The Social Trend “cocooning”

I. Introduction

Back in the 90's, marketing consultant Faith Popcorn was the first one to use the word cocooning which describes "the movement of people socializing less and instead spending more leisure time at home in preference of mixing with the outside world". From this time on the term cocooning reappeared several times and continues to evolve.

The trend came back after the tragedy of 9/11 and was even reinforced because many people wanted to "nest" in their homes. According to Clow and Baack (2003) marketers and advertisers took advantage of this fear in order to communicate on goods as well as services. Internet ads focused for example on the utility of shopping at home during Christmas time by offering the consumer a method to avoid the chaos of holidays.

After this time, some authors claimed that the trend might be over. Stevens Pa (2002) declared "cocooning as a lifestyle trend is on its way out as consumers seek to reconnect with the external world". He explained that consumers are assuming their position in the real world. The balance between their role inside and outside the home is what consumers care for. According to Duff (2005) cocooning seemed to be a fading trend. He determined that people were spending less on their homes and retailers had to adjust.

However as stated by Pitts (2010), a new trend for 2010 and the following years will be again cocooning due to the recession we are in. Her prediction is that the next years will look a lot like 1987, when the stock market collapsed. But with the development of internet coupled with social media the notion has been extended and terms like cocooning 2.0 have been used. While cocooning is about disconnecting from the outside world, new notions like "hiving" and "Insperiences" have been used to describe the trend with a less negative approach.

Businesses that rely on brick and mortar style storefronts are now facing a problem because they make less benefit. The entertainment industry for example is dependent on people leaving their house. O'Brien (2003) gives an example of Disney who tries conquering the cocooning trend with "togethering". Disney has created special programs that facilitate traveling to Walt Disney World Resort in groups. The so called "Magical Gatherings" encourages multihousehold traveling. Furthermore the fitness and sports industry is anxious about this trend. Most fitness clubs try to get a maximum of memberships by offering aggressive promotions. A French company called Domyos, which owns several fitness clubs and is also producing fitness equipment, came up with the creative idea of offering an all-in-one fitness product which is ideal to take benefit from the cocooning trend.

This essay will consider the Cocooning trend in relation with the Fitness market and in more detail with the Domyos Fitness Cube.

Firstly, the different forms of cocooning which affect the communication of the Fitness Cube will be examined. In a second part we consider the manner in which communication can emphasize this trend and change the consumer behavior. Finally it will be discussed how to target the people who adopt this lifestyle and what is the best suitable media selection.

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II. Different forms of cocooning affecting the communication of the Fitness cube

Faith Popcorn (1992) suggested that cocooning could be broken down into 3 different types:

The first types are the socialized cocoons where people move back into the privacy of their homes to socialize with a number of selected friends. Today, according to Matorin a blogger (2010) this type can be extended thanks to the Internet. People can use social networking sites like Facebook in order to connect with the people they want. But individuals can also find all the products they need for this stay-at-home lifestyle at websites like "cocoonzone.com" for example. You can buy items like furniture, electronics, spa, fitness equipment along with other security products.

The website of the Fitness Cube coupled with social media plays an important role in the IMC campaign. People get demonstrations of the product and can share their thoughts as well as their experiences with other users. The product can be ordered online without leaving the house.

The second type of cocoon, the armored cocoon is when an individual establishes a barrier to protect themselves from external threats. Their home becomes a fortress. This notion has today been extended with the trend of hiving. It means that people do more at home and put enormous effort in decoration and