101 Trends Shaping Our World

Sometimes it’s useful for marketers to understand trends that may affect their businesses. Here are some of the current trends that I am monitoring:

1. 5G technology
2. The Internet of Things
3. Mobile Internet
4. Cloud technology and distributed infrastructure 
5. Democratization of technology
6. The world becomes hyperconnected
7. Move toward all media consumed through the Internet
8. Seamless language translation, making the world even smaller
9. Exploration of more direct human-computer interfaces (HCI)
10. Electrification
11. Electric vehicles (EVs)
12. Autonomous vehicles
13. Hydrogen powered vehicles
14. Drones
15. Battery technology, including sodium-sulfur molten salt batteries
16. Microgrids
17. Grid-connected renewable energy systems
18. All forms of clean tech
19. Atmospheric (electromagnetic) energy
20. Software defined vehicles (SDVs)
21. AI & machine learning
22. Deep structured learning
23. Autonomic systems
24. Generative AI
25. Big data analytics
26. Edge computing & tinyML
27. Quantum computing
28. Nanoparticles
29. Next generation materials including honeycomb lattice
30. Photonics
31. Quantum teleportation
32. Virtual and augmented reality
33. 3-D multisensor transmitters
34. Advanced robotics
35. 3-D printing 
36. Process automation and hyper-automation
37. Explosion of smart devices
38. Genomics/genetic engineering
39. Psychobiotics and microbiome therapeutics
40. Health care data analytics
41. Personal medical devices
42. Telehealth and mobile medicine
43. Hyper-personalized medicines
44. Social determinants of health (SDOH) receive greater attention
45. Mental health becomes a larger priority
46. Unbundling of health care
47. Living building material
48. Web 3.0
49. Homomorphic encryption
50. Blockchain (distributed ledger) technology and decentralized identifiers
51. Cryptocurrency
52. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
53. A cashless society
54. Privacy and cybersecurity
55. Open-source intelligence (OSINT)
56. Biometric technology (face, voice, eye, hand and signature security)
57. Deglobalization
58. Redesign of supply chains
59. Increased self-service
60. Recurring revenue streams
61. Distributed enterprises and remote employees
62. Increased flexible work 
63. Continued growth in the gig economy
64. Huge need for retraining for new economy jobs
65. Minimum living wages as an alternative to job loss
66. Increased time sharing of all things
67. Fractional CXOs
68. Extreme personal profiling
69. Hyper-targeting and hyper-geofencing 
70. OTT (Over-the-top) media service platforms
71. On-demand personalized customer experiences
72. Move from retail stores to Internet distribution centers and home delivery
73. Move toward unique and boutique in retail
74. Increasing use of personal digital assistants
75. Cameras, cameras everywhere
76. Struggle for personal privacy
77. Increasing popularity of veganism and vegetarianism
78. Increased focus on personal health
79. Decrease in romantic relationships
80. Increasing acceptance of sexual freedom 
81. Decrease in organized religion, increase in personal spirituality
82. Continued decreasing trust in traditional institutions, especially government
83. Shift from a patriarchal society to a matriarchal society
84. More focus on the home
85. Increasing self-care and compassion toward others
86. Increasing importance of pets as family
87. Increased frequency and severity of natural disasters due to climate change
88. More eco-friendly lifestyles
89. The private sector steps up its support of social and environmental issues
90. Distributed localized agriculture through hydroponics and aeroponics
91. Increased “fake news” and disinformation
92. Increased sophistication of deep fakes
93. Increased botnet activity
94. More censorship, less free speech
95. Increased public awareness of and pressure to address economic inequality
96. Less capitalism, more socialism
97. Continued urbanization
98. Continued population shifts to less expensive states
99. Less abundance thinking, more scarcity thinking
100. The blurring of war and crime with the emergence of terrorism
101. Rethinking of the criminal justice system

If you aren’t familiar with some of these, I would recommend that you search on and read about those that most interest you. 

