Every year, the Foresight Factory release their annual Trending Report with an aim to provide brands and businesses with critical insight for planning. I attended this year’s event held at the IPA where topics such as uncertainty, wellness, diversity, survival and control were discussed. Here’s what I took away from the session
Key Trends
- Neo-Civility: this is driven by the cultural flux and social friction amongst society, and is necessary for social safety in interactions with others. Foresight Factory expects consumers to be more calculated in their approach and grow in self-discipline whilst battling inner monologues. To tackle this, brands can set the example, treat offence with caution and stand for civility.
- All Inclusive: consumers are in need to be recognised for their diversity as society becomes more individualised. In a world where 40% of all consumers feel advertising does not do a good job of representing diversity – brands can praise difference and diversity.
- Sustainable Me: as we all know by now “the future is never a sure thing”. During turbulent times, consumers expect to know that they can sustain their lifestyles and survive in style. Foresight recommends innovation for brands to help people accumulate new skills and build nest eggs.
- Prescribed Life: as always, time is precious and yet there is pressure on consumers to research every purchase decision they make. In such situations, people will look to brands they trust for advice and personalised recommendations.
- The AI Leap: the fast-growing standards of consumer expectation inconvenience and control is driving technology improvements across advertising. Foresight Factory has predicted that AI Intervention will enhance consumer decision making and assist proactively in the year ahead.
- Titan Brands: consumers want their favourites brands to offer everything they need from one place. Building on their e-commerce and speedy delivery capabilities, dominant brands are moving into different verticals such as healthcare and powering it with big data-driven personalisation. In 2019 this will be a challenge to brands in all sectors.
- Educator Brands: we have already seen some brands facilitate knowledge building in the past – influencing by being aspirational, achievable and educational. In 2019 the refreshment and acquisition of knowledge will become more and more important. Brands can look at developing their own content, partner with providers and host events. Any intellectual improvements across consumers will help create stronger emotional connections.
- Light Relief: given the pressure to be better is ever present and consumers will often find themselves in need of some downtime. As a result, a segment to watch in 2019 is “The Stress-Free”. This tribe has grown steadily over the last 4 years and now make up 22% of the global population.
You can find a preview of the report here.
