The EXPECTATION ECONOMY has been building slowly in the background. The biggest difference from five to ten years ago? Word of mouth now travels the world in a flash, making product launches instantly global, turning every new brand—big or small—into a potential ‘player’, and most importantly, rewarding exceptional performance with immediate interest and approval from consumers. Basically, Joseph Schumpeter’s ‘Creative Destruction’ on steroids.

The effect of the EXPECTATION ECONOMY on consumers’ moods? Once high(er) expectations have been set, they are bound to go largely unmet, since the majority of brands still choose not to keep up with the best of the best (more on that later). In 2008, well-informed consumers will thus find themselves in a perpetual state of indifference and/or irritation.

Indifference will hit those brands that consumers know are underperforming, and that they can avoid due to sufficient availability of the best of the best. If you’re working for one of those underperforming brands, the scary thing is not just selling less (or nothing). It’s that indifferent consumers will stop being forgiving, they will stop being cooperative and giving you feedback on how to be more like other, better performing competitors. They’ll just leave and never return, without telling you why.

Perpetual irritation is just as bad: this will occur when consumers are forced to buy from an underperforming brand, due to limited or no availability of what they already know is the best of the best.**
In this light, pay special attention to fake loyalty and postponed purchases:

• Fake loyalty: consumers will continue to purchase from underperforming brands if the ‘real thing’ isn’t available. To the underperforming brand, all may seem quiet on the western front, until the best of the best suddenly does become available. Good examples of fake loyalty can be found in the airline industry: millions of frequent flyers around the world know that Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines and Emirates offer a superior experience, but since these airlines don’t fly on all routes, consumers have no choice but to fly with subpar airlines now or then, or all of the time. Count on them to vote with their wallets every time new routes are added by these ‘best of the best’ carriers, even if they’ve never flown with them before.
• Postponing purchases: some ‘best of the best’ brands like Apple actually manage to indirectly convince consumers to postpone certain purchases. Many consumers would rather wait for the iPhone or MacBook Air to become available, than to buy a new phone or laptop. Again, due to the dissemination of information, even local product launches are, from a VICARIOUS CONSUMPTION angle, instantly global. Digital services have already succumbed to phased distribution; the physical world is next.

** Only if the best of the best can be classified as truly UBER PREMIUM, i.e. financially out of reach to most, well-informed consumers are not upset if they don’t get that kind of experience wherever/whenever.

Adapted from: http://trendwatching.com/trends/expectationeconomy.htm

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When the Democratic National Convention descends upon Denver later this summer, a fleet of vehicles provided by General Motors for the event won’t be using just any ordinary fuel. Instead, the flex-fuel cars will run on clean-burning ethanol derived from waste beer produced at Molson Coors‘ Golden, Colo., brewery.

Whereas most ethanol is based on corn, Coors produces about 3 million gallons of the stuff each year from beer that gets lost during packaging or is deemed below quality standards, for one reason or another. Coors says it is the nation’s first major brewer to convert its waste beer into ethanol, having begun the practice back in 1996 using a facility owned by Merrick & Co. Turning the waste beer into ethanol eliminates about 70 tons of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) from Coors’ emissions annually, it says.

At the convention, the GM fleet—which includes vehicles with biofuel capabilities and hybrid technology—will run on a mixture of fuel combined with ethanol from the Coors facility. The cars will provide transportation for numerous delegates, staff, members of the media and other special convention guests. Of course, in addition to the ethanol sponsorship, Molson Coors will also provide real, drinkable beer for select convention events—perhaps just as important as powering its cars…
Website: www.molsoncoors.com

Source via: http://www.springwise.com/automotive/waste_beer_to_power_convention/

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Guests at Jumeirah Hotels may be able to pre-order toothpaste or books for delivery before they arrive, but that won’t help solve fashion emergencies that can crop up during a stay. For crises of a more sartorial sort, Net-A-Porter now offers an “emergency wardrobe service” for guests at select Soho House members’ clubs/hotels.

Forgotten pair of shoes? Embarrassing stain incurred at dinner? Guests at High Road House London, Babington House Somerset and Soho House New York need fear such adversity no more. Thanks to the brand-new initiative, they can now enjoy same-day delivery of items from Net-A-Porter’s exclusive online collection of designer clothes, shoes, handbags and accessories, according to Vogue.com UK. Swing tags in each room promote the service, which reportedly launched last week.

Who says luxury is dead? Through partnerships between like-minded companies like Net-A-Porter and high-end hotels, the premiumization possibilities are endless! Moreover, it’s a great example of an online brand branching out into the offline world, getting physically closer to (new) customers without having to invest in expensive retail space.

Website: www.net-a-porter.com — www.sohohouse.com
Contact: customercare.usa@net-a-porter.com

Source via: http://www.springwise.com/retail/emergency_wardrobe_service_for/

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