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Interview with Millennial (Interview Conducted with my sister)

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Interview with Millennial (Interview Conducted with my sister)

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What does your everyday look like?
An everyday for me is work, after work I might meet up some friends and socialise or go to a friends house and chill out for the evening.

What types of brands do you shop from?
ASOS, Fenty, Missguided, Stussy, Puma, Vans
For everyday clothing I usually shop from online retailers however if I'm looking for clothes that is going to last a long time then I will spend a bit more and buy from places such as Vans, Puma and Nike

What are your technology preferences?
I use my phone and laptop every single day

How would you describe yourself?
I would describe myself as a creative, unique individual, one of a kind person who is very social and is kind a generous towards my friends. I have always been very creative and I paint as a way to express myself.

What do your hobbies include?
I enjoy going to raves with my friends and I love drum and bass music. I love to paint in my spare time and also walk my dogs. I love to travel and see different parts of the world and experience different cultures.

What does your living and work situation look like?
I currently live at home with my family however I am saving up from deposit on a house. With my work situation, I am currently fully employed by a media company and working my way up to become advertising manager.

How would you describe your style?
My dress style is heavy influenced by 90s grunge style, I like to wear flared trousers and platform shoes.

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Asos is an online retailer that was established in 2000. Asos believe that their audience is unique and they contribute to LGBTQ+ activism, gender-neutral collections and believe in acceptance. Asos are a very body positive brand and this is executed in the models that they use and also the fact that they do not believe in digitally altering anyones appearance.

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We believe in a world where you have total freedom to be you, without judgement. To experiment. To express yourself. To be brave and grab life as the extraordinary adventure it is. So we make sure everyone has an equal chance to discover all the amazing things they're capable of - no matter who they are, where they're from or what looks they like to boss. We exist to give you the confidence to be whoever you want to be.

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We believe in a world where you have total freedom to be you, without judgement. To experiment. To express yourself. To be brave and grab life as the extraordinary adventure it is. So we make sure everyone has an equal chance to discover all the amazing things they're capable of - no matter who they are, where they're from or what looks they like to boss.

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As a brand Asos believe that they are 'Authentic, Brave and Creative' to their core. They focus on fashion to inspire young people to express themselves. They believe fashion thrives on individuality and it should be enjoyed by everyone.

The Asos mission is to become the world's number one destination for the fashion loving 20-something year old. Asos is unique and it is a place for people to develop their own style and to be inspired.

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"ASOS has delivered another strong performance against a backdrop of continued social restrictions and global supply chain pressures, and I would like to thank our ASOS team members for their continued commitment, resilience, and enthusiasm through the pandemic.

"Although mindful of the continued impacts of the pandemic on our customers in the short term, we believe that the structure of the global e-commerce fashion market has changed forever, which will drive an increase in online fashion sales over the long term. We're excited about the size of the prize ahead of us and the opportunity of delivering on our ambition of being the number one destination for fashion-loving 20-somethings."

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"ASOS has delivered another strong performance against a backdrop of continued social restrictions and global supply chain pressures, and I would like to thank our ASOS team members for their continued commitment, resilience, and enthusiasm through the pandemic.

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Strengths:
- Asos are a current brand that stay on trend
- Asos are an extremely diverse brand that represent everyone and anyone
- They sell many brands therefore they cover many different styles and peoples clothing preferences
- Online retailer that have next-day or same-day delivery, they also use Klarna for their 'buy now pay later' scheme
- They ship world wide therefor can reach very vast amount of people

Weaknesses:
- Asos is an online only brand therefore they cannot connect to their customers through a brick and mortar store
- When it comes to buying from Asos it can be difficult to decide what size to buy as you cannot try the garment on
- It is hard to know how good the quality of the clothing will be as you cannot feel it before you buy it

Threats:
- As online retail has become so popular in the last few years many other online retailers are emerging and become competitors to Asos, such as; Misguided, Pretty Little Thing, Nasty Gal
- Offline retailer are also a threat to Asos such as Topshop, Zara and River Island
- Due to trends on the high-street coming and going so quickly it can be hard for a brand like Asos to keep up with the evolving trends

Opportunities:
- Possible opening a brick and mortar store or pop-up shop could be a good opportunity for Asos to grow as a company and explore into different areas of retail
- Asos could look into having 'cyber' runways shows on their social media so Asos could go live on social media and showcase their new products for consumers to see
- Asos could possible have a concept store where they don't sell stock but can provide consumers with an experience

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This is a survey I completed with a group of millennials to understand them better, I wanted to understand their consumer behaviour better.

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This consumer is fashion forwards and likes to stay on trend. She likes fast fashion to keep continuously up to date with the latest fashion. She shops from high-street and online retailers such as Nasty Gal, Asos, Pretty Little Thing, Topshop and Zara.

This consumer is heavily social media driven, she follows many influencers on social media and aspires to be one. She shares everything on social media and cannot live without her smartphone.

This consumer is a very social person and her hobbies include socialising with her friends, going shopping, going out for dinner and she enjoys doing creative make-up looks.

This consumer enjoys travelling with her friends to popular tourist attractions. She enjoys going to these places because they are great for taking pictures for social media.

This consumer has just finished her university education in a creative field, and she is starting out in her new career. She aspires to have her own brand and business one day.

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This consumer is fashion forwards and likes to stay on trend. She tries to shop sustainably from brands such as the H&M Conscious line and Zara Join Life collection. She prefers to pay more money for better quality clothing that will last longer.

This consumer likes to use social media, she enjoys sharing her days with her followers. She shares the food she eats, her workout routines and her fashion picks.

This consumer is a creative person, her hobbies could include going to art galleries, photography, reading and writing.

This consumer is very mind and body conscious, they practice healthy living, they could possibly be vegan or vegetarian. She stays fit and healthy through eating right and working out.

This consumer enjoys travelling the world and experiencing different cities and countries. She enjoys seeing other people cultures and being adventurous.

This consumer lives and works in the city, she works within a creative field whether it be fashion, photography, journalism etc. She can work from home or the company office.

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Smarter Navigation - When first going onto your are greeted with a gender neutral image then once you choose what gender you want to shop then when you next go onto the Asos website you will be greeted with the first generation you selected.

Digital Fit Assistants - When looking at products on the Asos website, when you go to select the size of product you want to get the 'fit assistant' will recommend the size to fir you. They collect data from your previous products to recommend the right size. To improve this they also give the option to put in your body proportions to get a better recommendation.

Recently Viewed - When browsing on the Asos website the site logs your recently viewed products and it allows to see them at the bottom of the page. This will allow consumers to go back and forth and look at the products while making the decision on what to purchase.

Your Very Own 'edit' - Asos will collect data on the products that you search for and your purchase history and create a suggestion list. They aim to narrow down items and show you products that they think you'll be highly interested in.

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"By 2020, personalisation technology that recognises customer intent will enable digital businesses to increase profits by up to 15%" (Gartner)

Stats like this make it difficult to ignore the power of personalisation. Ecommerce sites in particular are really starting to harness their customer data to provide completely unique user experiences and help boost sales.

One that stands out in particular is ecommerce giant ASOS. They use some incredibly clever (and sometimes subtle) personalisation techniques that any online store could benefit from.

We've looked into some of the most common personalisation techniques being used today, and how you can take advantage of this ever growing trend.

Smarter Navigation

We learn a lot about a user the first time they browse your site. From then on, we can make assumptions about their behaviour for subsequent visits.

If you browsed the womenswear on your first visit to ASOS, next time, you'll automatically land on the women's section of the site. It eliminates that extra step for the user, and is an extremely basic example of how we can use cookies to make the whole shopping experience just that little bit more personal.

As you can see above, first time browsers are presented with a gender neutral page directing people to either 'shop women' or 'shop men'. As soon as we browse women's, from then on we're presented with a homepage completely focussed on womenswear.

Digital Fit Assistants

A more recent addition to ASOS is its 'Fit Assistant'. From a user's purchase / return history, this machine learning algorithm will recommend which size they should choose for future purchases.

It can even go one further, and if you're happy to share more insight into your height, weight, shape and fit preference, it can provide a more exact recommendation every time.

ASOS sells hundreds of different clothing brands all with varying size guides, so this 'digital assistant' is a welcome addition to the ecommerce giant. Personalised size recommendations are really helping to minimise the risk of disappointment after waiting days for that parcel to arrive, only for the product not to fit. Conversion rates are higher, and return rates are lower ...

Recently viewed

A common feature of ecommerce site, and one that ASOS does particularly well is constantly reminding you of your 'recently viewed' products. A user might visit a site multiple times and go back and forth when making their decision, so a recently viewed section acts as personalised selection of clothes that we know the customer is considering. It can really help to seal the deal and lock in that sale that's been bubbling for weeks.

