June 30, 2008
Peep Insights: And the Winner Is…Fast Food
With the threat of decreased consumer spending and a weak U.S. economy, fast food chains have had the most to gain from value-driven, price conscious consumers. Brands have employed a wide range of strategies to reach consumers during a time when every penny counts.
Aside from the ongoing dollar or value menu wars, chains have stepped up their efforts to match each other on both menu offerings and prices. Following the success of McDonald’s “Snack Wrap”, KFC has aggressively pushed its “Toasted Wrap” and “Snacker” while Wendy’s has responded with “Chicken Go Wraps”. And the food wars have not been limited to classic fast food fare; Quiznos is offering its own “$5 Large Deli Favorite Subs” to go head to head with Subway’s “$5 Footlong Subs”. But undercutting all competition in price is Taco Bell, with value menu items starting at $.79.
While some brands are trading down, others have adopted a premium positioning during this rough period, hoping to improve their margins. Wendy’s has used its latest tagline, “It’s waaaay better than fast food”, to push more expensive products like its “Premium Fish Fillet Sandwich” and “Hand-spun Frosty Shakes”. McDonald’s has done more than upgrade its menu. It has been in the process of giving most of its 14,000 U.S. stores a facelift, adding new decor, seating, plasma TVs, and even fireplaces in some locations. To shake things up even more, McDonald’s is rolling out McCafes at all U.S. locations, offering specialty coffee drinks and their take on lattes and cappuccinos.
Another strategy that has helped chains offset a decline in domestic sales is overseas expansion. McDonald’s announced last Monday that same-store sales globally increased 7.7 percent for May, beating analysts’ expectations. While sales were up 4.3 percent at U.S. locations, total sales were bolstered by a 9.6 percent rise in Europe and a 9.7 percent rise in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa division. Sales overseas for the chain have been outpacing domestic sales for some time now. A recent WSJ article highlights this strategy, as more U.S. chains like Burger King and Papa John’s International Inc. are looking to international expansion for growth.
So as gas prices rise and the tough times continue, not everyone in America is suffering. While restaurants and upscale coffeehouses may be feeling the pinch, it seems that the glory days for fast food restaurants have just begun.
-Contributed by Robert Hsu of Peep Insights
June 23, 2008
Peep Insights: Mastihashop NY
Mintel estimates that the natural and organic personal care product market has grown by 35% since 2005 and is currently valued at $465 million. The success of this burgeoning market has been enjoyed by both major brands like Wal-Mart and smaller boutiques. The latest entry in this marketplace, mastihashop caught our attention.
The brand recently opened an outpost in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and showcases a wide range of products featuring mastiha, a therapeutic cure-all long hailed in the East. Mastiha is an all-natural antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial resin harvested from the sap of trees found exclusively on the Greek Island of Chios.
Sisters and co-founders Artemis and Kalliopi Kohas, who spent summers in Chios, selected a sleek and natural design for their shop to reflect both mastiha’s tradition and modernization. Artemis Kohas told Peep Insights that the versatile mastiha has over 300 known applications and has been used in remedies for over 2,500 years. The Orchard Street store features a wide range of mastiha products, from homeopathic remedies to beauty products. Some favorites include the mastiha infused soaps, the mastiha chocolate bars, and the Korres mastiha oil hair products.
As a nutritional supplement and beauty product, the resin freshens breath, fights plaque and gingivitis, heals and regenerates skin, eases digestion and strengthens hair and nails. It is found in everything from chewing gum to toothpaste, wine, ice cream and cosmetics.
Mastihashop
145 Orchard Street
, New York, NY 10079, (212)253-0895
Contributed by Peep Insights
June 3, 2008
Peep Insights: An Interview With Marco Bevolo On The Future Of High End
Since the coining of the term masstige, a combination of the words mass and prestige, we have seen luxury for the masses range from Louis Vuitton handbags to a Starbucks Frappuccino. In this fast-changing aspirational society, the definition of luxury is constantly evolving and taking new forms. To get a peep inside the future of high-end, we spoke with Marco Bevolo, a Director at Philips Design, who was a pioneer in the creation of CultureScan, an ongoing trend forecasting research project investigating cultures, aesthetics and design at the regional and global level. He serves on a number of extra-curricular advisory boards in art foundations and non-profits, and is also a co-author of the upcoming book “Platinum by Design” (provisional title) which provides an insightful look into the future of High End and is set for publishing by Wharton School Publishing this year.
The book focuses on the intersection of social trends, designer visions and an in-depth understanding of human behaviors. Its unique future insights are validated by over seventy interviews with key opinion leaders and experts including: Markus Langes Swarovski, Member of the Board, Swarovski (Wattens, Austria); Scott Williams, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Morgans Hotel Group; Nick Compton, Features Editor, Wallpaper Magazine; Roland Heiler, Director of Design, Porsche Design (Austria), among others. We are very grateful to Marco Bevolo for shedding light on five luxury related questions.
1) What do you consider to be the future of high-end and how do you see its evolution?
There are several directions, and they will all overlap more or less, depending on the particular region or even country. Two key directions are sustainability and limited editions. Sustainability, sustainability, sustainability: as Lexus has been teaching to the world, here lies the greatest opportunity to do well by doing good.
Limited editions, special editions, items for collections: from Muji to vintage couture, the world of art sampling and collecting will be a reference, as the artifact will become a centre of emotional focus.
