Entrevista AYR na TVI

15/07/2009
Entrevista sobre CoolHunting e sobre a actuação da AYR no mercado.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVW88zEl9wk

Fast Fashion

http://www.ruadebaixo.com/fast-fashion.html

As novidades multiplicam-se, o ritmo de vida é acelerado, a sociedade muda constantemente, o lifestyle modifica-se, as exigências aumentam, e a mente do consumidor transforma-se.

As necessidades das pessoas mudam cada vez mais rápido e de forma continua. Os guarda-roupas são o exemplo mais prático destas mudanças. No início de cada estação os outfits antigos ficam de lado e são substituídos pelas novas tendências, que apenas vão durar seis meses, em alguns casos menos tempo.

Actualmente somos inundados por informação relacionada com o mundo da moda, tendências, looks a seguir, que nos chegam através de diversos meios: revistas de moda e lifestyle, websites, blogues especializados, televisão… Os meios de comunicação social, mostram-nos diariamente exemplos de estilo como os quais as pessoas se identificam, sejam eles de actores, cantores, modelos, entre outros, conteúdos que influenciam a forma de pensar no acto de compra.

À parte dos media, a cultura de rua é a maior influenciadora das sociedade quando se fala de moda. É nos locais públicos mais frequentados, e em todos os fashion hotspots que a moda é concebida. A influência da cultura popular acontece em qualquer sítio e a qualquer hora. De forma inconsciente as pessoas vão absorvendo as inspirações de vários locais e através de várias pessoas com as quais se identificam.

Mas todas estas mudanças na mente do consumidor, não são de agora. A procura constante de novidades, e a emergência de novas tendências, provocaram – ainda no início dos anos 80 -uma mudança no modo de funcionar das empresas de moda, levando-as a repensar os seus métodos, e criando uma abertura no mercado que conduziu ao aparecimento de empresas com um conceito diferente: Fast Fashion.

A procura de vantagens competitivas assim como preço, rápida resposta às tendências e às exigências do consumidor, revolucionaram o conceito que até então era o “normal”: duas colecções por ano produzidas em seis meses. O Fast Fashion, veio contrariar este facto, tendo como grande exemplo as marcas internacionais Zara, H&M, TopShop ou até mesmo a Primark.

Esta revolução nominada Fast Fashion, explica-se tão rápido como o seu nome. Envolve uma pesquisa directa no mercado, para se perceber a forma como a sociedade está a absorver as tendências; cria uma comunicação eficaz que interliga todos os departamentos da empresa; e apresenta uma variedade de produtos, inserindo as peças nas lojas ao longo de todo o ano. A tudo isto se adicionada a palavra: Rapidez. O objectivo principal é uma adaptação rápida às tendências do momento e a preços acessíveis, fazendo face a uma política de consumo. Variedade de estilos, rotatividade de stock e identificação dos artigos menos vendidos são as palavras de ordem.

Os mais atentos já devem ter reparado que estas lojas ficam situadas nas principais capitais mundiais, e em locais de grande prestígio, exibindo frequentemente montras novas que não passam despercebidas aos que ali passam. Todos estes elementos de imagem convidam o consumidor a entrar. Após a sua entrada, metade do percurso está feito. Lá dentro encontram-se sempre novidades, sendo traduzidas em cerca de 12 sub-colecções por estação. Toda a envolvência das lojas, desde a música, ao modo de exposição das peças fazem o consumidor comprar, e voltar na semana seguinte em busca de mais novidades.

O elemento essencial não é só o preço competitivo que permite adquirir produtos bem confeccionados e muito mais baratos, comparados com o das marcas famosas, é fundamentalmente o design atraente das roupas, a rapidez de oferta ao consumidor dando-lhe exactamente aquilo que deseja. Isto é a chave para o sucesso das marcas Fast Fashion, produzir só aquilo que se vende. Para o conseguirem valem-se de uma equipa de profissionais que têm como objectivo identificar as novas tendências mundiais. É aqui que entra, também, o trabalho dos Coolhunters, ou Caçadores de Tendências. As suas constantes viagens pelo mundo e a procura de locais onde possam estar os potenciais clientes, assim como exposições, bares, ruas ou universidades, permitem-lhes observar vários comportamentos interessantes e úteis do ponto de vista deste novo conceito. Dada a “rapidez” necessária do Fast Fashion, a informação recolhida pelos Coolhunters é enviada diariamente, para os departamentos de design, que mais uma vez, rapidamente a transformam em produto.

