No matter what your age or occupation, life is complicated. If someone arrived from the 1950s, today’s range of goods, gadgets, brands, sub-brands, own brands and varieties would seem unimaginable and unmanageable. Yet retail complexity is just one example of a developing range of choices that permeate our lives. Other factors include cultural and commercial globalisation, a proliferation of new channels, the decline in deference to traditional institutions such as the church and family and the rise of the ‘anxiety society’. Now, more than ever before, life is complicated. Drawing on a 3-year project carried out with the Abbey National, this book is about such complexity and the challenges that it presents to companies and organisations seeking to be consumer-led. Exploring the issues themselves alongside a range of viable responses (from the development of choice-simplifying brands to radical new segmentation techniques), Michael Willmott and William Nelson illustrate why coming to terms with complexity is the first step on the road to future profitability – and the unique oppo rtunities that are available to companies that can achieve it.
Book Details:
- Author: Michael Willmott
- ISBN: 9780470012635
- Year Published: 2005
- Pages: 246
- BISAC: BUS060000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS/Small Business
About the Book and Topic:
No matter what your age or occupation, life is complicated. If someone arrived from the 1950s, today’s range of goods, gadgets, brands, sub-brands, own brands and varieties would seem unimaginable and unmanageable. Yet retail complexity is just one example of a developing range of choices that permeate our lives. Other factors include cultural and commercial globalisation, a proliferation of new channels, the decline in deference to traditional institutions such as the church and family and the rise of the ‘anxiety society’. Now, more than ever before, life is complicated. Drawing on a 3-year project carried out with the Abbey National, this book is about such complexity and the challenges that it presents to companies and organisations seeking to be consumer-led. Exploring the issues themselves alongside a range of viable responses (from the development of choice-simplifying brands to radical new segmentation techniques), Michael Willmott and William Nelson illustrate why coming to terms with complexity is the first step on the road to future profitability – and the unique oppo rtunities that are available to companies that can achieve it.
On the whole today’s generation is richer, healthier, safer and has more freedom than any in the past. So why does it sometimes just feel all too busy, too stressful? Why is there so much to do and so little time? This is the cliché of modern life and the paradox of progress – it doesn’t matter whether you are a high-flying executive or a parent with a full-time commitment to your family – your life is likely to feel busy. This trend is set to continue and has serious implications for business. How to understand and respond to the ‘new consumer’ is therefore a critical issue.
Unique approach – in a world where market share is the key business driver and CRM guides abound, this book looks directly at consumers and helps marketers to understand what really matters to them Based on the paradox that with progress comes complexity, and on the opportunities for business to benefit from the positive aspects of complexity whilst avoiding pitfalls that arise from negative ones Draws on a 3-year project carried out with the Abbey National (helping to coin their slogan ‘because life’s complicated enough’), which represents a six-figure investment in original consumer research Michael Willmott is a leading forecaster and the guru of ‘Citizen Brands’ – he has weaved key issues of corporate social responsibility into the text and has an excellent platform for promoting the book
About the Author
MICHAEL WILLMOTT is a well-established author, lecturer, presenter and media commentator. He coined the phrase CITIZEN BRANDS and is the author of the book of the same title. As co-founder of the Future Foundation, a commercial think-tank specialising in consumer trends, he is one of today’s leading forecasters. WILLIAM NELSON joined the Future Foundation in 1999, and has since written reports for Abbey National, EMAP, The Newspaper Society and Harrison Cowley. His experience of social, economic and technical developments has lead him to research such projects as Centrica, the DTI, Hutchinson 3G and the Co-op Bank.