Potential Long-Term Impacts of COVID-19

It is interesting to think about the potential long-term impacts of COVID-19, including the opportunities and threats for businesses. Here is what comes to my mind in no particular order:

• More people will continue to work at home rather than in the office. This means less commuting, which may continue downward pressure on gasoline prices. This may result in more purchases of SUVs and other gas guzzlers. It also means office spaces may downsize, opening up opportunities to convert some of those spaces to residential or mixed use spaces.
• With more people working remotely, the choice of where to live will be less dependent on commuting concerns. People will not need to live within a reasonable driving distance of offices. 
• COVID-19 (and presumably other potential pandemics) spread much more easily in densely populated urban centers. People in Manhattan and other densely populated cities may choose to move to small towns, the suburbs or smaller, less densely populated cities. This may slow down the urbanization of the US. The places that may mostly benefit from this are less densely populated cities with rich cultural elements and a high quality of life. Cities like Portland, ME, Rochester, NY and Ashville, NC come to mind.
• More meetings will continue to be conducted online. Zoom and its competitors will be the beneficiaries of this. 
• More market research may be conducted online, especially focus groups. 
• Big data analytics, automated marketing and personalized offers will continue to increase in their usage.
• Software jobs will continue to be in high demand. 
• More restaurants will want to include an alfresco dining element to their dining experience. This may require zoning changes in some municipalities. 
• Online learning has not proven to be a preferred alternative to the in-person college and university experience and it creates the opportunity for more cheating. Colleges and universities are likely to bounce back, but perhaps with an online teaching option for older professors who are more vulnerable to pandemics.
• Companies offering effective UV sanitization solutions will do well. 
• Use of public parks and open spaces for picnics and other activities may continue to see increased use. Municipalities should focus on maintaining these assets. 
• Child care centers will need to substantially rethink how to maintain safe environments and reassure parents that those environments are safe to continue to grow and thrive. 
• This will likely add pressure to adopt universal health care to protect the most vulnerable, including those laid off of jobs that included health care. Businesses might benefit from not having to offer health care to employees. 
• Despite their discomfort and potential stigma, face masks may become more normal in the US the way they are in many Asian countries. People may be more apt to wear them when sick. 
• Air filtration and circulation on cruise ships, airplanes, busses and subways will need to be improved. This provides a significant business opportunity. 
• Federal, state, municipal and even personal debt may add a drag to the economy for a decade or two. 
• The immigration restrictions put in place during COVID-19 may slow population growth and create more unfilled service and migrant worker jobs. 
• The lifting of environmental restrictions during COVID-19 is likely to lead to more air and water pollution and accelerate global climate change leading to more severe weather, ecosystem breakdown, disease and refugee problems. This will have a significant negative impact on property insurance rates and the need for more National Guard and military spending.
• Online purchasing is here to stay and more people will make purchases online, causing many brick and mortar retail businesses to fold and more shopping mall owners to rethink the mix of businesses in malls (more food and entertainment as a beginning). Online purchases will increase the use of packaging materials leading to the need for more landfills. It will also increase the use of delivery service companies. 
• Home delivery of every kind will increase, including home delivery of groceries. 
• Continued shifts in employment will lead to more minimum wage service jobs including shopping and delivery jobs. This may put pressure on the need to raise minimum wages. 
• More people are likely to invest in their homes and properties making them more pleasant for future quarantines. This includes garden supplies, landscaping services, decks, patios, outdoor entertainment spaces, swimming pools, home entertainment centers, wine cellars, etc.
• Gun sales will not abate and security system sales will increase. 
• Staples and other home office supply centers will thrive.
• Concert halls, theaters, airlines, travel companies and other related businesses may struggle for awhile. This will reduce the quality of life for those who can afford arts, culture and travel. 
• Live concerts will take a hit. Independent music venues will have a difficult time surviving. And musical performing artists will find it more difficult to earn a living. 
• Many churches have found that their attendance has increased with online church services. While congregants value personal interactions and the sense of community, more churches may offer an online version of their church services to extend their reach.
• The problems in nursing homes will likely cause even more senior citizens to want to age at home, increasing opportunities for businesses adapting homes to aging needs, home health care and mobile medicine. 
• Employment and job placement will be in flux. Many talented employees will have been laid off of struggling businesses and industries while other thriving businesses and industries will be looking for talent. 
• Leadership will become more important as more crises arise. The leaders will need to be smart with high emotional intelligence, ethical values, empathy, vision and charisma. 
• Excepting specific industries vulnerable to contagion (such as airlines, cruise ships, travel, etc.), COVID-19 has mostly accelerated the demise of struggling businesses, especially in the retail and restaurant sectors. 
• To remain successful, businesses will have to become more adaptive, nimble, and opportunistic. Being able to pivot quickly is perhaps the most important component of long-term success in uncertain times. 