O Fast Fashion está para ficar. Com as marcas de luxo a descerem o número de vendas, muito por causa da crise, estas marcas low cost conseguem manter as vendas ultrapassando-se a si mesmas.

Por Bruno Brazão

Richard Florida, Founder, Professor & Author of "Who’s Your City?"

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/richard-florida-interview

Richard Florida is one of the brightest men out there, as he is not only a best selling author and professor, but is also the founder of Creative Class Group, a company that creates new trends in business and the community.

Having written for for the Globe and Mail, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, it comes as no surprise that Richard Florida’s book “Who’s Your City?” has been getting rave reviews and is both a National Best-Seller and an International Best-Seller.

10 Questions With Richard Florida

1. How did you get involved in writing and what motivates you to continue?

From an early age to my time as an undergraduate at Rutgers (and later graduate school at Columbia), I have always loved reading and writing. I would spend hours at the library consuming books and readings. I have always enjoyed independent study; I find exploring a research question and identifying potential solutions and answers to be a fulfilling endeavour.

What motivates me? I think we are a cross roads in economic development and the global economy. Future economic growth will be driven by creativity and innovation; so if we want to increase it, we have to tap into the creativity and innovative spirit of everyone. That’s what makes me optimistic. For the first time in human history, the basic logic of our economy dictates that further economic development requires the further development and use of human creative and innovative capabilities. The great challenge of our time is to find ways to tap into every human’s creativity.

2. How significant are the topics of cool hunting and trend spotting in the world of business writing?

A critical element of my research is to identify patterns which define trends. To capitalize on those opportunities and challenges, it’s important for businesses, organizations, and communities to understand the broader global picture and where the economy and market is headed in the future.

3. How do you define a trend?

A trend is a direction in which popular culture, society and the economy are moving a given time; we look to trends to provide parameters for defining and identifying patterns of behaviour.

5. How do you define cool?

I don’t.

6. Do you need a culture of innovation to create something that is cool?

A culture of diversity and tolerance creates a creative environment which can ignite and foster innovative and entrepreneurial ideas. Economic prosperity relies on cultural, entrepreneurial, civic, scientific, and artistic creativity.

Creative workers with these talents need an environment that is open to new ideas and different people. Organizations, businesses and laces receptive to immigration, alternative lifestyles, and new views on social status and power structures will benefit significantly in the creative age.

7. What is the best way to create an infectious idea, product or service?

The product has to be authentic, creative and smart.

8. What is the key to innovation?

Jane Jacobs, one of the leading public intellectuals of the 20th century, captures my sentiments about this question when she said, “Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas require old buildings.” I think innovation is depends on an environment that is authentic and steeped in a sense of history.

Innovation also needs an open and diverse environment, where ideas can follow openly without a fear of judgment or ridicule. A diversity of backgrounds helps to strengthen the creative process and spur creativity and generate high-tech growth.

9. Professionally, what do you want to be doing or studying in 10 years?

I am a huge music fan. I would love to write a book about music as the “canary in the coalmine” to gauge a region and community’s technology innovation and creativity.

10. What are your most important hobbies?

Playing guitar, reading, cycling and speaking to communities and organizations around the world about creativity and economic prosperity.

11. How do you reset yourself to become creative?

Cycling. I am avid cyclist; cycling is the best way to recharge myself.

