1.
What people
will want from
brands in 2015
What people will want from brands in 2015 1

2.
Another new year on the way and
more trends we should be following.
But if you haven’t got the ‘gadget du
jour’ lined up for your next campaign,
don’t worry—neither have we.
Don’t get us wrong, we love a bit of
futurism. It’s vital that we can anticipate
how the key changes in the way we
live our lives will impact on people’s
experiences with brands and what they
expect of them. But to achieve this we
need more than a beauty parade of
the latest technologies and tactics.
Have you ever noticed how it’s often
more fascinating to watch people’s
reaction to using tech, than the tech
itself? We want to know if they will like
using it, if it will answer or even exceed
their expectations, needs and desires.
Our interest in this is such that it’s not
the new gadgets or tactics, but rather
how they impact on our emotions and
fit with our lifestyles that are driving the
shifts in how we live our lives.
So it is through this people-centric lens
that we must view the latest trends—we
must understand how they make people
feel.
It’s understanding this that can
help us connect with people on an
intuitive level, and prioritize putting
emotionally-driven experience at
the forefront of campaigns. This
may seem obvious, but in fact most
campaigns are still driven by a rational
proposition, with the emotive campaign
aspects added as window dressing.
But to be the default choice for a
consumer—the no-brainer—you need
to be speaking to the subconscious in
the language it knows. You need to be
tuned into people’s intuitive decision
making which drives their path to
purchase.
So here are nine tips (ten is SO last
year) from our brand experience
strategists, on how to interpret the
latest trends through a people-centric
lens. And to help brands get closer to
what people want.
What people will want from brands in 2015 2
Nine
tips for
interpreting
the trends
through
a people-centric
lens, from
the world
of brand
experience

3.
1What do these campaigns have
in common? Relevant, useful,
personalized, even charming use of
data, where people and their needs
Our feelings about data use are, of
are at the heart of its use and not a
course, largely related to trust. And this
drive to build databases or manipulate
isn’t likely to decline anytime soon—the
actions.
more awareness increases over our
data use and the more technology
Another key influence on people’s
can achieve, the more trust comes into
comfort with data is having a choice
question. Facial scanning and targeted
to opt-in. This means live brand-experience,
advertising anyone?
which is opt-in by nature,
is particularly well-placed to utilise
But although trust is an issue for many,
advances in data technology. People
it’s less of a problem for those who
attending live experiences tend to be
have never known a life without tech.
both open to brand communications
A survey for Softchoice ¹ published
and actively looking for ways to make
earlier this year found that millennials
the most of their experience.
were the most likely to lose data or
Brands combining relevant,
leave themselves open to hacking. It
useful, personalized, use of
reflects a different attitude—one that
data with live experience, for a
places less value on their own data
millennial audience particularly,
and can view the relationship between
will see their opportunities
themselves and brands as potentially
escalate as tech advances in
more symbiotic than parasitic.
2015.
And some brands have done some
lovely things with data (BA, Molson
Canadian, Coca-Cola).
What people will want from brands in 2015 3 Parasitic or
symbiotic?

4.
What people will want from brands in 2015 4
2Wearable is springing up everywhere
and we are only going to see more of
it. There’s some really cool wearable
tech (Olive), some questionable
wearable tech (Google Glass) and
some wearable tech that remains to
be seen (Apple Watch). If wearable
gets it right it’s a win win—being
both naturally opt-in and telling us
something about our favorite topic—
ourselves.
And wearable’s appeal through
telling us something about ourselves
is strengthened when that thing is
our emotions. This is powerful on an
individual basis, but can be hugely
impactful en masse within a shared
experience. We have already seen
this used through wearables that
measure biometrics at stadium gigs and
music festivals, but we can expect to
see it move beyond this world.
For example—XOX wristbands,
which display emotion through color,
gravitated beyond their maker’s music
industry roots and were seen at the
Saatchi & Saatchi New Director’s
Showcase at Cannes Lions in 2014.
In the right context and with
a genuine benefit or interest
to the wearer, wearable
can augment immersive
experiences beautifully.
To wear or not
to wear

