England, DIY-TV, PTAs, Indie Cafes... What Do They Have In Common?

England, The U.S., Tiny Houses, DIY TV, France, Indie Cafes, Holland, PTAs.

The global marketplace is going through radical change.

Some brands are capitalizing on it.  Many more dwell in their corporate cells oblivious to the outside world.

In high school, I participated in a special class program.  We could study whatever topics we wanted and it was up to the teachers to weave in the fundamental classes of math, history, grammar, etc.

We decided to study the physics of social change.  The teachers liked it because it would incorporate mathematics and history all together in one session of learning.

What we learned quickly is how the forces of change are driven by natural physics to seek out a sense of balance and how in the process, there are often radical shifts in opposite direction.  Shifts magnified by the consistency of drive in the opposite direction.

Telecommunications set the global stage of what we are experiencing as I write this blog. The connectivity of people initially from across town moved quickly to cross-country and eventually globally.

Today, IoT (the Internet of Things) is producing a globalization that extends beyond the unification of people to the unification of environments. 

Yesterday morning, I had coffee with a GenXer in Atlanta who currently works in real estate.  He’s a nice guy.  He’s also a political Libertarian convinced that the U.N. is on a mission of global unification. 

He voiced less concern about what form of governmental and economic modeling global unification would take and more concern about the whole concept of unification.

When he voiced his concern, I quickly noted that his discomfort was not a disconnect with the fact that we were meeting at a café that was not Starbucks.

Kicking off 2017, I am spending a lot of time working with several brands that are having to step back and total re-engineer the operational mechanics of their brand deliverables.

National brands crafted their standardization model all the way down to their graphic standards manual and hit the accelerator full speed forward in market roll-out.

I vowed this year not to write a blog about the Super Bowl ads.  

Too many folks now do it and the depth level of commentary does not venture much deeper than the surface.

The news media though has become pre-occupied in the Audi, 84 Lumber and AirBnB ads that sought to voice political perspectives. 

What’s fascinating is that the very fact that brands elected to produce and run the ads.

Those brands might not be able to affect global change, but by damn, they are going to at least take individual control and convey an unchallenged viewpoint in that $2.5 million, 30-second time block.

Hollywood does live in LA-LA-Land and while they cannot change the election, they can at least locally deny its existence and pretend that they are effective agents of change. Especially within the environment of broadcast and stage performances.  

And again, that is their world where they control the stage!

Re-focus on the controllable. 

England, The U.S., Tiny Houses, DIY TV, France, Indie Cafes, Holland, PTAs.

Seeking a sense of local control, authorship and interconnectivity is driving a radical refocus of relationship that transcends beyond other humans, but iconic elements of identity and relationship.

And that includes corporations and brands.

Telecommunications, the Internet and social media connected individuals but also issues, problems and encounters that cannot be managed nor resolved. 

Like it or not, but the dismantling of unified and packaged branding is taking place in front of us. 

Relationships are re-establishing around experiential touch-points that are predictable and manageable.

Not only are Tiny Houses easy to transport and uproot, they are financially own-able and the monolith, non-personal, automated mortgage firm is removed from the experience. 

Not only are the Indie Cafes owned locally, the space and people working in them are identifiable and conversational and local.

Whether Boomers, Xers or Millennials, they all are saying screw even the third-party contractors, I can do the work myself.  

Political parties are not getting it.  Even those that match the banner used by the candidates or issues that voters approved.  Here in the U.S., the Republicans are just as stupid-blind as the Democrats in “getting it.”

Unification, globalization, common values, universal brands… dead. 

Uniqueness, individuality, locality, personal connectivity… empowerment moving forward.

If you are reading this… realize where you need to refocus attention…

1.    What is the character of your audience groups?  Give up the perspective of thinking of a universal target group… and further give up the belief that the individual groups universally seek out the same brand experience.

