MANILA, FEBRUARY 4, 2013 – (Part 1 of 2) As people are finding more ways of being productive, play is increasingly becoming a competitive advantage. This is according to the recent trends report released by JWT for 2013.
However, this is not an isolated trend as play proved to be a key player in the other trend drivers, including new technology and the rising awareness around the impact of stress and happiness on one’s well-being.
“Now on our fifth year, what we are discovering is that this year’s crop of trends tends to be outgrowths and extensions of previous trends. But when you delve deep into each trend and mash this up with what we know about the local consumer, we find that there are exciting opportunities brands can play with and run with” said Pam Garcia, executive planning director of JWT Manila, who presented the report and led the research in the Philippines.
We discuss the first five trends below:
Play as a Competitive Advantage
The popular nursery rhyme, ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’, proves true: in order to increase productivity, people have to make time for play. For this trend, play is characterized as a voluntary and inherent attraction to an activity where one gets lost in the demands of the real world. Advertisers have recognized the power of play, impacting both marketing communications and even work productivity for companies.
The local study interviewed a call center agent who readily acknowledge the importance of play and said that “having a relaxed mind can contribute to better outputs”.
This trend has been used by campaigns in the past, including Smart Communication’s ‘Live More’ fun run and Axe Philippines’ ‘Cops and Robbers’ chase around Eastwood City. Still another standout example of a brand using the trend is last year’s fun run involving zombies and various interpretations of the undead, Outbreak Manila in Enchanted Kingdom.
Commenting on the brands that supported Outbreak, Garcia said that they actually encourage play by extolling the activity’s benefits. And in a statement that might be deemed ironic in a productivity-obsessed world, Garcia added that the brands “take play seriously”.
The Super Stress Era
Stress is not an uncommon word but this year the fast-paced environment and extra demands on time brought about by technology has contributed to a tipping point in stress-induced diseases. “This is the year when [stress] can cost medical concerns,” Garcia said.
The Philippines is not spared from this epidemic as daily activities such as commuting and work greatly contribute to the added stress. One of the respondents said that work before meant an eight to five job. Now, work means “8-forever”.
Local brands have, of course, taken advantage of the need to de-stress. Campaigns such as McDonald’s ‘Hooray for Today’ portray a light-hearted and positive version of a man’s workday; a radio ad for Lotus Spa incorporated a soothing voice and background music.
However, there are two ways that brands can go about addressing the stress trend: offer ways to reduce stress or accept it as a way of life.
An example of the latter is Rogin-E’s ‘The Man on Top’ campaign which shows the performance-enhancing benefits of the multi-vitamin, something that men, who want to be on top on their game, need.
Intelligent Objects
As tech companies produce more and more products, one might think that tech products are produced for tech’s sake. International examples include Google glasses, due for release in 2014, allowing one to view emails and mobile phone messages on the go; Oakley’s ski goggles which allows one to be updated while on the icy slopes; intelligent fabric produced by Nike and Adidas, etc.
The goal of this trend to find ways to make a difficult task easy to do. And to take advantage of the trend, brands need to design around the consumer, not the technology.
Predictive Personalization
It seems that all this technology is leading more and more consumers to take on a me-centric attitude, with consumer analytics able to accurately profile unique needs if possible.
Internationally, this is already being done by stores such as Target, which tailor-fits the store’s offer to every individual based on their buying pattern. Locally, services such as SM Advantage Card and PAL Mabuhay Miles are on the same track but are largely underutilized.
A way to win consumer buy-in is by offering tangible benefits.
The Mobile Fingerprint
The most-cherished advice is now the individual’s identification card. This trend sees more and more people preferring to leave their wallets than leave their mobile phones which, according to a respondent, contains her schedule and all her contacts, which are all needed for her to perform at her job. Another respondent also said that even if it takes him 30 minutes to go back home to fetch his phone, he would do so.
In other countries, the mobile phone is already pretty much an extended part of a person allowing one to pay for purchases with Google Wallet and login to all social networking sites with Key-Free Login. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, smartphone users take advantage of this trend with Smart Communication’s ‘Tap & Pay’ system and the Bank of the Philippine Island’s (BPI) ‘Global Wallet’.