Your very own 'edit'

ASOS also makes use of the vast amount of customer data it holds by providing each user with their own personalised 'edit'. By analysing past behaviour such as purchase history, saved items and added to cart, you're presented with a tailored suggestions of products which ASOS calls 'your very own personal stylist'. It aims to save you browsing through the thousands of products it holds on site, and displays products you're highly likely to be interested in.

Too much choice?

While the above feature uses machine learning to display more personalised product to users, this feature allows the user to provide their preferences in person.

We're taken through a short questionnaire asking us to choose our favourite products / brands from a small selection. From then on, ASOS uses this data to once again display products we're more likely to purchase.

ASOS are certainly the king of ecommerce, but implementing even just a couple of these features can drastically improve your bottom line.

As the personalisation trend grows and grows, and machine learning becomes smarter, now is a good time to get on board. If you'd like to discuss our ecommerce services or any of the above, just give us a call.

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5 personalisation techniques we can learn from ASOS | Run2 Digital

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"By 2020, personalisation technology that recognises customer intent will enable digital businesses to increase profits by up to 15%" ( Gartner ) Stats like this make it difficult to ignore the power of personalisation. Ecommerce sites in particular are really starting to harness their customer data to provide completely unique user experiences and help boost sales.

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Brands and the media are obsessed with what entices millennials, this is due to the generation having a very high spending power. Asos offer the most 'millennial friendly style' and 60% of revenue was generated my millennials last year.

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With a panel of over 4.7 million online shoppers, Slice Intelligence gives the most detailed, and accurate digital commerce data available, and is reported daily.

Slice Intelligence is the only service to measure digital commerce directly from the consumer, across all retailers, at the item level, and over time. Our retailer-independent methodology precisely measures commerce as it happens. By extracting detailed information from hundreds of millions of aggregated and anonymized e-receipts, Slice can map the entire Purchase Graph, connecting each and every consumer to all their purchases.

Slice gets its data from e-receipts - not a browser, app or software installed by the end-user - so its measurement reflects comprehensive shopping behavior across multiple devices, over time which are key in an increasingly omnichannel retail world. Slice Intelligence is the exclusive e-commerce data provider for the NPD's Checkout Tracking e-commerce service.

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Asos wins the hearts and wallets of millennials online

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With a panel of over 4.7 million online shoppers, Slice Intelligence gives the most detailed, and accurate digital commerce data available, and is reported daily. Slice Intelligence is the only service to measure digital commerce directly from the consumer, across all retailers, at the item level, and over time.

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Gen Y are the largest generation with a population of 92 million.
Millennials are..
- Very Well educated
- single (57% have never been married)
- Parents (1-in-4 millennials are now parents
- Minorities (more likely to be ethnic)
- City dwellers

Millennials are heavily influenced by their friends and family members. They love to travel and see the world. Millennials are extremely wellness-focused, they are into healthy living. Millennial shoppers prioritise discounts when looking into places to shop.

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The definition of a millennial varies and is constantly changing, the word 'millennial' is often used as calling someone a 'young person'.
The term 'millennial' was introduced in 1991 as they decided on the label due to the fact these people would be graduating high school in 2000.

Millennials are also known as Generation Y, Gen Y, Eacho Boomers and Generation Me.

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You can thank the hit 1983 movie Valley Girl for mainstreaming phrases like "for sure" and "gag me." Valspeak had been around since before the film, which grossed $17.3 million against a $600,000 budget, but the movie helped depict "Valley Girls" in a more positive light. The movie stars Deborah Foreman as a Valley Girl named Julie, who falls in love with a Hollywood punk named Randy ( Nicolas Cage), despite the disapproval of their friends.

The film marked Cage's first major role, and his quirkiness was evident from the get-go (more on that later). Directed by Martha Coolidge (who was paid just $5000 for the gig), Valley Girl endures as both a timeless teen rom-com and a great all-around film-and is about to get a musical reboot. Here are 13 tubular facts about the original movie.

1. Valley Girl is based on Romeo and Juliet.

It's not a coincidence that Valley Girl's star-crossed lovers are named Randy and Julie, nor is it accidental that they share a kiss in front of a movie theater marquee for Romeo and Juliet. "Yes, it was intentional, and it was a love story," Martha Coolidge told the Kickin' It Old School blog. "So I worked to bring it even more out front. I created a Valley look and a Hollywood look. This heightened the stakes for Randy and Julie, just as the differences between the families did in Romeo and Juliet. The parallels were always meant to be fun and not super serious but were based on truthful observations about the local conflicts and real teen pressures. It's not about marriage, but about love and growing up and differentiating enough to love."

In the first version of the script, written by Andrew Lane and Wayne Crawford, a falling-in-love scene and a break-up scene were left out, so Coolidge worked with the writers to add those in.

2. Valley Girl is named after a Frank Zappa song, but he didn't want it associated with the movie.

A year before Valley Girl was released in theaters, Frank Zappa and his daughter Moon Unit had an unexpected hit song with " Valley Girl," in which Moon exaggerates Valspeak over her dad's music. In an interview, Zappa said, "I don't want people to act like that. I think Valley Girls are disgusting."

In a 1982 interview with , Zappa again expressed his distaste: "People think that 'Valley Girl' is a happy kind of song, but it isn't. I've always hated the San Fernando Valley. It's a most depressing place." At the time, he said he was open to collaborating on a script about the song as long as the movie wouldn't be like Beach Blanket Bingo. But when the movie went into production, Zappa asked a judge to halt production of it because it infringed on the song's copyright, and filed a suit for $100,000 in punitive damages.

3. Martha Coolidge hired Nicolas Cage for the lead without realizing he was a Coppola.

Before Valley Girl came to be, Coolidge had developed a script at Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope, but the project never came to fruition. When she signed on to direct Valley Girl, she was desperate to find a leading actor who wasn't a "pretty boy." "We saw everybody from that generation," Coolidge said at a 2011 screening of Valley Girl, moderated by Kevin Smith. "All those Brat Packers or whatever, they came and I rejected all of them. I almost cast Judd Nelson, and he was tied up, which was probably lucky for me." During the casting process, she walked over to a pile of headshots and came across one titled "Nicolas Cage," and after seeing his audition, she decided she wanted him for Randy.

Cage told her he couldn't do the part, because he was committed to acting in Coppola's Rumblefish. Coolidge didn't realize Francis was Cage's uncle until she called the production company to resolve the conflict, and was told that Nic's actual surname was Coppola.

4. Martha Coolidge (unsuccessfully) fought to make the cast more diverse.

"I wanted one of the four girls to be black, but [the studio] refused," Coolidge said at a screening of Valley Girl, discussing the lack of diversity in the cast. "I just did the best I could under the circumstances."

5. In order to get into character, Nicolas Cage lived in his car while filming Valley Girl.

To get into character, Cage lived in his car while shooting the movie. "I remember chastising him about the danger of living in his car in Hollywood, and how we couldn't call him," Coolidge told Kickin' It Old School. "He said he'd use pay phones-we didn't have cell phones then! Later, during Birdy, he lived with bandages around his head, which made it difficult for him to eat, so maybe we were lucky."

6. Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman had palpable chemistry.

"I loved [Cage's] eyes, and I thought he had great energy," Foreman told the Tampa Bay Times of her co-star. "I thought he was scary to me. Emotionally, I was feeling stuff inside. He was triggering stuff in me that I had never experienced in my life. I didn't even have a boyfriend prior to that movie ... I had strong feelings for Nic. When the film ended, we had a conversation. I actually went up to San Francisco with him for a weekend. When we came back, an ultimatum was made-let's just put it that way. And I decided not to go with the ultimatum, and we were never together after that."

For Foreman, the break-up scene in the movie was difficult. "I think deep down, I didn't want to be breaking up with him! And I didn't even want to go there, to predestine myself," she said. "I was really resisting the whole experience. It was uncomfortable beyond means. That was the longest we spent on any scene. It was a struggle. Even when I watch it now, I go, 'Wow, that's so uncomfortable.'"

7. Elizabeth "E.G." Daily wasn't a Valley Girl in real life.

Elizabeth Daily's character, Loryn, didn't have a Valley Girl accent, and that was on purpose. "I didn't really know the Valley Girl thing that much, so I pretended my character was actually from Malibu," she said. "I was such a rocker from the [Sunset] Strip that I didn't really know the Valley Girl thing, but I think it was kind of accurate, actually. There are people that actually talk like that from the Valley. It's pretty funny."

