While the United States has been struggling through a recession, consumers have embraced the do-it-yourself (DIY) trend like never before. DIY has permeated all aspects of life and business. However, that doesn’t have to mean that brands end up losing business. In fact, the DIY trend can actually open new doors of opportunity for brands.

This week, JP Morgan’s Chase Card Services released the results of an online survey that revealed some interesting information about the DIY trend among American consumers. If the results of this survey are accurate, Americans have no plans to abandon the DIY trend anytime soon. Kate Rogers shares in her report for Fox Business that the DIY trend will stick around in many areas of consumers’ lives in the years to come.

For example, gym memberships and salon visits aren’t likely to pick up in 2012 as approximately one out of two survey respondents claimed they planned to skip paying for these types of experiences in the future. Beauty salon expenditures and tourism-related expenses will suffer similar fates in 2012 as respondents stated they would use DIY methods to keep up with beauty regimens and to enjoy time off from work.

For brands, this shift in consumer behavior means more than simply weathering the storm of the economic downturn. Instead, this shift means it’s time for brands to rethink their strategies and look for new opportunities to add value to consumers’ DIY lives. Launching a new product or service, rebranding with a new brand promise and focus, or modifying a brand’s message to communicate more relevant benefits and emotional triggers are all potential opportunities for brands to better connect with the DIY consumer mindset.

It’s a perfect time to conduct some research that gives you insight into the DIY consumer mind as it relates to your industry, so you can better align your goals and strategies with shifting audience preferences and behaviors. What do you think? Has your brand evolved to leverage the DIY trend? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on the DIY trend and strategies to turn the trend into brand opportunities.

Image: Patrick Goossens

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 Corporate Eye

With 2012 less than a week away, there is no better time than right now to look at what’s ahead in the world of marketing and branding for the new year. JWT Intelligence released two reports that shed insight into the year ahead: 100 Things to Watch in 2012 and 10 Trends for 2012.

Some of the key trends that JWT Intelligence predicts will be hot for the new year include the following:

1. Price Opportunities: Brands will introduce low-cost entry-point products into markets for price-sensitive consumers with “stripped down offerings” and smaller sizes.
2. Shared Value: Companies will shift from simply donating money to charitable causes to integrating social causes into brand strategies.
3. Interactivity: With a growing trend toward making screens interactive, brands will focus on finding new ways to engage consumers through touch screens and experiences.
4. Redefining Age: “Old age” is changing with the term focusing on an older audience than ever and a more active older audience. Brands will find ways to better communicate with and target the aging audience.
5. Tangible Add-ons: As more content and products become digital, brands will look for ways to add a tangible, tactile experience to those digital products and services and vice versa.

These trends aren’t ground-breaking or innovative. They’re reactions to how the world is changing and examples of how brands need to adapt to macro- and micro-environmental changes. Brands that don’t adapt will fall behind quickly. However, these trends provide excellent strategic opportunities to leverage the changing world and consumer audience for positive brand growth.

The trick for brands in 2012 and beyond will be keeping up with the changing world and consumer audience. In other words, change always happens, but today, change happens faster than ever. Therefore, brands and businesses must be flexible enough to stay ahead of those changes in order to lead (or at least compete) in the markets where they operate.

Is your brand positioned to navigate through fast-changing consumers and markets in the short-term and beyond? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

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 Corporate Eye

Walmart might be one of the biggest retailers in the world, but Apple is the company with the most online shoppers as of November 2011 according to comScore (as reported by Ad Age).

There is one thing that’s pushing Apple ahead of Walmart — iTunes. Of the 79 million unique visitors to the Apple website from the United States in November, 30% of them came for the iTunes digital content store.

Digital content sales are exploding everywhere, and it’s a trend that’s going to continue to grow. Consumers are purchasing more digital content, including music, television shows, movies, and books than ever. With the skyrocketing sales of the iPad and similar tablet devices, more and more consumers are shifting their media consumption habits to digital content every day.

comScore reports that ecommerce sales are up by approximately 15% over a year ago, but digital content sales are up twice as much. In fact, Ad Age reports that December 25th has been dubbed “Download Day” because so many people are looking for content for the devices they received as Christmas gifts that day. Between December 25th through January 1st is the period each year when the most most digital downloads occur.

