Global 24/7 connections are terrific, but only as long as they’re manageable and live up to expectations, says Diane Crispell.

My daughter texted me from her high school English class on the morning of February 11^th to let me know that Hosni Mubarak was stepping down. Yes, she was kind of breaking school rules, but I thought it was great (a) that her teacher turned on the TV in the classroom so the kids could be witness to the event, and (b) that she was excited enough about it to contact me (even if she didn’t know his name and couldn’t spell Egypt).

Exactly one month later, while waiting for my vehicle to be serviced at my local garage on the morning of March 11^th, I looked at some photos that an employee’s friend had just posted on Facebook – of his Tokyo office in shambles, mere hours after the catastrophic earthquake hit Japan.

These are the moments that explain why 65% of Americans say technology makes them feel connected. They also epitomize one of GfK Roper’s global Key Trends – Instant Everywhere.

Consumers appreciate the benefits of instant-and-everywhere access to people, information, entertainment, and products. They like being able to shop whenever they like, watch TV shows and movies whenever they want, talk to (or text) their friends wherever they are, and take their work wherever they go – OK, maybe they don’t love that last part so much.

This 24/7 culture does have its downside – the media are rife with reports about sleep deprivation brought on by people’s apparent addiction to staying connected around the clock. The message to business in this instance is to help people manage the technology rather than the other way around.

In general, however, the appetite for “instant everywhere” appears limitless. Witness the growth of Netflix and the competition it’s engendered. For example, Amazon recently introduced free and unlimited instant streaming of selected movies and TV shows for its Prime customers, of which I’m one. The only problem is that my online video experience is more like trickling than streaming.

This brings up another potential pitfall of the Instant Everywhere culture – i.e., how “instant” and “everywhere” it really is. Most people have experienced the frustrations and hiccups of dead zones and dropped connections. Businesses should not underestimate the discouragement factor. I know that I’ve abandoned online purchases when I could not easily find what I was looking for or when a transaction did not work quickly or smoothly enough. That’s the danger of raising people’s expectations; you have to deliver on them.

I live in hopes that I will one day be able to watch an entire online video without first pausing it and waiting for it to fully buffer on my system.

Clarks Sunbeat Sandal (tan)

By Diane Crispell

Were you ever talking to someone when all of a sudden you thought – maybe even said out loud – “Gee, I sound like a commercial”? It happens to me reasonably frequently, most recently when I was extolling the virtues of my favorite sandals.

By Diane Crispell

Have you ever had the experience that you were thinking about some great new product that would make your life better, and then it suddenly appeared on store shelves? It’s happened to me a number of times. My reaction has typically been one of delight that someone figured it out, tempered by the (totally unrealistic) regret that I wasn’t the one to do it and ‘make millions’.

As a Baby Boomer, I’ve always enjoyed the benefits of being part of the mass market that all businesses wanted to reach. So it’s not really surprising that my wants and needs have been anticipated through different life stages, from teen skin-care products to family-size frozen-food entrées. But we Boomers are getting older, and older has never been a very popular market, so I wonder whether I will see as many new products directed at my generation in the future. Maybe not.

The fact is that Boomers are not as entranced by novelty as they used to be or as much as younger people are. For example, 33% of Boomers strongly agree they “actively seek new ways to do things in everyday life,” compared with 44% of Gen Yers, according to a recent GfK Roper Reports^® US survey. Similar patterns hold for everything from technology to food.

By Diane Crispell

Have you ever noticed that when people use the word “simple,” they often mean the opposite? The phrase “simple assembly” on product instructions is practically a synonym for “complicated beyond belief.” A while back, I came across a purportedly simple recipe for tomato soup that was based largely on using a can of tomato sauce, to which one needed to add a bunch of other ingredients.

I felt that the whole concept was flawed. It’s not that I object to using prepared ingredients in a homemade dish – it was the use of the word “simple” that threw me. If I wanted simple, I’d open a can of tomato soup and be done with it. If I wanted homemade, I’d start with fresh tomatoes, and simplicity wouldn’t enter the picture.

I understand that the intent was to make the reader feel as if they were doing something loving and healthy for their family without scaring them off. It’s a nice idea. There is something very appealing about the notion of simplicity, especially when people aren’t too happy with the way things are. No wonder it keeps cropping up. “In place of materialism, many Americans are embracing simpler pleasures and homier values. They’ve been thinking hard about what really matters in their lives, and they’ve decided to make some changes…. The pursuit of a simpler life with deeper meaning is a major shift in America’s private agenda.” Sounds like a mantra for today, doesn’t it? It’s from a 1991 TIME article.  

But frankly, to me, there is no “simple” about cooking from scratch or building a bookcase or sewing clothes, and it makes me feel inadequate when I don’t feel up to tackling these “simple” tasks.  

I finally figured out what the disconnect is. “Simple” has two key meanings – “easy” and “plain.” These are not the same thing by a long shot. Any designer can tell you that “simple,” as in unadorned or clean, is not easy to achieve. Any number of books and web sites dedicated to the so-called “simple life” make it clear that living in a down-to-earth and unpretentious way is a lot of work.  

It turns out that simplicity is not top of mind for consumers anyhow. It falls smack dab in the middle of Americans’ personal values spectrum, ranking 28 out of 54 “guiding principles” in their lives, according to the 2009 GfK Roper Reports®  Worldwide survey. (This is true globally, too.)  

This suggests that “simple” does not need to be slathered all over everything but used judiciously and clearly. If you mean easy, say easy. But if you mean doing things the old-fashioned way, having less stuff, saving time, or being more organized, just say so. If you say simple, you run the risk of irritating people whose definition doesn’t match yours.  

It’s also important to know your audience. A book titled Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple might sound like an oxymoron to most of us, but reader reviews on amazon.com suggest that for medical students, it lives up to its name.  

I like the way Back to Basics Toys puts it: “Committed to being your best and most-trusted source for classic and quality playthings with excellent craftsmanship and value.” Nothing about simplicity. We bought a balance board from them a few years ago, which my son uses while juggling – no simple task. Of course, there was our neighbor who, when he saw it, thought we were silly for paying for something that would be “simple” to make. For him maybe, but for us, it was a whole lot easier to buy.

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General Ambrose Burnside, circa 1860-65

Consuming Nostalgia in Sips

By Diane Crispell

What are the odds that two e-mails simultaneously passing in cyberspace between colleagues would mention mutton chops? It happened to me last month.

It all started when a colleague in London sent our team a link to an article about retro-socialising, setting off a flurry of comments on this side of the pond, as well as another link related to retro-fashion.