The cocooned consumer: How brands can inspire confidence in timid times

Editor's note: Bryan Urbick is founder and chairman of Consumer Knowledge Centre, a London research firm. This article appeared in the February 14, 2011, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.

Before the lean years of the Great Recession, marketing research centered around a consumer who essentially dictated which hoops brands needed to leap through in order to be noticed. These pre-recession consumers were confident, savvy and felt as if brands would cater to their every whim. Their confidence was built on years of economic stability and consistent growth and they could not imagine a future where they wouldn't earn increasingly more or where jobs were tough to find. What a difference a mere 24 months can make.
 
World economic events have drastically changed millions of lives - and even those who have not felt the real impact of the tough economy are worried that something could happen to them. As a consequence, consumerism is now much less desirable. The consumer's mind-set has shifted and there is an emergence of new behavior, or at least a behavior that was last prevalent with those who lived through the Great Depression: Consumers are cocooning themselves against hardship as best they can.

It is this cocooned mentality with which forward-thinking brands need to come to terms. Brands today need to understand that, while their target consumer remains savvy, they are far less bold and confident. Instead, they feel vulnerable. Importantly, attitudes and behaviors of a confident individual differ greatly from one fearful and cocooning.
 
The cocooned consumer is looking to brands for resonance, emotional nurturing and genuineness. They still want brands to listen to them, but more importantly they want brands to offer them caring, support and transparency. They feel that the world has changed and they feel different - they want brands to be different, too.

Looking to connect

Brands with lengthy heritages have the most power to offer the type of reassurance these customers seek. The cocooned consumer is looking to connect, or better still to re-connect - to be transported back to a time and place which, in their minds, was better, safer, more lighthearted and carefree. Longevity is a revered trait and some sort of proof of quality: "If it's endured so long, it must be good." This is why "retro" can be an effective way to talk to the cocooned. Bringing back products and ideas from past generations offers emotional reassurance. Retro reflects the emotional cues of bygone eras, which always seem more rose-tinted.
 
Comfort often relates to a previous experience, usually in childhood, that brings us reassurance and that soothes us. Comfort food, experiences that add caring and a little old-fashioned magic are all very much part of the cocooning experience.

Not the best time

Because of cocooning consumers, now is not the best time for mega-innovation. Neophobia (fear of the new) is rampant when confidence is shaken. Today's consumers appear resistant to spending their hard-earned money on something new unless they believe that it will add real value to their lives. Aggressive innovation harkens back to the bold consumer of two years ago when breakthrough ideas thrived and consumers were intently seeking out new concepts, products and experiences.
 
However, innovation should never be buried too far away. This is where brand extensions can be vital for growth. They remain within a consumer's definition of what is tried and tested and what is familiar and safe while offering something a little bit different. The reassurance is still very much there for a known brand. Viewed like this, innovation via brand extensions is invaluable for brand or category evolution.
 
It is worth mentioning again that the emphasis of today's consumer is on care, empathy and giving (or giving back).  Interflora, for example, launched a social media campaign in the U.K. aimed to brighten up the lives of those Twitter users it felt needed cheering up. By monitoring Twitter Interflora picked out random people it felt needed some "love" and sent them a surprise bouquet of flowers. Likewise, Dutch airline KLM employed a Surprise Team to give passengers tailored, unexpected gifts at the airport. The Surprise Team went online to find out background information about a passenger and would decide on a suitable gift to give them before they flew.

Focus on the now

Another interesting characteristic to emerge is the focus on the now. The cocooned consumer wants rapid gratification and the perception of immediate value. They may feel their future is too bleak to contemplate, so they tend to reign in long-term planning in favor of putting life on hold until things improve. Right now, this consumer may feel the future is too shaky to make commitments and so they look to more immediate (and often less costly) experiences that will make them feel more in control.
 
There is also a sense of satisfaction in saving; collecting loyalty points, couponing and shopping around for good deals has become virtuous. There has also been an unusual backlash against stylish-but-affordable retailers as consumers are saving their money to buy the very occasional luxury item rather than a continuous flow of spend on less expensive items. In a quirky twist, luxury brands are now considering how best to talk to this new set of consumers.

Undeniable truth

Whichever category or sector a brand is from, there is one undeniable truth for all: Brands that reach out in a genuine way to the mass of cocooned customers are most likely to find a more permanent place in consumers' hearts - and their shopping baskets.