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trendwatching.com (@trendwatching) provides an overview of “12 must-know consumer trends (in random order)”:

·         Red Carpet — In 2012, department stores, airlines, hotels, theme parks, museums, if not entire cities and nations around the world will roll out the red carpet for the new emperors, showering Chinese visitors and customers with tailored services and perks, and in general, lavish attention and respect.

·         DIY Health — Expect to see consumers take advantage of new technologies and apps to discreetly and continuously track, manage and be alerted to, any changes in their personal health.

·         Dealer-Chic — In 2012, not only will consumers continue to hunt for deals and discounts, but they will do so with relish if not pride. Deals are now about more than just saving money: it’s the thrill, the pursuit, the control, and the perceived smartness, and thus a source of status too.

·         Eco-Cycology — Brands will increasingly take back all of their products for recycling (sometimes forced by new legislation), and recycle them responsibly and innovatively.

·         Cash-Less — Will coins and notes completely disappear in 2012? No. But a cashless future is (finally) upon us, as major players such as MasterCard and Google work to build a whole new eco-system of payments, rewards and offers around new mobile technologies.

·         Bottom of the Urban Pyramid — The majority of consumers live in cities, yet in much of the world city life is chaotic, cramped and often none too pleasant. However at the same time, the creativity and vibrancy of these aspiring consumers, means that the global opportunities for brands which cater to the hundreds of millions of lower-income CITYSUMERS are unprecedented.

·         Idle Sourcing — Anything that makes it downright simple - if not completely effortless - for consumers to contribute to something will be more popular than ever in 2012. Unlocked by the spread of ever smarter sensors in mobile phones, people will not only be able but increasingly willing, to broadcast information about where and what they are doing, to help improve products and services.

·         Flawsome — Consumers will consider those brands awesome that behave more humanly, including exposing their flaws.

·         Screen Culture — Thanks to the continued explosion of touchscreen smartphones, tablets, and the 'cloud', 2012 will see a screen culture that is not only more pervasive, but more personal, more immersive, and more interactive than ever.

·         Recommerce — It’s never been easier for savvy consumers to resell or trade in past purchases, and unlock the value in their current possessions. In 2012, ‘trading in’ is the new buying.

·         Emerging Maturialism — While cultural differences will continue to shape consumer desires, middle-class and/or younger consumers in almost every market will embrace brands that push the boundaries. Expect frank, risqué or non-corporate products, services, and campaigns from emerging markets to be on the rise in 2012.

·         Point & Know — Consumers are used to being able to find out just about anything that’s online or text-based, but 2012 will see instant visual information gratification brought into the real and visual world with objects and even people.

Read this in full.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you track trends that impact your brand.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Brand owners must pay attention to their “digital balance sheet” as the rise of ecommerce, the popularity of mobile devices, and the growth of social media reshape the trading climate internationally, according to The Digital Manifesto: How Companies and Countries Can Win in the Digital Economy by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) (@BCG_Consultant).

The management consultancy says the Internet economy of the G20 countries — a group including Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan, the UK, and the USA — should hit $4.2tr in 2016, up from $2.3tr in 2010 due in large part to the rapid expansion of the Web user base, which is set to surge from 1.9bn to 3bn during the same period (45% of the global population).

“No company or country can afford to ignore this development. Every business needs to go digital,” says David Dean, a coauthor of the report and a senior partner at BCG. “The ‘new’ Internet is no longer largely Western, accessed from your PC. It is now global, ubiquitous, and participatory.”

The BCG report charts several major shifts in the use and nature of the Internet:

·         From a Luxury to an Ordinary Good.

·         From Developed to Emerging Markets.

·         From PC to Mobile.

·         From Passive to Participatory.

BCG says companies that make extensive use of the Internet — including social media — to sell, market, and interact with their customers and suppliers grow faster than those that do not.

The study recommends that brands focus on their “digital balance sheet:”

digital assets comprised of

·         Information and analytics about customers, suppliers, employees, and competitors

·         Connectivity and feedback loops that lubricate the digital enterprise

·         Intellectual property that bestows a competitive digital advantage

·         The people, culture, and capabilities needed to execute and deliver

and digital liabilities (ways of working that handicap the ability to exploit their digital assets) of

·         Organizational structures, incentives, and cultures that collectively discourage adaptability and risk taking

·         IT systems, processes, and tools that limit flexibility and focus

·         Rigid strategies unsuited to a volatile business environment

Read the news release.

Read The Digital Manifesto (registration required).

Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you determine your own brand’s digital balance sheet.

