The educated and informed consumer

El consumidor culto

Among the traits that define today’s consumer, one stands out: they are more educated and better informed. However, we cannot generalize the idea that the modern consumer is more educated. On the contrary, a significant portion of the new generations is not more educated than their predecessors despite living in a more open, education-accessible, and cosmopolitan environment.

Disdain for the past due to ignorance, the absence of values, and a lack of commitment are creating a type of citizen with childish and fickle characteristics and few foundations to rely on. Consumption, more than ever, is a symbolic act where apparent value matters; brand personality replaces personal identities. On the other hand, consumers may be more informed, but they are also more confused due to the excess of information at their disposal. For example, in a year, more than two and a half million advertising slots are broadcast on various television channels in our country. Through the Internet, we have trillions of bits of immediately accessible information. Social media bombard us with opposing messages. Very little of all the information we are exposed to stays in our brains. This information overload turns into noise, redundancy, and banality. Attention is increasingly focused on sources that echo what we want to hear, and we tend to isolate ourselves in our own beliefs.

With this level of message saturation, it becomes challenging to highlight the differentiating values of a brand or product if they do not have a unique personality that sets them apart. The confusion between brand images of products in the same consumer segment is becoming more apparent, and consumer perceptions of product attributes are more superficial. Cultured and informed? Let’s move away from generalities and work with a profound understanding of our target audience.