References: creativeclas

A recessão na indústria da publicidade

http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14140373&source=hptextfeature

The recession in advertising

Nothing to shout about
Jul 30th 2009 | NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition

Things are still getting worse for the advertising industry

“WE LED into the downturn, we’ll lag the upturn. Overall, it’s very tough,” says Sir Martin Sorrell, boss of WPP, a big advertising group. Advertising budgets tend to be one of the first things cut when times get difficult, he sighs, though it often costs firms more in the long run to recover the resulting lost ground. WPP had expected a hard 2009, budgeting for a 2% decline in revenues. But that now looks wildly optimistic, after a 5.8% year-on-year decline in the first quarter, and an even worse April and May.
These are global numbers, buoyed in part by WPP’s strong presence in emerging markets such as China, which have weathered the economic crisis better than most. In America, things are worse. Total ad spending fell by more than 10% in the first quarter (see chart) and predictions for the full year are even more dire. Spending on advertising will fall by a “normalised” 14.5% this year in America, from $189 billion to $161 billion, according to the latest forecast by Magna, a research arm of Interpublic Group, another big advertising company. The actual decline is even bigger, which is why Magna has adjusted the numbers to reflect the lack of big quadrennial spending events, such as last year’s Olympic games and American elections. The outlook is so bleak that some ad agencies have resorted to outlandish tactics to raise revenues (see article).

For many businesses that carry ads the pain is even greater still. Advertising in magazines is expected to fall by 18.3%. Radio advertising is predicted to plunge by 21.8% and newspaper advertising by 26.5%, which is why so many papers are struggling to survive. Even the much hyped rise of online advertising has been reversed, with spending forecast to decline by 2.2% in America this year.

Next year Magna projects a further decline in total spending of 2.1%—or of only 0.4% if spending related to the winter Olympics and America’s mid-term elections is added to the mix. But even this scenario depends heavily on a return to economic growth, says Magna’s Brian Wieser, who prepared the forecast. Unlike WPP’s Sir Martin, Mr Wieser believes that advertising spending moves in line with economic growth, rather than lagging behind it as the economy recovers.

Others in the advertising industry fear that when the economy does eventually pick up, the old link between GDP and ad spending will prove to have been broken, because the cyclical downturn will have accelerated several structural trends that were already hurting conventional advertising. One is that clients are becoming far more demanding. They increasingly want evidence that their expenditure is worthwhile. In April Coca-Cola said it was adopting a system of “value-based compensation” for the advertisers that work on its 400 or so brands, rather than paying them for time spent. This would cover the ad agencies’ costs, with a “performance” bonus of up to 30%. Procter & Gamble had earlier announced a similar scheme for 12 of its brands. If this catches on, it will spell the end of the billable hour.

At the annual gathering of the advertising industry in Cannes at the end of June, all the talk was of the accelerating shift away from established forms of advertising, especially the 30-second commercial, towards newfangled social media. The winner of the coveted Titanium prize was Barack Obama’s election campaign, which was a combination of “lousy advertising, but great marketing,” says Marian Salzman of Porter Novelli, a unit of Omnicom, another huge advertising group. This inspired much debate about how to turn every customer into an evangelist, and how to drive grassroots campaigns using Facebook and Twitter. A forthcoming book by Mr Obama’s chief campaign strategist, David Plouffe, seems destined to become the ad industry’s new bible.

Not everyone is convinced that a revolution is under way. John Deighton of Harvard Business School claims that social media were crucial to the Obama campaign only in the first half of the primaries, because using them is well suited to “insurgency”. After that, he says, the campaign reverted to a fairly standard effort dominated by television advertising. Indeed, Mr Deighton believes that the television commercial will remain the mainstay of the advertising industry for years to come. Magna’s Mr Wieser seems to agree, noting that, contrary to reports of its demise, America’s viewing habit continues to grow, and ad spending on national campaigns is likely to fall this year by only 6.3%—a triumph, in the circumstances.

Local television advertising in America has been hit much harder, owing to the car industry’s woes, especially the bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors. Car dealerships, which are closing in large numbers, are big advertisers. But Benjamin Swinburne, a media analyst at Morgan Stanley, is forecasting a surprisingly strong rebound in advertising, especially on television, because dealers’ spending on car and truck ads has fallen implausibly low: down by 65% in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same period last year.