If Daily's non-Valley Girl voice sounds familiar, it's because she has since moved on to a successful voice acting career, doing the voice of The Rugrats' Tommy Pickles, as well as work on The Powerpuff Girls, Happy Feet, and Wreck-It Ralph; in 2013 she auditioned for The Voice.

8. Nicolas Cage was so hairy, he had to shave his chest.

For an 18-year-old, Cage was quite hirsute, so Coolidge asked him to shave his chest to look younger. "There was an artistic bent to it, for his character," Foreman told the Yo Show. "He looked more mature with all that hair that he had. They found a middle ground for it." Cage shaved his hair into a V-like shape, which can be seen in the beach scene above.

9. The Valley Girl soundtrack got pulled at the last minute.

One of the things Valley Girl is known for is its excellent New Wave soundtrack, featuring Modern English's "I Melt With You," the Plimsouls, and an array of other '80s songs. Though it was a shoestring budget film, $250,000 of that budget went toward music clearance rights. A Clash song plays in an earlier print but it got switched to a Men at Work song later, and the studio refused to redo the print to bring the credits up to date "They didn't care if the credits were correct, they just didn't want to spend that large amount of money," Coolidge told Kickin' It Old School. "So CBS pulled the soundtrack album at the last minute. The film was released with the new songs in it and some of the music credits were completely wrong." A mini-album was released, but it wasn't until 1994 that Rhino Records released a full soundtrack.

10. The Los Angeles band X was supposed to be in the movie instead of The Plimsouls.

During a scene at Club Central, the live band playing in the background is The Plimsouls, who contributed their hit "A Million Miles Away" to the soundtrack. But during the Kevin Smith screening, Coolidge revealed that she originally tapped the band X to be in the scene. "It was going to be X, and we were in talks. It was very serious and then all of a sudden they kind of freaked out and they said, 'You know what? We don't want to alienate our Valley fans,' and they passed."

11. Martha Coolidge was given artistic freedom on Valley Girl ... as long as she made sure there was some nudity.

Atlantic Releasing distributed the movie, and they wanted it to appeal to men, which meant that they wanted it to include some nudity, so Coolidge agreed to include a few boob shots. "They said they didn't care how it was done, they 'just wanted to see them.' We shook hands on it," Coolidge told Kickin' It Old School. "They considered the film an 'exploitation genre film' meant for guys. The real success happened when we showed them the finished film. They jumped up and gasped, 'It's a real movie!' They no longer obsessed about how many times they saw naked breasts in the film, which was barely three, and one frame of a fourth ... When the studio saw it, they knew it was better to have a good, real film than a mediocre exploitation film. It put them on the map."

12. Deborah Foreman isn't on the Valley Girl poster, possibly due to financial reasons.

The artwork for the poster features Nic Cage standing next to a woman who is not only not Deborah Foreman, but a woman who does not appear in the movie at all. "Deborah had worked in the business and she was pretty strict about being paid," Coolidge told Kickin' It Old School. "When the company needed the actors to be 'generous with them' about hours or rules, Deborah was not as forgiving as some of the others. When the poster came up for whatever reason-and it may have been simply that she wanted to be paid-the company brought in a model rather than Deborah. I was shocked and thought it was petty and a really bad idea. But there was nothing I could do about it."

In a 2013 interview with the Yo Show, Foreman simply said, "If I was the producer I would never have let that happen. I don't know the facts on it."

13. A musical remake of Valley Girl has been in the works for years, and is finally being released in May 2020.

Since 2009, a musical film version of Valley Girl has been talked about. First, Jason Moore was attached to direct, but in 2012 Clay Weiner came aboard to direct the Paramount/MGM movie. According to an article in Deadline at the time, "In the musical, the actors will sing '80s New Wave tunes from bands like The Go-Go's and The Cars." Finally, the film has a release date: May 8, 2020-now with Emmy Award-winning director Rachel Lee Goldenberg at the helm.
This story has been updated for 2020.

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You can thank the hit 1983 movie Valley Girl for mainstreaming phrases like "for sure" and "gag me." Valspeak had been around since before the film, which grossed $17.3 million against a $600,000 budget, but the movie helped depict "Valley Girls" in a more positive light.

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"34% of consumers would be motivated to promote their favorite brand online with content that’s relevant to their interests."

Brands combine consumer data with advertising technology, brands use data-driven campaigns to tailor content to their consumers.

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Today's consumers expect personalized marketing, and brands who use data-driven campaigns to tailor content to their interests are seeing the results.

Figures from Salesforce reveal high performing businesses use data-targeting and segmentation 51% more than underperforming businesses. It stands to reason. Our latest research reveals:

34% of consumers would be motivated to promote their favorite brand online with content that's relevant to their interests.

And with 3 in 4 online adults purchasing products online each month, customers not only expect personalization today, they value it.

What is personalized marketing?

Creating personalized marketing and experiences has everything to do with good quality data and the way you use it.

Brands combining consumer data with advertising technology are delivering individualized messaging, products and experiences to consumers in more innovative ways than ever.

Compare the classic example of simply addressing emails to consumers by name, to this colorful and eye-catching email sent by Lyft. Aside from the visual appeal, the email proves the brand knows exactly how its consumers like to use its services.

Personalization tactics can be deployed in a number of ways, and some are more obvious than others. Improved technology, algorithms and the way data is collected and analyzed mean these tactics are becoming more subtle, and better ingrained.

Today, we're seeing more and more brands providing distinct web and mobile experiences for each of their customers. This is happening a lot in the ecommerce space, where content and offerings display differently depending who's on the receiving end.

Some consumers might not even realize how many websites are purposefully displaying more of what they're interested in.

The benefits of personalized marketing

When it comes to the benefits of personalization, much of it has to do with convenience.

What's more effective than providing your audience with experiences that are tailored to them?

The number of options available to consumers can often be overwhelming. Personalized marketing helps bridge the gap between an endless abyss of choice on offer and the needs of consumers.

Brands who present their consumers with highly-targeted suggestions can help consumers save time and effort, driving customer loyalty.

These brilliant examples of one-to-one marketing prove the value in getting to know your audience and using personalized marketing to its full potential.

1. Amazon

Amazon's recommendation algorithm consistently makes headlines for its strategic approach to personalized marketing.

Continually being updated to create more tailored experiences, the tool suggests products not only to fit the individual, but different aspects of their personality.

Cleverly encouraging impulse buying by highlighting key tastes and products to match, it's a tactic that pays off.

The company reported a 29% sales increase to $12.83 billion during its second fiscal quarter, up from $9.9 billion during the same time the previous year.

Takeaway: Personalized marketing isn't just a tactic for building brand trust. When done right, it presents endless upsell opportunities for improved sales.

2. Cadbury's

Following the success of Facebook's personalized video, Cadbury's chose to create its own. But instead of giving consumers a look over their past year with the brand, it spoke to customers' personal tastes in chocolate.

The campaign, which ran in Australia, matched a Dairy Milk flavor to users based on elements from their Facebook profile, including age, interest and location. Once the user agreed to connect with the brand, a video utilizing their own content, including photos and personal information, was automatically generated.

The campaign obtained a 65% click-through rate and a 33.6% conversation rate, proving the personal touch works.

Takeaway: Personalized stories resonate, and there's a wealth of consumer data at your fingertips to help you tell them.

3. Marie Curie

Encouraging people to collect money for the charity on the high street, The Great Daffodil Appeal was launched, gathering each supporter's geolocation data and matching this with its database of collection sites.

This information was used to integrate a real-time personalized map in the email campaign detailing the supporter's nearest collection sites. The charity then used modelling to derive a target population and drive persona-driven messaging based on collection history and previous interactions with Marie Curie.

The campaign boosted registrations year on year, with a high skew towards online sign ups.

Takeaway: Consumers want to know how something directly impacts them, so personalization is sure to give a message greater resonance.

4. Starbucks

Starbucks successfully keeps customers engaged with its gamified mobile app. Integrating the brand's rewards system with the ability to customize and order drinks via the app, it makes use of information such as purchase history and location to get as personal as possible.

The introduction of the rewards system saw Starbucks' revenue soaring to $2.56 billion, while the app has generated around 6 million sales per month (around 22% of all U.S. sales).

Takeaway: The more data you get from your consumers, the more tailored your marketing can be.

5. Matsmart

The Swedish sustainable food retailer wanted to raise awareness of its offering on Facebook. It ran a series of prospecting campaigns segmented by the main target audiences, grouped mostly by demographics, designed to drive new visitors to its website.

The retailer then ran highly relevant dynamic ads featuring different products, based on different Facebook user profile segments.