2.    How can you operationally localize the brand?  Is it in the physicality of presentation? Is it in the personality of presentation?  Is it in the actual construction of the brand itself?

3.    How can the communications be personally engaging? And if you think social media is the answer, go jump off the side of the building!  Social media is NOT the answer. 

It’s not as easy as 1-2-3, but it’s also not complex and can be avoided.

If you haven’t been disrupted yet… fastened the seat belts.

Onward!

2017...The Year Of Disruptive Change

There will be little limited change taking place this new year.

Instead, tightened the seat belts and prepare for disruptive change that will challenge many established norms.

I am not making this up.   

During the ‘Tween week between Santa coming down the chimney and the Time Square ball drop, I had an opportunity to meet up with a couple interesting prospective clients.

 While each in their own unique category and market, all four of the firms shared elements in common. 

Who they are today is due to a family member in the past starting up the company and expanding it.

The firms have built customer equity over time and each is dedicated to delivering top value customer service.

Each firm has long-term employees… some with family ties… running their marketing program. 

Each firm thrives on what they define as the mission, purpose and values.  Three of the four firms have them framed and positioned prominently where individuals entering their offices can see them.

Each firm sponsors and promotes the essence of a cause.

This sense of “stability” sounds nice doesn’t it?

Now let’s raise the scope of our vision and illustration.

There are large groups of people gathering under the umbrellas of corporations, government organizations, contract vendors, non-profit cause groups and yes… even in countries unified under a common government and iconic flag.

These groups wake up most every morning and start their days with a sense of direction and mission.

Their leadership often has deep history and roots… leadership coming out of similar past models of governance and management.

Many follow a script of action and expectation.

This sense of “stability” sounds nice doesn’t it?

About 18 months ago the early signs of a U.S. presidential election started to surface.

Two parties believed that they were prepared to win.

One party had an icon that many with some tenure in the party worshiped who would continue to employ programs from the past eight years.  The other party had a set of the tried and true.  Each party had a sense of mission and purpose.

And the candidates had already started crafting campaign strategy that combined social media of the here and now with the marketing and media models long since featured in the academic text books.

The media had already started to churn out its classic coverage and perspectives of the past.

This sense of “stability” sounds nice doesn’t it?

There were a couple of cracks in the stability that as they surfaced, grabbed my attention.

(1)  Target reported a sales decline in early summer 2015

(2)  Sister networks, HGTV and DIYTV started co-programming with Great American Country TV

(3)  Brexit not only started to be used by the media, it actually took place

(4)  “News stories” entered into social media

(5)  The use of social media by Millennials starts to decline

I could care less if a reader of this blog is a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent or a Socialist.  I could care less if you like the man or not.

The election of Trump is more than just a tipping point, but what Malcolm Gladwell cites in his best-seller is well exemplified by the election results.  Only difference is that the pace of change Gladwell cites is minor compared to what is going to take place in 2017.

Back to the prospective clients.

While each of the four firms championed who they were and how they got there, they still called me and set up a time to meet in person.

Underneath their business security blankets, I sensed more tension that anticipation. 

When I spoke of change – they all quickly took their pulpits and self-declared their sense of mission and cause. 

It reminds me a tad of Linus and the blanket.

A couple of these prospective clients might become actual clients in 2017. 

But they better have checked and made sure that those seat belts work.

2017 will be a year of disruptive change.  Models of the past will not just be re-engineered and re-formatted, they will be re-invented and re-imagined.

There’s a set of some major opportunities to capitalize on, but the brands that prosper will be brands that are brave enough to re-imagine and re-invent themselves.

Personally, what I do with EXPERIENCE is fun. 

We are not in the business to point fingers that say a brand is doing wrong, but rather to shine lights on opportunity.

We do what we do and are successful at it because we do not believe that safe-ground actions like taking tiny steps, inwardly reconfirming purpose-missions-values and standing firm on past models that are not sinking, but collapsing.

