2023: What's the Scoop?

So 2023 is here!

Whether it's the Gregorian Calendar of January 01 or the eastern celebration of the Lunar New Year, people from all over the world welcomed 2023 with fanfare, reunions, and a lot of traditional practices.

And there is indeed some great reason to celebrate, for the 2023 New Year allowed people to travel more - not just within countries but internationally - something that COVID restricted most of us in the last 2 years.

So after all the merry-making, and even some new years resolutions, the big question now in the mind of so many is: what is in store for us in 2023?

Posts such as "Be good to me 2023!" or "Bring it on 2023! or the now viral - "And that concludes the 2022 season" but in the era of the new normal, what is out there for everyone this year?

So after so much joy and merrymaking, the prudent side for most people starts to kick in - framed by the realization that a lot of the challenges of the past are still very much around. And that there are new threats - internally and externally - on the horizon that can swing 2023 from either becoming a good year, which everyone hoped it should be, or another challenging year, like the pandemic years.

Externally, we know the world is still in the pandemic mode, with some countries even registering higher than usual numbers. And as the world saw it first hand, this can swing either way in so short a time. So COVID is still very much a threat to everyone.

Some western economies are also bracing for recession, as such news of retrenchment or right sizing is hovering over the news headlines again. In the Philippines, one headline that captured even the attention of the world is the rising food costs - best exemplified by the unreasonable price of onion.

But despite these challenges - more enterprises are going back to business, opening doors and opportunities, coupled with the strong determination of people from all walks of life to go back to normal - or whatever new normal that they embraced for now. So it is safe to say that this confidence will propel economies and families to a much better state than in the previous 2 years of the pandemic.

If you walk around the malls - it looks like this is happening already.

So how can brands maximize this great opportunity?

An article from the Harvard Business Review says it all: "The most successful brands focus on users, not buyers. It further shared: "brands don’t just do things differently; they also think differently. Where traditional brands focus on positioning their brands in the minds of their customers, brands should focus on positioning their brands in the lives of their customers. Furthermore, they engage customers more as users than as buyers, shifting their investments from pre-purchase promotion and sales to post-purchase renewal and advocacy"

Connecting more - in a more profound manner is therefore a key task for brands in 2023. Yes, there are business or sales objectives, but a more long-term view of things will be a secure route to take. So finding that sweet spot on the role of your brand in the lives of its consumers - should be part of the brand's new year's resolution.

And when a brand gets this right, what will happen will no longer just be mere transactions - of buying and selling, but a budding consumer-brand relationship. And this will lead to a long-lasting impact, not just a mere fleeting moment of short-term wins.

For 2023, that is the ideal, and we wish all the brands get to achieve this.