Spend Shift: How the Post–Crisis Values Revolution Is Changing the Way We Buy, Sell, and Live - Hardcover

Gerzema, John; D′Antonio, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470874430 ISBN 13: 9780470874431

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 2010

Synopsis

Gold Medal Winner, General Business, 2012 Axiom Business Book Awards

Understanding the post–crisis consumer

In Spend Shift, John Gerzema, world–renowned expert on consumer values, and Pulitzer prizewinning author Michael D′Antonio document the rise of a vibrant, values–driven post–recession economy. To tell the story of this movement, the authors travel to large cities and small towns across eight bellwether states, to examine the value shifts sweeping the nation. Through in–depth observation, proprietary data from Young & Rubicam, and interviews with experts, the authors analyze the changing consumer psyche, document the five shifting values and consumer behaviors that are remaking America and the world, and explain what it means to businesses and leaders.

• Explores a movement in society where the majority of American consumers are embracing both value and values
• Shows how post–crisis consumer expectations and behaviors will drive business decisions
• Draws on interviews with CEOs and entrepreneurs to reveal how companies like Ford and Etsy are reconnecting with the post–crisis consumer

Compelling and insightful, Spend Shift is essential reading for anyone interested in how values are changing and how businesses can connect with consumers after the recession.

About this title

About the Author

John Gerzema

Gerzema, chief insights officer of Young & Rubicam, is an internationally known social theorist on consumerism. As a consultant to corporate leaders, he is a pioneer in the use of data to identify social change that helps companies both anticipate and adapt to new consumer interests and demands. His book, The Brand Bubble (Jossey–Bass, 2008), is a BusinessWeek bestseller and was voted #3 in Amazon′s best business books of 2008 and best marketing books of 2009 by strategy+business. Gerzema is anin–demand public speaker, and his TED speech, "The Post–Crisis Consumer," has been viewed by tens of thousands of people.

Michael D′Antonio

D′Antonio is the author of more thana dozen books. Hisbiography, Hershey, was named one of BusinessWeek′s best books of the year, and The State Boys Rebellion received similar honors from the Chicago Tribune and Christian Science Monitor. While at Newsday, D′Antonio won the Alicia Patterson Fellowship for journalists and was a member of a team of reporters that won the Pulitzer Prize. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Discover, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, and other publications.

From the Back Cover

What do old–fashioned virtues tell you about the new economy? A social theorist and expert on consumerism and a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter hit the road to examine life after the Great Recession. What they uncovered will tell you everything you′ll need to know to survive and thrive.

"Spend Shift is a must–read for anyone who wants to understand how to cope withthe ongoing economic crisis. Armed with reams of data as well as compelling stories,John Gerzema and Michael D′Antonio show how millions of people across America are resetting their spending and their lives in response to the new financial realities."

Richard Florida

Best–selling author of The Rise of the Creative Class and The Great Reset

"What do a café owner in inner–city Detroit, a laid–off consultant in Dallas, and a retired U.S. Marine in California have in common? It turns out that like millions of others, they refuse to be discouraged by the economic crisis and are responding in radical and creative ways. In Spend Shift you′ll discover these people and many others including leaders atbig companies like Ford, Walmart, and Microsoft who are doing well by doing good.The authors also provide invaluable insights into the values that guide today′s consumer. Read Spend Shift and be inspired."

Charlene Li

Social media and marketing expert and best–selling author of Groundswell and Open Leadership

"The aftermath of yesteryear′s Great Crisis? A new consumer calculus: the who, what,where, when, and why of consumption are changing radically. If you want to understand why you′ve got to do more than just create value why creating twenty–first century advantage begins, instead, with living and breathing meaningful values that matter the most this brilliant book should be your guide."

Umair Haque

Director of the Havas Media Lab and founder of Bubblegeneration

"Shift into learning mode. This book will help you achieve escape velocity. Gerzema and D′Antonio have the facts, but also the prescription."

Chris Brogan

New York Times best–selling author of Trust Agents and Social Media 101

From the Inside Flap

New spending patterns reveal how massive cultural value shifts can be recognized in today′s consumer behavior and are remaking capitalism for the better.

In Spend Shift, John Gerzema, best–selling authorand expert on consumerism, and Pulitzer Prize winning writer Michael D′Antonio travel acrossAmerica to document a renewal of hope andenterprise in the post–recession economy. Guidedby exclusive data from Young & Rubicam′s vastsurveys of public attitudes, the authors find thathipsters in Brooklyn, entrepreneurs in Tampa, and veterans in Northern California are all returning to age–old values such as self–reliance, faith, and thrift

to redefine the "good life." These value shifts can be

seen in consumers as mindless consumption becomes mindful. Through focused spending, consumers are influencing a myriad of companies and hoping to make the world a little better with each purchase.

Packed with insights from global leaders in market psychology and communication, Spend Shift also features interviews with business leaders from over fifty companies who understand the changes now under way. At companies like Zappos, Ford, Etsy, SunRun, and RecycleBank, to name just a few, the authors find executives who are harnessing new technologies and old–fashioned customer–first practices to make their companies more relevant, more resilient, and more profitable. These examples, and many others, show that while the consumer psyche is changing even faster than the economy, companies can adapt and thrive. In the process, they may also feel a lot better about their impact on the communities they serve and on the planet they share with their customers.

Compelling and insightful, Spend Shift is essential reading for anyone interested in how societal values are changing and how businesses can connect with customers who vote with their dollars, every day.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0470874430
• ISBN 13: 9780470874431
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288