5.
3Makes sense
can get all the information you could
ever need online, people’s desire for
immersive experiences seems to become
Everyone’s talking about
even more imperative—just as you can get
immersive, but how many
all your nutrients in one super juice, yet
experiences really nail it?
experimental, immersive food experiences
After all, we have five senses
(like Brooklyn Fare, Tuscan Gun and the
for a reason—yet most brand
Art of Dining) are popping up everywhere.
experiences are all about
With advances in sensory technology,
the visual.
partly driven by medical R&D for sensory
And there are signs that out in the
deprivation, brands can start to think about
offline world we want to really feel
engaging beyond the visual. Scent, taste,
it, not just see it. 2014 was the year
sound, touch—and we don’t just mean a
that Punchdrunk went mainstream with
touch screen.
Secret Cinema close behind. People
are seeking out one-off, sensory,
visceral experiences.² While you
What people will want from brands in 2015 5

6.
What people will want from brands in 2015 6
4A report from Latitude ³ showed that
having a mobile device with real
time information makes people more
spontaneous with shopping and, in
general, more open to discovering
new things. This love of spontaneity
is reflected in the success of mobile
apps like Tinder and last minute ticket
app YPlan which play on feelings of
spontaneity and discovery. And apps
like Yo. and Drake Shake, which work
simply because they raise a smile and
help us connect easily with friends.
Sometimes all we’re looking for is
a change of moment—a bit of light
relief and something we can share on
a whim.
So is the proliferation of mobile use
driving this trend for spontaneity?
There’s no doubt mobile makes it
easier for us to seize the moment, but
people’s love of impulsiveness and
fun is as old as the hills. So mobile
may not be actually driving a cultural
change, but it is certainly a highly
significant enabler.
For brands that want to tap into this
trend, it is the ‘enabling’ that is key.
Spontaneity may be enabled through
mobile, or it may be through another
channel—but it’s understanding
why and how people want to
be spontaneous and driving
the campaign through that
insight that is most likely to
make an emotional connection
with people and not the
channel itself.
Spontaneous
living

7.
5We might love doing things on a whim,
but we love it even more if the service
that’s offered also has a practical
application and makes our lives
easier. But I thought we were saying
that people are irrational, emotional
creatures? We hate to admit it, but there
is a logical side to us too…
And actually whim and practicality are
more aligned than you may think. We
have a need for relevance and utility—
to cut through the noise and achieve our
goal as quickly as possible. But we also
have a need to support that goal, which
is often driven by an emotional and
perhaps indulgent desire, with a logical
justification—as anyone who’s ever
heard someone justifying their recent
purchase of a luxury car can attest.
So services that can help curate our
worlds of all-consuming choice and
help justify an emotionally driven
desire through their utility are on to
something. From online personal stylists
(Thread), for men who like clothes but
What people will want from brands in 2015 7 hate shopping (there are men who hate
shopping?!) and on-demand personal
assistants (Wun Wun) to nutritious meal
planners at your door (Hello Fresh)—
tailored services are on the rise.
But if we can achieve all our custom
requirements online, what does it mean
for bricks and mortar experiences—are
they now surplus to requirements?
As is so often the case,
competition from new
sources breeds creativity and
opportunity. Tailored services
are inspiring change in our
physical world. They are helping
enhance experiences. US store
Hointer, for example, will deliver the
right size to your changing room after
you select with your smartphone.
And they are creating whole new
experiences—Rijksmuseum allows
people to not only download and print
art, but also manipulate their catalogue
of works of art, copyright-free. This
takes people-centric to a new level, and
is surely a taste of things to come.
Suits you

8.
What people will want from brands in 2015 8
6 So we love our mobile-enabled,
wearable tech-augmented, data driven
lives—but we don’t always want a
constantly-connected existence. As
demonstrated by PSV Einhoven football
fans, not loving the offer of free WiFi in
the stands due to its obstruction of the
live spectator experience. Meanwhile
German brands are showing us how
it should be done and taking steps
to protect workers from the relentless
demands of email—Daimler is deleting
them before they hit holidaying
workers inboxes. And Volkswagen and
Deutsche Telekom limit work—related
emails on evenings and weekends.
There’s an opportunity here
for brands to help support
those times when we want to
be offline and to facilitate real
world experiences. Kit Kat’s Free
No WiFi Zone in Amsterdam jammed
signals and encouraged people to
‘have a break’ from the mobile and
reconnect with real life—you know
have a real, live conversation.
And brands don’t have to be offline
themselves in order to help facilitate
real-world experiences—sites such
as The Londonist curate analog
experiences for you, so you can
spend less time online.
Digital detox

