Through our network and panel of Trend Hunters we’ve identified three consumer trends that are gaining momentum in 2011: planned spontaneity, making the mundane fun & the new community. Our slide presentation outlines these trends, showing how brands are already responding and providing tips on how to get involved in order to build a stronger relationship with your target audience.

1. The Lounge Group
Latest
Trends
2011

2. Who we are
We are a creative
communications agency
with a unique network of
10,000 consumers at our
heart.
We specialise in consumer
insight, brand strategy and
below the line with a focus on
experiential and social media.
theloungegroup.com

3. Latest
Trends 2011
THROUGH OUR NETWORK AND TREND HUNTERS WE
HAVE IDENTIFIED 3 CONSUMER TRENDS:
1. PLANNED SPONTANEITY
2. MAKING THE MUNDANE FUN
3. THE NEW COMMUNITY
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4. Latest trend
1. PLANNED SPONTANEITY
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5. Latest trends 2011
1. Planned spontaneity
Since the recession consumers Brands are responding by providing
are working harder and going out consumers with fun, frivolous and
less often, meaning that when immersive experiences.
they do go out they want
something different. They are
increasingly seeking exceptional,
exclusive experiences.
They want to do something more
memorable and imaginative than
the standard bar/pub evening out,
but due to time constraints they
are looking to others to organise
these activities for them.
theloungegroup.com

6. Planned spontaneity
ABSOLUT Glimmer: Limited
Edition Experiences
To celebrate the launch of ABSOLUT Glimmer,
ABSOLUT Vodka hosted Limited Edition
Experiences that turned the ordinary into the
extraordinary.
Consumers navigated quirky installations,
interacting with eccentric characters en route. The
experience portrayed the brand’s personality whilst
offering opportunities to sample the product, with
ABSOLUT cocktails served before and after.
The events were held in semi-disused buildings and
the sequence of events were deliberately disjointed.
ABSOLUT created suspense, intrigue and
exclusivity by restricting the information prior to
event. Publicity relied heavily on WOM creating an
an exclusive feel.
A Lounge Perspective...
Some of the execution was a little rough around the
edges but it still worked - it felt like an artistic work
in progress. Each room was unique and entirely
random giving it a feeling of spontaneity despite the
evident planning involved.
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7. Planned spontaneity
Stella Artois Black: The Night
Chauffeur
Stella Artois Black offered consumers the chance to
be part of an immersive cinematic experience as part
of an on-pack promotion.
Created with the theatrical company Punchdrunk,
consumers became the voyeurs on a 1960s French film
Noir scenario come to life.
Consumers were picked up from a bar full of French-
speaking actors by a ‘chauffeur’ in a classic Citroen DS.
The cinematic intrigue built as a frantic femme fatale
hijacked the car, jumping behind the steering wheel and
whisking them around the backstreets of London where
they witnessed a dramatic lovers’ tryst and were followed
by a sinister vehicle.
A Lounge perspective…
This creative and exciting activity was well suited to Stella
Artois’ alignment with film and premium brand image.
However, there was minimal product placement to the
point that the experience could have been promoting
Punchdrunk instead. A few subtle touches (such as the
actors drinking Stella Artois Black in bar) could have
reinforced the brand presence in the experience. theloungegroup.com

8. Planned spontaneity
What does this mean for brands?
1. INNOVATE by creating a unique experience that the consumer couldn’t OTHER EXAMPLES:
create for themselves and unlike anything offered by traditional
entertainment. Crucially, make sure it reinforces your brand’s personality.
The ABSOLUT experience and Stella’s Night Chauffeur are great
examples of exceptional experiences, yet if the brand itself is not visible
within the event the risk is that the whole rationale behind it can get lost.
2. FLATTER CONSUMERS WITH EXCLUSIVITY by offering a limited
number of spaces. Strategically seed information through relevant Disappearing Dining Club
channels in order to attract influencers and create WOM to build the
prestige of attending.
3. CREATE ANTICIPATION by restricting detailed information of what the
experience will involve prior to the event. But crucially make sure that
attendees are given enough practical information beforehand; full
confirmation details, instructions on how to get there and reminders in
advance of the event. Mentos Fresh Approach: Commuting
4. AMPLIFY REACH by uploading and publicising content post-event to
consumers who couldn’t get tickets through PR, blogs and integration with
social media channels (for example video uploads relating to the
experience).
5. MAKE MEMORIES: provide mementos such as photography and
exclusive access to exclusive content, timed release vouchers and future Underground Rebel Bingo Club
access to restricted events to ensure the attendees become devotees. theloungegroup.com