Societal, Technology and COVID-19 Trends

As marketers, we need to stay abreast of societal and technology trends. Here are some trends that will have large impacts on our lives:

Societal trends:

• While globalization continues, nationalism and "buy local" trends increase
• Rise of the global middle class while the US middle class stagnates
• Increased tribalism in the US
• Global climate change and its consequences - increased catastrophic weather events, pandemics, environmental hazards, damage to cities and infrastructure and creation of refugees leading to national security risks
• Increasing anxiety throughout the world
• Increased feelings of alienation among those who cannot keep up with societal and technology changes
• People connecting through tech (social media, smart phones, online communication platforms)
• Organized religion continues to decline while personal spirituality increases
• The role of women becomes more dominant in society, including in leadership roles (causing a backlash from men who feel threatened)
• Aging population, including increased aging at home
• Fewer and fewer people are employed by large organizations, while the gig economy continues to grow (putting pressure on how health care is paid for)
• There is a continued decline in materialism and consumerism. People have been moving from purchasing products to purchasing services and experiences for decades. A more recent trend is toward simplifying one's life, especially as the average age in the US increases. 
• There is continued movement from capitalism to socialism
• Cohabitation among unmarried partners continues to increase
• Legalization of marijuana, popularity of CBD
• Emergence of "fake news" - What is real? What is truth? The sophistication with which fake photographs and videos can be created is increasing. This will increase tribalism as different tribes will have completely different perceptions of the facts and reality itself. 

Technology trends:

• AI in customer service, especially in telephone and online support
• Digital assistents (e.g. Siri, Google Now, Cortana, Facebook M, Blackberry Assistant, Briana, Hound, Amazon Echo [Alexa])
• Computer vision (including facial recognition)
• Autonomous driving, ultimately leading to decreased job prospects for truckers, taxicab drivers and even Uber/Lyft drivers
• Continued automation of an increasing number of jobs, including in the white collar sectors (e. g. medical internists and contract lawyers)
• 3-D printing (this has applications across a wide variety of industries and even makes it easier to make things at home)
• 5G data networks
• Cloud computing
• Blockchain technology (can aid in sharing money and other commodities with others, proving identity and ownership of assets, run a decentralized marketplace, vote, manage healthcare records, trade cryptocurrencies, etc.)
• Business use of personal data including all of the marketing and ethical implications of this
• Data analytics, leading to personalized and predictive products and services (including in the medical sector)
• Data risk, leading to more jobs in this area
• Extended reality (virtual environments, human-machine interactions)
• Telemedicine, mobile medicine and self-diagnostics using wearable technology
• Continued dominance of tech companies whose online platforms benefit from economies of scale and network effects (leading to more super rich entrepreneurs)
• Decreased ability to remain private online and even off-line (due to security cameras, smart phone tracking, automobile tracking, facial recognition, etc.)

Trends emerging from COVID-19:

• Increased use of online communications (e.g. Zoom, GoTo, Join.Me, ClickMeeting and Cisco WebEx)
• Increased delivery of services and experiences online (e.g. online concerts, theater, fitness routines, etc.)
• This will speed up the growth of home delivery services of everything
• More people will work from home, leading to the downsizing of company offices
• Increased need for a comprehensive national health care policy that works for everyone, including the reemergence of the "single payer" option
• May lead to a desire for less consumerism and more balanced, simplified lives
• Will push people toward online commerce, speeding up the death of struggling retail brands and shopping malls - shopping malls will need to reinvent themselves
• Loss of jobs/income and decrease 401K and IRA asset values may either reduce household budgets and spending or delay retirements and extend working years
• Urbanization has been a long term population trend. People have been moving out of smaller towns and rural areas where there are fewer jobs. They were moving into urban areas. New York City, Boston, Seattle and other major cities were the most popular destinations. Then those metropolitan areas became too expensive so people began moving to less expensive medium-sized cities. COVID-19 has created a mass exodus from major population centers back to suburbs, towns and rural areas. Will this trend continue or is it a temporary trend?

These are a couple of other blog posts I have written on trends:

• Environmental Scanning
• Big Data Analytics
• Marketing Trends Today and Tomorrow
• Leading-Edge Brand Management & Marketing
• The 6 Hottest Trends in Branding
• Evolution of Luxury Brands
• Ten Sources of Potential Share Loss

Brad VanAuken's Brand Aid book has sold more than 25,000 copies, been translated into several languages and is used by business schools throughout the world to teach brand management and marketing. If you haven't read it yet, get your copy here.

