Mine these trends for 2011

Remember that old saw: If life gives you lemons, make lemonade? What if life gave you gold nuggets, what would you make of them? That’s not exactly the question the folks at www.trendwatching.com asked, but they hinted at it with their 11 crucial consumer trends for 2011.

Self-proclaimed as being “one of the world’s leading trend firms,” trendwatching.com sends out free, monthly Trend Briefings to more than 160,000 subscribers worldwide. Smart guys that they are, they do note there are more than 11 trends; these are just “a selection to get you going.” And please note “major consumer trends are more like currents than one-time killer waves.”

So, ready? Okay, here we go. The 11 trends are: random acts of kindness; urbanomics; pricing panedemonium; made for China (if not BRIC); online status symbols; wellthy; social-lites and twinsumers; emerging generosity; planned spontaneity; eco superior; and owner-less.

Obviously some explanations are in order. And some of these we’ll leave to your investigation on your own. Check them all out here. Here are some we picked out:

Random acts of kindness: There’s no better way for a brand (and this means any business) in 2011 to put its money where its mouth (or heart) is than engaging in random acts of kindness. Consumers’ cravings for realness, for the human touch, ensure that everything from brands randomly picking up the tab to sending a surprise gift will be one of the most effective ways to connect with (potential) customers in 2011.

For brands, a serious (and sincere) strategy may mean no longer being seen as inflexible and unwieldy, but as more compassionate and charismatic instead.

Fueling the random act of kindness trend is a brand’s ability to actually know what’s happening in consumers’ lives (good or bad), as people publicly and knowingly disclose (from Facebook to Twitter) more and more about their daily lives, their moods or their whereabouts. Social networks also enable an act of kindness to spread far beyond its recipient, as he/she will gladly tell their friends and followers about the unexpected good news.

Urbanomics: Urbanization remains one of the absolute mega trends for the coming decade, says trendwatching.com. Urban consumers tend to be more daring, more liberal, more tolerant, more experienced, more prone to trying out new products and services. In emerging markets, these effects tend to be even more pronounced, with new arrivals finding themselves distanced from traditional social and familial structures, while constantly exposed to a wider range of alternatives.

In 2011, go for products, services, experiences or campaigns that tailor to the very specific (and often more refined, more experienced) needs of urbanites.

Pricing pandemonium: While consumers have always looked out for special offers and discounts, new technologies and services mean 2011 will see total price pandemonium. More consumers are constantly connected, and when they hear about new deals online can quickly and easily spread them through their social networks. Increasingly, consumers will be part of exclusive networks or groups to either receive special deals or demand them. Mobile devices increasingly enable consumers to find or receive dynamic deals right at the point of sale, or to compare prices online. For example, notes the company, look at Amazon.com’s iPhone app that allows users to compare prices by scanning the product’s barcode, photographing it or saying its name.

Consumers now online can exercise their collective buying power, helped by the host of services and social networks that make it easier than ever to organize and act.

The old ‘club’ format (think Costco) has been given a new lease on life online, where niche communities thrive. Making some memberships limited or invitation-only, only increases the perceived exclusivity.

Both groups and member communities frequently use time-limited offers that encourage impulse buys. By limiting the time available, and frequently only making sales available to members, brands are able to shift excess inventory quickly.

Online status symbols: Online culture still is the culture, and thus we’ll see a rise in online status symbols in 2011. What started with showing off the number of visitors to one’s Flickr pages or blog now also encompasses the number of one’s Facebook friends (or any other social network), Twitter followers, Foursquare check-ins and a host of other metrics that indicate one’s ‘wiredness.’

In 2011, you can’t go wrong supplying your (online-loving) customers with any kind of symbol, virtual or ‘real world’ that helps them display to peers their online contributions, interestingness, creations or popularity.

Indeed, one extra element to watch out for in 2011 is new status symbols that straddle the ‘real’ and ‘online’ worlds. From physical manifestations of digital status (think personalized Facebook and Twitter memorabilia), to online recognition of physical activities (status updates or badges based on real-world visits), consumers will seek to display their online status symbols in all arenas.

Social-lites and twinsumers: In 2011, word of mouth and recommendations will be even more dependent on P2P dynamics. If twinsumers (consumers with similar consumer patterns, likes and dislikes, and who are hence valuable sources for recommendations on what to buy and experience) are all about improving ‘search curation,’ social-lites are all about discovery, as consumers become curators; actively broadcasting, remixing, compiling, commenting, sharing and recommending content, products, purchases, experiences to both their friends and wider audiences.

Why would consumers want to become curators? Because many of them are investing time and effort in building Brand Me, says trendwatching.com, via online profiles that record their opinions and recommendations. And as audiences in knowledge economies value interesting, relevant and useful tidbits, they bestow status on those curators or social-lites who share.

Consumers will talk more about brands in 2011 than ever before, and opportunities for brands that create engaging content that consumers want to share, or that have personalities that actually engage consumers will also be bigger than ever. Making it easy for social-lites to retweet or ‘like’ this content is of course requirement number one.

Brands need to tread carefully, treating consumers with respect, and be completely transparent. Get it wrong and you’ll find 2011′s social-lites “can be bitchy as hell,” says trendwatching.com.

Planned spontaneity: With lifestyles having become fragmented, with dense urban environments offering consumers any number of instantly available options, and with cell /smartphones having created a generation who have little experience of making (or sticking to) rigid plans, 2011 will see full-on planned spontaneity. Expect to see consumers in 2011 rushing to sign up to services (the planned part) that allow for endless and almost effortless mass mingling with friends, family, colleagues or strangers-who-may-become-friends-or-dates (the spontaneity part).

Look beyond Twitter, and expect (younger) consumers voluntarily opting in to passively and continuously share their location, in return for truly smart suggestions about what they could be doing or who they could be meeting up with.

Owner-less: For many consumers, access is better than ownership. Traditional ownership implies a certain level of responsibility, cost and commitment. Consumers looking for convenience and collecting as many experience as possible want none of these things. Fractional ownership and leasing lifestyle businesses offer the possibility of perpetual upgrades to the latest and greatest, the ability to maximize the number and variety of experiences, and allow consumers to access otherwise out-of-reach luxuries. [Leasing cameras . . . hmmmm.]

To apply these consumer trends, and make some money from the innovations they spawn, trendwatching.com suggests you ask yourself if they have the potential to (and if so, how) influence or shape your company’s vision; inspire you to come up with a new business concept, an entirely new venture, a new brand; add a new product, service or experience for a certain customer segment; and/or speak the language of those consumers already ‘living’ a trend.