Global Digital Consumers
Who is the digital consumer? Well, let’s start with the Generation Y market given that it has grown up interoperating with a connected world.
TCS recently completed its 2014 TCS Gen Y Survey, which surveyed over 18,000 Urban Students, ages 12 to 18.
You probably weren’t surprised with those results. What you might be surprised about is that this survey was done in India! These weren’t kids from Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles; they were from Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, etc.
This is the rise of one billion new middle class consumers in emerging markets — people who are searching, researching, buying, paying for and then Facebooking their product experience to the world. Their phones have more personal research capability than Bill Clinton had at his disposal while he was in the White House. It has more communication capability than President Reagan had a few years earlier.
The good news is that the social media campaigns in the U.S. market often translate with success in foreign markets. We can perhaps all thank the British for making English the global language — the benefits of “first mover advantage” from their merger and acquisition strategy two centuries ago. This is a tremendous opportunity for American consumer packaged goods companies. Let’s look at a few cool social campaigns, which speak the global digital consumer’s language: fun, gaming, rewards, experience and product:
Engaging today’s global, digital consumer requires strong collaboration between the CMO and CIO. You can’t leverage strong creative content today without great technology and vice versa. Have fun!
TCS recently completed its 2014 TCS Gen Y Survey, which surveyed over 18,000 Urban Students, ages 12 to 18.
- 9 out of 10 urban teenagers have cell phones and/or tablets.
- 7 of 10 urban teenagers actively shop online, increasingly for high-value items.
- 87% of high school teens think social media makes them aware of current affairs.
- 76% have a Facebook account.
- 53% of them have more than 120 friends on Facebook.
- About 50% post on Facebook at least once every three days.
You probably weren’t surprised with those results. What you might be surprised about is that this survey was done in India! These weren’t kids from Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles; they were from Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, etc.
This is the rise of one billion new middle class consumers in emerging markets — people who are searching, researching, buying, paying for and then Facebooking their product experience to the world. Their phones have more personal research capability than Bill Clinton had at his disposal while he was in the White House. It has more communication capability than President Reagan had a few years earlier.
The good news is that the social media campaigns in the U.S. market often translate with success in foreign markets. We can perhaps all thank the British for making English the global language — the benefits of “first mover advantage” from their merger and acquisition strategy two centuries ago. This is a tremendous opportunity for American consumer packaged goods companies. Let’s look at a few cool social campaigns, which speak the global digital consumer’s language: fun, gaming, rewards, experience and product:
- My first example starts appropriately in England. Pepsi Max created an interactive bus shelter ad as part of its #LiveForNow campaign in London. A secret glass insert projected absurd events as if they were happening in the street and Pepsi caught the reactions of unsuspecting commuters. Enabled by the coolest technology, this campaign became a social hit with tremendous retention.
- Oreo’s Snack Hacks videos leveraged Vine, a chic “How-to and DIY” platform. Per Adweek, Mondelez believed that the 100-year old cookie actually had a “point of view to say directly to the people through the social platforms they use.” Since then, the sandwich cookie has become a social media powerhouse, with a long list of viral accomplishments, like the now famous “dunk in the dark” tweet during the 2013 Super Bowl blackout. OMG!! Oreo Chicken Tenders?!? Tell me that doesn’t sound awesome.
- Perhaps the only consumer product reaching a broader social audience than Oreos is... beer. If you haven’t enjoyed Samuel Adam’s new beer then you’re behind many global digital consumers who saw this ad when it went viral and rushed out to buy the first helium-infused beverage. April Fools in November.
Engaging today’s global, digital consumer requires strong collaboration between the CMO and CIO. You can’t leverage strong creative content today without great technology and vice versa. Have fun!