1. 2010 CONSUMER TRENDS
A simple tool to understand changing consumer
behaviour and inspire insights and ideas
Marion McDonald, January 2010

2. The WHAT, WHY & HOW
WHAT: A compilation of consumer trends filtered for the most relevant for Asia
Pacific PR professionals. PR implications are given for each.
WHY: Provide a guide to behaviour shifts that drive new target audience needs
and opportunities for new communication approaches
WHO: Sourced from trend watching experts - see credits slide. The full
Trendwatching.com report for further reading is on Truffles now
HOW to use it: To drive insight generation and new communication ideas for
your clients
BUT: Trends don’t apply to all markets equally or to all consumers, and still
require your professional judgement

3. 7
consumer
trends

4. 1. EXPECTATION ECONOMY
2010 will see higher expectations – of salary increases leading to
increased spending on non-essentials and trading back up to
branded goods again (for those who tried private label/store
brands in recession). This raises expectations for branded goods
and for services we sacrificed in leaner times. We’ve learnt to look
for value for money in recession. Now we’ll judge brand
performance as a measure of value.
PR implications: highlight proof points and communicate
accountability. Prove your brand’s value & prove you deliver what
you promise. Money back, peace of mind messaging and
performance guarantees will be powerful motivators.

5. .ON
‘Online culture is THE culture’ (Kevin Kelly quote).
It's elected presidents, toppled celebs, exposed
corruption, all in real time, and its all exponential
growth ahead for Asia. The offline world is
adopting online cues (eg. Ford Fiesta with wifi,
@everything. Asia still has a huge gap between
the developed markets at >70% penetration and
developing markets at 7-25% penetration but
mobile internet will be the driving force in Asia.
PR implications: DI your brand in 2010 or give up, dinosaur!
Design online communications for mobile access (eg. mobi-zines). Select
and support online brand ambassadors (in a fully transparent way), align
celeb endorsement deals with their social media presence, build and
maintain dialogue between a brand and its users in social media, support
facebook fan pages.

6. 3. URBANY
With >200,000 people per day moving
to cities globally, a city the size of
Shanghai is born every 2 months. Asia
is one of the world’s most rapidly
urbanising regions, creating more
sophisticated, demanding super-wired
consumers wanting more daring
experiences.
PR implications: messaging reflecting urban wired lifestyles, reflect
aspirations to global megacity lifestyle, target new city migrants in
developing markets, highlight city of origin where aspirational (especially
for beauty brands & those targeting non-urban consumers)

7. 4. REVIEWING IS THE NEW ADVERTISING
Ready-to-buy consumers now search or are
automatically alerted to a live online stream
of advice from fellow consumers, largely
unmonitored by brand owners.
70% of global online consumers trust online
reviews (81% in Vietnam, 77% in China)
second only to friend’s recommendation.
(source: Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, 2009)
PR implications: Brands must be responding to their online reviews using
listening posts to pick up issues and thanking users for praise to build
loyalty. Launch/relaunch brands via select reviewers. Engage with online
reviewers to share new news. Convert the most powerful negative
influencers via DI engagement.

8. 5. (F)LUXURY
Luxury in Flux. Luxury is now what you want it to be: time, escape,
human-friendly, access, perks. Consumers are adjusting to new forms of
luxury like “real” food and designer brands’ second tier lines, secure
finances for peace of mind. Balanced consumption is the new trend and
brands need to offer status without overt excess.
PR implications: define how your brand offers status and everyday
luxury, make ‘trading up’ to your brand a luxury, provide status to loyal
users through value add benefits

9. 6. GET REAL!
Grown-up (and online) consumers are over-
exposed to urban culture, hypocrisy and raw
honest opinions. Brands need to be more
honest, edgy, daring and have mature, real
conversations with increasingly unshockable
consumers who’ve seen it all online.
PR implications: Storytelling is a must. Start
conversations with consumers, don’t message
at them. Co-create with fans in an online
transparent environment (eg. Public
competitions to create a new product/ range/
flavour). Use a more straightforward tone in
key messages - don’t talk like a TV commercial.

10. 7. ECO-EASY
Corporations and government now regulate to make it easy
for consumers to be more green. Sustainability has evolved
well beyond tree planting & water recycling programs to
become a senior management role in larger organisations.
PR implications: Communicate improvements in packaging,
shipping, water usage and carbon neutral programs. If your
client has someone focused on this area, help them establish
regular dialogue with customers and stakeholders.

11. Sources:
PERSONAL RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONSUMER OPINIONS POSTED ONLINE ARE THE
MOST TRUSTED FORMS OF ADVERTISING GLOBALLY
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/pr_global-study_07709.pdf
INTERNET WORLD STATS, 2009 http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm

12. Practical Tips on How to Apply
these Trends
• Use these in your next insight generation meeting
to check how they provide insight into your target
market’s behaviour
• Compare them against your next new project brief
for relevance as idea sources
• Pick the top 2-3 most relevant to your brand and
brainstorm a story pitch for each. (We did this on
Ford recently and developed 4 story pitches in 30 minutes)