The Occupy Wall Street protesters are NOT the lunatic fringe

81% of the respondents we surveyed have a negative attitude about big corporations...including 42% (!) who are disgusted with them.  Disgusted!


That's a pretty strong emotion.  


The rest were angry (21%), bored (11%) or afraid (7%).


Our Change Energy study also shows that consumers trust online reviews from strangers more than they trust ANY CLAIM that any advertiser makes about its product or service.  Unbiased human recommendations (even when they're from humans we don't know) carry more weight than anything advertising can claim.  Learn more on November 29th.  Email alexis.oddson@energyinfuser to sign up for our next webinar.


How much time and energy does your team spend developing, testing and vetting claims?  Is that a good investment of that resource when most people tune claims out any way?


So, what to do?


Well, social media has pretty well subverted the carefully scripted claims that advertisers make.  So why not direct people to the Facebook page or the review page for your product?  It's a gutsy move because you can't control what those pesky humans are going to say, but it shows that you really believe in your product.


When consumers say they want "transparency" from big companies, what they really mean is "honesty."  Try telling the truth.  Tell the consumer what your brand is NOT good at.  When you screw up, tell them.  One of the reasons consumers are burned out on big companies and big claims is that the wording is fudged to make the brand only look good.  Think consumers know the difference between a food being a "good" source of a nutrient and an "excellent" source?  Come on.  Try telling the real story, not just the part of the story that looks good if you squint really hard.


Last, consumers' hearts are with the local brands.  What big brands offer is lower price.  I'd run away from that game as fast as possible.  What fun is it to be the lowest cost provider of any commodity?


Stand out by winning trust.  Tell the truth.


For more join our webinar on November 29.  Email alexis.oddson@energyinfuser.com

Does your futures company listen to consumers' dreams?

Remember the story about Joseph and his "technicolor dream coat?"  

Well, let's skip over the part about his jealous brothers throwing him down a well and focus on the part where he went from being jailed to being a leader of Egypt.  What led to that miraculous transformation?  His ability to listen to the Pharaoh's dreams and articulate what those dreams meant for the future.

That's what we do.

Humans are the only animals (that we know of) that can imagine their futures.  So we ask them about what they sense will make them happier in the future than they are today.  And we ask about what's becoming no longer acceptable to them.

We look for what's missing today (as we know nature abhors a vacuum).  And we look for conflicts that have no resolutions today.

Those are the unmet needs that successful innovations will fill within the next 12 - 18 months.

We're going to share the pattern of one of those dreams at a webinar on October 14th at noon CST.  We promise not to take more than 20 minutes.

Please send an email to Alexis Oddson at alexis.oddson@energyinfuser.com if you'd like to join us.  Or let her know if you'd prefer an individual meeting.