We disrupt many false perceptions of security. 

But do so because just like the guy heading into the White House says, we are here to make our clients' brands great again… and to do so, way out in front of the competition that remains in their self-defined corporate worlds of comfort.

I post this blog on New Year’s Day because tomorrow is not the beginning of another journey, its day #1 of disruptive change… and fabulous opportunity!

Be brave out there and come journey with us!

The EXPERIENCE 2017 Trendcast Premier is Here!

The EXPERIENCE 2017 Trendcast is complete and available for review!

Each year when I put together the Trendcast report, I am amazed at just how on-target the trends noted are in actuality. 

In the last Blog post, I shared some early thinking and observations.  

I previewed one showing with a great group of real estate and development folks just before Thanksgiving. Last week, I showcased the deck with some peers in New York. 

Over this past weekend, I had the opportunity to have lunch with some retired college professors.  We talked about the trends while sipping coffee. They quickly connected with Trendcast #7 – Revival of Self-Crafting Trade Skills. 

A number of the professors have retirement homes in the Appalachian Mountains.  They talked about how amazed they are with the student participation in the regional trade schools.  They then went on to confirm that colleges and universities are now adding trade skill classes into the curriculum as well. 

I shared that classes like wood-working, home remodeling, automotive self-maintenance, metal working and furniture refinishing are all the rave in the university extended education offerings in the city. 

Shows like Flea Market Flip, Barnwood Builders, Texas Flip, Rehab Addict, Renovation Realities and Fixer Upper are all the rage with Millennials. 

Another interesting confirmation…

Trendcast #2 – Migration to Town Square Suburbia – is something that I see and experience whether I am driving in the ‘burbs of New Jersey, Illinois, Washington State, LA or even here in the Suburban maze of Atlanta.

Intown living is promoted as the hip, cool and long-term trend that is changing the cityscape of America in media-land.  And just as the news-media was off-track in their predictions concerning Trump, the news-media is quickly realizing that those indie-cafes are fading from intown scene as the real estate costs climb.

Today, the WSJ printed an article titled, “Suburbs Outstrip Cities In Population Growth.”

As the article notes… “Suburbia in the 50 largest metros (DMAs) makes up 79% of the population of the  metros, but accounted for 91% of the population growth.”

Wow… well it just has to be the GenXers that continue to live out there… right?

Here’s another quote… “Overall population growth, diversity and even younger residents are out-stripping the urban neighborhoods … three-quarters of the people age 25-34 (Millennials) live in the suburbs.”

As I note in the Trendcast report, the urban, "in-town" neighborhoods are being transformed alright… but unfortunately, they are quickly becoming the 2016 version of the cookie-cutter, mall-brand ‘hoods that the trendsetters seek to avoid.

Today, I drove through an area of Atlanta called Buckhead.  It’s the neighborhood that is often featured on Housewives of Atlanta.  Some have even gone so far as to label it the Beverly Hills of the South.

As I drove through Buckhead, I was amazed at all the new apartments and condos being built along the famous beltways like Lenox Road, Peachtree Road and North Druid Hills.  The problem is that all the buildings being built, all look the same. 

As much as suburbia was cookie-cutter when built, its now very mid-century cool.  Town squares that developed are actually more real than the urban city centers.

2017 is less than 30 days away as write this Blog post.

Hang on tight. 

The trends cited in the 2016 Trendcast are sure to rattle the marketplace.  Changes coming from Washington just upped the ante 10 times more.

Here’s the 2017 Trendcast…

#1 – Generation Alpha

Millennials are the focus of the media and marketing mavens right now.  In 2017, the leading edge of Zoomers turns 17 years of age.  Generation Alpha is now the coined term for the age 0-2 population in the U.S. Get ready for more focus as those Alphas start talking.  BTW, right now they text on the iPhones with the Emoji graphics!

#2 – Migration To Town Square Suburbia

See the intro text of this Blog.

