May 24, 2012

How will the consumer be different in 2020? What will they want? How will they relate to brands? And how can marketers best prepare for the changes ahead?

These and other questions were discussed during a recent podium discussion hosted by the AMA Atlanta. Local business leaders from Coca-Cola, AT&T, Cox Communications, Chick-fil-A, Arby’s, IBM , The Futures Company and others all participated.

unitOne was there and here are some of the highlights:

With the maturing of Social Media, the stakes are getting higher: The average Facebook user has 140-150 friends, but he only likes 10 brands. How do you become one of these brands?

• Know me – listen to me, watch me (but be careful how you use what you learn!)
  Consumers expect brands to know more about them, especially how they define their value, whether it is price, product features or just having a likable brand.
• Act like you know me
  Jon Bridges of Chick-fil-A demonstrated how they understand custom services in a fast food chain: A mother with two hungry kids in the back seat goes through the drive-through and places the orders for herself and the kids. She then parks the car and comes into the restaurant where the staff has already prepared a table with the order. “We don’t view our customer base in big chunks anymore. We can overlay customer demos with their usage and referral behavior to understand their true value”.

For more ideas on how to connect with consumers digitally, join us for part 2 & 3 in the coming weeks.

Arby's, AT&T, Chick-fil-A, consumer, Cox Communications, future, IBM, The Coca-Cola Company, The Futures Company