Hello. My name is Anna and I am a Millennial. I am part of the largest generation yet to exist. We populate Facebook and YouTube. We are social and always connected. We are armed with laptops, iPods and smart phones. We are Generation Y, or indeed Generation Y Not.

The Millennials are the “wired” generation and we don’t know how to be any other way. We’re a new breed of consumers and unfortunately most businesses are not prepared for us.  Businesses need to get to know the Millennials if they want to be relevant and successful in the future. Our global annual spending power exceeds $250 billion and we also influence another $50 million in purchases. Our generation has bigger potential purchasing power than the Baby Boomers and is set to supplant them as the most powerful economic force on planet earth.

So let me introduce you to the Millennials..

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Comments (2) | | Digg This | Save to Del.icio.us | Posted by: Jon

Tags: @ThinkTank_, Advertising, Anna Sablovscaia, Baby Boomers, Brands, Cork, Generation X, Generation Y, Ireland, Market Segmentation, Marketing, Marketing to Gen-Y, Millennials, number of Irish Facebook users, Research, ThinkTank, trends, Twitter, www.think-tank.ie

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FACT: One in five Irish Enterprises fail according to the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association. In many instances they fail due to a lack of understanding of their customers and market place.

Post-recession shoppers are a completely different breed when compared to what has gone before. They’ve been profoundly impacted by a feeling of deprivation the recession caused and the way in which they’ve coped with it. Now they are more demanding than ever and their expectations are increasingly high. We all know shoppers are fickle and the days of being completely loyal to one brand or company are gone. Shoppers have been conditioned to search out the best price and value during these recessionary times yet they can be swayed at the point of purchase to make very different decisions. Other factors like emotions also come into play, hence the contradiction in terms, when you hear that more than one in two customers claim to be cutting down on treats but sales of premium products such as ice cream and chocolates are on the rise. How can that be?

Business consultancy Deloitte released an interesting research report just this week in New York where they talked about a ‘paradigm shift’ in consumer purchasing habits in the US. It found that a whopping 84% of households were examining their spending in every category to try and save money while 79% believed they were ‘smarter’ shoppers than they were two years ago. But it also found that 75% believed that the financial crisis had caused them to realise ‘which brands I really care about and which ones are less important to me’ and that there were only two or three brands which they ‘could not live without’.

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Tags: @ThinkTank_, brand audit, Branding, Colette Quinn, Company Analysis, competitor analysis, consumer insights, consumer trends, Cork, differentiation, Enterprise Ireland, Ireland, Jonathan Amm, Lisa Murphy, Market Analysis, Marketing, Marketing Director, post recessionary customer, Real Insights, Research, social media, ThinkTank, Twitter, www.think-tank.ie

Strong brands have once again proven their resilience in the recession in Millard Brown’s 5th annual ranking of the world’s top 100 brands. At a time when most key financial indicators plummeted, the value of the top 100 brands rose by 4%  in the last year to more than $2 trillion – a 40% increase over the last 5 years. In the wake of the recession, more brands have realized that they need to maintain and even increase their marketing spend to support brand loyalty and engagement. As Millard Brown Optimor’s Research Unit comments:

“Strong brands have the power to create business value. They impact much more than revenues and profit margins. Strong brands create competitive advantages by commanding a price premium and decrease the cost of entry into new markets and categories. They reduce business risk and help attract and retain talented staff.”

The Top 10 Most Valuable Brands are:

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Tags: @ThinkTank_, Advertising, Brands, CMO, Jonathan Amm, Marketing, Research, Top 100 brands, Twitter

You don’t go on holiday without finding out about your destination.

You don’t accept a new job without checking the stability of the employer.

You don’t invest in a new car without checking it’s right for your needs.

You don’t develop your business without trying to discover your market size, value, potential and competitiveness… do you?

An essential element of any business strategy should be early stage secondary market research.

In order to analyse your market and make decisions on growing and developing your business, you must understand the business context you’re operating in:

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Comments (0) | | Digg This | Save to Del.icio.us | Posted by: Lisa

Tags: Branding, Entrepreneurs, Marketing, Research, Roisin Markham, Start-ups, Strategy, ThinkTank, Twitter