I was recently interviewed by Kara Aaserud of PROFIT Magazine, who came across my special report on beehiving and was interested in writing about it as an emerging market trend. PROFIT, with a circulation of 101,000 and a readership of 373,000, has been serving Canada’s entrepreneurial business community for 25 years, and has earned a position of prominence with growth companies and the businesses that serve them.

My comments are used in the May, 2007 issue in the “Worth Watching: Trends That Mean Business” feature. This section is not accessible through the PROFIT website and only appears in the print magazine, so I can’t provide a link to the article. What I can provide is the interview about the beehiving trend, conducted last month. I’d be interested in your comments as well.

PROFIT interview, Part 1.

KA What is beehiving? And why would somebody want to beehive?
MH Beehiving is the growing tendency for people to form small groups that share common values, activities, and passions. A beehive can give you a sense of connection and belonging, a place or group to share like interests with those who are just as “into” the details and nuances of your burning interest as you are. I doubt that anyone says, “I want to beehive,” but rather, when someone finds a group that matches their needs, whether they were looking for it or not, they feel strongly drawn to it. The depth of common interest creates a bond.

KA Who should be beehiving and who should you beehive?
MH Everyone should be beehiving! There are so many groups to get involved with, in so many ways, and it’s really great to feel connected. Just last night, my husband, who collects acoustical guitars (he has too many) and plays unrelentingly, was telling me about a new online forum he found, the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum, where members share their common affliction, G.A.S. — Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. They discuss picking and strumming techniques, congratulate each other on new “acquisitions,” and empathize with the flack they’re getting from their spouses. For a guy who’s not much of a joiner, he found some kindred spirits.

Anyone who has an interest in anything can find others with the same interest or values — beehives cover all ages and all types of people. There are ski clubs for senior skiers (Silver Streakers, the Over the Hill Gang), weekly knitting clubs for men, dating groups for Jewish singles, and punk-polka groups (I’d love to see their get-togethers). Real estate and investing groups attract a wide age range of people who are really into their stuff. It’s all about getting together — in person, online, via email, or virtually, or coming together as an audience or through a store or environment — and sharing a passion.

KA When was this term coined? How long has it been going on for?
MH It’s difficult to find information about how the term came about or how long it’s been going on. We try to keep up with trends, and first noticed mentions of beehiving a few years ago through Iconoculture, a trends research and reporting firm, and also a few sentences here and there on the Internet. Iconoculture is probably the first to report definitively on it — it’s still difficult to find much written on the subject — and their report came out in 2003. They may have named the trend.

Beehiving wasn’t as necessary in the past, when people met their need for community through family and, well, their communities. Because families and communities are more fragmented today and traditional social groups are breaking down, beehives help people meet their need for connection. We just need them more today, they fill a need, so while the activity itself may not be new, the growing trend towards them is.

KA How is it a new trend? Isn’t it just a new word for niche marketing? How does it differ?
MH The thing that makes beehiving new and different is the fact that beehives fill the need families and communities filled in the past, and in that sense they differ greatly from traditional niche markets. People in beehives are passionate about their interests and groups, and from there they form a bond with others in the group. This interaction isn’t present in niche marketing, which doesn’t have an interpersonal component.

Beehives are niches, but all niches aren’t necessarily beehives. Buyers of shiitake mushrooms belong to a niche market, but if they don’t get together or bond in some way, either on their own or through experiences encouraged through marketing, they don’t belong to a beehive. To go back to the example of my husband’s guitar forum above, he has always been part of the acoustical guitar market, but now that he’s found some kindred spirits through his online forum, he’s beehiving.

This difference is important for marketers. In marketing to a niche, the interests of the market are obviously important, but as the group doesn’t usually communicate among itself, it’s a one-way conversation and market research is done in traditional ways. Marketing to beehives can be new territory because there’s communication and shared values within the group itself, and we should be able to use some creativity.

KA Since this is vast and new territory, where are the opportunities? Where could beehiving be applied?
MH Marketers will have to be creative, and that’s what’s exciting about beehives. They help us identify new ways to connect with people, give us new hot buttons, a different way to slice the pie. Instead of marketing to a certain demographic profile, which can tend to pidgeon-hole customers and lead to assumptions, marketers can study the beehives related to their products, services, or causes, and find out what makes them tick. Because beehiving includes the interpersonal component, there’s likely to be communication and information regarding strong emotional preferences. People in beehives talk about their passions, and we can find ways to listen in.

I’ll post Part 2 of the interview, where we get more into the marketing opportunities provided by beehiving, in the next few days.

[tags]beehiving, PROFIT Magazine, Kara Aaserud, market trends, experience marketing, Iconoculture, niche markets[/tags]

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