#3 – Mobile Cocooning

Many of you travel with your careers.  When you stay at the chic hotels and branded-chains like EVEN Hotels, Moxi, Aloft or Element, what percentage of the folks staying at the hotel are in their rooms at 8p versus in the shared common space?  What’s driving the whole craze of the Tiny Houses?  Think about it and text me as you are riding on the shuttle bus.

#4 – The De-massing of Retail

Target is now micro-targeting and GAP is trying to figure out why sales are dropping at record pace.  Indie coffee houses are growing at record speed while the Starbucks CEO is stepping down.

#5 – Mid-Century Homecoming

In cleaning out closets many Baby Boomers are discovering that an app like Letgo.com just might net more than the tax deduction of a donation because Millennials covet Mid-Century “collectables.”   Those suburban houses built in the 60s and 70s that many Boomers label as "tear-downs" are fueling the next wave of home renovation and remodeling.

#6 – The Culture of Perceived Disconnection

In the 2016 Trendcast, I identified a group as the “Unconnected Sub-Generation.”  Going into 2017, I have modified the Trendcast as The Culture of Perceived Disconnection.  Check out the resorts, spas, homesites that all rally around the concept of being "unplugged."  Think about what “unplugged” means in terms of the iPhone, iPad and social media rage. Think about what this means in terms of brand positioning!

#7 --   Revival of Self-Crafting Trade Skills

See the intro text of this Blog.

#8 – Reconstruction of Past Models

We all know that the U.S. cannot go back to the economic model that fueled mass production and mass marketing back in the 1960s, but that craving for a re-prioritization is fueling an economic, governing and political reconstruction.  We all know that Millennials are now bearing kids and not tossing aside their iPhones, but look at what’s on the rise with “time-out” boxes in restaurants and family dinner tables.

#9 – Need For Personal Interaction

I cite Millennials and their hovering “helicopter” parents as a major change agent that is causing business to reconsider the automation of their service delivery models.  Whether it’s the personalization of the Chipotle burrito or the personal credit union member-partner-onsite assistant explaining credit-line avails or the designer working with you and your Mid-Century “new” home, personal interaction is coming back full-speed ahead.

#10 – Prescription Wellness

Whether it’s a dietary plan, a stress management plan, a paced exercise and fitness plan, a prevention-stay healthy plan, the move right now that doctors are refocusing revenue around is the whole craze of staying healthy and being well.  While not a rage this year, there are health insurance options that are beginning to surface that are advantageously priced around prevention.  Watch more to hit in 2017 as Washington tackles the re-engineering of Obama-care.

If you go to our website, you will see that dwelling out and beyond the walls of office-town and co-working America and getting out and observing, listening, conversing and actively being involved with all the experiential diversity of what makes up the marketplace is what drives EXPERIENCE.

For more details and the impact of the trends, my phone number direct is 404.245.9378. But be ready to move fast to capitalize on the change.  Life is too short on our end to meet up with businesses that simply sit back and listen.

2017 Market Challenges And Changes... Are You Embracing Them Yet?

Every year starting the first of November, I begin scripting the trends for the next year’s Trendcast Report – something that I have done now close to 20 years ago!

It’s always an interesting process of reviewing the field work and studies EXPERIENCE conducted during the course of the last year as well as the trends that peers are tracking and ferreting out the broader nature of market change.

Take Millennials as an example. 

Back in 2003, I was already labeling the Millennials, “Millennials” versus “Generation Y” as many in the marketing and media fields were doing.

I projected out just how much of a change-wave the Millennials were going to be as they exited college and entered into our social and business communities.

Today, Millennials make up the majority share of the workforce and nearly 98% of every baby now being delivered is the product of two Millennials.

Take social media as another example.

Back in the earlier days, I talked about how it and mobile technology access would influence more than just online exchanges. 

Today, how the public processes information, secures feedback from friends, communicates among one another and provides and receives word-of-mouth advice operates in a context more formed by social media than past structures of communications.

Some think that folks are more direct today in expressing their thoughts... but that has been more fostered by the restrictions of texting and Twitter than many think!

House & Home… LOL… I spoke in the early days that the great escalation of both home prices and new home construction was in for a correction.  Now going into 2017, there’s another  correction in housing looming – both homeownership and rental. 

Boomer parents will loan down payments just long enough!

2017 is now 60 days away and the market is in for more change and challenge.

Here’s a couple pre-lude observations…

#1 Social Media has reached the level of market maturity and is morphing into dynamics actually of the past. 

An article in the Wall Street Journal this past week talks about two conflicting camps at Facebook.  One camp believes that Facebook is evolving into a forum of for apps… another camp believes that Facebook is evolving into a forum of video programming. 

What’s intriguing is that nowhere in the article does it highlight the fact that Facebook has historically been a forum of social exchange among people.

Linked In was purchased by Microsoft and touts the purchase as a means to market Microsoft Office and how its programs can be used to assist business leadership. 

Wow… I am sure that the “433 million professionals” who have posted profiles on Linked In are sitting back with baited breath to purchase Microsoft Office products.

And then there’s Twitter… that’s tanked.  

Just as I am writing this, CBS News just broke with the announcement that Twitter is cutting 10% of its employees because it cannot find a buyer and is losing money at a record rate.

Reality hits quickly once the media hype and Wall Street delusionals ask the fundamental question… how is this venture going to generate revenue? 

Whether social media becomes another format of advertising-supported broadcast programming or another avenue of retail distribution, what social media was all touted to be is unraveling as we sit back and watch.

Here’s another 2017 Trendcast Market Driver…

#2 Mass retail is downsizing and emerging as another forum of Mom & Pop. 

In the last 60 days, Target announced that store expansion is being rechanneled to much smaller, niche-targeted Target stores – no pun intended!

Reduced down is not only the square footage, but also in relationship to selection and choice. 

Just as Target made its announcement, Walmart did the same. 

Whole Foods is even re-thinking its product mix and actually opening up a set of smaller Whole Food stores that will sell mostly 360 Whole Foods generic products at a competitive price point.

Kmart-Sears is now an EXPERIENCE client and all I can share is that customization of the retail deliverable is quickly replacing the business paradigm that all stores are all the same. 

Starbucks is now diversifying too. Some Starbucks sell just coffee, others offer expanded food selection and others sell more wines and beers than coffee. 

On another related note, there are now more new homes being built by independent builders than home building corporations. 

And here’s another interesting trend…

#3 Suburban town squares are quickly becoming hot again as the in-town communities become more and more similar to the look and feel of the malls.

There is no question that I am somewhat biased in making this observation.

Where EXPERIENCE was housed the longest was torn down about 5 years ago… a location in the heart of the first neighborhood built in Atlanta after the city was set ablaze in the conclusion of the Civil War. 

What sits on that site now is a “live-play” complex that houses a couple retail chain stores, a coffee house and a few restaurants. 

That complex can be picked-up and placed in the once-hip, in-town centers of Austin, Seattle, Boston, DC or San Diego and it would look just as much local there as it does in Atlanta’s Historic Inman Park.

Just this past week I read in one of the intown Atlanta newspapers that a new development is slated to be built at on a property site that also once housed EXPERIENCE. 

It’s a site two blocks from the home where Dr. King was born.

The historic loft building is being expanded with 40 townhouses that will be built above retail and restaurants in a post-modern architecture style…townhouses that will be starting in the $600K’s.

I am not alone in making these observations… and further emotionally pondering the sanity of developers and “locals” allowing it.

Whether it’s the Bohemians seeking alternative diversity or the Gay community seeking a sense of community or artists seeking out creativity, many are stepping back and watching their sense of place getting replaced by a canned and cost-prohibited culture.

