In the future, those companies and brands that demonstrate a clear purpose towards society will be awarded.
Mara Alberola, head of consumer product marketing at The Walt Disney Company Spain and Portugal.
We come from an unusual year in which companies have had to implement a restructuring to adapt to the new sanitary restrictions. The Walt Disney Company is committed to continuing to offer its consumers experiences full of magic thanks to its stories, both in the digital world and at the physical point under a safe environment and when the situation allows it. In this interview, Mara Alberola, responsible for marketing of consumer products of the company in Spain and Portugal, details, among other aspects, the 5 mega trends that will be most strongly reflected in the post-COVID-19 era.
–
It may seem obvious to begin by saying that the year 2020 has been wildly atypical and difficult for most companies. Since not only has there been a considerable drop in income, but an internal restructuring has also had to be put in place to adapt to the new sanitary restrictions.
It has been 12 convulsive months. I like to think that we are witnessing a unique moment. In the last year the world has changed radically. The market and consumers are not the same as a year ago. Trends have accelerated, some were already on the rise before the pandemic. But above all, what has changed is the behavior of consumers.
–
If we focus on consumers, I would like to highlight five mega trends that will be most strongly reflected in the post-COVID-19 era.
1) Consumers will continue to fear and insecure about their health and that of their family. And in this time of change, we have to be agile and offer the consumer what they are demanding of us. We must continue to offer our consumers experiences full of magic thanks to our Disney stories both in the digital world and at the physical point under a safe environment and when the situation allows it. We must work hand in hand with our partners to launch digital campaigns with a clear conversion goal.
2) Consolidate and improve e-commerce and delivery. While we are seeing personal interaction diminish, we will also see how technology-centric creativity will be fostered. According to the latest report on the Internet Navigators (AIMC, March 2021), with the new normal, online shopping has become a phenomenon that has intensified significantly and 40% of consumers already claim to make most of their purchases through from Internet. This growth seems to be justified because there is an important sense of security when making purchases online: Internet users have a high or very high degree of trust. And brands must take advantage of this to accelerate the digital transformation process and reinforce our e-commerce strategy. We have to offer the consumer new experiences related to shopping such as virtual showrooms, augmented reality, digital catalogs, etc.
3) As a third trend, it will be highlighted that the social conscience of the consumer has been awakened. In the future, awards will be given to those companies and brands that demonstrate a clear purpose for society. At this time of pandemic, consumers have become empowered and see beyond the mere product itself. From climate change and sustainability, to the inclusion of traditionally forgotten groups. There are many reasons to work from brands. Society is going to bet on companies that are up to the task and we have to generate emotion and make consumers fall in love. We have to create a reference space not only in their minds, but in their hearts because in the purchase of many products, emotion plays a very important role and we must connect with the consumer, with their lifestyle, with their values, and hobbies. If our consumers trust us they will even be able to make an economic effort and their rational mentality justify and approve the purchase decision.
4) Consumers are more demanding than ever. In this moment of hyperconnectivity, consumers have all their information at their fingertips in real time. And if we add to this that we are in an environment of cost containment, savings and greater rationality in purchasing decisions, we can say that the post-COVID consumer presents a marked duality between purchases of commodity categories where the price is fundamental in the purchase decision, and of more experiential categories where the price no longer occupies the first position. For this reason, it is important to bet on the license with solid, differential and sustainable value proposals that allow us to add that added value to the product and gain the trust of both current and potential consumers.
5) As the fifth and final trend, we can say that content consumption has reached levels never seen before. In addition, new technologies will emerge for shopping, communicating, having fun, working, studying, etc. And if our life has changed, our way of consuming content has too. The content has been our escape, the best window to the outside. If we start with linear television, during 2020 its consumption suffered a strong increase in all consumer segments, even in the children’s segment because we can say that with our Disney Channel and Disney Junior channels we reached 75% of the audience of children. . And if we add our digital channels to linear television, we build an ecosystem of platforms that feed back into each other by creating multiple points of contact with the audience to expand their entertainment experience.
–
Star Wars is one of the most prominent properties today.
And just when we were confined, Disney + arrived to give us wings with their stories. It has been a year now that at Disney we changed our course with the arrival of our streaming platform that has allowed us to bring together, like never before, all our brands under one roof. And we continue to expand our content catalog with the arrival of Star, a brand integrated within Disney + and under whose umbrella more than 1000 titles, series, films and originals will be hosted.
–
The most important thing about this? Well, the way of licensing has changed. The consumer decides when they want to see content and when they want to buy a product related to that content. Let’s remember the incredible boom that The Child unleashed when The Mandalorian was released. In this new panorama, we must be agile to detect opportunities and offer the consumer what they demand at the right time.
Licensing companies must be agile and responsive, emphasizing innovation and dynamism both in our products and in our communication.
–
:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/341f70c8-ace3-11eb-8949-02d1dbdc35d1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)