Same – same but different

Talk about eyes wide open! Moving here from South Africa a little over a year ago, I wanted to find ways to submerge myself into this ‘whole new world’.

Subscribing to anything and everything `New Zealand’ was my go-to. I mean I literally had to start all over again. This took form in many ways, one of which was finding “my brands”.

Being in SA all my life, I had built up brand loyalty… here; I had to discover (almost) everything all over again (thank you Beiersdorf). I knew the digital trace of my search history and the moment I changed my living location on social media, I’d be targeted by advertisers – but that’s okay, I’m a millennial, I embrace it.

My phone blew up with applicable adverts! I felt grateful being sent all this information without actually having to really look. Want to know what fashion in an NZ Winter looks like, don’t worry Glasson’s has your back! Where to go on the week? The list could go on and on.

Whether on my phone, traveling by foot, train or ferry (although the ferry is such a beautiful commute I try not have my face stuck to my screen) I was constantly greeted with “things” that matter to me.

As routine sets in and our surroundings become more familiar we tend to suppress things that are different. It’s almost as if we enter a time warp. I think that it’s super easy when being “always-on” things can blur into one and we lose texture.

In this day and age, we already have to make decisions all the time, subconsciously we are automatically processing all the information that we come into touch with all the time. We like the comforts of familiarity but we also like something a bit different now and then. So what is the happy mix between the familiar and the new for marketers? What are the implications for social media, for brands, in stores?

When purchasing a magazine, you will expect the framework to be the same but it will include twists, the stories that lure
you in.

When being friends with somebody, it’s really important for them to keep it interesting… they will have their constant personality but now and again mix it up and keep it interesting by doing something different.

A few years ago, just before 7:30 pm during Super Bowl XLVII, the floodlights failed. Social media was glowing with peoples’ comments about the incident. Within 30 minutes, Oreo keeping their finger on the pulse, published an enduring tweet: