WHY DO WE NEED TO BE ON CONSTANT ALERT?

“Stories don’t go away, newspapers don’t forget!” Perhaps this phrase is truer now than ever before. With the advent of the internet, 24 hour rolling news, digital technology beaming imagery almost instantly around the globe, no story ever disappears, it is merely masked by other more pressing or fashionable ones — but “stories” do return, almost like fashion styles, on a cyclical basis — normally at a disadvantageous moment. Business therefore needs to make full use of the information available from both public and private sources to ensure they are fully prepared to deal, not only, with current issues visible above the horizon but also have an awareness of those that currently reside below the horizon.

In addition, because of the rise of the Internet and other forms of communication, consumers are becoming much more autonomous — it is no longer a question of businesses identifying target market segments any more, consumers increasingly want mass-produced individuality that they feel they have had a part in creating.

Due to consumers increased need for ‘mass-tailoring’, the increasing number of issues affecting consumers’ lives, the permanent (if sometimes misleading, inaccurate or just plain wrong) record of the Internet, sustainability and responsibility will be two of the key ways for consumers to feel part of the process in which they receive their tailored products for the ongoing future.