Worldwide Mentality Movements
Signs of the Time’s Top 15 of the Coolest Worldwide is compiled by the most reputable network of trend watchers and market experts on this planet. That’s a fact that we’re proud to mention. The network filters the new up and coming worldwide mentality trends with substance and potential. No hypes or gadgets that will be soon forgotten, but worldwide trends that matter. Among Signs of the Time’s Trend Filters are Marian Salzman (New York) whose bestsellers have been published in 42 languages, and Joe Pine (Chicago), the man who is now gracing the cover of Times Magazine with his new book Authenticity and who uncovered Experience Economy as one of the leading consumer trends. But also Mark Simpson (London) is one of our Trend Filters, the man who first conceptualized the metro sexual, and Dorine Baas (Berlin),Sony BMG’s vice president of Home Entertainment and Matsume Kai (Shanghai) the top Asian trend watcher of this moment, Josh Levine (Los Angeles) who runs one of the biggest viral marketing agencies of the American West Coast, Andre do Vall (Sao Paulo) editor in chief of South America’s best fashion magazine and Jan van Mol (South Africa) with his vast worldwide network of designers and creatives, round up this (too) short introduction of (some of) our Trend Filters. Their constant contributions and insights have led us to the following three world trends with future growth potential.
World trend 1: the environment
Worldwide the avant garde is fighting for a better treatment of the environment. Of course this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but never before has the general consensus been so overwhelmingly negative about the future of our world. Our Trend Filters aren’t the only ones that have picked up on it; also academic literature has shown a keen interest into this trend. Never before has there been such a kaleidoscopic range of strategies to turn things around. John Grant - founder of London’s famous advertising agency St. Lukes – has introduced Howies, a sustainable fashion line. The buyer of a Howies piece of clothing promises to not throw it out when they stop wearing it but give it away. Howies itself promises to keep spare parts like zippers and buttons for the next twenty years in case somebody needs to patch up with original parts. Enzo Delvarme, a journalist and photographer for the world’s best magazines, documents the almost for free green bicycles in Paris for us. He has also focuses our attention on the designer gardens on top of American sky scrapers that combine sustainability with the need for more green in the city. This all however can be magnified to a grander scale as Matsume Kai, Shanghai’s most famous trend watcher, points out when she mentions the construction of the world’s first eco-city Dong Tan in China. Recently China has started doing what we in the West have been doing for decades: contributing to the detriment of the world’s environment. We have all seen the pictures of their polluted rivers. Less well known however is that the Chinese are also pioneering the research in technological and social solutions for environmental problems. A head honcho of a Fortune 500 company recently confided me that Western technologies were no longer leading the charge in this regard. For new products and technologies the focus was now solely on India and China because “there is where it’s at, right now this moment – and further in the future”, according to him. Of course the West shouldn’t be completely ignored. Diddo Velema (New York) has mentioned that Xerox is currently working on printer-ink that disappears over time and renders the paper that was printed on reusable. An example contributed by Pim Derneden (an inhabitant of the virtual world): www.superuse.org, is an online community where creatives from all over the world share inventive ways of reusing products: an Mac computer is transformed into an aquarium and an old Apple casing is reused as a mailbox.
Will the attention for the environment wane over time? Not a single Trend Filter of Signs of the time answers this in the positive. And the leading academic literature agrees with them. The problems are way too urgent for the contemporary attention to just fade away over time: the first islands of the Maldives are currently being evacuated because it is suspected that soon they will disappear under water; within ten years large portions of northern China will be without water; within ten years large portions of the world’s waters will have been alarming depleted of fish. And almost everyone would rather ignore the problems than open their eyes and realize what’s going on. This will ensure that the environment will stay at the top of the agenda and will garner so much attention that overtime a small minority will even start to provocatively negate the situation with a ‘who cares’ attitude. A temporary and stupid attitude.