9. Latest trend
2. MAKING THE MUNDANE FUN
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10. Latest trends 2011
2. Making the mundane fun
As consumers increasingly seek new forms of
escapism they are looking to make dreary day-to-
day aspects of their lives more fulfilling and
entertaining, so that fun isn’t solely the preserve
of nights out.
Brands are tapping into this consumer desire by
delivering creative, and slightly subversive,
approaches to everyday life.
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11. Making the mundane fun
Caribou Coffee Heated Bus Shelter
American coffee brand Caribou
generously heated up bus shelters
for chilly commuters in Minneapolis.
Ad agency Colle & McVoy created the
‘oven shelter’, making a real bus
shelter look like a walk-in oven,
complete with working grill-shaped
heaters to publicise the launch of
Caribou's hot Daybreaker breakfast
sandwiches.
A Lounge perspective...
The working grill-shaped heaters and working clocks make sure that rather than just
creating something eye-catching and fun, the bus shelter genuinely improves
consumers’ mornings. It’s a branded utility that makes mundane fun whilst responding
to a consumer need in a relevant way (hot breakfast sandwiches = staying warm).
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12. Making the mundane fun
Chromaroma
Chromaroma is an immersive online/offline platform that
transforms the daily commute into a game.
The site syncs with your Oyster card, mapping
visualisations of your journeys around London. You can
join one of four teams of commuters and help to ‘win’
stations for your team in a similar way to Foursquare
when you swipe your Oyster card at stations. This then
acts as a virtual check-in; the team with the most check-
ins at any given station ‘wins’ it.
A Lounge perspective…
At the moment, privacy issues could be a concern with
Chromaroma as you need to provide login details to
your TFL account (which can hold your address bank
details). Potentially handing over quite a large amount
of information in order to use the game could be off
putting to consumers.
Potential privacy issues aside, Chromaroma’s
transformation of the mundane daily commute is a great
example of ‘Third Life’ – the blurring of the boundaries
between digital and 'real life’.
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13. Making the mundane fun
What does this mean for brands?
1. ENRICH A DAILY ACTIVITY that your target consumers OTHER EXAMPLES:
are already doing, but would rather not be. Empathise with
their concerns; is there a more creative or innovative way
of approaching the tiresome aspects of day to day life?
2. PROVIDE A BRANDED UTILITY that makes consumers’ Dankse Bank bill paying app
lives easier and more entertaining in a way that reflects
your brand message.
3. IMMERSIVE GAMING provides fertile ground for brands to
connect with consumers in an increasingly personal and
interactive way on the go. Consider sponsoring a relevant Vaulkswagen Fun Theory
app rather than creating a branded one to minimise costs
and capitalise on existing momentum.
Epic Win chore game mobile app
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14. Latest trend
3. THE NEW COMMUNITY
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15. Latest trends 2011
3. The new community
The importance of localisation is still gaining momentum. This is
evidenced by hyper-local reporting (especially on Twitter), on-going
consumer demand for locally-bought goods, the reclamation of disused
local spaces by artistic groups, pop-up shops and brown-field building
projects.
There is also a resurgence in consumers getting hands on . They are
learning practical new skills and adding to their personal development
whilst re-connecting with the local community, taking time over the
process and doing more for themselves in a bid to save money.
Aside from the Government s Big Society , there is a bottom-up surge in
collectives, and, more recently, brands using spaces to bring out a
sense of community and facilitate learning and togetherness.
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16. The new community
Boxpark pop up mall
Boxpark is ‘world’s first ever pop-up mall’ planned for
Shoreditch, London in August 2011.
It will be a shopping centre made of transported crates on
two levels, open for five years. The crates will house
trendy boutique stores, cafes and galleries.
Boxpark’s location is all important. Shoreditch is an artistic
inner city hub that has become a fashionable hangout for
the city’s alternative hipster community over the past few
years.
A Lounge perspective…
The back-to-basics industrial feel is relevant to the
brownfield urban location, creating a sense of authenticity
and place. The mall’s empathy with its surroundings is
likely to appeal to consumers disillusioned with the mass
market ubiquity of most shopping centres.
The small scale of the units offers smaller, local
businesses the opportunity to showcase their wares
alongside bigger brands, democratising the retail space.
Global brands too will benefit from taking up space there
with the context of the Boxpark making them appear more
approachable and human. The mall s temporary status
creates a buzz around visiting the mall, keeping the
momentum alive around cultural events held there.
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17. The new community
The People’s Kitchen
The People’s Kitchen is organised around the notion ‘food by
the people for the people’ to raise awareness of food waste.
Every Sunday they gather up surplus food from the community
and cook a big meal together. Anyone can join and there’s
music and free film showings.
In major cities it is often difficult to get to know your neighbours;
the People’s Kitchen counteracts this, bringing like-minded
locals together around Dalston in London.
A Lounge perspective…
Although the People’s Kitchen has a practical
aim - raising awareness of food waste - it also
forges relationships between strangers,
allowing them to cook and eat together without
a price tag. The opportunity to socialise for free
is of course particularly appealing to consumers
in the current economic climate.
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18. The new community
What does this mean for brands?
1. SHOW YOUR HUMAN SIDE by tapping into interests and OTHER EXAMPLES:
concerns relevant to local areas. Demonstrate generosity and
empathy by creating relevant and sensitive campaigns that show
an understanding of the issues important to specific communities.
2. EMPOWER CONSUMERS by facilitating meet ups and inspiring Levi’s Workshops
communities to tell their own story. Social media groups and
location-based mobile applications are powerful tools in this area.
3. ENABLE THEM TO SOCIALISE FOR FREE or a subsidised rate
around shared interests relevant to your brand. Do include the
brand but don’t dictate – it’s a two way dialogue. The School of Life
4. EDUCATE around a topic or concern that is relevant to your
target audience and a good fit with your brand, allowing people in
a local area to socialise around a shared interest whilst learning
practical skills. ArtSpace LifeSpace Bristol
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