9.
7It’s one thing facilitating our real-world
experiences, but how many brands
are actually in-tune with people’s
emotions? How many utilise the link
between sensory stimuli and emotional
response? The more our senses
are stimulated, the more intensely
memorable an experience will be and
the more likely we will be to make an
emotional connection with the brand.
For many of us, our most frequent
brand experience is often at retail.
And unfortunately we’ve all had an
experience that negatively affects our
mood. The harsh lighting, poor layout,
invasive music, bad customer service—
you have to really want that item to
persevere and part with your money.
But retail is also innovating in this area
and we can learn much about creating
empathy within a live experience
from this sector. In fact, some brands
What people will want from brands in 2015 9 have understood this for some time.
Selfridges has a ‘Silence Room’—a
soft, subdued mobile-free space where
people can escape the bustle of the
shop-floor. It seems ground-breaking,
but Selfridges actually created its first
silent room in 1909! And Switchrooms
in the ShinQ shopping center in
Japan—has soft lighting, sound and
artwork which helps shoppers switch
mindset from work to play and vice-versa.
In this way, sensory brand
experience can connect with
people on a level that other
more traditional forms of
advertising struggle to achieve.
In fact, science has shown that
sensory stimuli can convey
those crucial but hard to
impart abstract meanings and
values far more powerfully
than words—representing a
particularly exciting opportunity
for brands.
Empathetic
environments

10.
What people will want from brands in 2015 10
8It’s great being tuned into
people’s feelings about
themselves, but as a people
we’re not actually as entirely
self-centered as all that. And
these days we expect brands
to do more than just pay lip
service to CSR.
During the 2014 World Cup,
Millward Brown reported a high level
of understanding in the UK of the
contradiction of hosting such an event
in a country where people have so
little. People were likely to hold not
just government and FIFA accountable,
but also the sponsors.
Some brands, however, are aware
of this. While you would expect a
charitable brand like UNICEF to be
so, it would have been easy to just
be a nominal partner and benefit by
association with the Glasgow 2014
Commonwealth Games.
But by taking an active role in the
opening ceremony, UNICEF made
the partnership work for them and the
people of the Commonwealth—they
helped the games reflect the ideals of
the Commonwealth and raised more
than £5m.
And movements to help business do
its bit are emerging as well. Aussie
business movement Big Hearted
Business educates and supports other
big-hearted type business people,
creating a community of knowledge
and experience sharing. Their mantra
is ‘Do what you love, make money,
save the world’…
And if that’s not enough to convince
you, ‘being nice’ gained a lot of
recognition at Cannes Lions this year.
Nice is the
new black

11.
9may resonate emotionally, but remain
detached from people’s needs and
how they would interact with it.
Great brand experiences need to
When we think of the biggest
take a holistic attitude to their people-centric
innovators today, we think of product
approach, meeting expectations
and service designers, often amongst
and needs, as well as intuitive and
the most successful Kickstarter
emotional desires.
campaigns. What’s the secret of their
So in 2015 the most successful
success? Their iterative, R&D prototype
brands will innovate the
approach ensures that how people
experience—take inspiration
will interact with and use the product
from those Kickstarters
is both well understood and feeds into
and make an attitude of
the design.
innovation—of iterative,
This relentless attitude to testing
humanistic R&D—a natural
and re-testing is an area to watch
state of mind when it comes
within brand experiences. But many
to experience.
experiences are still created within a
bubble—beautiful experiences which
What people will want from brands in 2015 11 Experience
innovation

12.
What people will want from brands in 2015 12
Talk to us
—
Contact Melinda Lindland
SVP, New Business and Group Account Director
melinda_lindland@jackmorton.com
Read our blog at
blog.jackmorton.com
Follow us on twitter
@jackmorton
Visit us online at
jackmorton.com
¹ https://hbr.org/2014/02/do-millennials-believe-in-data-security/
² 73% of US and UK millennials are seeking experiences that stimulate their
senses. (JWT report 2013)
³ http://www.slideshare.net/fred.zimny/latitude-nextgenretailstudy-15703908
About Jack Morton
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© Jack Morton Worldwide 2014