In demand: the intersection of context and consumer needs, Part 1

The background

We are seeing clients deploy demand spaces in every category from food and drink to restaurants and retail, and when they are well executed, they help bring a precise focus on the drivers of choice at work within a particular category.

Demand spaces are powerful because they accommodate the reality of customer behaviour, namely that different contexts drive different demands.

Traditional segmentation models are often based on one of the 5Ws:‘Why is a product or service being sought?’ or ‘Why do we need it?’, but we know that people are messy, irrational beings, with their needs changing as the context changes. The kind of restaurant I might choose for a large celebratory event is likely to be completely different from the one that I’d choose for a romantic meal with my partner.

Demand spaces help us to accommodate this reality. Alongside key needs, they introduce the Ws that most influence customer behaviour in the context of a specific category.

In categories like haircare or fashion, choices are driven by who the person is. Whereas in alcoholic drinks, the occasion, ie where and when the consumption is taking place, matters much more. Introducing these contextual factors gives us a much richer insight into how decisions are being made. 

Combining the most discriminatory consumption drivers into a demand spaces framework is a powerful tool for marketers. It simultaneously offers a strategic map of the biggest consumer-driven opportunities in the category, whilst also providing the extra level of richness necessary to make them actionable. 

In categories like FMCG, the uptake in demand spaces has been so near complete that clients are no longer asking how to create them but looking to understand how to extract more value from them. Some of the most common questions now being asked include:

• How do we keep our demand spaces fresh, agile and/or dynamic?
• How do we further activate our demand spaces for growth? 
• How can demand spaces and the other frameworks we are using add value to one another?

Over the course of these four articles, we will look at each of these themes in turn. We will look at the latest applications of demand spaces and how to get more out of them. We will also look at how we think they will evolve so they continue to add value in the future.

Read the second part of the series here.

Adam Rowles is a director at The Forge