THE SOUL OF THE NEW CONSUMER

The Soul of the New Consumer: Authenticity - What We Buy and Why in the New Economy
Authors: David Lewis & Darren Bridger
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Publishing; New edition 18 Feb 2001
Language: English
 ISBN-13: 978-1857882988
Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.3 x 2 cm
Amazon.co.uk Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars 
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 57,796 in Books
source: amazon.co.uk
Recommended Retail Price:  12.99 GBP
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Product Description: New consumers are a potent economic force. This guide profiles them, merging research from marketing, psychology, sociology and economics to explore the essence of the new breed of consumer, discovering what motivates them, what they buy and why, and how to turn these profiles into profits.

Amazon.co.uk Review: Is it ironic or merely inevitable that in the so-called information age the vast majority of what we think we "know" is merely recycled, unchecked facts from tv, radio, newspapers, conferences, people at work and a bloke in the pub?
We have heard an awful lot about the death of mass marketing and the "new consumer" lately; about their media savvy, militancy and desire to be treated as individuals. Where it is all coming from, what are the primary sources for these ideas?
It is coming from people like David Lewis and Darren Bridger, who have based their book The Soul Of The New Consumer on the findings of over a thousand surveys into changing consumer attitudes. Backed up by exhaustive experimental data from over the past four decades, for the first time they rigorously nail an argument that has hitherto been largely unsubstantiated assertion.
A good example of this is in the chapter on the implications of the new consumer for tv advertising. We all know that the MTV generation can assimilate more information and that ads are faster-paced these days, but how do we know? Lewis and Bridger actually pin it down: "In 1978 an average 30 second television commercial contained some eight shots with an average shot length of less than four seconds. Today double or even treble this number of shots may be fitted into the same time", they write.
The thrust of their argument is that "new consumer" defies traditional marketing pigeon-holing. In reaction to a synthetic, processed and packaged world, their main drive is for an "authentic experience" used as a means for the individual to define him or herself. In their words, the book outlines "the practical steps that manufacturers, suppliers and service providers must take in order to grasp the opportunities and grapple with the challenges represented by the rise of the new consumers."
The Soul Of The New Consumer is compulsory reading for anyone interested in contemporary culture or anyone in the business of marketing or selling to consumers. --Alex Benady --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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