VELOCITY
INTELLIGENCE
176
...today’s generation demand activist
brands that promote and align with
their values.
any country in the world, surpassing
Indonesia.” Of the 12 velocity
markets, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Indonesia, and Egypt, are all already
overwhelmingly Muslim, Nigeria’s
population is currently half-Muslim,
and India, China, Myanmar,
and the Philippines already have
significant Muslim populations.
The “Velocity 12 Report”
notes, “Over 90 percent of Muslims
researched by Ogilvy Noor said
that their faith affected their
consumption,” and “Nearly 60
percent of Muslim respondents
across the V12 indicated that
international brands generally
don’t (or only a little) understand
or cater to their needs.” The report
also proclaims, “The Muslim
Futurists have started to apply halal
rules to all parts of their activities,
creating a Muslim lifestyle.”
There have been news reports
that claim Salafism—the ultraconservative theology within Sunni
Islam that guides both theocratic
monarchies such as Saudi Arabia as
well as jihadi terrorist organizations
such as the Daesh (Islamic State of
IS)—is the fastest growing movement
within Islam. However, such claims
currently remain unsubstantiated
by verifiable quantitative
data and are often based on
intelligence agency estimates.
Nonetheless, the changing
demographics may bode a turn to
conservatism and a move away from
liberalism, even for predominantly
non-muslim nations. Birthrates
are declining in affluent and
secular Western democracies while
adobo magazine | July - August 2016
population growth remains high
in Africa, where Christians are
currently much more conservative
and reject gender equality and
other liberal values. “The Future
of World Religions” report notes
that by 2050, “Four out of every 10
Christians in the world will live in
sub-Saharan Africa,” and “Atheists,
agnostics and other people who
do not affiliate with any religion—
though increasing in countries such
as the United States and France—
will make up a declining share of
the world’s total population.”
2050 is 34 years away.
Acceptance of values such as
racial equality and gender equality
changed remarkably during that
same amount of time in affluent
western societies with large middle
class populations. Regardless,
today’s generation demand activist
brands that promote and align
with their values. The “Velocity
12 Report” states, “Brands
must start by understanding
themselves—and defining the
values that they want to impart.”
The “Velocity 12 Report” also
states, “Women in the V12 are
taking more direct financial control
than ever of their lives and the
lives of their families. Eventually,
they will eclipse men in making
the majority of direct and indirect
spending decisions,” and “The
growth in female participation
in the workforce is a key driver
in the global economy. Women
now account for 40 percent of the
formal workforce and 43 percent
of the agricultural workforce.”
However, the “Velocity 12
Report” also notes, “The majority
of female respondents report
experiencing discrimination in
virtually all settings in their lives.”
SOLUTIONS
The Velocity 12 Report warns,
“Success in the V12 will not be
built upon an oversimplified
view of a homogenizing world
nor a superficial analysis
of a group of markets.”
Instead, the report advises
that, “Brands have fully embraced
the fact that they don’t create
themselves. Customers have
significant impact on how brands
are built, and brands cannot
abstain from ongoing interaction...
That shift is called Behavior
Branding. Behavior branding
asks brands to do, not just say,”
and “Marketers must re-cast
their perception of consumers
from being ‘targets’ to being
active participants, who expect,
and even sometimes demand, a
role in marketing activities.”
The “Velocity 12 Report” states,
“Success in the V12 markets will
increasingly require robust data
and personalization strategies.
Failing to fully leverage data, and
the personalization it can support,
will likely result in falling behind
the competition and failing to keep
up with consumers’ escalating
demands. Given the power of
cloud technology, even smaller
local brands can now leverage data
and data mining. Personalization
is the promise of the age.”