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#BizTrends2020: The rise of essentialism, mindfulness and Boomer apps
1. Essentialism
As the world continues to straddle socio-economic pressures and the continued tech-evolution, marketing-led growth will only strive through essentialism and discernment.
Brands cannot continue to be all things to all people, neither can they continue to spray and drown consumers in too much information and a plethora of data accompanied by a tsunami of visuals.
Brands need to get back to being the beacons of light that help consumers navigate their busy lives, by simplifying their offerings, communications as well as adopting focused targeting.
Practically everything is unimportant
Dina De Vine, Mortimer Harvey 6 Oct 2016
Too many SKUs are becoming meaningless as the consumers feel the financial and time pressures to live meaningful lives. Therefore, as consumers adopt discernment and essentialism, brands and marketing will have to trim and adapt their offerings accordingly.
Apps for apps-sakes will not work, they need to add value in the lives of consumers, they need help simplify lives that have been complicated by the gluttony of information, tech, and broad offerings [many SKUs]. That is why apps like Blinkist are gaining popularity at the top-end of the market.
Data: Avoiding the blind spot
Riaan Sunny, Mark1 18 Jun 2015
The education space is already seeing some of these new tech-tools that are helping learners and parents to navigate the complex world of learning in a world that has been overtaken by infobesity. Students and learners also need to practice discernment when researching subjects and topics.
This is where the trend of essentialism is also beginning to gain momentum. While in business, spam and clutter has been recognised as not the avenue for increasing business knowledge but rather as a nuisance and most organisations are beginning to block it out.
2. Mindfulness and wholesomeness
Wellness and healthy living have been growing in leaps and bounds, however mindfulness is becoming a critical part of being wholesome. The awareness of a healthy mind is a new topic that is occupying not only the C-suite, but across various levels of the human capital floor.
In the schooling sector, the concept of a Montessori or the concept of developing a child as a whole being is getting focused attention.
Mindfulness is becoming the new world order as the human race realises that the crafting and moulding of a conscientious human race is critical for its survival.The workplace is also beginning to awaken to caring about the holistic wellbeing of its talent and employees. Spirituality, yoga, sleep therapy, breathing techniques plus other holistic techniques that foster mindfulness and conscious awareness are becoming part of organisational rituals and behaviours that organisations are realising are critical to better levels of productivity and output.
We are seeing the C-suite beginning to indulge in power-naps and meditation during working hours as part of boosting attention, stimulating mental awareness and improving executive output.
The growth of breathing and meditation apps to improve mental awareness and the quality of life are some of the tools that are harnessing the growth of this trend.
Further developing breathing, yoga, sleeping, meditation apps and the like in order to facilitate high-levels of conscious awareness is testament to this growing trend, as well as the combination of restaurants that incorporate mindfulness in their offerings.
The advent of smart phones, makes all of these rituals far more accessible to society and employers through better employee engagement, are realising the need to facilitate mindfulness in the workplace as part of the employee package and benefits.
We will see office spaces being designed to facilitate and cultivate mindfulness, because the more wholesome and mindful their talent, the higher and better will be the quality of productivity and output.
3. Boomer apps
With hundreds of Baby Boomers retiring daily, the first generation to retire with a sound knowledge and understanding of tech and the world of apps makes it is inevitable that new apps will be developed for this generation, in order to improve its quality of life as it ages.
American retirement villages are already seeing a new phenomenon of Boomer apps such as ‘Papa Pals’, an app that connects younger people, often college students in need of extra-income, enabling them to:
- Provide rides for senior citizens
- Teach Boomers further tech understanding and usage of other technological gadgets
- Provide companionship for the elderly, to alleviate loneliness
This is a new class of care-giving that will change the face of the nursing home for the elderly.
The advent of AI fused with autonomous driving can open up a whole new world for the caring facilities of the elderly who are tech-savvy.
2020 could be the year where we see a plethora of these tech tools that are designed to enhance the lives and living experience of these tech-savvy senior citizens.
The generation gap - Who is who?
Belinda Kayton 31 Oct 2018
About Boniswa Pezisa
Giving brands a social currency is Boniswa's raison d'être. Litha and Khwezi's mom, big sister, daughter, business leader, partner, community builder, coach, social entrepreneur, public speaker, nurturer and activist are some of the adjectives used to describe Pezisa. Pezisa, a committed industry player, sits on various boards; communication industry, NGO's and is the past Chairperson of the Loeries and the ACA Boards...