World trend 2: Web 2.0
Getting tired of Web 2.0? Do you crave a hip and new name? Well, we’re going to have to disappoint you . There is no need to come up with a bloated name that detracts from what already is a pretty vital and versatile trend. The trend is continually housing the possibility for new innovation just like the environment. And we predict that this will not stop anytime soon.
Iconic for Web 2.0 is has put the record industry upside down since at least half a decade. The development is continuing, however, showing new faces all the time. New business models have to be adopted to accommodate the change in consumer attitudes. Innovate example is www.sellaband.com where new bands can upload their music and search for fans and believers. If 500 of these each invest €100 in ‘their’ band, it gets the opportunity to record an album professionally. These investors then get a copy of the CD and: a share in the profits of the CD. Another Web 2.0 example: For those who want to explore Shanghai for instance but don’t understand Chinese and don’t want to take the slick tourist route there is www.likealocal.cn. In plain old English you get to know the local hotspots where the Chinese actually go to eat and relax. Web 2.0 example, there is www.hubbuzz.com that typifies itself as a dating site for houses where you get to learn more about your potential home through recommendations given by the neighbors. In the old days, you could hire a realtor to find out if the neighborhood’s property values are rising, or if the neighborhood’s safe, or if it’s a creative environment or if there are good schools in the area. But these realtors are there to sell you a product and so they will present the house as attractively as possible for each individual client. Www.hubbuzz.com, this real estate broker 2.0. example, changes all that by taking the realtor out of the equation and presenting the houses and the neighborhoods through the eyes of the people who actually live there.
What do Sell-A-Band, Like A Local and Hubbuzz have in common? All three provide a more powerful, honest and authentic experience that was unimaginable without the Internet, or to be more precise without the innovative nature of Web 2.0. It’s a platform that gives people the opportunity to give and receive unbiased information from likeminded And it gives you an opportunity to contact and meet them in their own setting. It brings you closer to actually experiencing Shanghai like a local. And then, third people. The applications are innumerable and we have only just begun to explore the possibilities of Web 2.0; there is much more to come.
World trend 3: Experience Economy, a new generation of flag ships
The development of the Experience Economy is the third worldwide mentality trend that we have spotted. Smart types will be quick to assume that this trend is not new anymore and therefore: old. Wrong! It is a very solid worldwide trend showing us new faces all the time. It’s a trend that is developing in many different ways in many different markets. People have started to realize that material possessions aren’t really as fulfilling as they once assumed. They’re not providing the same emotional high as they once did. Only memorable and cherished moments in life are providing these highs and people crave more of these moments. This craving is what fuels the experience economy: the marketing of the memorable experience. But a memorable experience will become stale if repeated too long. Therefore the creation of a memorable experience has to evolve. Nike flag ship stores were for instance were once synonymous with the concept of the Experience Economy, but they haven’t evolved beyond what they initially brought to the table. They are now considered archaic and contrived. Signs of the time’s Trend Filter Joe Pine point into more innovative directions: flag ship stores where one isn’t only shallowly in contact with the product but actually discovers what makes the products so unique and worthy of your attention and ultimately your money. The Ipod stores for instance where you get the complete ins and outs of the product or the new USA Nokia stores where the prime directive isn’t to quickly sell you a new mobile phone but to get you properly acquainted with the Nokia phone you already have! In the Nokia store you are given the opportunity to rediscover what makes the product so amazing and just like in the Ipod store you are led deeper into the experiential framework of the product. The INGcafe’s in North-America are also exemplary of this further exploration of the products that you already have at your disposal. The banking industry in many parts of the world first pushed the customer out of the store by placing ATM’s outside of the buildings as if telling the customer to leave them alone. But now the banking industry has realized that this attitude wasn’t really keeping their customers happy and loyal. The ING café’s are now pulling the customers back into the building with a setup where one can eat and drink a la Starbucks. Financial workshops are organized and ING professionals provide helpful service – it’s like a really good blog but then materialized in the physical world with physical people and coffee. You’re pulled deeper into the product to fully explore its potential and its specificity. In Joe Pine’s new bestseller Authenticity he scientifically dives deeper into this phenomenon and this marriage between trends and science is exactly what we strive for in the Top 15 of the Coolest Worldwide on www.signsofthetime.nl.
