Author: Colleen Drummond

Consumers may be willing to part with data and personal information but, like an increasing array of regulators, they are far more sensitive about how their details are used and by whom. As a result, companies need a coherent plan to even stand a chance of staying in the game. Not all trust is created equal. It’s shaped by history, personal experience, reputation, media commentary and responses to crisis, by the influence of friends, family and social networks, national culture and generational outlook. Trust takes a lifetime to build and a moment to breach, often with long-term or irreparable damage.…

Around the world, from sector to sector, companies are locked in a battle for growth. Facing intensifying competition, many are struggling to understand the wide variety of trade-offs customers are willing to make and the forces impacting their decisions. And for many customers, the past is no longer a reliable indicator of future behavior. A variety of macro- and micro-demographic and economic shifts, along with accelerated mass adoption of new technologies, are having multifaceted impacts on consumer behavior. These shifts are signals of change, and they can be detected in two forms — short-wave and long-wave. Short-wave signals Short-wave signals…

Power has shifted from companies to customers. Mobile phones have become central to our lives. Trust in institutions and traditional advertising has diminished. New entrants with radically different businesses are capturing our attention, and are reshaping the customer value chain. These challenges are well documented across business media, research reports and conference presentations. But how should you use this information to understand not only where your customers are today but where they’ll be tomorrow? How can you rethink the basis of competition and pivot your business and operating models to win in the battle for growth? Traditional demographics, disrupted For many…