3
What it is: a new discipline, a mix of putting out routine news in more compelling ways, creating news opportunities and coattailing relevant breaking news
4
Trendspotting?What Is
The art of ID’ing what’s driving the future—and planning for long-term success
5
Important?Why Is It
For direction on the journey to pilot industries and brands with smart, insightful strategies
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the world is moving at the speed of light ... a trend comes out of nowhere and a meme disappears before our eyes ... trendspotting is more important than ever—a way to arm yourself with the right tools to survive and thrive ... and it’s essential for creating relevant content and shaping products, services and markets.
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trendspotters?Who Are
• We hunt down global trends across borders and categories.
• We are lookers—and listeners, observers—and we don’t like to overcommit to anything up front while we get our bearings, though we tend to find them quickly.
• Good strategic trendspotting requires developing intuition about what’s just off the radar.
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• We aren’t futurists, fortune-tellers or mystics—rather, we are strategists.
• A trendspotter is different from a trendsetter. (Hint: Look at the names; trendspotters spot trends; trendsetters set trends.)
Can a Trendspotter
Create New?
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Trendsetters tend to
be ahead of the pack,
restlessly trying out
new things—while
trendspotters are able
to observe, and in
so doing identify the
emerging.
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• In the age of social media, #TrendsAreTrendy—and #NewsIsCrafted, but both live on social media platforms.
• But with an ever-more-fragmented audience, news lives everywhere.
Where Does News Created
by Trendspotters Live in Today’s Media Landscape?
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Not necessarily, but the U.S. drives trends, and here are some reasons why …
• Innovation: Americans love what’s new
• Experimentation: Americans love to tinker, improve and change
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• Future focus: America is about tomorrow—what’s next
• Scale: Massive economies in which trends rise and gain momentum
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• Common culture and language: Ideas are shared easily, quickly and widely
• Money: Good ideas make money quickly in the U.S.
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• Media: The U.S. has an outsized influence on the trendshapers of modern life
• Cool: For the rest of the world, America has more cool than any other nation
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Some
andfor NewscraftingDon’tsDo’s
DO: Monitor and react to the news agenda
DO: Provide commentary
DO: Leverage announcements (partnerships, new hires, innovations, etc.) to further craft a brand narrative
DON’T: Overlook the importance of contributing to features and opinion pieces
DON’T: Forget to amplify with social media
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Some
andfor TrendspottingDon’tsDo’s
DO: Develop peripheral awareness—the ability to notice things that aren’t front and center
DO: Look beyond your organization or group; in this hyperconnected world, things don’t happen in isolation
DO: Develop filters to sift out the noise and leave the promising info
DON’T: Scan only the Internet— neither newscrafting nor trendspotting can be done in a vacuum
DON’T: Confuse trends with a trending topic
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Metrosexuality
GlobesityLocal is the new global
Parallel universes
Sleep is the new sex
A Quick Survey of the Historical Trendscape
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No. 1 Water’s Making Waves
Move over, green building and electrical energy conservation. The buzziest segment of the renewable energy and clean-tech sector right now is water innovation.
• Water scarcity—both a natural and human-made phenomenon—is poised to become one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century.
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No. 2 Gender Equality Insists Men Join in
The drive for gender equality asks women and men to lean in together.
• Emma Watson for HeForShe and Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean in Together (in partnership with the NBA and ESPN): Both are about mobilizing men to be advocates for gender equality—and showing them why it’s important.
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No. 3 Makers Have Takers
Combining a DIY spirit with tech savvy and the progressive belief that the best learning comes from doing and collaborating, the maker movement is at the epicenter of creativity and innovation.
• It demonstrates a shared recognition that the key to the future lies in technological innovation.
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No. 4 Age Is the New Androgyny
If the last year in fashion was all about transcending gender, then this year is dedicated to embracing (old) age.
• From Joan Didion modeling for Céline to Joni Mitchell fronting for Yves Saint Laurent to Iris Apfel for Kate Spade and Alexis Bittar, to anonymous Italian grandmas at Dolce & Gabbana, fashion is embracing a “what’s old is in” attitude.
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No. 5 The De-Cluttering Backlash
De-cluttering is hardly new, but in recent months it has reached fever pitch. Will jettisoning your stuff really bring you joy?
• All of a sudden, we are all on the de-cluttering hamster wheel, constantly feeling we are not living up to our full potential if we are not purging our stuff.
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profiting from personal data
breakfast ramenspiritual values
box office blitz
reverse white flightmy eyes are up here
generosityJD Salinger
Bristol stepping out
blurred hospital/spa experiences
(more) affordable private jets
Loui
svill
e
mili
tary
-insp
ired
look
s
cherriesflour documentaries
blurred shopping experiences
post-gender
outer space
healing teas
rise of an articulated working class
solo
moo
ning
Kirsten Gillibrand
CopenhagenUdaipurChristmas in September
rise of male feminists
bones, feathers, wood
cars for women
Portland, Maine
unpl
ugge
d re
spite
s
chef swaps
Pala
wan
Isla
nd
Kendall Jenner
Leather
mealworms
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Angela Merkel
disgust for athletes
shows based on comics/cartoons parenting of benign neglectSw
eetg
reen
Tavi Gevinson, movie star
fast casual
Alibaba
Chon
gqin
g
cricket
cash-free
Flores
disrupt
CarPlay
empathic accessories
cultu
red
mea
t
Tiffany Foxx
Khanom
Dubai
Naha Google smart lens
masstige retail
Ouija, the galaxy, darkness
Berlin
Hillary ClintonRo
sam
und
Pike
rum
Tokyo
Nestify
mind mining
silk
Colombia
edible clay and coal
People, Places and Phrases—Each a Backbone for NewscraftingNEXT:What’s