And here is a great new book about retail trends by an expert on the subject, friend and former HBS classmate, Steve Dennis. Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Digital Disruption. 

Marketing Trends Today and Tomorrow

I am delivering a talk on the future of brand management and marketing next week. Things are changing so quickly in the marketing world that it is difficult for every marketer to keep up with all of the new approaches and techniques. While I do not have the space here to explain each one of them, I thought I would share my talk's outline to give you a flavor of the latest in brand management and marketing.

Today's Marketing Research Approaches

• Big data analytics (including predictive analytics)
• Combining data mines with attitudinal research
• Attitudinal (and values) segmentation
• Knowing when to apply which statistical technique – regression analysis, ANOVA, factor analysis, cluster analysis and logistic regression
• Eye-tracking technology
• Using MEG, GSR, EEG, SST, QEEG, FMRI, PET and CT scanning to understand likes and dislikes
• Better understanding memory encoders and triggers
• Improved retail traffic pattern measurement and analysis
• Drawing on the insights of behavioral economics
• Measuring ROI
• Identifying sales drivers
• Anthropological studies
• Conjoint analysis and AI
• Emotion measurement tools
• Online focus groups
• Mobile research options
• Color science and emotional response
• Olfactory science and emotional response

Brand Management Today

• Authenticity
• Shared values
• Community building
• Using cultural symbols
• Employer branding
• Internal employee and system/process alignment
• Brand co-creation with customers
• Brand storytelling
• Customer journey mapping
• Customer experience design
• Strategic partnerships and co-opetition
• Game theory and competitive strategy

Marketing Today

• Hyper-personalization
• Geo-targeting and geo-fencing
• Undercover, stealth or covert marketing
• The poison parasite defense (to reposition a competitor’s brand)
• Buzz (aka word-of-mouth) and influencer marketing
• Creating influencer swarms
• Content management, scaling content, creating viral content
• Co-creating content with customers
• Value-based community building
• Proactive publicity as a primary tool
• Unusual advertising media (crops, escalators, human tattoos, sidewalks, etc.)
• Flash mobs and street team marketing
• Authority marketing
• Attaching pejorative labels to competitors’ brands (used mostly in politics)
• Fully automated lead generation systems

If you are not familiar with any of these approaches, I would suggest that you look them up and become familiar with them. And I would be happy to hear from you if you think I have missed something. Please share your knowledge and insights with our readers.

Brand Management Today

In the past 30 years, I have witnessed significant changes in brand management and marketing. In this post, I will summarize what has stayed the same, what has changed significantly and what some of the most important considerations in brand management and marketing are today.

What has remained important over time:

• Having carefully identified the brand's target customers and having gained deep insight about their hopes, fears, attitudes, values, needs and desires
• Identifying and communicating the brand's unique value proposition 
• Having developed a well-thought through brand identity system and being consistent in presenting the brand's identity
• Being trustworthy
• Being dependable and responsive
• Product/service innovation
• For some brands, serving as a status symbol

What has emerged as very important:

• Creating the total brand experience - customer experience design including customer touch point design
• Focusing on customer service
• Telling a compelling brand story
• Interacting with customers through social media
• Creating a seamless online and offline presence 
• Gaining information on and targeting individuals
• Standing for something and sharing a set of values with customers
• Creating a community platform for customers who share the brand's values
• Being able to justify the value of specific marketing activities through measurement
• Delivering a good overall value, including delivering quality commensurate with price

And what has emerged as helpful to brands:

• Humanizing the brand
• Giving the brand a sense of humor
• Surprising and delighting customers, adding an element of unpredictability without sacrificing dependability
• Treating the customer as an intelligent human being
• For some brands, taking a courageous and admirable stand on societal issues

Leading-Edge Brand Management & Marketing

I usually write about timeless or evergreen brand management and marketing topics - the fundamentals that were true years ago and that are still true today, the topics and concepts that every brand and marketing manager needs to know to be successful.  But today, I am writing about what is new, what is current, and what is leading-edge. 

