GfK Research Reveals Connecting With Customers Starts With ‘Values’ 

There’s no escaping today’s challenges. From the war in Ukraine to skyrocketing inflation, supply chain issues and the lingering pandemic, the business world is in flux.  

GfK’s recent Insight Forum: Finding Opportunities, Not Excuses held in Sydney on 16 November, highlighted the opportunities that exist in today’s “new world” — a world where consumers are adapting and recovering to a new consumerism order. And where radical shifts have motivated consumers to make intentional, mindful and ambitious decisions.   

Consumer disrupted: What brands need to know 

Values are more than the words up on an organisation’s wall. They’re deep, personal human truths. And these truths should form the guiding principles of every marketing and sales strategy.

They can also be the real point of difference in your business. In fact, 62 per cent of consumers say they only buy products and services that appeal to their beliefs, values or ideals. 

The cornerstone of who we are, our values influence how we see the world. As marketers, we often look at different consumers by generation, market trends and consumer intelligence. But values are the cornerstone that really drives influence. They’re the message of hope in your marketer’s toolkit. 

4 ways values help brands build a deeper emotional connection with consumers 

1. Values guide principles beyond demographics
2. Values ground innovation at a deeper level
3. Values strengthen messaging connections
4. Values are key to differentiation and portfolio management

GfK has been tracking consumer values in 30 markets around the globe for a quarter of a century. Interestingly, it found that Australia’s key values typically differ from the rest of the world.

Australians value honesty, protecting family, authenticity, freedom and enjoying life the most. When compared to the globe against five segments (Discoverers, Indulgers, Elementals, Mindfuls and Aspirers), Australians land mostly in the Discoverers, Indulgers and Elementals categories.  

Key Values 

Discoverers: Freedom, creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, learning, knowledge, social tolerance, equality, internationalism 

Indulgers: Enjoying life, leisure, pleasure, material security 

Elementals: Helpfulness, modesty, thrift, simplicity, respecting ancestors 

Mindfuls: Spirituality, working hard 

Aspirers: Social recognition, status 

Our research supports the fact that Australians are different. So when we look at global consumers and get global data, it doesn’t necessarily work in this market. Australian consumers love their freedom. They’re pleasure seekers. Material security is important to them.

They want to enjoy life. Health and fitness are very important to them. These personal values drive their thinking. And marketers can tap into that opportunity to find better ways to connect with the Australian consumer. 

Evolving values 

Whilst core values tend to stay relatively stable and consistent, they do eventually evolve and manifest in new ways. And understanding that as it relates to consumers is critical to driving your strategy. For example, as people grow older, they tend to pick up the values of their parent’s generation.

They tend to value things less about ambition and more about enjoying life and embracing faith as they age. At the same time, big life events or traumas also cause a shift in values. COVID, for example, placed a huge emphasis on health and fitness. It also caused consumers to shift their values in terms of what’s important to them. 

Brands tend to do well at understanding category predispositions based on consumer needs, attitudes and predispositions of choice. However, brands don’t do very well when understanding those implicit, deeper values that are held — the things that have the power to build a stronger emotional connection with consumers by addressing their deeper, underlying implicit forces of choices.  

In a nutshell, values help drive product strategy. They help marketers understand nuances beyond demographics, geographies, attitudes and needs. And they drive messaging, innovation and brand positioning by enabling marketers to connect with the consumer on a deeper level beyond the surface of what consumers say. 

About the Author 

Mitesh Khatri, Head of Consumer Intelligence and Consulting ANZ, GfK 

Mitesh is an expert in helping businesses lead by defining business problems clearly, creating stronger use of data and insights, and driving more innovative approaches, all underpinned by his strong understanding of consumers. 

Mitesh has worked with more than 150 companies, including some of Australia’s largest, across 400+ categories in the ANZ region. His industry experience includes Retail, FMCG, Media, Consumer Technology and Durables, Travel and Banking, and more. 

Mitesh holds an MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management. 

GfK. Growth from Knowledge. 

For over 85 years, we have earned the trust of our clients around the world by solving critical business questions in their decision-making process around consumers, markets, brands and media.

Our reliable data and insights, together with advanced AI capabilities, have revolutionized access to real-time actionable recommendations that drive the marketing, sales,  and organizational effectiveness of our clients and partners. That’s how we promise and deliver  “Growth from Knowledge.”