According to a New White Paper From the Futures Company, What the Great Recession of 2008/2009 Has Wrought Is Not What Is Popularly Supposed

According to a New White Paper From the Futures Company, What the Great
Recession of 2008/2009 Has Wrought Is Not What Is Popularly Supposed
In a just-released white paper, A Darwinian Gale: The Recovery Consumer
Marketplace in the Era of Consequences, The Futures Company projects big
growth opportunities just ahead for brands, irrespective of any attenuation in
consumer spending over the near-term

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- In a white paper released today, A
Darwinian Gale: The Recovery Consumer Marketplace in the Era of Consequences,
The Futures Company debunks the notion of a new frugality on the rise and
foresees instead the beginning of an Era of Consequences rooted in a new
consumer psychology about economic risk.

Likening the Great Recession of 2008/2009 to a Darwinian gale clearing the
landscape for the evolutionary eruption of wholly new species of brands,
co-author J. Walker Smith, Executive Vice Chairman of The Futures Company,
says, "Marketing thinking is stuck in Q4 2008, as if what's ahead will be more
of what's now behind us. The recessionary consumer mindset is giving way to a
recovery consumer mindset." The implications of this shift in mindset, says
Smith, are "profound, and smart marketers will see that while affordability is
important, prospects for growth need not be limited by an economy in
recovery."

Co-author Crawford Hollingworth, Executive Chairman of The Futures Company,
adds, "Consumers are rethinking what motivates them, and won't go back to the
discredited ambitions of before. But neither will they abandon the
marketplace. The future will see a proliferating mosaic of ever-more eclectic
ways of building satisfying lifestyles and of enormous opportunities for
marketers to deliver real value not just cheaper prices."

The latest data from The Futures Company's 20-country Global MONITOR study and
its U.S. Yankelovich MONITOR study finds that the biggest impact of the
recession has been on consumer perceptions of economic risk. The overhang of
economic risk, and the greater awareness and salience of consequences that
comes with it, are ushering in a new consumer Era of Consequences in which
responsibility will be the driving ambition, vigilance the prevailing
sensibility, resourcefulness the characteristic mindset, prioritization the
consuming passion, and networks of others the defining orientation.

-- Across the countries tracked in Global MONITOR, there was an average
decline from Q2 2008 to Q2 2009 of 8 percentage points in the percent
of
respondents agreeing that "I am happy to have short-term debt to allow
me to buy the things I want."
-- Similarly, across the countries tracked in Global MONITOR, there was
an
average decline from Q2 2008 to Q2 2009 of 6 percentage points in the
percent of respondents agreeing that "I like to take part in
activities
that have an element of risk or adventure."
-- Across the countries tracked in Global MONITOR, there was an average
increase from Q2 2008 to Q2 2009 of 8 percentage points in the percent
of respondents agreeing that "It is important in my personal life
today
to strive to reach my full potential." And there was an average
increase
of 8 percentage points in the percent of respondents agreeing that "It
is important in my personal life today to express my creative side."

-- In the U.S. Yankelovich MONITOR, the percentage of respondents
agreeing
that "being a good citizen" means "not buying a home larger than you
really need" has risen from 36% in 2007 to 42% in 2009. Similarly, the
percentage of respondents agreeing that "being a good citizen" means
"preparing adequately for retirement" has risen from 56% in 2007 to
61%
in 2009.

While uncertainty about economic risk has grown, the interest in and ambition
to live a full, enriched lifestyle has not diminished. Responsibility has
become more central to the ways in which consumers assess consequences and set
priorities.

There are a number of fundamental implications of these shifts in attitudes,
which are explored in detail in A Darwinian Gale. A few key takeaways include:

-- Uncertainty about economic risk will be the backdrop of the
marketplace
ahead, but that does not mean that consumers will be in retreat from
shopping and buying. Instead, it means that consumers will be
redefining
value to better fit a world in which economic risk can no longer be
indulged or ignored.
-- Consumers in developing markets will grapple with a clash of values
related to the lessons of consequences - the burning desire to move up
the ladder by spending more versus the critical duty to avert untoward
consequences by spending less.
-- Prioritization will be much more important in shaping the consumer
decision calculus. Prioritization will even remake the competitive
context for brands as consumers decide first whether to even shop in a
category, thus pitting brands against other category choices not just
against other brand choices.

-- Forced back on their own resources, there will be a premium among
consumers for acquiring new skills. Resourceful self-sufficiency will
become a lifestyle focus for increasing numbers of consumers.
Vigilance
will define the degree and enthusiasm of consumer involvement in the
marketplace, thus demanding a new focus by marketers on assuaging
worry
and concerns. Affluence and luxury will get a second look. Not being
wasteful will be a central element of value calculations.

This white paper from The Futures Company is the first what will be an
on-going series of periodic thought-pieces on key topics in global marketing
strategy and consumer trends.

This white paper, both the full report and the Executive Summary, is available
as a complimentary download at: www.darwiniangale.com.

About The Futures Company
The Futures Company is the coming together of Yankelovich and Henley Centre
HeadlightVision. The Futures Company is a leading global trends and futures
research and consultancy business, focused on its mission of "Unlocking
Futures" for its clients.

The Futures Company provides on-going tracking of consumer trends through its
20- country Global MONITOR study as well as the U.S. Yankelovich MONITOR and
the U.K. Planning for Consumer Change studies. Additionally, The Futures
Company maintains a global ethnographic database of trends manifestations and
examples called Global Streetscapes. The Futures Company offers future-facing
qualitative and quantitative research along with its trends and futures
consultancy to help clients uncover new ways of understanding and segmenting
markets, identifying future sources of value, and building powerful brand
connections.

The Futures Company is part of the Kantar Group of WPP, with offices in
London, New York, Chapel Hill, NC, Mumbai and Delhi.

SOURCE The Futures Company

PR Contacts: US: Emily Ross, Director of Marketing, +1-919-932-8626,
emily.ross@thefuturescompany.com, or UK: Jennifer Childs, Marketing & PR
Manager, +44 (0) 20 7955 1824, jennifer.childs@thefuturescompany.com, both of
The Futures Company