This “mass produced” gentrification coupled with the rise of popularity of mid-century culture is quickly opening up new interest in… suburban town squares.

Part driven by affordability… and part driven by a sense of novelty… high tech is also facilitating what will challenge the viability of in-town communities all over again as commute times will not matter with new dynamics of work-from-home, web-connects and even co-working sites.

There are even some companies now realizing that relocation back out to the 'burbs might actually be easier in terms of cost as well as against-the-intown flow commutes of others.

There are more cool trends rattling the marketplace that will challenge strategists, entrepreneurs, top management and politicians alike.

As I age in this from one year to the next there are some overall observations that become clearer …

#1 – Generational groups have more impact that many marketers think

#2 – For all the integration of technology, there is more value in human innovation

#3 – The marketplace is not linear, its cyclical but the cycles run on different tier levels

#4 – Smart entrepreneurs and business leadership embrace challenge and change

#5 – Success requires looking beyond the obvious and the programmed… and unraveling the submerged.

If you want to take the dive… give me a call!

 

The Human Disconnect With Data Mining And Marketing

As I have shared in the past, I have a second home out in the country that I escape to at least a couple of days a week.  The “Farm House,” as I term it, has a nice room set up as an office and I get a lot of work completed when I use it.

About two miles from the Farm House sits a large Walmart.  I sometimes dash over to that Walmart to grab a mix of groceries, house & home stuff and garden supplies.

Yesterday I was sitting in a Starbucks and a recent grad from Emory’s Goizueta Business School was sipping coffee adjacent to me. His specialty was database modeling.  He was telling me how impressed he was with Walmart’s recent purchase of Jet.com.

Jet.com was not a cheap buy.  Jet.com never made a profit.  Jet.com ran a set of ads that featured folks with purple hair and exploding heads. 

At the Walmart near the Farm House, there’s a significant share of shoppers who have purple, green, orange and pick hair.  Perhaps that is where Birds of a Feather Flocking Together justifies what I consider a waste of investment dollars.

The multi-colored hair I see at Walmart fits well with the profile of who shops a lot at Walmart.  A high percentage of the Walmart shopper base sports Nielsen PRIZM nicknames like “Young & Rustic,” “Campers & Camo,” “Multi-Culti Families” and “Lo-Tech Singles.”

About a year ago, I purchased a set of working shoes from the Walmart store by the Farm House.  They were cheap, but functional and actually comfortable too.

When they wore out, I went to the store to find another pair with no success.  Once I got back to the Farm House, I went online and found a similar pair on Walmart.com and purchased them. 

They have since arrived and are actually very comfortable and durable too.  Especially when I go out and work in the yard around the Farm House.

What happened next though has not only been interesting to observe, but furthermore is where I think so many clients I work with end up. 

Data “Miners” and “Modelers” are manic-depressive players on brand marketing teams. Part of what they do is helpful.  Much of what they do, that corporate teams then employ, are downright dangerous.

I heard that many data miners test out as ISTJs when they take the Myers-Briggs test.  Introverts who use sensory assessment – the numbers! --- to drive rational pathways of thinking further set up in a “just do it” and move on path of resolution.

So what did Walmart do after I purchased those shoes online?

They started a stream of Emails to me that featured similar looking shoes and boots.  Next came a series of Emails and banner ads featuring everything from flannel shirts and Jiffy Mix to toilet paper and baby diapers.  Then came another round of Emails on boots and belts. 

The data model that the data miners built is using something to drive the outbound content, but it fails to accurately portray me.  It links a physical transaction with rational behavioral analytics to then engage in a personal, customer-building exchange.

I once had a dog that wanted to hump about anything with four legs.  I guess that hound shared a similar linear line of rational assessment.

A couple of our clients went out and hired a database “strategy” firm to manage their direct and online marketing. 