Between October 2015 and March 2016 it achieved an 84% increase in website revenue.

Takeaway: Segmenting audiences enables brands to display the most relevant products or services to the right consumers at the right time.

6. Netflix

Netflix is famous for its viewing recommendations, using an algorithm that's consistently being developed and improved. But the personalization doesn't stop there.

The streaming giant has a firm strategy in place for what artwork subscribers see as they browse the product catalogue. Based on previous actions, it aims to entice the right viewer to the right content.

A spokesperson said: "This is yet another way Netflix differs from traditional media offerings: we don't have one product but over a 100 million different products with one for each of our members with personalized recommendations and personalized visuals."

And with a top line of around $9 billion in 2016, a 30% increase year on year, it's a strategy that's paying off.

Takeaway: It pays to consistently develop your approach and get creative with your data.

7. O2

Looking to make their 'tariff refresh' ad more relevant and engaging for mobile audiences, the team used data based on device and location to tailor their messaging to their consumers.

Using this data, they could offer personalized and niche marketing ads, that showed what the best offer for that individual was, what similar users preferred to upgrade to, and where their nearest store was located.

The personalized ads performed 128% better in terms of click-through rate.

Takeaway: Understanding how consumers use their devices, in conjunction with other behavioral data, you can optimize a campaign for more impactful results.

8. Coca-Cola

The famous 'Share a Coke' campaign, first launched in Australia in 2012, still retains its title as one of the most original examples of personalized marketing to date.

The idea was to spread advocacy and love for the brand by replacing the soft drinks logo with consumer names, encouraging people to share with friends and spread the brand's message using the hashtag #shareacoke.

In the wake of the original campaign, Coca Cola Co. saw a rise in sales for the first time in over a decade.

A spokesperson from Coca-Cola said: "This campaign taught us that personalization can only be highly engaging and effective if it can be shared with a wide audience."

Takeaway: Don't just make it personalized, make it shareable.

9. EasyJet

To mark its 20th anniversary, the brand launched a data-driven campaign that brought each customer's travel history with the airline to life. Its email campaign used customer data to build individual stories, such as when and where they first travelled with easyJet, and where they might like to go next.

The emails used 12 modules combining graphic devices, destination imagery and copy based on 28 key data points.

A total of 12,473,608 unique emails were sent, and open rates were over 100% higher than the average easyJet newsletter - with 25% higher click-through rates.

Takeaway: Storytelling that leverages customer data enables brands to drive more meaningful connections on a personal level and increase brand loyalty.

Key considerations when creating personalized campaigns:

1. Know who you're targeting by interrogating your data - from basic demographics to online behaviors, attitudes, interests and perceptions.

2. Build real-life, data-driven personas of your target groups, and personalize your communications for each of them

3. Use dynamic content to personalize the customer experience based on interests and browsing behaviors.

4. Find out what social platforms your audience prefers, when they're likely to be online and what sort of content they like to engage with.

5. Take device ownership and usage into consideration to know what, how and where to optimize.

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10 Brilliant Personalized Marketing Examples

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Today's consumers expect personalized marketing, and brands who use data-driven campaigns to tailor content to their interests are seeing the results. Figures from Salesforce reveal high performing businesses use data-targeting and segmentation 51% more than underperforming businesses. It stands to reason.

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In recent years personalised marketing has been at the forefront  and one of the most efficient ways from brands and businesses to market. 86% of consumers say that personalisation has some impact on what they purchase; and one quarter admit personalisation ‘significantly influences’ their buying decisions.

Amazon is one of the best companies for personalisation, they use their large amounts of data to send personalised emails and offers. Amazon also use their data to give individual consumers suggestions for their purchases.

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In recent years, personalized marketing has become one of the most effective methods business owners use to promote themselves and drive revenue. Serving the right message to the right customer (at the correct time, on the best platform) makes your message resonate that much more.

According to a survey by Infosys, 86% of consumers say that personalization has some impact on what they purchase; and one quarter admit personalization 'significantly influences' their buying decisions.

Providing an entirely personalized customer service is a goal for many businesses, because entrepreneurs implicitly understand that it breeds loyalty and increases conversions. That said, it is incredibly difficult to execute. According to a report by Ascend2 published on eMarketer, almost two-thirds of digital marketers contend that it's the single most difficult tactic: trickier than content marketing, SEO and email marketing.

That's not to say successful personalized marketing eludes everyone. The following is a summary of five successful brands who serve personalized marketing content that makes us green with envy. In creating campaigns that are highly relevant to the consumer, dispatched at the optimal moment, and to the respondents' preferred platform/device, these businesses have shown the rest of us how it's done. We would do well to emulate their efforts.

When it comes to behavioral targeting, predictive modelling and personalization, Amazon is number one. With the incredible amount of data at their disposal, is it any wonder?

Contextually relevant, personalized advertising is the e-commerce giant's stock-in-trade. From personalized onsite content to personalized emails and offers, the company delivers dynamic, data-powered messaging in real-time. This goes beyond sending an email to remind you of products you'd browsed or placed in your basket prior to bouncing; Amazon uses powerful algorithms to personalize your homepage, tailoring product recommendations based on your search and purchase record.

Think about those handy "frequently bought together" and "customers who bought this item also bought" prompts: these don't happen by accident and are based on mountains of insightful data. What's more, 44% of customers buy from such recommendations. Wishlists are another personalized feature which works wonders for the company.

So what can we learn from Amazon? Well, for starters, if you don't implement recommendations - developed with actionable customer data - customers will flit to another, more personalized competitor (perhaps Amazon). Incorporating dynamic cart thresholds is another technique we can pinch from Amazon.

Sainsbury's

One of Britain's best-loved supermarkets, Sainsbury's started to make data-driven personalization a priority in 2012, when it implemented coupon-at-till technology to print targeted coupons on products customers wanted to buy.

Sainsbury's was also the first European retailer to adopt self-service checkouts in all of its stores, which can be considered a form of personalization: after all, it gave consumers more control at the checkout. Its Nectar loyalty system, meanwhile, is great for encouraging repeat purchasing. In the spring of 2018, the supermarket trialed a new app-based structure for how Nectar points are accrued, granting rewards on a more personalized basis. The scheme, which was trialed in stores throughout the Isle of Wight, enabled customers to earn points based not only on the value of their shop but on how long, and how often, they had shopped at Sainsbury's.

The same year, Sainsbury's picked up the gong for Mobile and Messaging at the Marketing Week Masters Awards. The honor was for their 'This time it's ultra personalized!' campaign, which used smartphone location data to deliver personalized offers to customers in and around the shop on their mobiles. It also helped the company gain insights about the way people navigated their stores, thereby influencing merchandising decisions.

Nike

Few brands are better at engaging audiences and amplifying their core message than Nike. The global sportswear brand, with their instantly recognizable swoosh icon, has always stood out; and in the 21st-century they are furthering their vision by hyper-personalizing their marketing using aggregated customer data.

From their Nike+ loyalty scheme and the innovative SNKRS personalized shopping experience, to the product personalization app NikeID, they like to operate at the cutting edge. And their 2018 World Cup campaign was another reminder of their zen for making customers feel extra special.

Following on from their purchase of consumer analytics firm Zodiac, Nike targeted consumers in different regions with personalized content for mobile devices: thus we were treated to sprawling, multi-screen, country-specific adverts tailored for younger audiences spending more time on Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. This flowing narrative gave viewers what they wanted where they wanted it, capturing the essence of personalization.

Chocolates and personalization go hand in hand, and don't Cadbury know it? The confectionary giant have found success with a number of personalization campaigns over the years, raising brand awareness and increasing market penetration in hitherto unexplored territories.

In 2017, for example, the company used Idomoo's Personalized Video as a Service (PVaaS) to spread the word about its special Cadbury Glow gift chocolate in India, a region where chocolate as gift-giving is less common than in other nations. The integrated social video marketing campaign let consumers craft a personalized video that incorporated photos and names extracted from their Facebook account. Recipients got to watch the touching video when they received a box of Cadbury Glow chocolate, either via a QR code or by typing their phone number into the Cadbury Glow page.

Cadbury achieved a 65% Click Through Rate with recipients, not to mention a 33% conversion rate for viewers who filled in a subsequent promotion form. The same year, Cadbury forged a similar consumer-brand connection with a Flavor Matcher campaign targeting Australian customers.

Netflix has the personalization game sewn up. Not only does the streaming service show you film and TV recommendations based on the content you've watched, it even personalizes film covers, giving prominence to actors or actresses you're familiar with.

