• by Cheryl Swanson , December 9, 2009

Finally, the year we'd love to forget but can't is ending, and new influences are coming into focus to make marketers' lives even more challenging. From skin care advances to Kaboomers, the Trendscape continues to morph at an accelerating pace. Here's a flash-forward.

Skin Care: The Next Fast Food

Many skincare products -- even natural ones -- are loaded with chemicals and metals, which our bodies absorb and our drains deposit into our water supply.

The consumer pushback that began with tobacco and recently has focused on fast foods, will soon aim at cosmetics companies and faux organic/natural lines' potentially harmful impact on body and environment. Brands like Joshua Onysko's Pangea Organics are leading the charge to a new age of natural, effective, sustainable lines.

Personal Care Marketers Beware

Personal care marketers, P&G, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive, must prepare for the consumers' rejection of parabens, petroleum, ammonium sulfates and chemical "baddies" as with trans fats, high-fructose corn syrup and MSG in foods.

Once social networks mobilize, companies must be ready (SOON!) with efficacious alternatives. As fast fooders from McD's to Taco Bell have been compelled to post ingredients and caloric totals, while developing more balanced menus, so too will personal care brands be forced to heed demands for transparency, accurate labeling, resourcing data, efficacy claims, etc.

Lux-O-Vend/Lux-iFacts

The Great Recession has redefined luxury, especially in the moribund aspirational segment. While some lux brands responded to "luxury shame" with a discreet display of logos, a key shift will be the creation of limited edition affordable designer "artifacts" (Lux-iFacts) -- collectible jewelry, fragrance, accessories, and home objects that reflect quality and prestige at friendlier prices. Consumers, tired of being "frugalistas," will find Lux-iFacts allow them to indulge in quality, design and prestige with affordable, beautiful pieces.

Marketers will seek to energize their lines with special collections in curated retail gallery experiences, pop-up showcases and interactive applications for 24/7 shoppers.

Designer basics will become situationally available in branded Lux-O-Vending machines (private clubs, airports, restaurants) offering a spectrum of goodies from miniature artwork, "comfort shoes," accessories, make-up, to in-flight survival kits with cashmere travel wrap/blanket, socks/slippers, fragrance, make-up, even technology.

Discovery - AstroH2O

Still temporally far-off, the lure of off-planet water sources grows; witness the recent moon bombing and Martian search for water. As world leaders recognize the impending depletion of this most vital of resources, expect far-sighted corporations to support the search and mobilize brand advocates. Expect a leading brand to align with NASA soon.

Life on Demand ... A Visual Language Imperative

The demand for everything all the time, everywhere focused on mobile handsets presents brand marketers their greatest challenge. As everything goes mobile -- entertainment, education (edutainment), shopping, information, socializing -- the impact on brands will be monumental as they transition from old brand value propositions (large/larger screens) to the new media environment (small/tiny screens).

As the blurring of online and offline media accelerates, brands must find new means of managing their presence in virtual catalog/storefront web pages, 3D worlds, on-shelf display and pop-up environments. Traditional package design cannot play across cell phone micro screens to giant Times Square video networks. Expect a wave of brand simplification and redesigns to cope with the screen revolution.

Ka-Boomers to Boom

Boomers will make another HUGE IMPACT on the marketplace as marketers realize the clout of the 50+ demographic. And why not? Marketed to their entire lives, they like to shop, have money and are open to all product/service categories that will help them "Live Younger Longer."

Ka-Boomer wants extend beyond medicinal and financial offerings to: energy, indulgence, Better For You (BFY), fashion and fun categories that leverage their inherent optimism. Why STOP marketing to people at 45 when they will live into their 70s and beyond.

Fun-Frugality 2010 and yearning...

The "Frugalista" movement will continue BUT expect a growing backlash as our yearning for luxury, indulgence, and designer logos reasserts itself. Brand diehards will indulge their special interests while cutting back in less significant categories.

Don't expect a return to luxury as we've known it, but expect smaller indulgences in mass and premium channels. Smart marketers will appease our needs with little indulgences ¬-- logo-covered t-shirts or super premium hot chocolates. As long as its fun, it doesn't have to cost a lot to mean a lot.