First, the bad news: overall confidence is at its lowest ebb since we began tracking almost three years ago. However, despite this, today’s consumer is still spending – albeit a greater proportion on ‘necessary’ areas such as fuel, utilities and groceries at the expense of discretionary spend areas including clothing and accessories and holidays.

This latest edition of our consumer confidence tracker is designed to look at what brands – across a range of categories – are doing, and could do, to increase their favour amongst shoppers.

The key concept of value – a subjective balancing act of price and perceived quality – is fundamental, and without placing this at the heart of your brand identity, more peripheral concerns such as innovation, heritage and ‘British-ness’ smack of style over substance.

The post-recessionary consumer – a concept we explored early in 2010 – is continuing with the careful, cautious and frugal behaviour they adopted to cope when the credit crunch first struck. Now, given the length of time the economy has been in - if not quite stagnant - sluggish recovery, these behaviours – initially thought to be a short-term coping mechanism – have become habitual.

This leaves us with a consumer more inclined than ever to seek greater value from their purchases as they more stringently justify more outgoings. Whether this is rationalised through longevity, purchase experience or customer care, the consumer is increasingly demanding recognition from the vendor of their value as a customer – a two-way relationship built on communication and reward, rather than a one-directional fling that ends upon transaction.

For more information on how these concepts relate to your category, or to see which messages are likely to resonate most strongly with your target audience, please contact: alex.wright@newsint.co.uk