Every move Netflix makes is driven by vast amounts of data, and in a way your Watchlist is as much customized by them as it is by you. The service, which runs 250 A/B tests per year, knows when you hit play or pause; when you stop watching a title halfway through; when you click that little + button to add something to your Watchlist. It harvests information from over 300 million member profiles, then feeds the data into its personalization endeavors. This is why no user is ever shown exactly the same combination rows on the Netflix homepage. You might justifiably feel that the service knows you better than your other half!

Interestingly, Netflix doesn't figure age or gender into its recommendation system, deeming user behavior to be a far more meaningful metric. It's not just the suggested titles which change either: the personalization can alter how the Netflix player looks in terms of design, and you are fed different recommendations depending on when you log in.

Conclusion

Brands will only get better at personalized marketing, so if you want to compete you should start thinking about it - and soon. Use these examples to influence your own future campaigns, and set about blazing a trail that elicits a greater likelihood of interest, conversion and retention.

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5 Brands Taking Personalized Marketing To The Next Level

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Are you leveraging personalized marketing for your business? Personalized marketing tactics can have a massive impact on your sales - but it's difficult to implement. Here are 5 brands that are taking personalized marketing to the next level and what you can learn from them.

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As millennials and Gen-Z become more brand conscious, how will professional services adapt?
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Companies giving something back with a purchase has been a dominant trend in the retail sector over the past few years-for instance, Warby Parker donates a pair of glasses for every pair a customer buys, and shoemaker Toms give away $1 for every $3 they make. Some companies have even created Chief Giving Officer roles. These examples are attempts to appease existing consumers who are increasingly socially conscious - but they are also ways to increase sales by attracting new customers.

As the boardroom becomes more diverse and a younger generation becomes the key decision-makers, this trend is sure to impact the professional services industry, where there is no tangible product or give-back. Millennials and Gen-Z are increasingly aware of the authenticity of their employer organizations' giving programs and want to produce work that contributes to a greater good. So what impacts can we expect to see on the professional services industry?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs have been the most popular way for companies to navigate this transition for many years. They allow organizations to give back to the communities they are based in, where often gleaming office buildings sit next to communities in need.

In looking at various CSR programs at accountancy and law firms, it is clear there are efforts to give back to the communities in which these organizations operate. Community-focused programs, such as Habitat for Humanity, Endeavor and Soles4Souls, work with companies looking to donate time and resources to local charitable organizations. These groups typically facilitate days for company staff to donate their time - such as revamping a community garden, creating reading groups in schools, or volunteering at food banks.

However, employees are becoming increasingly aware of the limited impact some of these programs are having. While companies are conscious of the cost of giving back and sometimes do the bare minimum, employees, particularly Millennials and Gen-Z, want to see employers do more to put their money where their mouth is.

In terms of charitable contributions, larger organizations often have matching programs for donations made by employees. While the extra cash is welcome, it does serve the company too. A portion of the company's income can be deducted from its tax bill and likewise matching programs increase employee engagement.

Big organizations dedicate webpages and glossy ads showcasing their contributions to the community, but in the greater scheme of things, is it enough? Consumers are aware of 'greenwashing' and similar schemes, and consumer savviness is sure to be a concern for buyers of professional services - whether that be when seeking legal counsel, recruitment services, or financial advice.

For Millennials and Gen-Z, there is already a trend towards activism within key professional industries, such as legal services, where students are putting pressure on Big Law to change their behaviors. They are leveraging their academic brand to remind firms that want to hire from their class cohorts that they are willing to go elsewhere for social-good.

The conversation is moving towards brand identity over corporate responsibility. Consumers of products want a brand to be doing good at its source. Applying this to professional services, clients are likely to start looking into this deeper in a company's brand identity. Who do you work with, what do you represent and what is at the core of your people? Consumers, especially Millennials, are becoming more aware of the organizations with which they engage, and they are strongly exercising their consumer choice.

Concrete action seems to be favored, as is and allowing employees greater say in how companies give back. Leading organizations are taking strong political and social stances on key topics - for example, LGBTQ employees and allies benefit from more inclusive company cultures and policy adaptations, such as expanding parental leave policies to be gender-neutral and encompass all forms of parenthood, as well as greater investment in pride events. On the political side, companies such as Delta now refuse to give discounts to members of the NRA following an increase in school shootings-a bold stance when traditionally, corporations have remained neutral on this issue.

Overall, whilst these are some impactful examples of current CSR and giving programs, the reality is the arrangements are often quid pro quo - and organizations will need to start doing a lot more as the savvy consumer spills over into professional services.

I'm a legal recruiter with Major, Lindsey & Africa where I work closely with attorneys to guide them down their career paths toward their ultimate goals. I've lived all...

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As Millennials And Gen-Z Become More Brand Conscious, How Will Professional Services Adapt?

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Companies giving something back with a purchase has been a dominant trend in the retail sector over the past few years-for instance, Warby Parker donates a pair of glasses for every pair a customer buys, and shoemaker Toms give away $1 for every $3 they make.

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Millennials have been the subject of much scrutiny from the moment they arrived. They are the offspring of baby boomers and were born between 1981 and 1996. There are over 80 million millennials in the United States today.

Millennials are currently at the top of the demographic ladder as the currently control more that $600 billion in annual customer spending. Get Y are now every brands most important customer, to ensure these brands tailor towards this demographic they have to become millennial experts.

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This generation care about sustainability, they did a study with over 2,000 shoppers between the ages of 18 and 38. 46% of those people stated that they spend their time researching a brands ethical and sustainable standards when they buy from that brand. Gen Y care about equality which is very important to them. This survey asked how important it is for brands to show they care about equality whether is it through gender, race, age, sexuality etc and 77% said that is is very important.

For millennials mobiles and social media has become the centre for fashion and clothing purchasing.

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"Gen Z" has become just as much of a buzzword as "millennial" did a few years ago, and is already synonymous with certain traits. If the headlines are to be believed, members of gen Z are strident environmental activists, they are progressive, they are careful with money and they have short attention spans. But lumping such a broad, diverse group into one amorphous age bracket is a mistake.

Our new report on gen Z and millennials surveys 2,000 shoppers aged between 18 and 38, and explores how these shoppers buy fashion, as well as how they feel about the industry in 2019. Here are a few of our key findings:
They care about sustainability
More than three-quarters of the respondents said sustainability was either very or quite important to them, while almost half (48%) said they had abandoned a purchase because a brand or retailer did not fit with their values. In addition, 46% of shoppers say they spend time researching ethical and sustainable brands to buy from.

The report explores whether sustainability is truly going to become a purchase driver or whether these consumers say one thing, but act in a different way. It also explores the differences in attitudes between the two generations.
They care about equality
These shoppers also report that equality is important to them. We asked how important it is for brands they shop with to show they care about equality in all its forms - whether that means gender, race and ethnicity, sexuality or disability - because focusing overwhelmingly on gender, as many workplace equality schemes tend to, feels out of date for these consumers. They are a diverse group and interested in improving opportunities and human rights for everyone. In our survey, 77% said equality was either quite or very important to them - the differences between men and women, as well as age groups, are explored within the report.
They are contradictory
Although the importance of sustainability to shoppers in their twenties and thirties is clear, they are also keen on shopping behaviours that are not particularly environmentally friendly. They want fast delivery and immediate gratification. Their desire for one-click shopping for low-cost outfits they see on social media requires fast supply chains that rely on cheap labour and production processes that prioritise speed over ethics. The report explores what retailers can do about this, and how this might play out in the coming years.
Mobile and social are central
These shoppers are using mobile and social networks for buying fashion, and they have become central to the fashion purchase process. The report explores how social networks have become central to every part of the fashion industry. Not only are purchasing rates led by social media likely to increase further as platforms such as Instagram evolve, but growing numbers of Gen Z and millennial-led brands are likely to build momentum and find their markets on the channel.

Download the report, available for free, at bitly.com/GenZ-report to read about these themes and others, including whether these shoppers would ever give up shopping in store, what most annoys them about online shopping, and the cultural drivers behind much of this change.

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"Gen Z" has become just as much of a buzzword as "millennial" did a few years ago, and is already synonymous with certain traits. If the headlines are to be believed, members of gen Z are strident environmental activists, they are progressive, they are careful with money and they have short attention spans.

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Erica Lopez, 31 years old, is having growing pains. "My tastes are growing more expensive," admits the executive recruiter from Ann Arbor, Michigan. "I'm making more money and buying nicer clothes, accessories and shoes that better reflect my position in my life and career. A lot of my friends and colleagues are doing the same. We feel like we need to keep up with our peers."

