As the effects of the global recession linger, consumers are changing the way they shop, becoming more budget-conscious, eco-aware and cause-oriented, while paying greater attention to what, why and from who they are buying. Arnold Worldwide has named the top ten public figures, across entertainment, business and politics, who are helping to promote the era of “mindful spending.”

Andrew Benett, Global CEO of Arnold Worldwide and Global Chief Strategy Officer of Havas Worldwide, describes the downfall of hyperconsumption and the rise of “the new consumer” in his forthcoming book, Consumed: Rethinking Business in an Era of Mindful Spending (Palgrave Macmillan, July 2010), co-authored by Ann O’Reilly, Content Director of the Euro RSCG Worldwide Knowledge Exchange.

Despite the fact that glitz and abundance are alive and well in mainstream media (think: Bravo’s The Real Housewives and E!’s Keeping Up with the Kardashians), there is a fast-growing set of Americans who reject excess and artificiality in favor of authenticity, substance and interconnectedness. In fact, according to a groundbreaking survey of 5,700 adults in seven countries conducted for Consumed, nearly 80 percent of Americans feel society is becoming too shallow and believe most of us would be better off if we lived more simply.

“For the last two decades, Americans believed bigger was better—from the size of our houses to our cars to the amount of food on our dinner plates. But the economic recession, coupled with other factors like the green movement, is fundamentally changing American attitudes,” said Benett. “Instead of super-sizing, we’re ‘right-sizing’ and re-evaluating what’s important in life. We’re saving more, wasting less, and giving back.”

Benett further states: “Mindful consumers are taking a closer look at what we truly need and adjusting our shopping behaviors accordingly. As part of that, we are embracing brands that uphold these new ideals, brands that provide quality and value in their services and products, but are also environmentally friendly and socially responsible.”

In recognition of the new book Consumed, here is a list of ten public figures who embrace qualities of the mindful consumer, such as a commitment to sustainability efforts, a focus on giving, and a more thoughtful approach to consumption:

Ludacris
Rappers are not always known for their humility, generosity and environmentally conscious attitudes; Ludacris isn’t your average rapper. Through The Ludacris Foundation, he has donated $1.5 million to support youth-oriented, grassroots organizations and devoted more than 5,000 hours of service, all while paying special attention to his hometown of Atlanta. Did we mention that Ludacris owns a hybrid and is installing solar panels on his home?

Suze Orman
While the financial market collapsed, Orman’s stock rose as she convinced people what NOT to buy during the economic recession. She is viewed as a trusted financial expert, helping Americans become fiscally responsible through her television show, eight consecutive New York Times bestsellers, and frequent guest spots on a range of programs from Oprah to The Biggest Loser.

Indra K. Nooyi
As the CEO of PepsiCo, Nooyi wants those of us who indulge in sugary beverages to feel a little better about it. She’s championing “performance with a purpose” within the organization, which is focused on creating more wholesome products and increasing sustainability practices. As part of this effort, the company has launched The Pepsi Refresh Project. The socially driven campaign allows individuals and organizations to post their philanthropic ideas on refresheverything.com, where the general public votes for their favorite initiatives to be funded. To help support the project, which will give away more than $20 million this year, the company passed on airing a Super Bowl ad.

Ellen DeGeneres
Comedienne, actress, author, CoverGirl spokesmodel, American Idol judge, talk-show host, and wife. . . Ellen DeGeneres does it all. Using her large media presence, she exposes audience members to different charities including Feeding America and the American Red Cross. DeGeneres conceals her wealth with ordinary clothes and a gracious attitude, influencing a legion of supporters through her television shows and brand sponsorships.

Taylor Swift
Unlike her flashy counterparts, such as Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga, there’s something genuine and down-to-earth about Swift that makes her stand out among the tween, teenage and young adult set. With her poised demeanor, saccharine pop-country crossover songs, humanitarian efforts for numerous charities, and penchant for affordable clothing—including her line of Walmart-sold sundresses that start at $14—this young superstar personifies the mindset of a new generation who want to feel good, look good and do good with (age-appropriate) style.

Warren Buffett
The world’s third-wealthiest person, Buffet is famously known for both his mindful spending and philanthropy. America’s foremost investor still owns the modest home bought in 1958, receives a salary of approximately $100,000 and rarely makes extravagant purchases. Most recently, Buffet auctioned off a lunch with himself that sold for $2.63 million, which will support Glide Foundation, a homeless organization based in San Francisco.

