(trendwatching.com, May 2010)

What is “Status”?

Status is just an agreement(trendwatching, May 2010)

A person’s position or standing relative to that of others

(en.wiktionary.org/wiki/status)

Condition: a state at a particular time(wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn )

The five trends

(trendwatching.com, May 2010)

78% of Adults 15+, upper & middle status, living in Bkk & upcountry urban believe ‘Quality of prestige product is more important than price’ (Index = 118; Nielsen, IMS, June 2010)

•Sales of Mercedes-Benz cars in China soared 112% in the first quarter of 2010, to 23,600 vehicles.

•Rolls Royce says that sales in China, its third-largest market after the US and Britain, rose 200% in the first quarter of 2010.

•Before you think this is only about China or Asia: the Austrian Traffic Club (VCÖ) said the number of registrations of SUVs showed a 22.5% year-on-year increase in 2009.

(trendwatching.com, May 2010)

Mercedes announced the 15% increase of global sales, with the no.of unit sold in Jun10, Thailand of 532 (ASTV.com, 16 Jul 10)

Want to look rich in China? Buy a Tibetan Mastiff Some looked for status through other elements in life. Tibetan Mastiff is

known as the most expensive dog sold in China, worth approx. THB 20 mil (suthichaiyoon.com, 25 Mar 10)

Remark: A.15+, Up/Mid, Bkk/Ur – Universe = 11.5 mil persons

Study from Nielsen reveals the White collar persons in age 20+, living in Bkk & upcountry urban, upper & middle class: • 77% willing to volunteer their lives for a good cause (index = 105)• 78% believe we should strive for equality for all (index = 109)(Nielsen, IMS, June 2010)

Remark: A.20+, White Collar, Up/Mid, Bkk/Ur – Universe = 5.5 mil persons

82% of people in Bkk & vicinity will donate to help the flood victims (ABAC poll, Prachachat.net, 31 Oct 2010)

93MB donated to help flood victim through CH3 News Family (Rueng Lao Chao Nee, 27 Oct 2010)

"GENERATION G captures the growing importance of 'generosity' as a leading societal and business mindset. As consumers are disgusted with greed and its

current dire consequences for the economy—and while that same upheaval has them longing more than ever for institutions that care—the need for

more generosity beautifully coincides with the ongoing (and pre-recession) emergence of an online-fuelled culture of individuals who share, give,

engage, create and collaborate in large numbers." (trendwatching.com, May 2010)

Amongst the teens & adults age 15+, living in Bkk & upcountry urban, upper & middle class, • 71% buy products not harmful to environment (index = 116)

• 75% worry about pollution & congestion caused by cars (index = 118) (Nielsen, IMS, June 2010)

As entire societies have embraced sustainability in everything as the (only) way forward, and as millions of consumers are now actively trying to greenify their lives,

green credentials are an endless source of status Consumers' interest in green credentials will lead to even more eco-friendly goods and services sporting bold, iconic markers and design, that help their eco-conscious o

wners show off their eco-credentials to their peers (trendwatching.com, May 2010)

• Toyota Camry Hybrid was sold over 10,000 units over the 15 months in Thailand (prachachat.net, 18 Oct 2010)

• Toyota planed to introduce Prius Hybrid to Thais in Nov 10, targeting at 700-1,000 units to be sold monthly (bangkokbiznews.com, 22 Oct 2010)

• 1mil cyber tree were planted within 42 days under ‘Million Trees for King’ campaign by PTT (csrthailand.net, 27 Aug 2010)

Growing pockets of consumers find pleasure in mastering skills and acquiring knowledge. They attain status from finding an appreciative audience that's impressed with what they know, and can create, instead of what they consume.

This is now an established source of status, from consumers-turned-experts, to younger audiences obsessed with coolhunting. Anything you as a brand can do to assist the pursuit of deep or trivial knowledge will be appreciated. As long as the content is of superior quality

(trendwatching.com, May 2010)

Views of teens & adults age 15+, living in Bkk & upcountry urban, upper & middle class : • 83% Important to be well informed about things (index = 104)• 42% People ask my advice before buying new things (index = 117)• 37% Internet is the first source of information (index = 168)(Nielsen, IMS, June 2010)

• Accounts that has highest ‘Retweet’ are ‘Content Aggregation’ websites (@TwitterTips, @Mashable) and ‘Newspapers’ (The Onion, New York Time) (GMBiz, 15 Oct 2010)• Current hottest issue reported/retweeted in Thai is ‘#thaiflood’ (on twitter, with tag specific) (lab.in.th/thaitrend/, 31 Oct 2010)

Example

•Nike’s True City is an iPhone app that aims to give consumers ‘insider’ information on six European cities, while also allowing users to share their own tips and delivering exclusive Nike offers and information.

•The Adidas Urban Art Guide is a free iPhone travel guide listing Berlin and Hamburg's best graffiti. Users can click on each marked location to retrieve images and information about the piece and the artist. (trendwatching.com, May 2010)

When it comes to online status, it’s all about who you connect to, and who connects to you, tribal style. Unlike in the 'offline

world', these connections (in numbers and in profiles) are visible.

This will then lead to an even-bigger need for consumers to 'feed', maintain, and improve their online presence with a steady stream of content: thoughts, photos, videos, songs, opinions, sto

ries and so on. (trendwatching.com, May 2010)

• 6.07mil Thais has facebook (checkfacebook.com, 31 Oct 2010)

• Average no. of online friend is 179• 92% of Thai online users ever uploaded their photos to social network or sharing photo sites (marketing oops, 13 Oct 2010*)

*Remark: article based on data from discoverdigitallife.com by TNS, survey conducted with 1,000 participants online, released on 10 Oct 2010

31 Oct 2010

When status isn’t just SES?

Find good reason(s) to provoke them to engage, buy, and stick to the brand & product