Trendsurfing: Trends of the year (The Times)
By David Rowan
Can it already be Trendsurfing's third end-of-year review? That gives us a rare opportunity to step back from the avalanche of buzz and innovations and work out which of the past twelve months' trends are likely to have staying power. So here are a few predictions of themes that we will be hearing much more about in the months to come.
Wise up to crowd power: If you need a job done, you might as wellcrowdsource it to the digital marketplace. Crowdsourcing is a new take on outsourcing, but rather than a business take its operations off-shore, it contracts out certain tasks to the online public to save money and encourage creativity. Corporations such as Procter & Gamble and Boeing are using open web-based networks to let the online crowd solve some of their R&D problems in exchange for cash. Other crowdsourcing networks pool talent to build low-cost libraries of stock photography or perform tasks such as software coding or translating. Once other industries catch on, the low-cost attraction will prove unstoppable. A related trend is social shopping , the growth of web-based services that aggregate consumer recommendations to predict the purchases that you will value most.
The green mainstream: From green roofs to organic cotton, environmental concerns will continue to dominate in these anxious times. So look up to find ever-growing numbers of property developers offering "eco-roofs" as a means of purifying the air and cutting energy use. And make way for the emerging career of the eco-auditor, paid to advise us on minimising our carbon footprint. Think of it as a personal trainer for the carbon-offset generation.
Ubiquitous advertising: Is there any part of the universe not yet plastered in advertising? Following on from virtual stores in games such as Second Life and and mapvertising inside digital mapping services, the ad industry is increasingly keen to place its commercial messages on to the petals of flowers and even food. Take the humble egg, formerly understood as a temporary shelter for embryonic chicks. Now a marketing-services company called EggFusion sees it as "a media vehicle" for what it describes as the fast-growing discipline of "on-egg messaging". Big brands from Mercedes Benz to MasterCard, meanwhile, are encouraging customer-created ads put together by ordinary punters. It's cheap and can can get companies talked about - but not always in the way the marketing departments would have hoped, especially if the customer's message is less than friendly.
The business buzz: Now, which hot ideas should you sprinkle into conversation when you next want to prove your commercial acumen? You could let flow about overchoice, the new take on Alvin Toffler's theory that consumers, faced with too many options at the supermarket, actually spend less as non-commitment is preferable to the fear of making the wrong decision. You could go talent-hunting using human capital contracts, an increasingly talked-about way to fund students' university education by contracting to pay all a potential high earner's bills in return for an agreed percentage of his or her future income. Or, more generously, you could talk up your philanthrocapitalism, the increasingly market-conscious approach being taken by charitable donors to ensure that their gifts are subject to rigorous cost-benefit analyses before cheques are signed.
And, finally, a trend which this column has to share with a certain sadness. Other commitments mean that Trendsurfing will now be taking an extended break, so thanks for all your feedback and suggestions - and a happy and idea-rich 2007.
(The Times Magazine, December 23 2006)
Can it already be Trendsurfing's third end-of-year review? That gives us a rare opportunity to step back from the avalanche of buzz and innovations and work out which of the past twelve months' trends are likely to have staying power. So here are a few predictions of themes that we will be hearing much more about in the months to come.
Wise up to crowd power: If you need a job done, you might as well
The green mainstream: From green roofs to organic cotton, environmental concerns will continue to dominate in these anxious times. So look up to find ever-growing numbers of property developers offering "eco-roofs" as a means of purifying the air and cutting energy use. And make way for the emerging career of the eco-auditor, paid to advise us on minimising our carbon footprint. Think of it as a personal trainer for the carbon-offset generation.
Ubiquitous advertising: Is there any part of the universe not yet plastered in advertising? Following on from virtual stores in games such as Second Life and and mapvertising inside digital mapping services, the ad industry is increasingly keen to place its commercial messages on to the petals of flowers and even food. Take the humble egg, formerly understood as a temporary shelter for embryonic chicks. Now a marketing-services company called EggFusion sees it as "a media vehicle" for what it describes as the fast-growing discipline of "on-egg messaging". Big brands from Mercedes Benz to MasterCard, meanwhile, are encouraging customer-created ads put together by ordinary punters. It's cheap and can can get companies talked about - but not always in the way the marketing departments would have hoped, especially if the customer's message is less than friendly.
The business buzz: Now, which hot ideas should you sprinkle into conversation when you next want to prove your commercial acumen? You could let flow about overchoice, the new take on Alvin Toffler's theory that consumers, faced with too many options at the supermarket, actually spend less as non-commitment is preferable to the fear of making the wrong decision. You could go talent-hunting using human capital contracts, an increasingly talked-about way to fund students' university education by contracting to pay all a potential high earner's bills in return for an agreed percentage of his or her future income. Or, more generously, you could talk up your philanthrocapitalism, the increasingly market-conscious approach being taken by charitable donors to ensure that their gifts are subject to rigorous cost-benefit analyses before cheques are signed.
And, finally, a trend which this column has to share with a certain sadness. Other commitments mean that Trendsurfing will now be taking an extended break, so thanks for all your feedback and suggestions - and a happy and idea-rich 2007.
(The Times Magazine, December 23 2006)
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