Constructing Manufacturers On Conflicting Needs
The underlying driver of trends and consumer behavior was the persistent tension between individuality and inclusion. Before coronavirus, we wanted to maximize our individuality while maximizing belonging to a demographic group, a group with common interests, a group with common values, a local community, a club, etc. We refer to this motivational optimization of individuality and inclusion as the age of I.
Coronavirus has changed that landscape: it has turned a new way of thinking about values on its head and recreated it. This change has a significant business impact. As we embark on the long haul of the Covid-19 pandemic, our motivators have morphed into an overhauled Age of I: isolation and inclusivity. These two conflicting desires are the need to be isolated and the need to belong. This changes the way we live. Successful companies take advantage of the new tension of being apart and together at the same time – apart from family, friends, work, school – and still more than ever belonging to it – being a member, being part of a group, being social, being connected. Our world is full of inclusive isolationists.
Isolation has produced some strong trends: It's not necessarily negative. The isolation signals the safety of Covid-19. Of course, being quarantined and kept away from others is terrible. However, isolation has helped us to be more self-sufficient and creative. Companies like Home Depot and Lowe are winning as we become more manageable when it comes to our living spaces. Meal sets like Hello Fresh and the pioneering Blue Apron have made home cooking possible as a cost-effective alternative to food delivery. New entries such as Daily Harvest, fruit and vegetable meals offer a holistic variety in the category of meal sets.
The delivery of goods and groceries as well as brands of streaming content make isolation palatable. Brands like Amazon Prime, Chewy.com, and Netflix are addressing our fears of shopping in stores or going to the movies. These are subscription brands. Being a subscriber is different from being a subscriber. A subscriber receives things regularly; A loved one seeks belonging and social (or personal) values when they are a member of a particular group that gives recognition and possibly status.
For sustained profitable growth, don't focus on just one portion of the New Age of I – either isolation or inclusivity. Brands that use the interface between isolation and inclusivity will be empowered and emerge from the pandemic with a more loyal customer base.
Profits, Isolation and Inclusivity
Peloton is an example of a brand that profitably optimizes the intersection of isolation and inclusivity. You can ride a bike or do weight training at home, isolated from the collective energy of a personal class, but you can also belong to a group or personalized groups. There are meditation and yoga courses for the stressed and isolated. Scroll down the home screen and you will see a variety of groups that you can belong to: # Peloton Mothers, # Peloton Fathers, # Black Lives Matter, and # Power Zone Pack. There are dozen of different groups a member can belong to on the pelobuddy.com/tribes website, including peloton groups and teams.
In its most recent quarterly earnings report (June 2020), Peloton told investors and analysts that the membership now stands at 3.1 million: The IPO membership as of September 2019 was 1.4 million. According to the Financial Times, the membership increase resulted in a first quarter profit that saw revenue jump 172%. The brand is also launching new products, lowering the price of their standard bike, and will soon be shipping a cheaper treadmill.
Lululemon, the sportswear branded company, bought Mirror for $ 500 million to compete with Peloton. Mirror is a tech-enabled mirror device that offers a wide variety of workouts. You see yourself, and you see and hear from a trainer in the background working with you.
MOOC (Mass Open Online Courses) like Coursera address the tension between isolation and inclusivity. The online education helps people learn their skills at home for better careers. It also offers classes to soothe the isolated soul as a popular classical music class via Jonathon Biss.
We didn't choose to be isolated, but we are and we must be. The effects of isolation are dramatic. Sociologists and behaviorists believe that many of the habits we developed during our isolation will be preserved. Brands that capture and optimize the benefits of isolation and inclusivity have the upper hand. Nobody wants to weigh up; nobody wants "good enough". Nobody just wants to live in isolation.
Gaming is another category that capitalizes on the attitude towards isolation and inclusivity. As the Wall Street Journal points out, the competition is no longer selling most consoles. Now the gaming battle is focused on services: digital game libraries in the cloud. On its last call for earnings, Microsoft reported that Xbox Live membership had more than tripled.
The New York Times has a Sunday section called Home, which has a variety of fun activities, activities for your kids, and recipes. This section will help its readers get through another week of isolated living, activities that bring family members together and promote a sense of belonging.
Brands are complex, multi-dimensional ideas. A one-dimensional promise is not a path to sustainable profitable growth. Especially today, in an uncertain world, good enough is not enough. We want brands to help us optimize both our need for security of isolation and our innate, compelling desire to belong.
Brands in this new age of I require new ways of thinking and new actions. The goal of every brand is to profitably satisfy customer needs. We live in a transformative age where the strongest brands promise and deliver the best ways to deal with our underlying conflicting desires.
Contribution to Branding Strategy Insider by: Larry Light, CEO of Arcature
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