VALS™ Lens Applying VALS™ to current events September 2015
In this issue:
In Home Shopping: Serena Williams
Serena Williams—fashion designer, occasional Home Shopping Network (HSN) host, and the best female tennis player in the world—could be making tennis history next month. If she wins the US Open, she will have won all four Grand Slam titles in one calendar year, positioning her well for the title of greatest athlete of her generation, according to a New York Magazine profile of her life. From a strategic perspective, the Williams relationship with HSN may not be an obvious ace. Innovators are the most likely of all consumers to watch female tennis regularly on television, according to VALS™/GfK MRI (2014 fall study), but they are among the least likely of all consumers to watch HSN. Believers , by contrast, are the most likely of all US consumers to watch HSN (in the past 30 days) and represent average viewership of female tennis. For Believers, who are relatively fashion conscious, Williams may represent enough of a cultural role model to sustain her presence on HSN.
In Food: Caviar from Italy
Many consumers likely associate the production of caviar with Russia, not Italy. Yet Italian firm Agroittica Lombarda SpA ranks as the biggest producer of caviar in Europe and manages to work around Vladimir Putin's recent trade embargo of Western products by labeling its cans with a Russian-sounding name (Calvisius) and removing the "Made in Italy" claim. Agroittica Lombarda SpA enjoys a competitive advantage in Europe primarily because of strategic investments in large fish farms for sturgeon and patience: Sturgeons take between 8 and 20 years to start producing eggs, with the prized Beluga taking the longest and commanding the highest prices (14,000 euros for 1.8 kilograms of product). Innovators are most likely of all consumers to be "epicurious": 56% agree "I enjoy trying different types of food," followed by Experiencers (39% agree). Caviar as a sector will likely see substantial growth from China. China is already the largest producer of caviar in the world, and some Chinese consumers are developing a taste and pocketbook for the product. Accomplisheds and Pacesetters are among the most likely of Chinese consumers to increase their consumption of caviar, according to SBI's China VALS.
In Social Media: Instagram's Soft Sell
Hundreds of millions of users regularly flock to the photo-sharing site Instagram to live vicariously through the lives of "impossibly glamorous" everyday role models, according to qz.com. Far more than a photo app, these role models, under various compensation schemes, manage Instagram to sell a variety of products unobtrusively. Art-hipster Charmaine Olivia, for example, happens to be a fan of a hangover tonic (RESQWATER), temporary tattoos (by Tattify), and Hudson Jeans—brands that sink into the collective unconscious of thousands of her followers, generating high levels of brand awareness for her clients. Unsurprisingly, trend-setting Experiencers lead in visits to Instagram in the past 30 days (nearly half of the group have done so), followed by trend-imitating Strivers, who like to wear their wealth and are frequently on the hunt for impactful status symbols. Brands that fail to keep up with the changing media-consumption habits of these different types of young consumers may be quickly overtaken by brands that manage to activate and place authentic ambassadors on social-media sites.