50 males responded to the controversial ad.

Culture trend:

Untabooing Womanhood: Feminism has entered a new wave on social media that celebrates previously taboo aspects of femininity. From underarm hair and hygiene to menstruation, social media is saturated with women who are sharing images reflecting the reality of being a woman, with the main objective of raising consciousness and prioritising issues like equal pay and body image. While a few brands like Kotex U have already started to bring hushed topics to the fore in their humorous advertising, we can definitely expect more brands to jump on this cultural bandwagon in 2016.

Category trends:

Chefs as thought leaders: Chefs continue to make a big impact on FMCG and food retail categories. As food increasingly becomes a means of self-expression, further fuelled by the Instagram #foodporn frenzy, chefs have become new-age trendsetters. Here in Australia, some of the world’s leading chefs met at the Taste of Melbourne to discuss 2016 cooking predictions. Keeping food fresh, local and simple will be the order of the day. As one famous chef stated ‘’When people go out to eat, they want a story on a plate.’’ Given the overdoses of Jamie and Heston publicising supermarkets on TV in 2014/15, there will be more creative ways for brands to leverage this celebrity chef super power this year.

Hyper-personalised experiences: Bespoke is the magic word where customers expect tailor-made, unique experiences to suit their individual interests. And this is a trend that crosses all product and service categories. Extreme Dining experiences like ‘Dinner in the sky’ gives customers an ‘out of the world’ experience (well, almost) by seating 22 people around a bar-table, secured by a four point strap system on seats, elevating them 50 metres above ground.

And speaking of Heston, his restaurant, The Fat Duck asks customers to submit information about themselves while booking, allowing The Fat Duck to build customer profiles and tailor meals to individual experiences and childhood feelings of adventure and curiosity.

We see this trend even in retail, where consumers expect highly personalised shopping experiences. This year, ShopStyle, a style search engine launched Tailored Shopping.

A new feature that personalises a user’s shopping experience based on their searches and activity, helping them discover new brands, stores and style inspiration through crafted suggestions.

Ingestible Beauty:

The lines between beauty and food are blurring with the holistic way in which consumers see wellbeing. The Beauty Chef , an Australian superfood beauty brand has a range of ingestible inner beauty powders and offers a platform with recipes including a choice of desserts that incorporate its products, such as a Cheesecake.

Context Trend: Virtual Reality: Brands are continually experimenting with Virtual Reality (VR) to give consumers immersive experiences to drive purchase consideration. As an example, Hamilton Island, Qantas and Samsung partnered to create a three dimensional, Virtual Tourism experience. Customers can choose to fly with pilots in the cockpit of a Qantas jet as it lands at Hamilton Island airport, swim with sea turtles, explore the marine life at the Great Barrier Reef, play golf or just relax at the beach.

So as you can ‘C’, there are lots of great trends which are set to become even hotter in 2016. We look forward to seeing how brands further capitalise on these over the next 12 months. Exciting times ahead!