‘Unconventional wisdom’ will thrive in 2009, says flb
03/12/2008

2009 will be year of ‘unconventional wisdom’ for brands, according to branding and packaging agency flb, as consumers reappraise their pre-conceptions and their attitudes to where and how they spend their money.

According to flb, we will all start to question ‘conventional wisdoms’. Such as: 

Your safest bet is bricks and mortar
If all else fails at least you can trust your bank to look after your money
Inflation is the norm
Frozen food is poorer quality
I would never shop at Aldi or Primark
A tan is attractive, so I need a foreign holiday
A holiday abroad is good value because the pound’s so strong
I’m too senior to be seen cycling to work

However, the agency also predicts that the current vogue for shopping at discounters will be  ‘a phase’ - because 90% of the working population will retain their jobs. “Most people won’t be worse off than before, and will come to realise that the level of choice in the discounters makes for a boring shopping experience,” says flb Managing Director Guy Douglass. “There is apocryphal evidence that many people have tried Aldi or Lidl a couple of times and have then reverted, as much out of habit as anything.”

flb predicts that, in the new climate, wastage (and wastefulness) will be viewed as bigger sins than ever, as consumers increasingly link the need to save money with the need to save the environment. Shopping more locally and in smaller quantities may therefore blossom – although if fuel prices continue to fall, there will be less incentive for this.

The grocery sector can take succour from the fact that even in hard times consumers must continue to eat, wash and maintain their homes. They also need to find accessible ways to treat themselves; while they may not splash out on a new TV, they might buy own brand commodities and spend some of the saving on a premium tub of ice cream or block of cheese. flb forecasts continued growth in premium convenience foods and snacking, as consumers ‘treat themselves’ with the little things in life.

For design agencies, flb believes that it will be a case of ‘survival of the fittest’. “Design agencies built on a solid base of long term clients from different markets should have nothing to fear, as long as they continue to deliver excellent, consistently exciting and surprising design with a faultless service back-up,” says Douglass.  “Prudent financial management will be a must, but so will an ability to demonstrate the value of design to potential clients in a tangible way, because more and more clients are sourcing marketing services through procurement managers.”

He adds: “In this climate of unconventional wisdom, there is still one conventional truth: agencies must all learn that nothing can be taken for granted – least of all clients.”


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