Oprah Winfrey
As proven time and again, the mere mention of a product by Oprah will make it a bestseller. Her personal integrity, philanthropic efforts and ability to connect with the masses will help her stay one of America’s favorite trendsetters long after her talk show ends in 2011. Up next: Oprah will start the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), further exploring issues surrounding empowerment, spirit, human relationships and giving back.

Stephen F. Quinn
More than three-quarters of Americans shop at Walmart every year, so whether you’re a fan or not, the retailer has influence. As Walmart’s CMO, Quinn’s leadership on sustainability efforts has a huge impact. He helped initiate strict environmental standards including high efficiency store designs, reusable bags, recycling programs and the installation of solar panels. In addition, Walmart is helping shoppers go green by introducing more energy-efficient products; locally grown produce; and the Sustainability Index, an initiative that, in the company’s own words, is “helping to create a more transparent supply chain, driving product innovation and ultimately providing our customers with information they need to assess products’ sustainability.”

Mark Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg makes the list not because he is particularly mindful, but because the platform he created is making savvier shoppers out of all of us. With more than 400 million active users worldwide, Facebook has become an interactive consumer haven. With the simple update of a status feed, users can get product recommendations from the most trusted source: friends and family. Plus, the platform provides a voice to grassroots organizations that want to galvanize people around the world quickly and efficiently. Brands like Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Disney are realizing the platform’s potential by generating huge fan followings, making it a marketer’s paradise. And with Zuckerberg’s influence over Internet privacy policies, he is literally changing the way we shop.

Michelle Obama
With the grace of Jackie and the aspirations of Eleanor, Michelle has captivated Americans. When the First Lady donned J.Crew fashions at public appearances such as The Jay Leno Show, it spiked the retailer’s clothing sales, website traffic and brand awareness. However, it is Obama’s efforts to end childhood obesity with initiatives like “Let’s Move” and the White House vegetable garden that are inspiring a nation. She is influencing (and, in some cases, incentivizing) politicians, business leaders, nonprofits, parents and the rest of us to think about what we consume.

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The Infinite Dial 2010: Digital Platforms and the Future of Radio from Tom Webster on Vimeo.

The percentage of Americans age 12 and older who have a profile on one or more social networking Web sites has reached almost half (48 percent) of the population in 2010 – double the level from two years ago (24 percent in 2008).

Nearly one in four Americans has listened to audio from an iPod or other MP3 player connected to a car stereo: Although consumers often have to deal with myriad adapters and other barriers to in-car listening, 54 percent of iPod/MP3 player owners have listened to their device in their car; this equates to 24 percent of all persons age 12 and older having listened to an iPod(TM), iPhone(TM) or other MP3 player while connected to a car stereo.

Three in ten 12 to 24s are “very interested” in online radio in the car and on mobile devices: Among those age 12 to 24, 30 percent are “very interested” in listening to online radio in-car, while 28 percent are “very interested” in listening to online radio on mobile devices.

Consumers say radio station Web sites are improved but TV and print sites are leading the local battle: Nearly half of people age 12 and older give credit to radio for improvements in their Web sites.

Forty-eight percent say that radio station Web sites have gotten more interesting compared to 17 percent believing them to be worse or less interesting. However, monthly visitation to radio station Web sites (16 percent) among persons 12+ lags visitation to local TV and local newspaper Web sites.

A total of 1,753 persons were interviewed to investigate Americans’ use of digital platforms and new media. From January 25 to February 22, 2010, telephone interviews were conducted with respondents age 12 and older chosen at random from a national sample of Arbitron’s Fall 2009 survey diarykeepers and through random digit dialing (RDD) sampling in certain geographic areas where Arbitron diarykeepers were not available for the survey. Diarykeepers represent 51% of the completed interviews and RDD sampled respondents represent 49% of the completed interviews. The study includes a total of 371 cell phone interviews.

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Well, sort of. The average amount an American was willing to pay for news was $3—and not $3 a day, but $3 a month. Not exactly the profits Rupert Murdoch dreams of, is it?

