Blog 9- PERKONOMICS

I chose to read the trendwatching.com blog from October 2008 about PERKONOMICS. The blog started out talking about how we are moving towards a consumer society that is “based more on experiences, on status stories, on the ephemeral-and in which, for many, time is now the only true scarcity- expect perks and privileges to become an integral part of every B2C industry and sector.” PERKONOMICS is defined as: “A new breed of perks and privileges, added to brands' regular offerings, is satisfying consumers’ ever-growing desire for novel forms of status and/or convenience, across all industries. The benefits for brands are equally promising: from escaping commoditization, to showing empathy in turbulent times.” PERKONOMICS pioneers include airlines, hotels, credit card companies and private banks, who have always been big on all kinds of loyalty programs and privileges. I agree that times are changing and a new wave of privileges needs to emerge.


I liked how the blog was organized and went more in depth into the topic instead of just forming basic opinions about it. I feel I learned more from this blog compared to others. He went on to talk more about convenience. I couldn’t agree with him more when he talked about how time-that is, the lack of it- is still one of the biggest consumer trends around. I liked how he mentioned stats in the blog to back up his assumptions. "70% of American 16 years and older say they don’t have enough time to do all the things they need to do. Half of US consumers now say that a lack of time is a bigger problem in their lives than a lack of money." I always feel like there are never enough hours in the day. Another part of PERKONOMICS is having more empathy with customers’ hassles and struggles. Ben & Jerry’s took advantage of this even in a stuff economy by giving away a scoop of "free love." I agree that any gesture of kindness and understanding would be truly appreciated. I feel the small things done can make a memorable impact with people. I enjoyed how he talked about how PERKONOMICS benefits brands. His perspective could apply to any company dynamic. Here are some of the benefits that a company can gain by delivering status and convenience to its customers:

• Perks bring much-needed love (if not FREE LOVE), in upturns and downturns, potentially leading to more ‘brand love’.
• Perks help commodity-like industries stand out by conferring a (renewed) sense of uniqueness. Adding perks often requires the ability to partner with other products or services, so brands with the best partnering skills—and therefore access to the best exclusive offers—will win.
• Perks, when done well, foster customer loyalty.
• Perks can give you the leading edge when it comes to attracting first-time customers.
• Perks can make for great if not invaluable PR; customers will tell others—perks are excellent conversation starters—while the media (trend watchers included) love a good perk story.
• Perks can help make boring companies (insurance, anyone ...?) interesting again, and thus more desirable.
• Perks can help cultivate more desirable brand perceptions and associations—think anything from showing you actually care about your customers (gasp!) to showing you care about the environment, offering eco-perks.

The blog then went into examples of companies who are taking advantage of PERKONOMICS. There are the “Only & First” perks. When individuality rules and conformity is frowned upon, owning or experiencing something no one else has is 'hot'. So any perk that is all about you while excluding them, will get attention. Amex cardholders have exclusive access to purchase the winning dress designed on the episode of Project Runway. The dress cannot be purchased by non-Amex customers. Another perk revolves around “no queues.” Queues are the pedestrian equivalent of no available parking spots. Being able to jump a queue is one of the biggest time-savers and perks around. An Avis Preferred Membership enables car rental customers to skip lines and paperwork and go straight to their car. Another concepts are “Concierge” perks and parking perks. Babies “R” Us stores introduced reserved parking spaces for expectant mothers years ago. PERKONOMICS offers marketers the chance to be trendsetters, especially if coming from a sector or industry not yet big on perks. I enjoyed how this blogger’s perspective was not biased. He stayed pretty matter-of-fact. He also talked about the pitfalls companies can drop into. Overall, I think he gave great examples that helped me to understand even further what he was talking about.