One of the clients already has called and asked me if I can assist in taking what the database firm has done and make some sense out of it to apply it more into their day-to-day marketing strategy.

Another travel-lodging client has shared that their database “strategy” firm will not allow them access to their customer records that have since been statistically modeled into predictive algorithms.  The client went on to say that the algorithms are not driving booking gains yet.

Okay.

Yesterday I received a call from an Environics sales manager.  Environics is a firm we partner with in Canada that owns a sister neighborhood lifestyle system that works in tandem with Nielsen PRIZM.

The sales manager, a very nice young woman, attempted to expand the service mix in our current license arrangement.  She told me that there was a whole host of statistical modeling resources we currently do not use.

I attempt to refresh and update when doing so will enhance our client deliverables, so I asked her what specifically did these resources do that would enhance what we have done over a good number of years. 

She went on to say that the additional resources allow us to micro-analyze geographic trade areas in factor-building modeling.

Wow. Factor-building modeling.

When I asked how that type of modeling could be applied against multiple site locations like a chain of 600+ retail sites, she was stunned and could not explain how because once a model is built for one site location it does not easily duplicate in application against another set of sites. Micro-analytics and linear rationale perhaps at its best.

When I experience what I have just shared in this blog, I actually get excited.

Human behaviors and human cultures drive the vision-mission-purpose of EXPERIENCE and why I started the firm in the first place. 

Humans are not rational beasts.  They are both driven by experiential dynamics and emotional context. Two factors that are not always predictable… and certainly not linear, but instead dimensional.

My Farm House is located in a Nielsen PRIZM neighborhood nicknamed, “Country Squires.”  My city flat is located in a Nielsen PRIZM neighborhood nicknamed, “Movers & Shakers.” 

It’s unfortunate that the marketing, sales and database miners at Walmart failed to add that dimensional part of my human persona to its linear data-driven interactive exchange.  

The flannel shirts connected with me some.  Featuring them in a setting around a backyard fire pit along with some nice Brie and Jack Daniels in some retro-cocktail glasses would have not only activated my wallet, but probably an endorsement post to my fellow Facebook “Country Squire” gents.

Something tells me though that the data “Miners” and “Modelers” might not have any idea that Bourbon and Brie share more in common than the “B” in their names.

We do a good amount of number crunching and statistical analytics here at EXPERIENCE.  But… whenever I find myself in the midst of numbers, I purposely get out of the office and move out into the neighborhoods around where my clients’ customers hang.

I strike up conversations about their day-to-day lives as well as prompt them to tell me stories about experiences that drive my clients’ brands.  And I take time to put the calculator down and listen and observe. 

If you are reading this and work in a corporate high-rise, I encourage you too to do the same. 

I know it sounds basic and simplistic.  And yes, there are ways to do this also in social media channels where a person can “hang” and track dialogue too.

But the human experience is what truly drives brand culture and brand cultures supersede rational relationships.

All said, I hope more database Miners and Modelers expand what they do. It certainly builds a linear drive to my iPhone and website!

The Next Chapter Of Healthcare Marketing Is Emerging

Over the course of the last month and a half, we have been very focused working in retail and healthcare. I post limited blog content about healthcare despite extensively working in the category. 

We have spent a lot of the last six weeks working with the largest healthcare system that serves greater Detroit.  We have been helping them chart out future growth and specifically how that growth affects real estate and operations.

Healthcare today is not only going through a set of changing models related to health reform, but healthcare leadership is also encountering the effects of generational changes along with continued advancements related to technology. 

No question that both Millennials and aging Boomers are presenting opportunities.

I am entertained on one level by all the urban development that continues to expand based on Millennial-anchored planning models  Millennials who at this moment in time love the charm of live-work-play.

What many players in the urban development field overlook is that Millennials are coupling and having their first kids.  Gone quickly is the discretionary money to spend on a new app or another round of organic, environmentally friendly micro-brews.

