By: Tanja Džido, Creative & Account Manager, Envy Croatia
Traders, manufacturers, brand managers, small family firms and agency people gathered yesterday at the Hypo Center Zagreb for the FMCG Summit, where everyone presented trends from their respective fields, as well as challenges in the field of consumer goods. As head of the Brand Department in the digital agency Envy Croatia, I was particularly impressed with the results of market research of the region which in several segments differ from the trends in the global market.
1. Family and home are rising values
At a time when traditional values rapidly lose importance, in our region they are becoming the Holy Grail. Brands that make your empty apartment feel like home, for which you long as you fight to achieve your big dreams, those are the brands whom we turn for comfort and assurance that one day we will achieve the warmth and closeness to the people, and who give us the feeling of what things were like before, in the times of our grandparents. The message? Be a source of warmth in the cold world, and a warm shelter to your customers.
2. Younger customers want you to entertain them, older wish to be rewarded
In a sea of similar products and services, how do you be the one who swims the most attractively and safely? If you want to attract the attention of the young crew at the beach, engage them in your acrobatics on the water, entertain them, give them a laugh and you will be their favorite one on the shelf. If however you want the trust of those a little older, who seek shelter in the shade, approach them, talk with them, treat them with something nice and show them that true friends are always generous to those who are loyal to them.
3. Most consumers are over 50
In their desire to get closer to young people, brands are working hard to be perceived as cool, funky and sexy – like a stunning girl that they would wish their buddies could see them with on a Saturday night. But, aren’t we forgetting that in our region the vast majority of the population are older people? Don’t omit them. For example, what message does a domestic brand of whiskey send to its longtime customer who is over fifty with a packaging depicting young people and English loanwords? They are telling him that he is too old, that he is out of the loop, which is why he will stop buying the brand after 20 years of loyalty. Do you want to lose your most loyal consumers? Do make segments, but do not neglect.
