BEHAVIOUR OVER AGE

The Shift in Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behaviour has undergone a seismic transformation. Age demographics no longer define purchasing patterns; instead, behaviour, preferences, and digital interactions take centre stage. The punks, mods, and new romantics - once seen as rebellious youth - now represent the grey market, a segment still as vibrant and influential as ever. This evolution underscores the move to behavioural targeting, as age-based assumptions no longer capture the complexity of consumer journeys.

Steve Moncrieff, Partner at Brand Distillery, notes: “Understanding modern customer journeys requires more than just tracking age or demographics. Predictive trends and behavioural insights now play a crucial role in shaping brand strategies. Consumers are forming deeper, more dynamic relationships with brands—before, during, and long after the purchase point.”

Today’s customers expect seamless, personalised experiences across every touchpoint. At Brand Distillery, we believe that delivering inventive solutions rooted in real-world insights is key to meeting these evolving demands.

McKinsey’s research indicates that 80% of consumers consider post-purchase interactions essential in forming long-term brand relationships. The customer journey now loops continuously, fuelled by curiosity, connection, and discovery. Our approach balances creative flair with strategic depth, ensuring clients receive practical, results-driven solutions that resonate.

Learning from Sport: Adaptation is Key

Sport teaches us the power of reinvention - from Brazil’s 1960s football team to Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope strategy. Like these champions, brands must adapt to thrive. Deloitte’s research shows that adaptable businesses can achieve 25% higher revenue growth. This highlights the importance of designing customer journeys that embrace flexibility, creativity, and tangible outcomes.

Consumers now seek experiences beyond simple transactions. KPMG reports that 60% of shoppers expect physical stores to offer experiences that complement digital convenience. Our role is to listen, understand diverse perspectives, and collaborate with clients to craft engaging experiences that merge online and offline touchpoints seamlessly.

The Collapse of the Traditional Funnel

The traditional marketing funnel - awareness, interest, desire, and action - no longer holds. The digital revolution has shattered this linear approach. Consumers discover products on Instagram, research them on Google, and purchase them via mobile apps within hours. Accenture reveals that 71% of consumers expect personalised interactions across all channels.

What’s more, today’s grey market - those punks, mods, and new romantics - continue to break conventions. Their purchasing decisions are driven by lifestyle choices, digital engagements, and experiential values rather than age. This behavioural complexity demands that brands adapt accordingly.

Beth Ann Kaminkow, CEO of VML, states: “The consumer journey is different for almost every consumer. You have to stop thinking in terms of a funnel.” We agree. At Brand Distillery, we explore new paradigms, blending bold strategies with empathetic insights to deliver transformative customer journeys.

Introducing the Infinity Marketing Loop

The infinity marketing loop embodies the modern customer journey. This model reflects how consumers continuously engage with brands, forming opinions before, during, and after purchase. Social media interactions, brand event activations, and immersive experiences blur the lines between product sales and brand storytelling.

In today’s omnichannel world, consumers:

• Read news, entertain themselves, purchase goods, and connect with peers across digital platforms.
• Engage with brands in real-time, seeking seamless and personalised experiences.

This shift highlights how product sales and experiences are merging. The grey market, in particular, actively engages through digital communities and brand activations, forming deeper relationships with brands they trust.

George Popstefanov, CEO of PMG, summarises it best: “We have to authentically engage with consumers wherever they are. We cannot think in a boxed silo anymore.”

Leveraging Data and Technology

Marketeers now have the data and tools to bring the infinity loop to life. According to Accenture, 83% of consumers are willing to share personal data for tailored experiences. Our client-centric approach focuses on:

• Being Always-On and Omnipresent: Delivering relevant messaging at every stage of the journey.
• Adopting a Channel-Less Mindset: Integrating digital and physical experiences for cohesive brand narratives.
• Delivering Consistent Personalisation: Harnessing AI and machine learning to anticipate consumer needs.

Deloitte highlights that brands employing omnichannel personalisation see a 15–20% increase in marketing ROI. At Brand Distillery, we remain determined to achieve measurable outcomes by blending insightful analysis with creative strategies.

Rethinking the Customer Journey with the Distillery Process

Our Distillery Process provides a clear, strategic roadmap for redefining customer journeys:

1. Audit Current Journeys: Identify engagement gaps and opportunities.
2. Design Seamless Experiences: Tailor journeys that align with consumer behaviours across analogue and digital platforms.
3. Leverage Technology: Deploy AI-driven solutions to create adaptive, responsive journeys.
4. Align Strategy and Operations: Ensure readiness across all organisational levels to deliver consistent experiences.

This process balances polished strategy with original thinking, ensuring our recommendations foster genuine connections and drive business success.

The Path Forward: Omnichannel and Beyond

Omnichannel campaigns remain essential. McKinsey’s findings reveal that connected campaigns are 2.2 times less cognitively fatiguing and 1.5 times more persuasive. Yet, the future lies beyond omnichannel; it rests in:

• Behaviour-Driven Insights: Prioritising real-time data over outdated demographic assumptions.
• Experience Integration: Crafting cohesive journeys that blend digital convenience with immersive physical experiences.
• Infinity Loop Engagement: Personalising interactions at every stage of the journey.

The rise of behavioural targeting over age-based segmentation is evident. The punks, mods, and new romantics - now sophisticated, digitally engaged consumers - demonstrate that purchase behaviour is guided by values, lifestyle, and digital connectivity.

Parbinder Dhariwal of CVS Media Exchange notes: “There’s no funnel anymore. Your point of delivery-of-message to point-of-purchase is shortened so much - you just go straight down to the bottom to purchase the moment you see an ad.”

Conclusion: Embracing Behavioural Journeys

The future belongs to brands that embrace the infinity marketing loop and behaviour-driven journeys. Age no longer dictates purchasing patterns—engagement, preferences, and real-time interactions do. The grey market, with its roots in counterculture movements, remains a powerful force when approached through behavioural insights.

Marketeers who adapt, using data-driven insights and omnipresent strategies, will thrive in this era of continuous consumer engagement.

At Brand Distillery, we are committed to delivering inventive, client-focused solutions. Our authoritative yet approachable voice, grounded in data and creativity, ensures our clients achieve tangible, measurable success. Let’s shape the future together, transforming challenges into opportunities through bold, strategic action.