This past week, I heard word that a past pediatric healthcare system client is focusing 100% of its marketing efforts against Millennials.  I do not find that as an “aha insight,” but those on the client-side apparently do.

Of course, if you follow the “drive-by” media, you are hearing claims that range from Millennials being the largest generation ever, Millennials deciding not to get married, Millennials electing not to have kids, Millennials electing to have kids – but outside of marriage and Millennials being trendsetters of a baby-bust.

Simple statistical facts challenge much of the “drive-by” media assertions.

Nearly 90% of all babies born in 2016 were birth by Millennials.  That percentage is expected to exceed 90% in 2017. More Millennials are finally coupling, getting married and moving out of their parents’ homes and now more 50% of Millennials actually have at least one child.

My assertion is that the vast number of pediatric hospitals… and their ad agencies… are limited in their understandings and preparation strategies for the change.  How the Millennial parents communicate, the media the agencies recommend, the relationship dynamics and the topical points of interest and dialogue engagement marketing strategies that emerge… are likely to be “out-of-whack!”

Bill Creekmuir, a gentleman that I was blessed to meet and in some ways is a mentor of mine, sent me a link to a study that was released by KPMG.  Bill served as CFO of one of the top House & Home corporations in the U.S.

The study tracked the impact of what it calls the “new consumers” emerging in the marketplace and it’s not too surprising to discover that Millennials make-up a significant portion. 

What’s particularly interesting is what the study explored related to health and wellness in which the report specifically notes two distinctive drivers – an emerging consumer focus on “sustainability” and emphasis on “health and wellness.”  The report goes on further to talk about how these drivers affect operational and financial models.  There is limited “digging deeper” in connecting the two.

Are all Millennials engaged in a physician-centric, physician-guided relationship? No.

Are all Millennials actively involved in proactive a wellness-focus regimen?  No.

And if I replaced “Millennials” with “Baby Boomers,” would the answers change?  No.

BUT… there is a far greater share of both generational groups engaged in health and wellness and variations of physician alliances that similar age groups in the past. And that percentage is expected to grow.

When I interact with healthcare marketers and healthcare agencies, I get a kick out of their “drive by” strategies that focus around social media.  I truly do not make this up. I am sure that the healthcare CFOs must love their marketing teams who advocate shifting all the marketing dollars away from “mass media” to “free” social media.

The deeper dynamics of “sustainability” and “health and wellness” are rooted in emotions that circulate around “self-destiny,” “immortality,” and “directive control.”  All of which are proactive that further translates to rational deliverables of “prevention” and “early detection.”

Healthcare providers today are beginning to explore the opportunities emerging.

Three weeks ago, I had lunch with a good friend of mine that is a primary care physician who is also an internist.  He wanted to get my thoughts on opening up a “wellness management” center adjacent to his practice.

The hospital CEOs that I am working with in Detroit are actively engaging in real estate assessment in the context of “treatment” versus “wellness-prevention” service centers.

There is a study that I am beginning to launch that specifically explores provider perceptions in the context of “coaching” and “guidance” roles versus “dictatorial” and “treatment” roles.

What I will leave for readers of this post to think about are several ways in which healthcare plays a more significantly broader market role than many perceive and understand.

In what ways do the deeper dynamics of “sustainability” and “health and wellness” impact another service category like financial services?  Is debt manageable and real estate investments sustainable?

To what degree will the desired, natural balance of high-tech and high-touch impact how advisory council is delivered? 

Where is investment delivery better fulfilled… among Boomers who are beginning to face the health challenges of aging or the Millennials who are emerging as the family-centered households of the here and now?

Is one’s personal fulfillment of “self-destiny” really something that is self-defined and self-achieved or in actually, a “group task” among the socially connected Millennials?

The one thing I certainly know is that when I have my 7-year-old nephew around, I get my share of exercise… as well as a context of the world around me that is a whole bunch more accurately perceived than behind those corporate office walls!