Erica's situation is not surprising, according to a recently-published report from Goldman Sachs co-authored by Alexandra Walves, Jason English, Heath Terry, Matthew Fassler, Richard Evans and others. Based on a study conducted with Conde Nast examining U.S. millennial and GenZ shopping behavior and brand affinity, it found that fashion-conscious millennial women or "It Girls," like Erica, who tend to be more affluent than the average millennial, have accelerated their shopping and spending on apparel, accessories and footwear in the past year, and shifted more purchases online.

Many retailers who established their businesses selling to older GenX consumers are also doing well with fashion-conscious millennials. According to the study, It Girls prefer to shop at Forever 21, H&M, Zara, American Eagle and Free People. Target came in fourth place this year, pretty impressive since it wasn't even in the top 10 last year.

Favorite brands among fashion-conscious women include Nike, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Adidas, Gucci, Coach and Lululemon. Brands that have come onto the It Girl radar in the past year and are therefore important to watch include Fabletics, FashionNova and Everlane.

Millennial Muscle

It's no secret that millennials, consumers roughly between the ages of 23 and 38, are the most important demographic group impacting apparel and other style-driven markets today. Along with their teen- and college-age GenZ cohorts, they control almost a third of apparel spending and are the key target of fashion marketers. Their spending is expected to increase almost 40 percent in real terms over the next decade and a half as they approach their peak earning and spending years. Their unique approach to consumption, focusing on convenience, experience, authenticity, and value, is different from that of their GenX and Baby Boomer forebears.

Much attention has been paid to the millennial attraction to brands such as True & Co., Outdoor Voices and M. Gemi. But the widely-held belief that younger consumers want no part of traditional brands or retailers is just plain wrong, according to the Goldman research. These consumers, it turns out, have a penchant for many of the same stores and brands as their older GenX and Baby Boomer cohorts, including Old Navy, Levi's, Express, J. Crew, Puma, Wrangler, Hanes, Converse.

The top three favorite clothing brands for millennial women are Forever 21, American Eagle and Old Navy. For men, it's Nike, Adidas and Levi's.

The favorite apparel brand of It Girls, according to the research, is Victoria's Secret. Although the intimate apparel leader is losing ground to Aerie and Calvin Klein, its high affinity and preference rankings are evidence that the lingerie retailer will get a lot of leeway from its core customer base when it finally figures out how to fix its product and marketing issues.

It Guys

Jake T. is a 21-year-old New Yorker who still obsessively follows his favorite baseball team, but spends less time watching sports and playing video games than he used to. He's recently begun scoping out the job market on Indeed and LinkedIn, planning for life after college-a life that he hopes will include nicer clothing.

Jake remains a fan of brick-and-mortar shopping for clothing, preferring to try things on before buying to make sure it feels and looks good, but his store and brand preferences are evolving. His favorite brand now is Calvin Klein. "A couple of years ago, I liked to shop in Kohl's," said the college senior matter-of-factly. "But the product there isn't stylish enough for me anymore. Now I prefer shopping in Macy's, Lord and Taylor and Nordstrom if they're having a sale or my mom is paying. I really like the Alfani stuff at Macy's. And I have started to order clothes online more often, particularly if I can't find my size or color in the store or if I know the brand fits me well."

The more fashion-conscious men surveyed by the Goldman/Conde Nast study report J. Crew, H&M and Polo as favorite clothing brands, with Calvin Klein number one in underwear. In bags and briefcases, Coach and Herschel emerge as favorites, but Nike comes out on top for athletic bags.

The Rapid Shift Online

Most millennial and GenZ consumers gravitate toward mass market retailers. The typical millennial woman and man, according to the study, prefer to shop at Amazon, Walmart and Kohl's. Walmart and Kohl's have enjoyed double-digit e-commerce sales growth in the past year. Walmart expects its online sales to grow by 35 percent in the fiscal year beginning February 2019.

The most dramatic finding of the Goldman Sachs/Condé Nast report is the accelerated rate at which fashion shopping is moving online. Younger consumers are doing more of their fashion spending in e-commerce channels, with clothing enjoying the highest penetration. Consumers in their late 20s spend the biggest portion of their clothing spending online, close to 50 percent or more.

Amazon Accelerates

Amazon is now the most powerful online distribution channel in the U.S., having consistently gained share of the apparel and accessories market as it expands its offering across many categories. In every category surveyed, men chose Amazon as their #1 or #2 retailer. Although the most fashion-conscious had mixed reviews of Amazon, for women overall Amazon moved up from #4 last year to #1 this year.

Amazon often enters a category by leveraging third-party sellers, then scaling to attract brands into the fold while it builds private labels as low-cost alternatives to national brands.

Since 2017, the company has launched a reported 60 private label brands, mostly in apparel, footwear and accessories. Although there are many critics who say that Amazon has not yet figured out the formula for success in private label apparel, which lags far behind electronics and household products, Amazon has been moving up in the apparel preference rankings of young consumers so quickly that it is now the dominant retailer in almost every category of mainstream fashion. Although young men are more likely to name Amazon as their number one destination for apparel, women in the study gave the Seattle-based giant the top spot in clothing handbags and premium/luxury brands.

Athletic Achievement

For most young consumers, fitness a key part of their lifestyle. The importance of athletic apparel and footwear to this demographic cannot be overstated, and Nike continues to reign supreme as the number-one athletic brand across all millennial consumer segments, with Under Armour, Lululemon, Adidas and Puma also significant.

As these brands have expanded their athleisure and streetwear product lines, they are being shopped increasingly for everyday wardrobe staples, with millennial men reporting Nike, Adidas and Under Armour among their favorite clothing brands. The study found Nike ranks as the favorite clothing brand among GenZs, and first among all footwear brands (not just athletic footwear) for every consumer segment.

Under Armour, though highly ranked in athletic apparel, has had a tougher time in footwear. This might be changing, however. For the first time, Under Armour finally broke into the top 20 favorite footwear brands for young men, and came in as number 16 for GenZ.

Up Next: GenZ

Though lacking the financial firepower of their older cohorts, GenZ is already having an impact on apparel consumption. Their command of the digital and social landscape will continue to drive change in the industry. They buy the biggest proportion of their apparel online, often through social media and mobile apps. For GenZs, Snapchat beat out both Facebook and Instagram for the favorite app spot.

They are also the group that is the most eco-conscious: 19-year-old Avery I. said: "One of my favorite places to shop is definitely Goodwill. Almost all of my sweaters, t-shirts, comfy jackets, and even a few dresses come from there. I love the uniqueness, and it's so rewarding to hunt for what you like." The environmental science major from North Carolina said she much prefers shopping in stores rather than online because "You know immediately if something fits you or is the proper color without having to wait a week to try it on. Also, I hate all the packaging involved in online shopping; it's super wasteful."

Brands ranking very high with GenZ consumers in the study include Nike, Under Armour, UGG, Converse, Gucci, Coach and American Eagle. Next-gen lingerie brand Adore Me finished in the top 5.

Luxury Is in the Eye of the Beholder

For the first time this year, Goldman did a deeper dive into the premium space. In this category, traditional luxury brands, many of whom have hired young, edgy design directors like Alessandro Michele (Gucci) and Virgil Abloh (Louis Vuitton) to attract younger consumers, were a mixed bag. Gucci clearly came out on top for It Girls, men and GenZs. Kate Spade, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel also ranked high for young consumers, as did Polo and Prada. Conspicuously absent from the top ten are Hermes and Versace, though Michael Kors's acquisition of the latter might change that. Millennial women prefer Michael Kors and Coach.

It's interesting that men put Nike and Adidas in the number 2 and 3 spots in the luxury category! With an increase in collaborations between luxury and heritage brands, the boundaries between the segments may begin to blur.

Although it's tempting to generalize when talking about consumer groups, there are some significant variations within them that drive important trends. For example, the growth in ultra-high-end athleisure like $400 leggings at Carbon 38 and $700 Balenciaga sneakers indicates that even a value-conscious customer is willing to sometimes pay top dollar for product that is special.

Social Climbing

For women and fashion-conscious men, social media platforms are becoming more important than shopping apps for new brand and product discovery and purchase. The study found that among millennial women, Facebook still ranks number-one, but Instagram, the favorite among It Girls, is gaining ground. GenZs prefer Snapchat.

Erica follows about two dozen fashion influencers, twice the number that were on her Instagram feed last year. Jake has recently begun to follow a few fitness and fashion bloggers to get style and grooming ideas. Avery follows on average three to five influencers on Instagram but also gets lots of inspiration for style ideas from Pinterest.

Established and up-and-coming apparel brands and retailers need to do more than just establish a presence on digital platforms. Social needs to be an integrated, planned and measured piece of a holistic marketing communications strategy that includes PR, digital marketing, content marketing and events.

