I read this great study called Grounding the American Dream. It was written by Context-Based Research Group and Carton Donofrio Partners, Inc. who “conducted ethnographic interviews and observations with consumers across the United States to understand the impacts and implications of the ’08 financial crisis on American culture.”

In their report they talk about the evolution of consumerism. According to the study, the modern day consumer is going through 5 stages:

1.  Realisation - How the economic changes affect them personally.

2.  Life is not a loan - Bye-bye to the credit based life. Living within your means is becoming the top priority.

3.  A new value equation - It’s no longer just about “me” it is all about “we” and balancing rational, emotional and social needs.

4.  A new consumer toolkit - They will start to remove all the excess “stuff” in their life. Although they will be cutting back, they will still be looking for small luxuries to reward themselves from time to time.

5.  Walking the talk - After this realisation and transformation into better and smarter consumers, they will realize that the road to happiness isn’t necessarily paved with purchases.

Now what does this mean to us marketers? If means we need to evolve too. It means that we have to re-evaluate what we talk about and how we talk about it. We need to be conscious about the people we want to talk to and more sensitive to what they are going through. We need to help them achieve their goals, and if we can, they will help us with ours.

To download your free copy of Grounding the American Dream visit: www.thegroundedconsumer.com