The rise of Apple’s iTunes traffic and download sales shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. What’s surprising is that so few competitors are making headway against Apple and the iTunes store. It will be interesting to look at these statistics again next year at this time to see how Apple and competitors are doing in the download market.

Another interesting point to consider is the overall trend toward digital content consumption and how that shift will affect download sales throughout the year. There’s no going back now. Digital is here to stay. Can another company compete with Apple in the short-term? Now is the time for someone to make a move.

What do you think? Who can give Apple a run for the money? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Flickr

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 Corporate Eye

A study conducted by CourseSmart of U.S. college students who own mobile devices reveals some important insights to brands who are trying to market to this fast-moving audience.

According to the study, 93% of the survey respondents own a laptop and 47% own a smartphone. Just 7% own and ereader and another 7% own an iPad. Of course, iPad sales are expected to double in 2012, so these numbers are likely to look completely different a year from now. However, the data in the study will be no less valuable to brands.

The study included 18-25 year olds, and 84% of the audience claimed that they use two or more mobile devices at the same time while simultaneously watching television. For example, a student might be doing homework on a laptop, texting with a friend on her mobile phone, and watching television — all at the same time. Specifically, the breakdown of responses follows (via eMarketer):

• 36% use a mobile phone and laptop while watching television.
• 25% use a mobile phone, laptop, and iPad while watching television.
• 19% use a mobile phone, laptop, iPad, and more while watching television.
• 17% use a mobile phone while watching television.
• 3% use no devices while watching television.

Clearly, these students will make excellent multi-taskers when they enter the workforce! All joking aside, there is an important takeaway for brand marketers that can be gleaned from this data. It is extremely difficult to cut through the existing noise and clutter surrounding U.S. college students who own mobile devices. They choose the majority of this noise and clutter, so brands have a challenge in front of them. Stealing a snippet of time from this audience away from the many messages they are bombarded with continually by choice is a monumental task. And it’s very likely that these study results are the same for college students in other countries as well.

Therefore, brands have to create marketing campaigns that capture the attention and cut through the noise instantly. Furthermore, this is an audience that knows brands are trying to sell something to them, and they have no patience for the slow-build up or veiled messages. Get to the point and deliver your best message first! The audience will decide if they like what your best message is, but they won’t stick around to listen to you talk about how great your brand is with the hope that your ultimate message will be worth the wait. By the time you get your message out, they’ve already moved on to a third, fourth, or fifth device, activity, and conversation.

Image: Flickr

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 Corporate Eye

Mobile marketing is it these days, and brands are aggressively experimenting with the available mobile technology to connect with consumers when they’re on the go — particularly just before they make a purchase and while they’re making a purchase.

Currently, a widespread, easy, and convenient mobile coupon distribution system is lacking. In other words, brands can make coupons available through mobile applications, mobile websites, text messaging, and so on, but it can still be challenging for consumers to redeem those coupons.

While it seems to consumers that it should be easy to use a mobile coupon, Tiffany Tan of Clorox Co. explained to eMarketer, “the reality is that most retailers where consumer products are sold don’t have a universal coupon reader system at the point of sale.” Tan is confident that technology advances will catch up to consumer demands related to mobile couponing. She gave eMarketer her list of what her team would love to see in the future of mobile couponing:

• The ability to target based on prior purchases
• A mobile coupon experience that happens at the shelf

Chris Duncan of OfficeMax offered another perspective on mobile couponing to eMarketer. Currently, OfficeMax uses mobile couponing as part of its loyalty program that ties into its mobile app. Duncan’s views on mobile couponing challenges differ from Tan’s. Looking at mobile coupons as a loyalty driver and reward system, he views the challenge not as technology but in “getting engagement from a critical mass.”

Duncan sees the advantage to mobile marketing as its speed, but OfficeMax views mobile as a complementary part of its broader couponing and marketing strategies where mobile often becomes a component of a larger marketing effort that includes all channels.

Regardless of which view point you support related to mobile marketing and couponing (or if you have a different view on mobile marketing entirely), there is no denying that mobile is where consumers are and brands need to be there, too. There is no recipe for success yet, and technology is continually changing. As Tan told eMarketer when discussing the Clorox target audience of mothers, “With over half of the population on smartphones by the end of this year, we want to make sure that we are everywhere she is.”

The question for brand managers is this — is your brand everywhere that your target audience is?

Image: bydwiel

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 Corporate Eye