Implications and Opportunities

Millennial and GenZ consumers are being respected for more than just their purchasing power and style influence. They are also exerting influence on others, getting them to start behaving differently, impacting commerce in a major way.

Retailers seeking ways to expand their business with millennials should focus not only on the more fashion-conscious among them, who spend more, but also on the online-loving mainstream that represents the biggest population. The fact that they love many of the same brands and stores as older consumers should be encouraging news. But they need to be met on their own turf, with youthful product, compelling branding, a sustainability story, understandable pricing strategies, social media and blogger marketing, and an enhanced online and in-store experience.

Only then will the merchants and brands capturing the attention of these challenging consumers be able to keep their interest and, hopefully, their loyalty.

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Millennial Brand Preferences: A 2018 Update - The Robin Report

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Erica Lopez, 31 years old, is having growing pains. "My tastes are growing more expensive," admits the executive recruiter from Ann Arbor, Michigan. "I'm making more money and buying nicer clothes, accessories and shoes that better reflect my position in my life and career. A lot of my friends and colleagues are doing the same.

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Just as brands have found what makes the millennials tick , a whole new generation is slowly emerging. For this new generation, when it come to digital shopping they'll build on the attitudes tat were first identified within the millennials.

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The Engel-Kollat-Blackwell Model or EKB model is a model to explain a consumers decision making process when purchasing an item or service. The decision making process is at the centre of this model and all other segments surround this which include:
- Input
- Information Processing
- Decisional Variables
- External Factors

Input:
The input section to this model is all about the internal and external stimuli, the internal stimuli would be the tv ad, radio, internet, word-of-mouth, social media etc and the external stimuli would be social/cultural normalities. As consumers and individuals we are being constantly exposed to these inputs, for example, a tv advert, the consumer will then start to process whether or not they need that item/ service.

Information Processing:
Once the consumer has been exposed to the input, they then start the information processing. They are now aware of the product/service and start to learn more about the brand/product/service and are that is becoming more well known to them. The consumer will then accept this product as something that will fulfil and need or want for them and they can accept this product/service. The information will then become retained in your memory in the case of wanting to re-purchase the product/service. The memory of the product then leading into the Alternative Evaluation part of the Decision Process.

Decision Process:
The decision making process started with the problem recognition, this is where the consumer will notice they have a need that needs to be fulfilled. Once this need is recognised the consumer will start to search and look for that particular product/service which will fulfil the need. This is where you memory comes into play as you may have already seen an advertisement for this product/ service that you are searching for. The consumer will then look at all the options and start to evaluate the variations of product/service, this is called Alternative Evaluation. The consumer will then make a choice of which one they want, purchase this product/service, the consumer with then have one of two outcomes, either satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Decisional Variables:
The decisional variables are all the factors that come into the consumers mind when looking at different brands and various products. These facts can influence a consumer to go with one brand over another. However these are all personal factors to the consumer.

External Factors:
These are also things that can influence a consumers decision of product or brand, however the factors are external, therefore they are out of the consumers control.

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How Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs applies to fashion:

1. Physiological Needs - clothing covers our bodies and protects up from the elements such as; snow, rain and sun.

2. Safety Needs - when clothing is sold it has to be meet certain standards again flammability, clothing also can been seen as a type of protection.

3. Belongingness and Love Needs - some consumers see fashion and clothing a social thing and something to share with others, also it can be seen as wanting to belong and fit in.

4. Esteem Needs - some consumers want to be wearing the latest trends and the newest products, they want to feel good in their clothing and they want it to show a certain status.

5. Self-Actualisation Needs - this consumers feels that they can dress in a way that they are authentically themselves and they're clothes become an expression of them.

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Maslow came up with the theory that everything we do is organised into a hierarchy. He stated that if the lower-level are not satisfied then you cannot move to the higher-levels, it is only when the lower-levels are satisfied that the higher-level needs become important.

Brands use Maslow's theory to understand their consumer, learning the psychological process of the consumer allows a brand to communicate to their target appropriately. The brand will lean if their consumer needs basic needs or esteem needs and will change their approach appropriately.

When looking at the different levels you can see where the various consumers would fit, for example, a consumer on a lower income will be more concerned about the basic needs such as; food, warmth and low-cost clothing, before they look at their esteems needs.

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In 1943, a man named Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, published a paper called 'A Theory of Human Motivation'. In this paper Maslow wrote about the basic needs of a human being.
1. The basic need for bodily function - for this to happen we need to eat and drink
2. The desire to be safe - a secure knowledge that you will have food and water
3. The need for love, friendship and company
4. The need for social recognition - status and respect
5. It's all about fulfilment - doing the thing that you were put on the plant to do "an artist must paint"

Maslow's original theory was not in a triangle, it is now presented as a triangle with the five segments of the hierarchy of needs.

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The psychologist Abraham Maslow's theory of human motivation is 70 years old but continues to have a strong influence on the world of business. What is it, and is it right?

There is a commonly reproduced symbol which many believe holds the secret to personal fulfilment and business success.

It usually takes the form of a triangle, but variants in the shape of 3D pyramids and staircases are not uncommon. It regularly appears in university psychology modules, and may pop up in other degree courses too. On management training courses it's as inevitable as biscuits and role-playing.

In 1943, the US psychologist Abraham Maslow published a paper called A Theory of Human Motivation, in which he said that people had five sets of needs, which come in a particular order. As each level of needs is satisfied, the desire to fulfil the next set kicks in.

First, we have the basic needs for bodily functioning - fulfilled by eating, drinking and going to the toilet. Maslow also included sexual needs in this group.

Then there is the desire to be safe, and secure in the knowledge that those basic needs will be fulfilled in the future too. After that comes our need for love, friendship and company. At this stage, Maslow writes, the individual "may even forget that once, when he was hungry, he sneered at love".

The next stage is all about social recognition, status and respect. And the final stage, represented in the graphic as the topmost tip of the triangle, Maslow labelled with the psychologists' term "self-actualisation".

It's about fulfilment - doing the thing that you were put on the planet to do. "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy," wrote Maslow. "What a man can be, he must be."

While there were no pyramids or triangles in the original paper, Maslow's hierarchy of needs is now usually illustrated with the symbol. And although the paper was written as pure psychology it has found its main application in management theory.

"There's no question it's had a profound influence on management education and management practice," says Gerard Hodgkinson, a psychologist at Warwick Business School. "One of the insights is that as managers we can shape the conditions that create people's aspirations."

Managers use Maslow's hierarchy to identify the needs of their staff and help them feel fulfilled, whether it's by giving them a pet project, a fancy job title or flexible working arrangements, so they can pursue their interests outside the workplace.

In the second half of the 20th Century, bosses began to realise that employees' hopes, feelings and needs had an impact on performance. In 1960, Douglas McGregor published The Human Side of Enterprise, which contrasted traditional managerial styles with a people-centred approach inspired by Maslow. It became a best-seller.

Some managers began to move away from a purely "transactional" contract with a company's staff, in which they received money in exchange for doing a job, to a complex "relational" one, where a company offered opportunities for an individual to feel fulfilled, but expected more in return.

Bill O'Brien, President and CEO of Hanover Insurance, put it well in an interview published in 1990. "Our traditional organisations are designed to provide for the first three of Maslow's hierarchy of human needs," he said. "Since these are now widely available to members of industrial society our organisations do not provide significantly unique opportunities to command the loyalty and commitment of our people."

According to Douglas Kenrick at Arizona State University, the appeal of Maslow's hierarchy can be explained by the fact that it reflects a pattern of growth we observe in children.

"I have a child who is six years old and I noticed that when he was an infant he couldn't care less about public opinion," Kenrick says. "In kindergarten he started to worry about making friends but he didn't really care about getting respect from those people. And now he's in the first grade and you can see he's beginning to think about his friends' opinions and what status they hold him in."

Kenrick also thinks the longevity of the hierarchy of needs can be explained by the pyramid which came to represent it, and which "captures a complicated idea in a very simple way". Maslow's theories have many supporters today, including US hotelier and business guru Chip Conley.

But critics point to dozens of counter-examples. What about the famished poet? Or the person who withdraws from society to become a hermit? Or the mountaineer who disregards safety in his determination to reach the summit?

Muddying things slightly, Maslow said that for some people, needs may appear in a different order or be absent altogether. Moreover, people felt a mix of needs from different levels at any one time, but they varied in degree.

There is a further problem with Maslow's work. Margie Lachman, a psychologist who works in the same office as Maslow at his old university, Brandeis in Massachusetts, admits that her predecessor offered no empirical evidence for his theory. "He wanted to have the grand theory, the grand ideas - and he wanted someone else to put it to the hardcore scientific test," she says. "It never quite materialised."