And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

Central Connecticut State University (@CCSUToday) released its annual list of most literate major cities (population of 250,000 and above) Jan. 25 with Washington, DC #1 (the second year in a row). The study focuses on 6 key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources. CCSU’s president Jack Miller says, “From this data we can better perceive the extent and quality of the long-term literacy essential to individual economic success, civic participation, and the quality of life in a community and a nation.”

Here are CCSU’s ranking of the top 20 most literate cities:

1.    Washington, DC

2.    Seattle, WA

3.    Minneapolis, MN

4.    Atlanta, GA

5.    Boston, MA

6.    Pittsburgh, PA

7.    Cincinnati, OH

8.    St. Louis, MO

9.    San Francisco, CA

10. Denver, CO

11. Portland, OR

12. St. Paul, MN

13. Cleveland, OH

14. Kansas City, MO

15. Oakland, CA

16. Raleigh, NC

17. New Orleans, LA

18. Baltimore, MD

19. Honolulu CDP, HI

20. Virginia Beach, VA

See the overall rankings of 75 cities.

To prioritize cities according to booksellers, 3 variables were used to determine a total score and consequent ranking:

1. Number of retail bookstores per 10,000 population
2. Number of rare and used bookstores per 10,000 population
3. Number of members of the American Booksellers Association per 10,000 population

The following are the top 10 cities for bookstores based on the above 3 criteria:

1.    Seattle, WA

2.    Portland, OR

3.    Minneapolis, MN

4.    Cincinnati, OH

5.    New Orleans, LA

6.    St. Paul, MN

7.    Pittsburgh, PA

8.    St. Louis, MO

9.    Denver, CO

10. Albuquerque, NM

See the full list.

To prioritize cities according to libraries, 4 variables were indexed to determine a total score and consequent ranking:

1. Number of branch libraries per 10,000 library service population
2. Volumes held in the library per capita of library service population
3. Number of circulations per capita of library service population
4. Number of library professional staff per 10,000 library service population

These numbers were then divided by the city population in order to calculate ratios of library services and resources available to the population.

The following are the top 10 cities for libraries based on the above 4 criteria:

1.    Cleveland, OH

2.    St. Louis, MO

3.    Pittsburgh, PA

4.    Seattle, WA

5.    Cincinnati, OH

6.    Toledo, OH

7.    Fort Wayne, IN

8.    Kansas City, MO

9.    Columbus, OH

10. Lincoln, NE

See the full list.

Read this report in full.

Bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard, created especially for marketing and publishing professionals.

Social media outlets including blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, have had an upsurge in credibility over the past year, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2012 (@EdelmanPR), which examines trust in 4 key institutions — government, business, media, and NGOs — as well as communications channels and sources, measuring attitudes across 25 countries.

Trust in government shows an exceptionally sharp drop in the 2012 Barometer. Trust in business is also decreasing. But trust in social media has taken a dramatic increase.

Overall, there is a huge drop in trust for CEOs while trust in persons such as regular employees and “a person like yourself” is increasing dramatically. In other words, people tend to distrust messages communicated by CEOs through traditional corporate channels, but have increased trust in messages from their peers, communicated through for example social media channels.

Read more here.

In this video, Richard Edelman introduces the findings from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer.

Read the Executive Summary.

See the Slide Presentation.

Bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard for marketing and publishing professionals.

Almost 1 in 3 US TV households – 35.9 million – owns 4 or more televisions, according to a new report on media usage from Nielsen (@NielsenWire). Across the ever-changing US media landscape, TV maintains its stronghold as the most popular device, with 290 million Americans and 114.7 households owning at least one. Online Americans number 211, and 116 million (ages 13+) access the mobile Web.

See the charts of the State of the Media: Consumer Usage Report in full.

A CNET (@CNET) article by Eric Mack (@EricCMack) reports on a new tablet poll by Maritz Research (@MaritzResearch) that simplifies the tablet market into 4 types of tablet customers based on the responses – low-end buyers, newcomers, single-minded buyers, and tablet-committed buyers. Statistically, 3 of the 4 types are dominated by women.

In other words, the profile of the average low-end buyer, tablet newcomer, and single-minded buyer (someone only interested in one particular tablet, most often the iPad) are all women in their 40s.

Single-minded buyers (21%): 60% female, average age is 41. iPad-only. Little familiarity with other brands, 78% purchasing the Apple iPad. 40% make purchase decision within 2 weeks.

Tablet-committed buyers (44%): 56% male, average age is 38. Highly aware of 3 or more brands, open to purchasing any brand. 58% purchasing iPad. 34% make purchase decision within 2 weeks.

Newcomers (13%): 60% female, average age is 46 and 29% over 55. Know Tablet brand names, but nothing else. 58% purchasing the iPad. 28% purchase within 2 weeks.

