The Hybrid Consumer
Let’s take our PR and marketing hats off for a moment and talk consumer to consumer about the news and information we consume each day. I’m a creature of habit when it comes to my daily regimen.
I wake up nice and early during the week. I immediately grab my blackberry (soon to be a Droid) to check my email. I log onto to my computer to access my headlines delivered to my email inbox, which in include NYT, InformationWeek, PR Week, PRSA Issues & Trends, Daily Bulldog, PRNewser, PR Daily, etc. A quick check of my RSS feeds tells me what I’ll be viewing over coffee, later in the a.m.
Getting ready for work, I flip between channels including The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN and Fox & Friends. My morning ride to work is over an hour (on the way home too) so I’m hooked on National Public Radio. As my day continues, I find myself online where I scour many different blogs and news sites depending on my projects. I also look forward to perusing the magazines on my desk (which are always in a neat little pile to the far right). In the pile sits Entrepreneur, Wired, PRSA Tactics, Adweek and CFO magazine.
The weekend has a similar routine, with the exception of reading the weekend paper over coffee with my husband, who also looks forward to holding a newspaper in his hands. My routine continues during the day with TV, as I get ready for Sat. & Sun. festivities, I’ll put NPR when I go to the supermarket and I have my daily checks of email news subscriptions and RSS feeds.
I look forward and rely on this routine. Here’s why I’m a creature of habit. On Sunday, July 4th, the Asbury Park Press was not delivered to our house! My husband was annoyed; the universe did not feel aligned. We were both upset and sat on our patio sipping coffee and eating breakfast with out the newspaper. What I find the most interesting is that this situation didn’t make us grab our laptops (and we have wireless outside) for the morning news. We didn’t run inside and log on to our computers. Instead, we were disappointed, but continued our routine by turning on the TV when we were getting ready for the day.
What I’ve discovered about myself is that I’m a perfect blend of the hybrid consumer and so is my family. We’re hybrid in the sense that we combine traditional, digital and social media into our daily routines. I see this almost every day when I observe the kids as they watch TV, while their on Facebook with their friends and text other members of the family, who are in the very same house. You can’t just find us online because we’re also enjoying other forms of media: watching TV, reading the newspaper, and flipping through articles in magazines.
Recently, I’ve been discussing the hybrid professional and how PR, Marketing, and Web must work together so that brands can better communicate and interact with consumers. A good look at my own news and information consumption reveals that a hybrid consumer drives this hybrid movement. I’ve said that social media pushes the integration of PR, marketing and Web, but if you step back, it’s really the consumer that is driving the change behind everything we do. What do you think?
July 5, 2010 @ 1:29 pm
Very interesting point, Deirdre. I liked specially the part when you said that, despite not being able to read the newspaper, you didn´t grab your laptop. It´s not the news, it´s the act itself – the pleasure of sitting in the backyard with the newspaper in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other hand. That´s why books, and cinema, and theater, and printed stuff will never disappear. Just because people like the sensation. Technology is great, really, but we must understand how it can live together with other “traditional” ways of communication that are part of our existence and well being as humans.
July 5, 2010 @ 1:38 pm
Hi Mariela! Thank you. You’re right, we find great pleasure in different kinds of media and don’t try to replace one for the other. When I want to sit outside by the pool, I choose magazines or a book. I don’t have my blackberry by the pool. I especially hope that books, cinema and theater don’t disappear. Of course, future generations will determine how they want to be entertained. I’m happy to report that the teenagers in my house love to read books and can’t pass up a good movie in the theater. When Twilight and New Moon were first out, our kids had to see those movies on the big screen. There are millennials who enjoy everything from traditional to digital and social media. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
July 5, 2010 @ 2:31 pm
Definitely agree. It’s easy to get sucked into the echo chamber. But we must remember that the advent of a new medium never necessarily kills an older one. Radio didn’t kill print, TV didn’t kill radio, and online still hasn’t killed TV. The mediums are changing and evolving, but they’re still around.
July 5, 2010 @ 3:04 pm
Yes, the mediums are evolving and I’m sure we’ll see more blendng of TV and Internet, popular blogs and online media outlets (similar to Mashable providing tech for CNN) and the like. I’m a huge proponent of social media but social media certainly hasn’t killed magazines or TV for me 🙂 Thanks for commenting!
July 11, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
Hi Deirdre,
Ironically part of my morning routine is checking your blog; thanks for sharing your integrated daily regimen.
It feels like the hybrid consumer is part of a symbiotic relationship between consumer, social media and marketing professionals. I agree that the consumer drives change, social media pushes integration, and marketers are creating IMC campaigns that connect, offer value and enable many-to-many communication. These are exciting times.
You mention your family’s routines: the Kaiser Family Foundation report (http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia012010nr.cfm) shows 8-18 year-olds on average dedicate 7:38 per day to entertainment media though through media multi-tasking it’s actually 10:45 hours. Given that multi-tasked media consumption is our current and future reality it seems the hybrid professional is the way forward. Thanks for the post!
July 11, 2010 @ 4:56 pm
Hi Catherine! Thank you for letting me know that you check my blog as a part of your morning routine. That’s awesome!! It’s unbelievable the amount of time that 8-18 year olds spend on entertainment media. I definitely see this everyday in my family! I agree with you it’s our current and future reality and the hybrid approach will serve these consumers well. Thanks so much for sharing your insight and the Kaiser Family Foundation report 🙂
July 13, 2010 @ 6:42 pm
Hi, Deirdre. I’m a new reader, although I’ve followed you on Twitter for awhile. I think it’s ironic to discover this post of yours discussing media consumption habits; I recently dug into this a little on my own post about multichannel consumers (as versus multichannel sales): http://insightsandingenuity.com/branding-in-a-multichannel-world/
I think one of the key learning and growth opportunities brands have is to better understand the occasions their audiences consume information, the experiences inherently expected within the channel and from the tools, and the value that can be delivered at those junctures to create the most impact.
Thanks for your work here!
July 16, 2010 @ 9:50 pm
Hi Heather! Welcome and thanks for taking the time to read my posts. I really appreciate that you shared your post. I agree that it’s so important to understand how audiences consume information. It gives us a much better picture of how to channel content and what will create the most impact. I’m always fascinated by the millennials and the their consumption habits. It will be interesting to see how their preferences change as media continues evolve and technology becomes even more advanced.
October 19, 2010 @ 1:39 pm
Deirdre,
NIce to meet you at Maine PR, MPRC meeting. I gave you some good press on our web site. Scroll down at http://www.seantracey.com.
Also, can you give me the link/reference to the interesting “floating icon/thumbnail” web portal you built and featured in your presentation? Stay in touch.
Sean
October 20, 2010 @ 6:41 pm
Hi Sean! Thanks for the coverage on your site. I really appreciate it 🙂 I can give you a write up on the education wall but no links because it’s an internal communications project.