Leveraging Trends for Brand Growth Ebook

Learn how to use trusted trend insights to guide product and marketing strategy.

Leveraging Trends for Brand Growth

by Rachel Bonsignore & Tim Kenyon

How can you develop smart strategies for the future when everything about the present seems uncertain?

In the chaos of the past two-plus years, consumers and brands alike realized how much they had taken for granted as they faced a world of new, extreme dangers and disruption. And, more than halfway into 2022, few people would say we have returned to any kind of “normal” – with highly volatile price increases, record-setting weather events, the ripple effects of global conflicts, and supply chain issues escalating.

The pandemic pointed out how much marketers need a solid grounding in consumer insights to serve as a “guiding light” during unpredictable times. When all bets seem to be off, these insights point out today’s truths and tomorrow’s possibilities. Our work has shown that crises don’t erase pre-existing trends – but they do influence their new trajectories. With cultural and social changes happening in real time, brands need trend insights to reinvent themselves for a new future.

Not all trends are created equal

Not all trends are created equal.

When crisis is the only constant, the hindsight provided by trends yields powerful foresight to transform brands.

To be clear, the trends that we can call suitable for business planning may not be the ones you see every day. For example, you could look at consumers' online behavior on an hourly or daily basis, or collect real-time feedback or opinions from a survey panel, and call these “trends.” But for those with significant decisions to make – about developing a new product or launching a multi-country ad campaign – this kind of information usually does not have “the right stuff.”

Something that is “trending,” or a fad, might be a viral meme or online challenge that lasts a few weeks, or a popular color of the season – but a trend is a more concrete expression of a deeper consumer desire. True trends have a much longer shelf life and emerge from broader cultural and social forces. They are living, breathing entities that evolve along with us – helping us make sense of the noise of everyday life and data.

To leverage trends wisely, we need to separate them from the everyday static of random, unverifiable numbers and assertions.

Shaping smart decisions, building strong brands

There seem to be no end to the challenges of doing business in today’s world. Customer targeting has become more complex, building brand loyalty is trickier than ever – and strategic planning can seem almost out of reach.

In this environment of overload and struggle, trends can act as a compass, helping you:

• Focus on the consumer’s voice to drive decision making
• Uncover emerging movements and consumer segments
• Inject fresh thinking into existing consumer strategies
• Process current events in a way that points you toward the future

A trends-centric approach can be your compass to navigate these difficult times, using the consumer voice to drive your strategic philosophy and decision-making approach.

Trends in action: The sustained rise of ambition

Over the course of 15-plus years, we have seen ambition gain momentum – and transform -- among consumers.

In 2006, the US “Striver” segment – marked by a desire to get ahead in career and lifestyle – was beginning to advance. In 2017, we saw a resurgence in Achievers and associated values. And this year, the Aspirer segment sits at #1 and steadily rising -- yet is redefining what ambition means, with status and wealth being de-prioritized in favor of creativity and freedom. Growth in this trend is largely driven by the younger generations.

Building a framework for your trends program

To get the greatest decision-making value out of trends, it is essential to take ownership of the process – creating a highly structured trends program, or “framework” to help you gather the insights you need in one place. Involving synthesis, customization, prioritization, and socialization, this process can result in broader guidelines to use as a lens for either tactical or strategic work, or anything in between.

GfK Consumer Life: Authoritative trends for wise
decision making

Since 1997, GfK Consumer Life has been asking consumers around the globe – now in 25-plus countries – about their aspirations, personal values, and behaviors. In the US, Consumer Life has been tracking trends for nearly 50 years.

We find out how consumers think about social and cultural issues, as well as family and community relationships. We then marry this with other survey data that delivers a clear picture of what consumers do on a daily basis. The result is a holistic view of the consumers – understanding what consumers feel and what they do to uncover motivations and future opportunities.

Four ways to leverage trends every day

1. Making sense of the noise

Here are just four ways you can leverage trends to help your brand see the marketplace clearly and move ahead on strategic and tactical fronts.