The survey also found that people were more willing to pay for news that was:

• Unique, such as local news (67 percent overall are interested; 72 percent of U.S. respondents) or specialized coverage (63 percent overall are interested; 73 percent of U.S. respondents)
• Timely, such as a continual news alert service (54 percent overall are interested; 61 percent of U.S. respondents)
• Conveniently accessible on a device of choice

And good news for newspapers: “consumers are more likely to pay for online news provided by newspapers than by other media, such as television stations, Web sites, or online portals,” especially since these other media have so much free competition. Interestingly, while Americans were more likely to pay for sites that offered access to multiple papers, only national and local—not major metropolitan-based papers—have that level of appeal. (I’m not sure which category The New York Times and Washington Post fall into here.)

Marc Vos, a Milan-based partner and leader of BCG’s media sector in Europe, tells newspapers that they “should be experimenting with paid online content. It will take trial and error to find what works.”

The prospects aren’t so bleak everywhere. In addition to 1000 US respondents, the survey also looked at results in Germany, Australia, France, the UK, Spain, Italy, Norway, Finland. While Australians also wanted to pay only $3 (USD?) for their news, other countries saw higher rates. The New York Times said that this may be because Western Europe has more consolidated news offerings, where news in the US is a very fragmented industry.

However, before Western European news sites get all excited, note that the highest amount on the survey, in Italy, was $7 a month.

What do you think? What would you be willing to pay for news?

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Never fear though. Whenever there is bad news there’s always some research done that can put the paddles on a dying industry and this is no different. MediaPost tells of a survey by the Rosen Group that shows that the vast majority of US consumers

….still deem print editions of newspapers and magazines to be “indispensable” sources of news and entertainment.

According to the study

People are looking online for news and lifestyle information, but they are not abandoning their print editions,” stated Rosen Group Founder and President Lori Rosen. “There is still a certain satisfaction and ease to holding printed text in your hands, and PDAs or PCs will not replace this just yet.”

As an example, Rosen cited the fact that nearly 60% of respondents do not consider information found on blogs to be “credible.”

Whoa! Wait a minute there big fella! Blogs not credible? Was that necessary? As with most research these days though you just need to take a look at the source then you need to be use your own smarts to see just how ‘credible’ the information is. In this case, the Rosen Group is a PR Group specializing in print media. I am not saying anything other than I see this kind of research that supports and protects an industry in trouble (i.e. Yellow Pages etc) more and more often.

We live in a media drenched world that is changing so rapidly that the finger pointing about relevance and credibility is fast and furious. How do you measure the validity of information on the web or anywhere else for that matter? If it comes from a newspaper is that more legitimate than a blog? What makes either good or bad? You can’t hurt our feelings here at Marketing Pilgrim but since you are reading us at this moment it would be kind of cool if you skewed your responses to favoring blogs. Oooops, did I say that out loud?

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The study focused on the offline sales impact of online reviews for restaurants, hotels, travel, legal, medical, automotive and home services. About one out of every four Internet users (24 percent) said they used online reviews before paying for a service delivered offline. Out of those that referenced an online review, 41 percent of restaurant reviewers went on to visit a restaurant, while 40 percent of hotel reviewers stayed at a hotel.

Over three-quarters of review users in almost every category reported that the review had a major impact on their purchase with hotels ranking highest (87 percent). Ninety-seven percent of those who said they made a purchase based on an online review said the review was accurate. Review users reported that reviews written by other consumers had more of an influence than those written by professionals.

"This study underscores the importance of providing not just good, but excellent, service if a business hopes to generate positive consumer reviews which will result in greater sales," said Brian Jurutka, senior director, comScore Marketing Solutions.

"This webinar will cover consumer’s search and shopping trends during the Holiday season including online/offline purchase behaviors, search volume trends, the combined impact of search and display on consumer engagement and spend. The webinar will conclude with search best practices for the Holiday season"

What to expect in the webinar:

Users move between paid and algo listings:

• 66%of clicks are from consumers clicking marketers’ listings multiple times.
• 37% of conversions come from consumers clicking more than one of marketer’s listings, natural or paid.
• 12.6% of conversions credited to natural search results were actually preceded by clicks on a marketer’s paid listings, more than twice as many as occur in converse scenario.

Campaigns managed holistically – where keywords used in sponsored search also rank well in algo – deliver superior performance:

• 39% lift in revenue.
• 31% lift in perception of campaign.

