With consumer expectations... steal from anywhere

Expectation, originally uploaded by guzi4real.

I went to an advertising association event about 8 years ago where a young Australian advertising executive said something that stuck with me . 'steal from everywhere'. He talked about stealing the art of the sell from Real Estate agents. Steal the conversation and relationship build from your hairdresser. So why is it that clients when ever you speak to them about other categories kick up its not relative. trendwatching.com. has an interesting way to set the context.

Consumer expectations are often set outside your own industry. Limiting yourself to your own industry will make you miss important changes in consumer expectations, and will thus put you at risk of disappointing or even annoying consumers. Every industry has its own 'innovation competence', and the innovations they're bringing to market not only excite their own customers, they also shape their expectations for other industries. Whether it's Singapore Airlines' sense of status, IKEA's understanding of the democratization of design, H&M's obsession with making up-to-the-minute fashion affordable, or Apple's prowess in design and usability. And while flawless execution is never easy, the thinking and attitude behind it isn't impossible to mirror. Consumers know this, too. Hence their aforementioned indifference and irritation when it comes to the non-H&Ms, the non-Singapore Airlines, the non-Apples

Use it to gauge on 'consumer expectations'. We once did this with a website we were working on. We said everyone on the web is a competitor as the speed and development of much better technology was causing everyone's expectations of their online experience to be much better... no matter what category you are in. Interesting how all the insurance aggregator websites are all talking about their website experience at the moment.