The Internet’s culture of decentralization and new lines of social interaction has married with the psychological shift of products as extensions of ourselves to create a new consumer that yearns for brands that share its ethos and fits into a specific lifestyle niche.
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The internet is Making us "Lifestyle" Consumers
1. The Internet is Creating Niche
Consumers
A Cultural Analysis by David Boyle
2. Technology influences Culture
• All forms of communication except face-to-
face requires a form of media technology.
• The Medium is the Message
– “popular medium molds what we see and how we
see it—and eventually, if we use it enough, it
changes who we are, as individuals and as a
society”- Nicholas Carr
• The book brain Internet brain
3. 3 Steps to Consumer Specialization
• The Internet is changing…
– Our brain waves
• Nicholas Carr; The Shallows
– Our social circles
• Eli Parisier; Cyber Bubbles
– Our consumer habits
• Adam Curtis; Century of the
Self
4. Digital Millennial Culture
• Internet is the popular medium of our time
with it’s own ideological undertones (Carr)
– It changes our habits, interactions and ways of
thinking…
…thus changing the way we purchase and interact
with brands.
• The book brain Internet brain
– How will this influence consumer habits?
5. No Technology is Neutral.
• The paradox of technology in culture: People create
technology, but technology affects the way people
think.
Free Love College
Hippies + Cold War
Military Paranoia
worked together to
create the Internet in a
culture of
decentralization.
6. Cyber Bubbles
• The Internet customizes and
curates the way we search the
net and draws us into “cyber
bubbles.”
• As consumers, we are
identifying ourselves culturally
instead of spatially.
7. Be Careful…It’s Getting Smarter
• Edward Bernays started the shift from
products that function to products that
express our inner desires. This is still true…
• But Digital Millennial consumers have a more
level playing field
– Entrée of brand choice
– Democratization of Luxury
– Kickstarter Consumers (backers)
8. So What Am I Saying Here?
• The Internet’s culture of
decentralization and new lines
of social interaction has
married with the psychological
shift of products as extensions
of ourselves to create a new
consumer that yearns for
brands that share its ethos and
fits into a specific lifestyle
niche.
9. The New Consumer
• Self confident
• Discerning
• Socially conscious
• Identifies with a cultural
group
• Looking for products
that share not just a
perceived notion of self,
but a shared ethos
– Shared Value
10. The New Company
• Warby Parker
– No boutique price-hike/ “cut-out-the-middleman”
– Social good mission
– Lifestyle>Function
11. The Future: Market BE a Lifestyle
• Brands and consumers have been
exponentially growing closer to each other as
the mediums that market companies bring
them closer into the lives of it’s consumers.
• In order to survive, new companies will not be
about function or psychology, but about
aligning itself with the social and cultural
capital of the groups it wishes to serve.
Notas del editor
People that create the technology influence the ideological position it reflects on the masses. Similarly, showing the progressing democratization of the constitution (Dahl), the public has continually and naturally shifted towards amending society to break a binary of master/slave; producer/consumer, but it has gone in ebbs and flows.
The book provided linear thought process from beginning to end but the Internet’s hyperlinks make for a new type of sporatic thinking fueled by choice and instant gratification instead of starting something and then finishing it. Consumerism is being defined by new waves of cultural connection amongst lifestyle choices.
Brand interaction is already at a disadvantage because social media is created to level the playing field of all users. Breaking the binary and creating a culture of horizontal communication.
Google Search Comparison (Egypt)… Native Advertising… Ghost Ads… etc.
Bernay’spropogation of the crowd is as important as ever, but different. The Internet is creating a specialized consumer whose spoil for choice allows for a discernment and a huge entrée of brands that fit its lifestyle culture,Democratization of Luxury No longer for the upper class, but expected by everyoneBrands are at the mercy of users to talk about their products. The Comment Box function of the Internet: Consumers can speak back. Kickstarter Consumers- Crowdfunding being embraced by brands shows a push to treat consumers as backers and create a more transparent production cycle to allow for a stronger relationship with community.
Shared Value Consumers used to rely on products to show the public the perceived notion of themselves. However, now they have full control of social profiles to create their desired personas and brands need to tap into the ability to get into those conversations to mean more than just external social profiles.
Cutting out the middleman offers a stronger connection with brands and consumersShared Value are “the practices that enhance the competitiveness of a company while simultaneously advancing the economic and social conditions in the communities in which it operates”