However, after Maslow's death in 1970, researchers did undertake a more detailed investigation, with attitude-based surveys and field studies testing out the Hierarchy of Needs.

"When you analyse them, the five needs just don't drop out," says Hodgkinson. "The actual structure of motivation doesn't fit the theory. And that led to a lot of discussion and debate, and new theories evolved as a consequence."

In 1972, Clayton Alderfer whittled Maslow's five groups of needs down to three, labelled Existence, Relatedness and Growth. Although elements of a hierarchy remain, "ERG theory" held that human beings need to be satisfied in all three areas - if that's not possible then their energies are redoubled in a lower category. So for example, if it is impossible to get a promotion, an employee might talk more to colleagues and get more out of the social side of work.

More sophisticated theories followed. Maslow's triangle was chopped up, flipped on its head and pulled apart into flow diagrams. Hodgkinson says that one business textbook has just been published which doesn't mention Maslow, and there is a campaign afoot to have him removed from the next editions of others.

The absence of solid evidence has tarnished Maslow's status within psychology too. But as a result, Lachman says, people miss seeing that he was responsible for a major shift of focus within the discipline.

"He really was ground-breaking in his thinking," Lachman says. "He was saying that you weren't acting on the basis of these uncontrollable, unconscious desires. Your behaviour was not just influenced by external rewards and reinforcement, but there were these internal needs and motivations."

Unlike the psychoanalysts and behaviourists who preceded him, Maslow was not that interested in mental illness - instead of finding out what went wrong with people, he wanted to find out what could go right with them. This opened the door for later movements such as humanistic psychology and positive psychology, and the "happiness agenda" that preoccupies the current UK government.

Maslow's friend, management guru Warren Bennis, believes the quality underlying all Maslow's thinking was his striking optimism about human nature and society.

"Abe Maslow, a Jewish kid who really grew up poor, represented the American dream," he says. "All of his psychology really had to do with possibility, not restraints. His metaphysics were all about the possibilities of change, the possibilities of the human being to really fit into the democratic mode."

Photos of Maslow courtesy of the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections, Brandeis University.

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Abraham Maslow and the pyramid that beguiled business

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The psychologist Abraham Maslow's theory of human motivation is 70 years old - why is it still so influential?

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All consumers fall into one of these six groups, once a brand has established which segment their targeting towards, they can use that information to understand their customer.

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Customer Profile Report and Research folder (100%)

You will need to undertake a brand’s position in your approach to this assignment.

° Choose, analyse and describe a generation: Baby Boomers, Generation X or generation Y

Identify the typical demographic attributes of your chosen generation using visuals and data bases.

Provide an overview of your chosen generation’s media and technology preferences.

°  Choose and present a brand that corresponds to your chosen generation and report why it corresponds and how the brand is using costumer personalisation today.

°  Apply this to how your chosen brand communicates and market to your chosen generation and influence their purchasing behaviour.

Provide a comparative analysis of the types of other products they are likely to buy.

Think of and report actions that your chosen brand can do to improve using a deeper knowledge of its customers to Increase engagement, and ultimately sales.

Your report (indicative 1000-1500 words) will identify why personalisation of the customer relationship is important for brands using your research findings and analysis of the chosen generation and brand.

You will submit a detailed research folder in Padlet format with your primary/secondary research.

Your research folder should also contain a digital consumer board, image based with annotation, clearly reflective of your chosen generation. In your consumer board: Identify brands and other retailers that a typical consumer of your chosen generation would be more likely to engage with (in addition to your selected retailer) Include, clothing, electrical, household and other FMCG brands in this section.

Harvard referencing standard and a bibliography are required.

At all times, your work will implement appropriate modes to reflect a creative and professional standard to your work.

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Primary Segment - Experiencers
Secondary Segment - Innovation

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The UK VALS theory was developed in 1995, this theory identifies the UK into one of six core groups.

The Six Groups -
1. Activators - forefront of innovation, open to new ideas and new product and services. They've got a wide range of intents and have a strong sense of personal identity. (Activators divide by motivation - Traditional Activator , Achievement Activator, Self-Expression Activator)

2. Traditionalists - focus on preservation, regulate social change, forcing reassessment of new ideals in the light of of proven and established standards and ethical codes.

3. Achievers - they relate achievement to the roots of hard work and professional endeavour, focus on success, status, family, value knowledge influence and qualification.

4. Seekers - want individuality, self-discovery, display and action. They actively seek self-gratification, excitement, experimentation and sociability.

5. Pragmatics - play it safe, they don't want to stand out from their peer group and have a low attachment to any particular lifestyle. (Pragmatic Involvers have traditional motivation, Pragmatic Rationals have an achievement motivation, Pragmatic Aspirational have self-expression motivation)

6. Constrained - try to hold on to the familiar and the past, their worlds consist of immediate family and few friends who reinforce than challenge of renew their opinions and ideas.

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Developed in 1995, United Kingdom VALS (UK VALS) identifies UK consumers into one of six core groups. Measures of primary motivations- Tradition, Achievement, and Self-Expression -and high/low resources and innovation define the segments.

To learn more about using UK VALS for your business strategy and communication objectives, contact us.

The United Kingdom's Consumer Groups

Activators are at the forefront of innovation, consumer activity, and change and are the most open to new ideas, products, and services. They have wide-ranging interests and a strong sense of personal identity. Activators divide by motivation: Tradition Activators, Achievement Activators, and Self-Expression Activators.

Traditionalists focus on preservation. They regulate social change, forcing reassessment of new ideas in the light of proven and established standards and ethical codes.

Achievers relate achievements to the fruits of hard work and professional endeavor. They focus on success, status, and family. They value knowledge, influence, and qualifications.

Seekers want individuality, self-discovery, display, and action. They actively seek self-gratification, excitement, experimentation, and sociability.

Pragmatics like to play safe. They dislike standing out from their peer group and have a relatively low attachment to any particular lifestyle. Similar to Activators, Pragmatic consumers differentiate by motivation: Pragmatic Involvers have a tradition motivation, Pragmatic Rationals have an achievement motivation, and Pragmatic Aspirationals have a self-expression motivation.

Constraineds prefer to try to hold on to the familiar and the past. Their world consists of immediate family and a few friends, who reinforce rather than challenge or renew their opinions and ideas.

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VALS™ | International VALS™ | United Kingdom | SBI

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Developed in 1995, United Kingdom VALS (UK VALS) identifies UK consumers into one of six core groups. Measures of primary motivations- Tradition, Achievement, and Self-Expression -and high/low resources and innovation define the segments. To learn more about using UK VALS for your business strategy and communication objectives, contact us.

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This framework is used within marketing segmentation, it is designed to guide companies in tailoring their products and services to appeal to the people that are most likely to purchase them.

The VALS (Values, Attitude, Lifestyle) model was developed in 1978 by Arnold Mitchell. VALS gives you more details about the eight demographic groups.

Groups:
1. The Innovators - these consumers are on the leading edge of change, highest income, high self-esteem, consumer choice directed towards the finer things in life (prestige goods and services).

2. The Thinkers - these consumers are a high resource group of those motivated by ideals. They're mature, responsible, well-educated, professionals, leisure activated for these consumers centre at home. They're well infested about what is going on in the world and are open to social change, high income, practical consumers and rational makers.

3. The Believers - these consumers are a lower resource group of those motivated by ideals. They're conservative and predictable consumers who favour established brands. Their lives are centred around their families, church, community and nation - modest income.

4. The Achievers - these consumers are a higher resource groups of those who are motivated by achievement. They're successful, work-orientated people who get satisfaction from their jobs and family. They're politically conservative and respect authority, favour established brands and services that show off their success.

5. The Strivers - these consumers are a lower resource group of those who are motivated by achievement. Their values are similar to the achievers by there are fewer. Economic, social and physiological resources style are important as they strive to become the people they admire.

6. The Experiencers - these consumers are a higher resource group of those who are motivated by self-expression. They're the youngest of all the segments with the medium age of 25, the have lots of energy which they put into exercise and social activity. Spend heavily on clothing, food and music, spend a lot on new product services.

7. The Makers - these consumers are a lower resource group of those who are motivated by self-expression. They're practical people who value self-sufficiency, focused on the familiar family work and recreation, they have little interest in the broader world. As consumers they appreciate practical and functional products.

8. The Survivors - these consumers have the lowest income, the have few resources to be included in any consumer self-orientation. They are the oldest of all the segmentations with the medium age 61, within their limitations they are a brand loyal customer.