Dr. Carl C.Rohde leads Signs of the Time, a worldwide network of market- and trend researchers. He will soon be instituted as the tenured professor and chair of the Fontys School for Quality Concepts Development. And he is always looking to broaden his international network. Contact: Carl.Rohde@signsofthetime.nl
World trend 1: the environment
Worldwide the avant garde is fighting for a better treatment of the environment. Of course this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but never before has the general consensus been so overwhelmingly negative about the future of our world. Our Trend Filters aren’t the only ones that have picked up on it; also academic literature has shown a keen interest into this trend. Never before has there been such a kaleidoscopic range of strategies to turn things around. John Grant - founder of London’s famous advertising agency St. Lukes – has introduced Howies, a sustainable fashion line. The buyer of a Howies piece of clothing promises to not throw it out when they stop wearing it but give it away. Howies itself promises to keep spare parts like zippers and buttons for the next twenty years in case somebody needs to patch up with original parts. Enzo Delvarme, a journalist and photographer for the world’s best magazines, documents the almost for free green bicycles in Paris for us. He has also focuses our attention on the designer gardens on top of American sky scrapers that combine sustainability with the need for more green in the city. This all however can be magnified to a grander scale as Matsume Kai, Shanghai’s most famous trend watcher, points out when she mentions the construction of the world’s first eco-city Dong Tan in China. Recently China has started doing what we in the West have been doing for decades: contributing to the detriment of the world’s environment. We have all seen the pictures of their polluted rivers. Less well known however is that the Chinese are also pioneering the research in technological and social solutions for environmental problems. A head honcho of a Fortune 500 company recently confided me that Western technologies were no longer leading the charge in this regard. For new products and technologies the focus was now solely on India and China because “there is where it’s at, right now this moment – and further in the future”, according to him. Of course the West shouldn’t be completely ignored. Diddo Velema (New York) has mentioned that Xerox is currently working on printer-ink that disappears over time and renders the paper that was printed on reusable. An example contributed by Pim Derneden (an inhabitant of the virtual world): www.superuse.org, is an online community where creatives from all over the world share inventive ways of reusing products: an Mac computer is transformed into an aquarium and an old Apple casing is reused as a mailbox.
Will the attention for the environment wane over time? Not a single Trend Filter of Signs of the time answers this in the positive. And the leading academic literature agrees with them. The problems are way too urgent for the contemporary attention to just fade away over time: the first islands of the Maldives are currently being evacuated because it is suspected that soon they will disappear under water; within ten years large portions of northern China will be without water; within ten years large portions of the world’s waters will have been alarming depleted of fish. And almost everyone would rather ignore the problems than open their eyes and realize what’s going on. This will ensure that the environment will stay at the top of the agenda and will garner so much attention that overtime a small minority will even start to provocatively negate the situation with a ‘who cares’ attitude. A temporary and stupid attitude.
World trend 2: Web 2.0
Getting tired of Web 2.0? Do you crave a hip and new name? Well, we’re going to have to disappoint you . There is no need to come up with a bloated name that detracts from what already is a pretty vital and versatile trend. The trend is continually housing the possibility for new innovation just like the environment. And we predict that this will not stop anytime soon.