1. Making sense of the noise

While it may sometimes seem that brands are continually chasing the “buzz” of current headlines and fads, marketers know that long-term planning and growth require a much different mindset. With so many headlines, stories, and statements emerging on a daily basis, it can be difficult to focus on concrete truths about society and consumers. With their grounding in a rich understanding of deeper social forces, true trends can help brands separate everyday “noise” from reliable insights and guidance.

Think of sustainability and environmental concern – during the height of the pandemic, many observers suggested that interest in “green” topics and activism might suffer. Who had time (or money) to prioritize the planet?

But Green Gauge – a long-term GfK Consumer Life study tracking consumers’ engagement with the environment – told a different story. Concerns and priorities we saw before 2020 remained quite healthy and persisted – particularly in comparison to other worries that experienced more volatility.

We saw similar confusion around the overall mood of US consumers. Numerous headlines have recently trumpeted the death of American optimism -- but reliable trends provided a more nuanced view. Consumers are more complicated today, and we know that you often cannot ascribe a single sentiment to the masses. GfK Consumer Life research found that good feelings about the economy and tech’s role in society had indeed declined sharply from 2008 to today; but consumers are more upbeat about the healthcare system, the country’s ability to get along with other nations, and other essential topics.

Four ways to leverage trends every day

2. Integrating with other insight sources

Marketers today usually have a variety of data assets and options at their disposal – and making sense of them all can be a job in itself.

Trusted trends can be a powerful resource to guide your sorting and prioritizing, providing a reliable context grounded in the consumer’s point of view.

When conducting qualitative or quantitative research, for example, trends can help inform screening criteria, inspire and prioritize lines of questioning, and add significant context to final insights.

You can also get more creative by incorporating key metrics associated with trends into primary research studies to profile your target across well-established segments and other cohorts. And the outputs of trends have a great deal of utility for sales materials, as external thought leadership, or for numerous other tactical efforts.

Four ways to leverage trends every day

3. Prioritizing strategic moves

The question brands face every day – especially in these times of unpredictable world events and consumer moods – is “Where do we go next?” Rising above reactive approaches to the marketplace and setting clear, long-term strategy is a continual challenge.

Trends provide an important foundation for inspiring creative exercises and helping teams prioritize their decisions and actions. They can provide a template for

determining the themes most relevant to explore for your business
brainstorming new areas of exploration for product or service offerings
assessing the impact of external events on existing trends, or
solving very specific problems for your organization.

Four ways to leverage trends every day

4. Navigating crises large and small

4. Navigating crises large
and small

At times when our usual assumptions seem suspect, marketers need to step back and see the broader contexts of everyday events. Tracking trends provides grounding and guidance for this process.

Macro trends, for example, offer a way to understand the world and the types of innovations and messages that consumers want and need to hear. Among nine macro trends that GfK Consumer Life has been tracking for some time, three stand out for their relevance in today’s disrupted world.

Seeking safety

In many settings, consumers are seeking reassurance from what they see as dangers to their health and wellbeing – from virtual threats (such as risks to their personal information) to physical hazards such as food-borne illness or, more recently, a pandemic. This trend was already at the top of our list globally before 2020.

Eco-Conscience

In 2017 and into 2018, we saw more momentum around environmental concern, driven by climate change awareness and global protests. We actually saw the pandemic as an accelerant to this trend – and, in fact, it is now the #2 global trend behind Seeking Safety.

Discerning consumption

GfK Consumer Life has seen a growing consumer desire for high-quality products and services that clearly and definitively serve consumer needs. People are looking for innovative solutions that protect them and their families – but still offer the element of surprise. This has been crucial to understanding how people have responded to the past two-plus years of confusion and uncharted territories.

Drawing on these and other trend insights, we are helping clients discern which of the trends from the past two years may actually be here to stay.

Use trends to fuel your brand’s future growth

Use trends to fuel your brand's future growth

What people want, believe, and do should act as a template for the health and growth of consumer brands. While it may seem that consumer information is everywhere, marketers know that not every data point can or should drive decisions.

A thriving insights framework built on a clear understanding of trusted trends helps brands weather uncertainty and chart a course to the future – a future of powerful growth and sustained impact.