Innovating to Keep up with the Ever-changing Consumer

Nielsen’s Steve Hasker addressed attendees at Consumer 360 in Orlando with a focus on how technology evolution and consumer demand has challenged marketers to keep up.

Companies and executives across all industries hold different beliefs on the primary drivers of innovation, but according to Hasker, for consumer-facing companies, the most important driver of innovation is an ability to secure a unique and comprehensive understanding of the consumer.

“Consumer behavior is the driver of innovation,” said Hasker. “In order to innovate you have to understand the consumer, and in order to understand the consumer you need to be world class in research, insights and analytics.”

Hasker laid out three trends driving today’s need for innovation, and with it, a need to continue to improve research, insights and analytics surrounding these consumers and their behaviors.

Social Media – “In seven short years, every aspect of consumer behavior has changed as a result of social media,” Hasker said. By giving examples of how user-generated content is fundamentally changing behavior among younger generations of consumers, Hasker demonstrated how social media is changing the way programs are discovered, how people communicate and how products are purchased.
Explosion in Multiplatform Media Usage – As TV viewership grows alongside video use across mobile devices, tablets and other platforms, distribution of content is becoming increasingly fragmented as users continue to multitask. “If you don’t understand cross platform consumer, you’re at a disadvantage,” said Hasker. “Marketing plans have to reflect the different ways consumers are getting content. Understanding this behavior helps empower brands to better understand their consumers.”
Changing Sources of Global Growth – The demographics driving growth are ever-changing in an increasingly global world where technology is advancing across borders and groups of people, and brands face continuous challenges in understanding which demographics are growing and how, in order to innovate in the ways consumers demand.