Perhaps the sharpest divide in the advertising industry is between those who think that as the economy revives consumers will rediscover their old spending habits and those who disagree, such as Ms Salzman of Porter Novelli. She says that American consumers “have changed in the same way there were Depression Babies who as adults would drive a car into the ground before replacing it.” Fast-food restaurants have been one of the few sources of higher ad spending this year, as they tap into newly value-conscious consumers, says Annie Touliatos of Nielsen, a media research firm.

Sir Martin, too, thinks that American and European consumers have been “scarred”, and will take a long time to rediscover the joy of splashing cash around. But as Mr Swinburne points out, advertising has done so badly of late that “it doesn’t have to come back all the way to have a strong recovery”.

Haverá uma tendência para que as compras voltem a ser feitas próximo de casa? Local protectionism?

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14140238&source=hptextfeature

Keeping it local
Jul 30th 2009 | AUSTIN
From The Economist print edition

A rising vogue for shopping near home

IN 2002 the city of Austin planned to extend about $2m in incentives to a developer who wanted to build a new Borders bookstore on a prominent downtown corner. This was an unpleasant prospect for the owners of two local independent businesses, BookPeople and Waterloo Records. If the deal had gone through they would have faced a big competitor located directly across the street. Steve Bercu, the owner of BookPeople, says that he always assumed that local businesses were better for Austin for sound economic reasons. But in the circumstances, he wanted to test the proposition.

So BookPeople and Waterloo called in Civic Economics, a consultancy. They went through the books and found that for every $100 spent at the two locals, $45 stayed in Austin in wages to local staff, payments to other local merchants, and so on. When that sum went to a typical Borders store, only $13 went back into circulation locally.

Although the study was part-funded by BookPeople and Waterloo it gave a boost to the growing “buy local” movement in America. For years business and community leaders have been full of reasons for people to do their shopping close to home. They say that local and independent businesses have more individual character, and that they are owned by your friends and neighbours. Some stores, particularly grocers, point out that it takes much less carbon to haul a truck from a few towns over than from halfway across the country.

At the moment, the economic argument has special traction. Dan Houston, a partner at Civic Economics, says that in recent studies he has found that locally-owned businesses put about twice as much money back into the community as the chains do, not three times, as the Austin study found. But that is still enough of a “local multiplier” to catch people’s attention. Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Portland, Maine, reckons that some 30,000 local independents have joined about 130 independent business alliances around the nation.

Big companies are taking note that customers are rooting for the home team. Ms Mitchell points to a telling development in Seattle, Washington, where Starbucks got its start. On July 24th the company opened a new coffee shop there. The newcomer is not called a Starbucks; it is called “15th Ave. Coffee & Tea”. It promises “a deep connection to the local community,” and its seats are recycled from a local theatre.

There is an insular element to the trend. “Is it pure local protectionism? Sure, to some extent it is,” says Mr Houston. But the advocates are not zealots. One national campaign is asking people to shift a mere 10% of their spending to local outfits.

The Borders project in Austin eventually fell through, and the proposed site is now occupied by the flagship of Whole Foods Market. The chain was founded in Austin and is local in a sense, although it is now publicly traded. Throughout the shop, produce advertises its credentials: local, organic, fairly traded, made in-house, vegan, and so on. This week its customers faced an ethical dilemma: is it better to buy the organic watermelon from California, or the conventionally-grown kind from Lexington, Texas?

SurfMood - Video oficial do lançamento do detergente Surf no CC Vasco da Gama

A ideia não é propriamente original.

Muitos de vós já terão visto um vídeo semelhante numa estação de comboios nos Estados Unidos, também para promover o lançamento de um produto.

De qualquer forma, eu tiro o chápeu na mesma. tb é inteligente saber copiar as boas ideias.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u1GnNbBrUY&feature=related

Obrigado Cláudia Costa pelo envio da informação