Havas PR CEO, Marian Salzman spots 7 trends for the PRWeek Webcast in Winter of 2011-12

1. 7TrendstoWatchin2012
PRWeek Webcast
Marian Salzman
Winter 2011-12
@ erwwpr

2. WhyTrends?
Whydowelookattrendswhen
creatingactionableandinsightful
strategiesforbrands?
•To identify the forces driving the future and plan for
long-term success.
@ erwwpr

3. WhyTrends?
Whydowelookattrendswhen
creatingactionableandinsightful
strategiesforbrands?
•To
identify the forces driving the future and plan for longterm success.
•To discover unexpected opportunities that help
transform brands and businesses.
@ erwwpr

4. WhyTrends?
Whydowelookattrendswhen
creatingactionableandinsightful
strategiesforbrands?
•To
identify the forces driving the future and plan for longterm success.
•To
discover unexpected opportunities that help transform
brands and businesses.
•To provide insight into the drivers of key business,
consumer and social trends.
@ erwwpr

5. Learningto
SpotTrends
social
momentum
It means tracking
people
companies
radical
breakthroughs
economies
brands
@ erwwpr

6. Spottingtrends
isbigbusinessforpeople
inmanyindustrieswhoneed
tobethinkingahead,for
themselvesandtheir
clients.
@ erwwpr

7. And,really,isn’t that
everyone today?
@ erwwpr

8. Unquestionably,it’s
everyoneheretoday.
@ erwwpr

9. LookingAhead...Moodier,
Faster,MoreComplex
Technology
• It’s
the CRUCIAL new factor in the art and science of
trend tracking.
• It
enables us to sense and read the moods of groups and
whole communities in real time as they communicate with
each other.
• It makes events and responses to them move faster. Monday’s
hot news can feel like ancient history by Wednesday.
• It
increases the number and speed of interactions, upping
complexity by an order of magnitude.
The following slides pull together seven key trends in this complex mix.
@ erwwpr

10. 1.
PeoplePower:Socializing
theMightyandtheTiny
@ erwwpr

11. 1. PeoplePower:Socializing
theMightyandtheTiny
•During the bubble years, Americans splurged because it felt like
they could—then with the great deals offered after the worst of
2008, some spent because it felt like they should.
•Now many look at purchases that seem rash and unnecessary
and regret those wasted dollars. Look for 2012 to be the year of
essentials only.
•Yet old impulses die hard, especially in the holiday season—popup stores will continue to soothe by offering one-off items
without the sticker shock.
•After the success of Missoni at Target, it’s time for other brands to
partner up; co-producing products and lines for a one-two punch will
be one way of carrying business through a tepid holiday season into
a frugal 2012.
@ erwwpr

12. 2.
@ erwwpr
TheAlways-Ticking
Millennials

13. 2.TheAlways-TickingMillennials
•Are millennials shaping the trends or are the trends shaping
millennials? Either way, Generation Y lives naturally with
screens and collaboration, moving between virtual and physical
with barely a pause.
•This
generation will reshape notions of time and place as
their digital-native, screenage mindset moves into the
demographic mainstream and the 24/7/365 world of work.
•One
big imponderable for 2012 and beyond is how many
millennials will actually get a shot at careers in a lame and
limping economy that’s offering too few jobs, too many deadend internships and McJobs.
@ erwwpr

14. 3.
@ erwwpr
PrizingPrivacy

15. 3. PrizingPrivacy
• So much has shifted, we are all working out the right balance
between conflicting pulls—spend versus save, virtual versus
IRL, work versus life, transparency versus privacy.
• Private individuals and public figures are finding that in
cyberspace what was intended to be sharing among friends can
all too easily turn into full-scale exposure to the whole world.
• We expect our businesses and leaders to be transparent and to
stand up to scrutiny—that comes with the turf—but why
should private citizens tell all and tolerate intrusion?
• Individuals will increasingly pay attention to TCs, exercise
more opt-outs and privacy options, get smarter about what
they put on the net and figure out smarter filtering strategies
to avoid the onslaught of TMI.
@ erwwpr

16. 4. HyperlocalVersusUniversal
@ erwwpr

17. 4. HyperlocalVersusUniversal
• The
object of this game is to find where people’s attention
goes and what holds it … the advertising dollars will follow.
• Online
local has risen, phoenix-like, from the ashes of
traditional local media classifieds; local took 40 percent of
online ad spending in 2010, up from 34 percent in 2009.
• Yahoo, Topix, Examiner.com
and Patch are all aiming to
put news into that sweet spot where online speed and
convenience meet real-life relevance—the driver of locationbased apps.
• Among
their many other challenges, clever brands will find
ways to connect with both our hyperlocal interests and the
universal truths we feel—matching the span of our attention
and desired connections.
@ erwwpr

18. 5.
@ erwwpr
PRGeneralists

19. 5. PRGeneralists
•With the notion of media being redefined by the second and the
new news being reported by you, me and everyone in between, the
next generation of PR professionals will need to be generalists of
sorts: part content provider, part media relations guru, part
transparency expert and part CSR gospel preacher.
•In the immediate future the PR industry will need to seriously
deliver on its strategies to get ahead. We’re calling it play me,
then pay me.
•In this tough environment, those who deliver PR plans and
measurable results will be better able to stay in business; watch the
introduction of serious “contingency element compensation, in which
”
a component of fees is directly linked to results.
@ erwwpr

20. 6.
@ erwwpr
Semi-Scientific
VoodooMedicine

21. 6. Semi-ScientificVoodooMedicine
•As the age of the population rises and the economy-stricken mood
languishes, there’ll be growing calls on healthcare.
•Rather than the communicable diseases of yesteryear, people will
grapple with excess weight and its related ailments, as well as
cancers and cardiovascular, autoimmune and degenerative diseases.
•For the unwell and the worried well, the Internet provides access to
more medical information than most physicians saw in their life 50
years ago—and most consumers are not trained to evaluate it all.
•The effect across markets is a fragmented mix of semi-scientific
voodoo, full of contradictory and complementary elements—folk
remedies (e.g., gargling with salt water) and alternative beliefs
(e.g., homeopathy) alongside pharmaceuticals and supplements.
•The desire is more than just health; it’s a feeling of wellness—
increasingly the buzzword du jour.
@ erwwpr

22. 7.
@ erwwpr
Heightened
Optimism

23. 7. HeightenedOptimism
•It’s
no secret that the “hope” generation has been a bit
disappointed of late, with job growth at a crawl and the
United States in the midst of an identity crisis (downgraded
credit rating and all).
•PR
will take a hopeful turn as ordinary citizens, journalists
and brands alike are looking for stories that will put a smile
on their faces—think human interest, inspiring tales of
reformation and perseverance gone public. We need some
optimism to boost our spirits (and our retail numbers).
•Whether optimism is your strategy in 2012, think about the
explosion of personal gaming as a piece of the PR pie, because the
PC gaming hardware market should reach $27 billion in 2014,
according to Jon Peddie Research.
@ erwwpr

24. Sowhatcanweexpect
NOW and NEXT?
And how does it affect your business?
@ erwwpr