Some best practices tips for marketers:

• Apply seasonal modifiers to keywords.
• Plan ahead and use scheduling for short term promotions and include special messaging in title and descriptions.
• Create robust gift guides to encourage cross shopping to different categories and drive traffic to that gift guide.

To sign up for the webinar, click here.

As the webinar is interactive anyone with YSM questions, queries, suggestions, criticisms or just an opinion, can post them here. We will forward them to the people at Yahoo! who will then answer all your queries.

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Cybercitizen(R) Health v7.0 is a multi-year, multi-client study and advisory service focused on understanding consumers’ use of information and technology for healthcare.

Included in the findings are three trends pharmaceutical marketers need to consider for 2008.

The three findings that marketers need to consider are:

1. Justifying the Internet as a Channel to Reach Consumers

2. Taking True Direct-To-Consumer Innovation to the Internet

3. Accepting that Web 2.0 is here and testing next-generation apps

These findings are based on a random digit dial, telephone-based study conducted among more than 4,300 U.S. adults from July 2007 through October 2007. In addition to the data collected, Manhattan Research clients received strategic deliverables including research reports, client briefings, and access to the Manhattan Research analyst team to answer specific questions.

According to Mark Bard, Manhattan Research President Mark Bard:

“With DTC marketing in a state of flux, and a mass industry resource consolidation taking place, it has become paramount for pharmaceutical marketers to use more efficient methods and channels to broadcast their message to a consumer audience…”

Manhattan Research will review the entire study findings and the three emerging trends in an upcoming webcasts to be held on November 7th, 2007. Mark Bard, President of Manhattan Research, and Meredith Abreu, Vice President of Research, will speak at the webcasts.

The complimentary webcasts will be held on November 7th at 11am and 3pm Eastern Time. To register, go here

Additional information about the latest Cybercitizen(R) Health data, including the three emerging trends are listed below:

1. Beyond Justifying the Internet as a Channel to Reach Consumers

With the latest research showing that consumers are online in increasing numbers for health (131.8 million today), most pharmaceutical companies are moving beyond the need to justify a web presence and instead face the challenge of strategically integrating the channel into an overall consumer marketing strategy.

2. True Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Innovation Is Taken to the Web

In an environment of decreasing advertising budgets, flat ROI, and other budgetary pressures, pharma will rely on the web to broadcast its message efficiently to a critical mass of the target audience, while using increasingly complex segmentations to target content to the appropriate audience.

3. A Glimmer of Light at the End of the Web 2.0 Tunnel

Though pharma still lags behind other industries in its overall level of marketing and advertising innovation, pharmaceutical marketers are beginning to test the waters with next-generation applications such as broadband video messaging, pre-roll advertising within embedded video, social networking, user-generated content, widgets and online communities.

In addition to Cybercitizen(R) Health, Manhattan Research conducts numerous research studies and offers advisory services related to consumer and physician pharmaceutical marketing in the US and in Europe.

Each study serves a unique purpose and focuses on different aspects of information technology adoption. Studies can be segmented by more than 50 consumer therapeutic areas and 25 physician specialist segments.

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Who knew? Even those looking for CPG go online first..Nearly 163 million unique consumers visited baby, food, personal care and household product sites during the three-month span of the study–with 71 million of those visits originating via search. Baby and food products drew the most search traffic, with 60% and 47% of the visitors arriving via search respectively. 

These stats show both the brand-building and purchase intent benefits that CPG brands can derive from adding search marketing to their mix.

Search-driven CPG site visitors’ motivations are important to understnad, says the study.

• 30% were looking specifically for the company Web site
• 73% were researching products
• 64% were seeking help with an actual purchase decision
• Almost 50% were looking for product promotions

Understanding these CPG search motivations is the key to linking brand benefits to search behaviors says the rpeort.

And if you are a CPG retailer bear in mind the impact of natural or organic search results.  "If you think you’re covered by Pay Per Click ads in the search engines, think again" says Marketing Sherpa. 

According to eyetracking studies you get far more views and clicks from organic search.

Of course the trick is to raise your search engine visibility and get your website onto page one in Google for all the brand and generic key words and phrases CPG searchers use to access products like yours.

