Monday, January 30, 2012

HEALTH MEGA-TREND #9: Tools that enable more informed health-driven choices

Consumers are embracing tools that enable more informed health-driven choices.

This is another major section of my continuing series of updates from Datamonitor’s report on New Developments in Global Consumer Trends.

Here are the key learnings, implications, and actions suggested by Mega-Trend #9.
 
The democratization of health information has facilitated more self reliance.  That means consumers are continuing to turn to the media to get their health information, but need to feel that they can trust what they are reading.

A kind of “formulation attentiveness” has been on the rise – knowing about and being influenced by the health details.  As this is becoming more widespread, consumers are demonstrating their increasing knowledge of health by making consumption choices based on labels.

And of course there is information overload.  Because we’re burdened by too much information, consumers are using information short-cuts to make informed, but simplified choices. Confusion is a barrier to consumption, and therefore should be eliminated to increase consumer confidence

The relevance to brand innovation is that product formulation is a battleground for industry players, so key benefits must be clearly communicated to consumers.

Consider the personalization opportunities.

Personalized nutrition and nutrigenomics are emerging themes and reflect a crossover between the health and individualism mega-trends.  Personalized nutrition is appealing to consumers but care must be taken not to take them out of their comfort zones.

Personalized beauty regimes are still relatively niche but are gaining traction as situational and personally adaptive beauty solutions are increasingly sought.  Demand for personalized beauty is growing in all regions as consumers become more ‘me’ orientated.

No comments: