Fear Of Missing Something

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The main factor that people, businesses and brands have focussed on in the production of a product or service from the past to the present has always been the concept of 'human', that is, 'consumer'. Brands that cannot accurately analyse the habits, emotions, trends, needs and changes of their potential target audience in the market they are in have remained in the class at the point of success.

The main phenomenon in the trade, which started with the exchange method, has always been the 'need' of the consumer. Brands realise the production of the product or service in  line with the needs and present it to the consumer, and the brands that present the needs by observing them correctly are successful in the market they are in. 

The concept of "need" has changed with the prominence of digital media and online sales channels today, and 'non-need' consumption has clearly shown itself with the campaigns and special occasions offered to consumers from brands. 

Brands compare potential consumers with a message at any time and direct them to consumption by using traditional media both through social media accounts and together with online sales platforms. The consumer, who is exposed with a message at any moment and offered campaigns, discounts and special occasions to him, changes his buying habit in line with the need from the past, turns to instant consumption and tends to buy. 

The consumer prioritises the fear of "missing things" in the purchase process he realises instantly and shows the tendency to buy a product or service that does not need at the moment in order not to miss it. In a study carried out by the University of Oxford, this change in the buying trends of consumers took its place in Oxford's English dictionary as "FOMO" (Fear Of Missing Something). The phenomenon that we can translate as a fear of missing something deals with the last point in the consumption adventures that started with the exchange method of people and summarises the changing consumer trend in a single sentence. 

What is the question that we and brands need to address at this point? Will consumers continue to show the same trend after the process we went through and could not even leave our homes? Although there are many different opinions on this issue, everyone agrees that the decision-making trends of consumers and the tendency to buy a product or service will change after the process.   

During the process we have gone through, consumers had a lot of time to think about their priorities. After this process, I think that the consumer, whose priorities have changed, defined himself better and took the concept of "trust" first by repositioning the order of importance on the life scale, will give up the "Fear of Kidnapping" trend and switch to the tendency to buy again in line with need. 

In this buying trend, while evaluating all the messages offered to it by the brand, it will now tend to be able to meet the existing need from a brand it trusts in the fastest way by keeping the concept of "trust", which is a 6th feel independent of the 6th sense, by avoiding making decisions with 5 senses. At this point, it will be possible for us to conclude that the consumer will prioritise using online sales platforms. 

At this point, brands have to develop new positions and new digital sales strategies for themselves in line with purchasing trends that will change. Of course, advertising agencies also have a lot of duty here. The strategies they will produce at the point of integrating the changing and developing habits of the consumer into their brands by reading them correctly will be the most important factor in the role that the brand will take in the new market. 

In the next period, the rules of the game will definitely change in the future, which the consumers will ignore the brands' 15% discount in the basket, 1 free, black Friday, coffee treat, food service or different strategy terms that vary from sector to sector. While the brands that offer the best campaign strategies to their potential target audience are withdrawn from the game, we will see the days when brands that accurately observe the needs of their target audience and create strategies for the needs they have observed have a say in the game.  

The cooperation of brands that want to keep up with the changing conditions in the market will be the most important compass in determining the direction of cooperation with digital agencies. More importantly, we will be living together in a period when brands that have seen digital media agencies as a luxury until today realise that this is not a luxury choice, but the biggest need. 

At the end of the day, brands that read the game well and can address their potential target audience by producing strategies in line with the needs, and the agencies that determine these strategies will be the leaders of the new period. 

As the last word, we can state that we will be living in a period when the 'fear of missing out' will turn into the concept of 'care about needs and give confidence' on the brand side. Those who give this message to the consumer the most accurate will definitely be the ones who come out of the process the strongest.