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A study by ScanAlert  found that the average online shopper in 2005 took 19 hours between first visiting a store and completing a transaction. In 2007, that jumped almost 79% to 34 hours. We’re taking longer to make up our minds. And we’re also doing our homework. Deloitte’s Consumer Products group recently released research saying 62 percent of consumers read consumer written product reviews on the Internet, and of those, more than 8 in 10 are directly influenced by the reviews.

In James Surowiecki’s Wisdom of Crowds, he believes that large groups, thinking independently with access to a diversity of information, will always make a better collective decision than the smartest individual in the group. Isn’t the Internet wiring this wisdom into more and more purchases? When we access these online reviews, we’re in fact coming to collective decisions about a product, built on hundreds or thousands of individual experiences. As the network expands, we benefit from the diversity of all those opinions and probably get a much more accurate picture of the quality of a product than we ever could from vendor supplied information alone. The marketplace votes for their choice, and the best product should theoretically emerge as the winner.

Of course, nothing works perfectly all of the time. As Surowiecki points out, communication can be an inexact and imperfect process, and information cascades based on faulty inputs can spread faster than ever online. But it’s also true that if a cascade leads to rapid adoption of an inferior product, we’ll discover we’ve been "had" faster and this news can also spread quicker. The connections of online make for a much faster dissemination of information based on experience than ever before, ensuring that the self correcting mechanisms of the marketplace kick into gear faster.

There’s a pass along effect happening here as well. For social networking buffs, you’ve probably heard of Granovetter’s "Weak Ties". Social networks are made up of dense, highly connected clusters, i.e. families, close friends, co-workers. The social ties within these clusters are strong ties. But spanning the clusters are "weak ties" between more distant acquaintances. The ability for word to spread depends on these weak ties. What the internet does is exponentially increase the number of weak ties, wiring thousands of clusters together into much bigger networks than were ever possible before. This allows word of mouth to travel not only in the physical world but also in the virtual. I looked at a fascinating follow up study to Granovetter’s where Jonathan Frenzen and Kent Nakamoto also looked at the value of the information and the self interest of the individual and their "strong ties" within a cluster as a factor in how quickly word of mouth passes through a network.

Deloitte’s study graphically illustrates the weak tie/strong tie effect. 7 out of 10 of the consumers who read reviews share them with friends, family or colleagues, moving the information that comes through the weak ties of the internet into each cluster, where it spreads rapidly thanks to the efficiency of strong ties. This effect pumps up the power of word of mouth by several orders of magnitude.

But are we also becoming more socially aware in our shopping? The research by Deloitte also seems to indicate this. 4 out of 10 consumers said they were swayed by "better for you" ingredients or components, eco-friendly usage and sourcing, and eco-friendly production or packaging. The internet wires us into communities, so it’s not surprising that we become more sensitive to the collective health of those communities in the process.

What all these leads to is a better informed consumer, who’s not reliant on marketing messaging coming from the manufacturer or the retailer. And that should make us all smarter.

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Is the audience for this conference the more advanced veterans, or is it for the new audiences (and, well, corporations) that are trying to figure out (still) what to do in all this new media, including the NewTeeVee world?

The post, in essence, was written for the Valley bloggers and vidcasters, but not the rest of the country. This past week was the Forrest Consumer Forum in Chicago – almost every new media person should have been there (including PR firms and advertising firms) and see what is understood and what is not understood by companies that are trying to get social and new media. If you want a better take, check out the Forrester Blog for the conference, Jeremiah Owyang’ blog, what or even my posts – it showcases what is and is not clicking out there, and how companies are and are not getting it, but still trying.

We can sometimes forget that when we are in the Valley (or, well, why I am in Chicago right now, and looking beyond the Valley community to others).

For me, the NewTeeVee conference schedule looks great. When I was at a firm, I’d recommend it to clients that are trying to get a handle on what is going on out there, as well as clients that tangentially touch upon online video.

But, before we rush off to commend a company like Kyte.tv – a UGC channel that speaks very little to me, as I primarily love my television programming. And, before the Valley goes nuts over that one … read your own Twitters on Heroes or Battlestar Gallactica or any other hot show right now. We can all pretend to be too cool for old media … but are still there for certain instances of appointment television.

And, that’s what we need to remember in the Bay – those cheesy flyover states have a lot of power and a lot of pull. And, they are the hardcore communities we are trying to reach and get to use our stuff.

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