Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOHN GERZEMA: I've traveled through 12 states over the
last nine months talking to people about how their lives
have been affected as a result of the recession.
In doing that and also talking to start-up founders, talking
to CEOs about how they're adjusting their business
models, we actually see really hopeful picture for America.
And ironically, a lot of the recovery--
we believe-- is being led by consumerism.
That seems a little bit strange to say because
consumers were kind of part of the problem.
We all spent a little bit more than we have at the beginning
of the recession.
That kind of led to part of the crisis.
But yet what we're seeing is this emergence of a more
values-led consumers.
A consumers that's actually looking at consumption and
spending through the lens of their ethics, and the values,
and what they're looking for out of companies.
We believe that we're really entering an era where values
are going be defined.
Not only consumerism, but competitive
advantage in companies.
We believe it's going to be a platform for innovation.
It's going to drive culture and business models.
Because what I'd argue, is that we're actually returning
old fashioned values that define how we live.
But we're enabling and empowering them by dramatic
new technologies.
The attributes that matter more now are things like kind,
quality, friendly, social responsibility.
And guys, kindness--
this is the single largest jump we've ever seen in our
data in 13 years.
So let's step back and think about that.
Consumers are looking for a company and a
brand to have empathy.
To have respect.
So witness the tactic last year, year and a half ago,
where Hyundai did the buyer's reassurance program.
That's the sort of new terrain that we believe that consumers
are looking for.
Consumers are now rewarding companies that really get it.
Through this dollars and cents management strategy.
Also we saw some really great things that
came out of the recession.
Where there was a direct correlation between the rise
of unemployed people and the rise of volunteering.
People that stand for goodness, for competence, for
professionalism.
For the ability to be authentic.
These are things that are important
right now in our society.
So we look at those.
And we look at companies that are getting this.
There's this whole movement toward value and values.
So the whole idea here is--
good for you, good for me, and good for the environment.
So in summary, a couple things that we're seeing as we start
to get deeper into this learning
in post-crisis America.
Is that really the idea of the word consumer is probably the
wrong word.
And we need to move forward and start
to think about customers.
Because consumers to me suggest mindless, gobbling
beasts of indifference.
That may have been what we were before the recession,
when we had lots of money, and lots of credit, and lots of
HELOCS, and lots of ways to just go and
spend and live large.
What we're seeing though is that less spending is focusing
us on what really matters.
And so this values-led innovation, values-led
consumption is actually going to force business to be less
about more.
And more about better.
And in that environment, we actually believe that the
upside of the recession is that we're moving from this
mindless to mindful consumption.
It may take some time.
It may take many years to perfect.
But we actually see a really hopeful picture for America
moving forward.
And a lot of what's driving this, we
believe, will be the consumer.
E.g.
the customer.