The End of Adventure Download PDF

How has the consumer’s relationship with risk and control changed?

How have new behaviours around tracking, planning and indeed Googling come to affect the way attitudes about risk and reward are formulated?

The Death of Risk

Today, consumers are turning away from high-risk choices in favour of safer ones, yet retaining positive attitudes towards cultural conceptions of risk-taking.

Universally, risk-averse attitudes are common – almost 2 in 3 global respondents on average agree that people should prioritise safety above fun or adventure.

Source: nVision Research | Base: 1000-5000 online respondents per country aged 16-64 (Indonesia & S. Africa 16-54), 2015 February

Mobile Control

Consumers carry with them increasingly powerful tools, these days, to find information, verify real-time claims and organise their lives. But more than that, they carry a constant portal to social media and all of its associated pressures, countless inevitable push notifications, a world of on-demand entertainment and otherwise constant connectivity.

Top 10 Weekly Smartphone Activities by Region

Global Average

  1.  Check News
  2. Access a social networking site
  3. Take photos
  4. Communicate using a social networking site
  5. Manage my personal life
  6. Manage my work/school life
  7. Watch video content
  8. Play games
  9. Browse products I am interested in buying
  10. Read product reviews / compare prices for a product

  1. Access a social networking site
  2. Communicate using a social networking site
  3. Take photos
  4. Play games
  5. Check News
  6. Manage my personal life
  7. Watch video content
  8. Manage my work/school life
  9. Browse products I am interested in buying
  10. Use maps

  1. Access a social networking site
  2. Check News
  3. Communicate using a social networking site
  4. Take photos
  5. Play games
  6. Manage my personal life
  7. Watch video content
  8. Manage my work/school life
  9. Browse products I am interested in buying
  10. Use maps

European Average

  1. Check News
  2. Access a social networking site
  3. Take photos
  4. Communicate using a social networking site
  5. Manage my personal life
  6. Manage my work/school life
  7. Play games
  8. Watch video content
  9. Browse products I am interested in buying
  10. Read product reviews / compare prices for a product

  1. Check News
  2. Access a social networking site
  3. Manage my personal life
  4. Manage my work/school life
  5. Watch video content
  6. Browse products I am interested in buying
  7. Take photos
  8. Communicate using a social networking site
  9. Play games
  10. Read product reviews / compare prices for a product

  1. Access a social networking site
  2. Communicate using a social networking site
  3. Check News
  4. Take photos
  5. Watch video content
  6. Manage my personal life
  7. Browse products I am interested in buying
  8. Play games
  9. Post photos on a social networking site
  10. Read product reviews / compare prices for a product

Source: nVision Research | Base: All smartphone owners among 1000-5000 online respondents per country aged 16-64 (Indonesia & S. Africa 16-54), 2014 February

The Mobile Control mindset is rising – approximately 1 in 3 global respondents report using their smartphone to “manage [their] personal life” once per day or more.

Nearly every day or more

1-3 times a week

Source: nVision Research | Base: 1000-5000 online respondents per country aged 16-64 (Indonesia & S. Africa 16-54), 2015 February

Among all respondents, the younger ones (Gen Y or Gen X) and the more affluent show the highest willingness to manage their personal lives through smartphone applications (using notes, alerts, reminders, calendars, etc.)

Male

Female

Generation Y

Generation X

Baby-boomers

Under $20,000 HH income

$20,000 – 39,999 HH income

$40,000+ HH income

Source: nVision Research | Base: 1000-5000 online respondents per country aged 16-64 (Indonesia & S. Africa 16-54), 2015 February

Adventure Reloaded

Control can enable positive attitudes towards new experiences and adventure-seeking.

Those consumers who are more control-oriented are also the more eager adventurers.

Their own empowerment may be creating new angles in the demand for authenticity.

Surprise Me!

One of the strongest aspects of adventure is the sense of serendipity that comes with exploration and discovery. The Surprise Me trend refers to consumers’ newfound openness to suggestion driven by a heightened appetite for novelty as well as simply a global relaxation in planning rigidity. There is a rising interest for suggestions that are specifically outside of what consumers would normally consider.

Would people be interested in a service/device that detects their location and suggests interesting things to spontaneously see and do in the nearby area?

Very Interested

Quite Interested

Source: nVision Research | Base: Global average (1000-5000 online respondents per country) aged 16-64, 2015 February

Clearly, impulse and adventure are sought even before travel begins, manifesting in the inspiration and discovery phase. This means that consumers are increasingly looking for institutions to provide them surprise

Discover where and how