2) Which categories will be most impacted by the evolution of high end?
High End will be pervasive, some of the most relevant categories will be: wellness, well being and physical balance, down to preventive healthcare solutions; urban development and city design: think of the re-qualification of advanced economy countries and of BRIC new cities; interior design, even more than it is nowadays - you can bet 2009 Salone del Mobile in Milan will beat the 2008 visitors’ record.
3) How will this impact global capitals and other cities?
We see cities as crucial to the High End and its evolution in the near future, as they will be the engine and the core engine of future lifestyles. In the particular area of urban futures, our book leveraged precious sources, from Hakuhodo’s Global Habit survey on more than 30 cities worldwide, and the consumption dynamics there, to the Philips Design future research project, featuring contributors like Richard Rogers, Richard Meier, Robert Venturi, and more. Key cities in the adoption of High End solutions will be the leading metropoleis in the world, from Tokyo to Sao Paulo, from Shanghai to the New European capitals. Also very important to the definition of future High End, new “cultural capitals”, like Miami, Basel or Turin. Here, the new will emerge from the combination of strong regional traditions with new stimuli: just think of Turin and its Slow Food movement, or Miami/Basel and its consolidated role in the whole DesignArt movement.
May 21, 2008
Peep Insights: A Murakami For The Baby?
Recently, peep completed an innovations project focused on trends in nursery décor. We tracked popular aesthetics in London and New York and were pleasantly surprised by what is emerging. Art, it seems, is the latest must have for the nursery.
In the past, nursery art meant posters of well-known cartoon characters or superheroes by brands like Disney and Marvel. Today, a new generation of parents are redefining both the type of art and the role that art plays in their child’s nursery. These parents, typically older, educated and relatively well-off, have acquired tastes for more modern and minimalist design, and in turn, seek to incorporate these design elements into their child’s nursery.
What started as a desire for contemporary furniture and fixtures for the living room has made its way into art for the nursery. Parents are increasingly searching for artwork with bold and bright colors, ranging in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Artists that specialize in this type of work, such as Canadian-born Marcel Dzama and Japanese artist Yoshimoto Nara, have gained increasing popularity with parents, as a result. Other artists, like Toronto based Sarah Merry, have capitalized on the new demand for child-friendly art. Ms. Merry, who has since started a side business called Bumblegators, which creates lush murals for kids’ rooms, “says [the business] now accounts for up to 70 percent of her sales.”
Aside from matching the design of the rest of the home, some parents view exposure to fine art as critical in their child’s development. This priority is supported by recent US museum and art gallery efforts to make works more accessible to children. The Museum of Modern Art, in New York, offers Tours for Fours, which encourage children to look, listen, share and interact with the world of contemporary art. While child psychologists tend to agree that children benefit from early exposure to art, some parents we spoke with simply viewed art as an investment they could readily pass down to their child – a legacy and the beginnings of their child’s very own first collection.
This trend may seem surprising, especially given the current state of the US economy. While the real estate market continues to face tumultuous times, the art market has remained resilient. In fact, art can be viewed as a more secure investment than many stocks. As MarketWatch noted last week, “art, as an investment, has held up well over time, beating or competing with stock returns.” Maybe that Murakami deserves a second look?
February 7, 2008
Peep Insights: Yes We Can - Politics Meets Pop Culture?
I can’t say I was surprised when CNN reported that visits to Barack Obama’s website had increased drastically, by 90% in the last month, and that the rise was due primarily to first-time visitors. Many are already touting Obama as the candidate of today’s youth and comparisons to JFK abound. Of course, youth’s reliance on the digital domain for news, political and beyond, is well known.
A recent SS+K/AdAge Study of Political Marketing reports that digital divides generations. 52% of voters under thirty visited a candidate’s homepage, versus just 28% of older voters. Similarly, while 43% of younger voters visited a candidate’s blog, only 23% of older voters did.
While these disproportionate averages are not unexpected, the rise of user generated content to show support for a candidate is something I’m less familiar with. Sure, the “Obama Girl” video was much circulated, but it was sheer self-promotion, the New York Times reported that she didn’t even vote. Somehow, the “Yes We Can” video seems different. The video had 1.2 million views before Super Tuesday, within 48 hours of going live, so predictions for this week don’t require a pundit.
While much has been written about Obama’s oratory style, it is difficult to argue that lyrical is not an appropriate descriptor. The same can not be said about much of the footage on YouBama, set up by two recent Stanford graduates, though its content is authentic. YouBama was created as a place where anyone can upload their own supporter generated content. Though neither of these efforts are supported by the Obama campaign, it will be interesting to track the impact of user generated content this election season.
Could this type of involvement make casting a vote less a political gesture and more of a socio-cultural statement? And will it translate into actual youth votes? Time will tell.
Check it out at: http://www.dipdive.com/
SS+K/AdAge Study of Political Marketing Methodology: 1,997 registered voters in NH were polled by phone immediately before and then once again immediately after the primary on January 8, 2008. Respondents were asked to report on the degree and nature of their involvement in the political process leading up to the election and then if and how they eventually voted. The study has a 95% confidence rate and a 3% margin of error. Field work was conducted by Study Logic of Cedarhurst, New York.
Maria Vrachnos is founding partner of Peep
