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something from a small producer it will taste better, even if there is sometimes a gap between reality and the imaginary values they associate the product with,” Erra says. “When luxury companies open their doors, people are curious and want to see and feel the work that is behind an object, the craft involved. It’s about the value of human labour. We are going back to fundamental things.” The current emphasis on the human touch is obviously not just coincidental at a time of rapid technological development. A study by the Special Eurobarometer has found that while almost two thirds of people polled feel generally positive about robots, public acceptance of them in the EU is in decline. “Robotisation does not make people dream. Machines shouldn’t run the world, humans should. This is what Apple has understood quite well, and why their products value human intelligence and intuition. Apple has convincingly conveyed the idea that the machine is here to adapt itself to humans and not the contrary.”HEALTH CAPITALA deeply entrenched trend globally is the continued increase in life expectancy. The World Health Organisation says that in high-income countries a girl who was born in 2012 can expect to live to around 82 years, and a boy 76. “People are living longer nowadays and those considered to be elderly only 20 years ago would not be today. The ‘baby boomers’ generation is pushed to retirement but does not always want to be, as they are still active. So when you ask people about health, their deep feeling is that they are responsible for it and that they need to look after their precious health capital,” Mercedes says. So how can you understand people’s real feelings, since consumers may not be totally honest in traditional surveys? “BETC and Havas have invented a survey system where we use themes that we want to explore such as people’s relationship with health or their sense of ethics. We start from sociological themes and then ask them more intimate questions about how they feel about something. These surveys use very precise and quantitative questions that will help understand people’s relationship with the body, their feeling about sickness and so on. Then we analyse it through a prism mixing a classical sample of consumers with 20% of ‘prosumers’ who are experts in their field.” These can be members of the media, industry leaders, bloggers, academics or health professionals like doctors – who people confide in a lot. “The difference between these influencers and mainstream consumers will show whether the trend is rising or decreasing in intensity. Generally speaking all the trends we look at are very deep movements, over seven or eight years,” she explains. SUSTAINABILITYSustainability remains one of the strongest trends among consumers. Concerns about the environment are decades – if not centuries – old. However, momentum is building. A poll conducted by the Pew Research Centre across 40 countries in 2015 showed that climate change is what the world perceives to be the greatest global threat. Last year, for the first time, a universal, legally binding global climate agreement was signed by 195 countries at the Paris climate conference. “People around the world are anxious about the environment. Governments, NGOs, companies know the time has come for them to become accountable,” says Erra. In this context, packaging is another important theme for consumers. Research carried out by Icaro Consulting for Wrap, a UK charity focused on sustainability, reveals that consumers’ attitudes to packaging remain negative in the context of the environment, with close to four in five (81%) respondents believing that it is a major environmental problem and 57% thinking it is wasteful and unnecessary. “Consumers are increasingly asking what efforts a company is making in terms of packaging, if it really is in line with the need to respect the environment,” Erra says. In this context, “Beverage can manufacturers will have to defend the can,” she concludes, with consumer awareness campaigns such as Every Can Counts playing a key role in highlighting the package’s environmental credentials.n‘ALL AROUND THE WORLD PEOPLE WANT TO SAVE MONEY AND RESOURCES – NOT JUST BECAUSE IT’S NICE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY BUILDING BUT BECAUSE IT’S CHEAPER. OWNERSHIP IS NOT A STRONG IMPERATIVE ANY MORE‘ MERCEDES ERRA, EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT, HAVAS WORLDWIDEEUROPEAN CAN MARKET REPORT 2016 25TREND SETTERS