Low-end buyers (22%): 54% women, average age is 41, buy tablets based on price, want to spend less than $250, 45% purchasing the Amazon Kindle Fire, 39% make purchase decision within 2 weeks.

The household income of all four groups is roughly around $70,000 on average. Even the low-end buyers don't have a much lower average household income, at $62,000 a year.

Read this in full.

Read the poll in full.

Also see our previous blogpost, “New Study Reveals Generational Differences in Mobile Device Usage.”

Bookmark and use daily our SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Research tab.

On Harvard Biz Review (@HarvardBiz), Michael Schrage observes that “the following 6 ideas emerged this past year as powerful ‘innovation invitations.’ They seem certain to intensify in global power and influence. They'll be sources of — and resources for — innovation differentiation this coming year.”

1. The Slacktivism Co-Opt: As much a term of derision as global sociological phenomenon, slacktivism has emerged as social media’s way of making support for a cause as easy as a re-tweet or clicking Facebook’s “like” button....

2. Counting on Self-Quantifiers for Growth: Mobile, digital, and networked devices have created a global sub-culture of self-quantifiers — that is, individuals who rigorously count every step they take, every calorie they eat, every minute they sleep, every email/text they send/receive, and every schedule change they make....

3. Gerontabletification: Mobile phones are too small; their screens too tiny and keyboards too minute. But tablets have emerged as ideal media platforms for those requiring larger fonts and bigger keys. The iPad has ceased to be a symbol of youth and vitality. It’s now how silver haired executives — and 75 year old grandmas — read the news, manage their email and play games with the kids....

4. Globalizing Grand Challenges: Over the past decade, America has been a leader in the design, development, and marketing of competitions and prizes for technical innovation. But it's time the so-called emerging economies stepped up....

5. Handheld Augmented Reality: Who, or what, will be the Foursquare of Augmented Visualization and Interaction?....What's next is the first wave of mobile devices becoming augmented reality viewers for their users. Expect to see QR code/augmented reality mashups as a 2012 investment to facilitate the virtual transition....

6. The Greenlash Arrives: Is there a Greenlash emerging that’s pushing populations worldwide to reconsider so-called fossil fuels as better, safer, and more reliable than their renewable counterparts? There's little doubt that they’re proving to be cheaper....The green promises of eco-tech are taking longer and costing more than many of its champions promised. As energy-dependent economies chug along with growth far lower than expected or desired, green options are looking rather gray....

Read this in full.

Bookmark and daily use Somersault’s (@smrsault) SomersaultNOW online dashboard, including our Innovation tab.

In the September/October 2011 issue of Outreach (@Outreach), Bobby Gruenewald (@bobbygwald), pastor and innovation leader at YouVersion (@YouVersion), offered trend analyses to help church leaders be more effective in 2012:

1. Trend: Permanence to Mobility. Question: If people are increasingly mobile now, how does this shape the opportunities we offer to engage them in ministry?

2. Trend: Consumer to Producer/Consumer. Question: How can we move content creation beyond just our team and harness the creativity of the church?

3. Trend: Content to Conversation. Question: How can we build conversation around our teaching and what’s happening in our church?

4. Trend: Programmed to On-Demand. Question: How can we make what we do more adaptable? How can we go from one-size-fits-all programming to something that is highly customizable—when and where people need it?

Read this in full.

Bookmark and use daily Somersault’s (@smrsault) SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Leadership and Innovation tabs.

Changing Role of Christianity: Christian leaders are relatively unknown by the majority of Americans; half of Americans believe all people are eventually saved by God.

Downsized American Dreams: Americans’ are increasingly willing to accept limitations in life, including changing their spending and savings habits as well as distinguishing needs from wants. Many are also reducing their financial donations.

Millennials Rethink Christianity: The Christian community is struggling to remain connected with the next generation of teens and young adults. In particular, the church is “losing” many young creatives (like designers, artists, writers, musicians, and actors) as well as young science-minded students (such as medical students, engineers, biologists and mathematicians).

The Digital Family: Technology has become a part of modern life and is deeply embedded in today’s families. Yet, the challenges brought on by technology in the home are not all created by teens. Parents are becoming just as dependent on digital tools.

Maximizing Spiritual Change: Most Americans call themselves spiritual people and Christians. Yet, spiritual transformation is rare and fleeting.

Women Making it Alone: Teenage and young adult women are learning to prepare themselves for a changing social structure. For teens, this means focusing on career now. For young women, this means not expecting to be married until the late twenties, at least.

Read this in full.

Another way of determining trends is to see what terms people searched on Google for in 2011. Google Zeitgeist 2011 provides that info:

Video Year in Review

As for what people are watching, there were more than 1 trillion playbacks on YouTube in 2011. The highlight video is below. See the top ten individually.