Buzz Concept for '07: Simplexity - A Look at the Emerging Trend, its Implications.

BALTIMORE -- It's clear that simplicity has been all the rage for quite a while. Consumers' desire to pare back has been manifesting in media like Real Simple, hit television shows such as Mission Organization and Clean Sweep, and in corporate initiatives, like Staples' wildly popular "Easy button" and Philips' Simplicity Advisory Board. At the same time, however, developments in digital technology, the Internet, and the move towards over-scheduling, has, in many ways, complicated things.

According to Dr. Robbie Blinkoff, a consumer anthropologist and managing director of Context-Based Research Group (www.contextresearch.com), Americans have reached a natural transition point and in 2007 consumers will pursue a new trend.

"There's clear momentum building towards the convergence of simplicity and complexity. We have much more happening much faster in our lives than ever before and in some ways we embrace this, but we also yearn to uncomplicate things. The phoenix that will rise from these two poles will be a synthesis of the two, yet something distinctly different. Simplicity's offspring is simplexity."

Dr. Blinkoff conducts ethnographic research and is an expert on communities and cultural trends. He is available to comment on this shift.

"Modern consumers want brands, products, and experiences that offer more, including allowing them to make their own personal mark, however they don't want to see the proverbial 'man behind the curtain'," Dr. Blinkoff said. "Simplexity explains the consumer zeal for brands like Google, Target, Skype, Netflix and Apple's iPod."

Dr. Blinkoff can:

* Explain simplexity - what it means, why it has evolved this way, and why it's becoming a trend

* Provide perspective on the implications for consumers and corporations

* Offer advice to marketers and product developers.

Dr. Blinkoff's insights into behavior have appeared on the CBS Early Show and in Inc., Wired, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Newsday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and many other publications.

Context-Based Research Group provides insight that companies can't get from traditional focus groups, surveys and lab-based research. Context's approach combines the qualitative research skills of cultural anthropologists, the creativity of professional designers and the communications and business strategy of marketing experts. Context's proprietary global network of over 3,500 cultural anthropologists report observations in real time and can be assembled to address research problems quickly and efficiently. They observe people in their home, work and play environments, listen to their stories, watch what they do on a day-to-day basis and then turn those discoveries into actionable plans, innovations and applications. The end result brings clients closer to the actual experience of their customers and leads to development of better products and services.