Iconic for Web 2.0 is has put the record industry upside down since at least half a decade. The development is continuing, however, showing new faces all the time. New business models have to be adopted to accommodate the change in consumer attitudes. Innovate example is www.sellaband.com where new bands can upload their music and search for fans and believers. If 500 of these each invest €100 in ‘their’ band, it gets the opportunity to record an album professionally. These investors then get a copy of the CD and: a share in the profits of the CD. Another Web 2.0 example: For those who want to explore Shanghai for instance but don’t understand Chinese and don’t want to take the slick tourist route there is www.likealocal.cn. In plain old English you get to know the local hotspots where the Chinese actually go to eat and relax. Web 2.0 example, there is www.hubbuzz.com that typifies itself as a dating site for houses where you get to learn more about your potential home through recommendations given by the neighbors. In the old days, you could hire a realtor to find out if the neighborhood’s property values are rising, or if the neighborhood’s safe, or if it’s a creative environment or if there are good schools in the area. But these realtors are there to sell you a product and so they will present the house as attractively as possible for each individual client. Www.hubbuzz.com, this real estate broker 2.0. example, changes all that by taking the realtor out of the equation and presenting the houses and the neighborhoods through the eyes of the people who actually live there.
What do Sell-A-Band, Like A Local and Hubbuzz have in common? All three provide a more powerful, honest and authentic experience that was unimaginable without the Internet, or to be more precise without the innovative nature of Web 2.0. It’s a platform that gives people the opportunity to give and receive unbiased information from likeminded And it gives you an opportunity to contact and meet them in their own setting. It brings you closer to actually experiencing Shanghai like a local. And then, third people. The applications are innumerable and we have only just begun to explore the possibilities of Web 2.0; there is much more to come.
World trend 3: Experience Economy, a new generation of flag ships
The development of the Experience Economy is the third worldwide mentality trend that we have spotted. Smart types will be quick to assume that this trend is not new anymore and therefore: old. Wrong! It is a very solid worldwide trend showing us new faces all the time. It’s a trend that is developing in many different ways in many different markets. People have started to realize that material possessions aren’t really as fulfilling as they once assumed. They’re not providing the same emotional high as they once did. Only memorable and cherished moments in life are providing these highs and people crave more of these moments. This craving is what fuels the experience economy: the marketing of the memorable experience. But a memorable experience will become stale if repeated too long. Therefore the creation of a memorable experience has to evolve. Nike flag ship stores were for instance were once synonymous with the concept of the Experience Economy, but they haven’t evolved beyond what they initially brought to the table. They are now considered archaic and contrived. Signs of the time’s Trend Filter Joe Pine point into more innovative directions: flag ship stores where one isn’t only shallowly in contact with the product but actually discovers what makes the products so unique and worthy of your attention and ultimately your money. The Ipod stores for instance where you get the complete ins and outs of the product or the new USA Nokia stores where the prime directive isn’t to quickly sell you a new mobile phone but to get you properly acquainted with the Nokia phone you already have! In the Nokia store you are given the opportunity to rediscover what makes the product so amazing and just like in the Ipod store you are led deeper into the experiential framework of the product. The INGcafe’s in North-America are also exemplary of this further exploration of the products that you already have at your disposal. The banking industry in many parts of the world first pushed the customer out of the store by placing ATM’s outside of the buildings as if telling the customer to leave them alone. But now the banking industry has realized that this attitude wasn’t really keeping their customers happy and loyal. The ING café’s are now pulling the customers back into the building with a setup where one can eat and drink a la Starbucks. Financial workshops are organized and ING professionals provide helpful service – it’s like a really good blog but then materialized in the physical world with physical people and coffee. You’re pulled deeper into the product to fully explore its potential and its specificity. In Joe Pine’s new bestseller Authenticity he scientifically dives deeper into this phenomenon and this marriage between trends and science is exactly what we strive for in the Top 15 of the Coolest Worldwide on www.signsofthetime.nl.
Dr. Carl C.Rohde leads Signs of the Time, a worldwide network of market- and trend researchers. He will soon be instituted as the tenured professor and chair of the Fontys School for Quality Concepts Development. And he is always looking to broaden his international network. Contact: Carl.Rohde@signsofthetime.nl
Labels: buyer, China, Coolest Worldwide, Dong Tan, Dr. Carl C.Rohde, environment, Howies, India, Mentality Movements, network of market, Signs of the Time's, trends
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