Given the importance of customer insight, I will start with the latest market research. These are at the forefront of today's market research approaches:

• Big data analytics
• Combining data mines with attitudinal research
• Attitudinal segmentation
• Knowing when to apply which statistical technique - regression analysis, ANOVA, factor analysis, cluster analysis and logistic regression
• Eye-tracking technology
• Using MEG, GSR, EEG, SST, QEEG, FMRI, PET and CT scanning to understand likes and dislikes
• Better understanding memory encoders and triggers
• Improved retail traffic flow pattern measurement and analysis
• Drawing on the insights of behavioral economics
• Measuring ROI
• Identifying sales drivers
• Antropological studies
• Conjoint analysis and AI
• Emotion measurement tools
• Online focus groups
• Mobile research options
• Color science and emotional response

Here are the most recent areas of focus in brand management:

• Shared values
• Community building
• Using cultural symbols
• Employer branding
• Internal employee and system/process alignment
• Brand co-creation with customers
• Brand storytelling
• Customer touch point design
• Strategic partnerships and co-opetition
• Game theory and competitive strategy

And here are some leading-edge trends in marketing:

• Hyper-personalization
• Geo-targeting and geo-fencing 
• Undercover, stealth or covert marketing
• The poison parasite defense (to reposition a competitor's brand)
• Buzz (aka word-of-mouth) and influencer marketing
• Creating influencer swarms
• Content management, scaling content, creating viral content
• Co-creating content with customers
• Value-based community building
• Proactive publicity as a primary tool
• Unusual advertising media (crops, escalators, human tattoos, sidewalks, etc.)
• Flash mobs and street team marketing
• Authority marketing

As expounding on these topics could easily fill a tome, I would admonish you to conduct an online search for any of these for which you do not have a firm understanding so that you can learn more. Or let me know if there is a particular topic you would like me to cover in depth. This is the current or perhaps leading-edge state of brand management and marketing today.

PS - I would also be curious if you think I missed something.

The 6 Hottest Trends in Branding

Branding has evolved quite a bit in the past decade or two. Today, successful brands need to understand and align themselves with six important trends:

1. Storytelling
2. Designing the customer experience
3. Building communities of like-minded individuals
4. Becoming producers of content
5. Using video as an important tool
6. Building a meaningful presence on mobile devices

1. Storytelling

Many esteemed brands have relied on storytelling as one of their success pillars. Think about Ben & Jerry’s story. Patagonia tells a very interesting story about its founder, Yvon Chouinard, a climber and a member of the Southern California Falconry Club at age 14.  Saturn told wonderful stories that made you love the brand. You may recall the television commercial featuring a seat recall problem.  A Saturn rep flew up to Alaska to correct the problem at a customer’s home because there was no nearby dealer in Alaska. The story reinforced how far Saturn would go to satisfy a customer’s need. Or maybe you know the story about how Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan came to create the Method brand of powerful but safe home care products. Storytelling is a powerful tool to convey messages and build emotional connection with consumers.

2. Designing the Customer Experience

We have moved well beyond the age of brand communication. Today, brands must engage their consumers and deliver well-orchestrated total brand experiences. Most of us have read about how Starbucks created the “third place between work and home” that offered its consumers a brief respite during which they felt a little bit indulgent and a little bit pampered. The café environment and customer service training were both part of the carefully designed experience. Or think about how the Build-A-Bear Workshop experience is different from buying another teddy bear brand at retail.  Perhaps you have heard about the Opaque “dining in the dark” experience in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, New York and Dallas. Consider the type of training that must underpin Ritz Carlton’s “Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen” promise.  Charmin has created an app called “sit or squat” that directs people to the cleanest bathrooms when they are traveling. All of these experiences require brands to consciously build their essence and promise into each point of customer contact.

And customers are engaged with your brand whether you want them to be or not. They are busy sharing their brand experiences with others via social media and other online platforms. Some are brand evangelists. Others may be brand adversaries.

3. Branding Communities of Like-Minded Individuals

The most successful brands today are those that have strong values and that stand for something. These brands not only serve as self-expression vehicles but also as communities for like-minded individuals, reinforcing their shared values. Consider Fox News, Tesla Motors, Apple, Mercedes-Benz and Robert Graham. What values do these brands hold? And what does this say about their most loyal customers?

4. Becoming Producers of Content

Remember the mantra, “location, location, location”? With the advent of the Internet, location becomes much less important for many brands. Content is king now. Brands need to prove their expertise through content. They need to tell stories through content. They need to entertain and build emotional connection through content. And they need to add value through content. Who said content was king? Bill Gates in his 1996 article of the same title.

5. Using Video as an Important Tool

More than one billion unique users visit YouTube each month and more than 200 million videos have been claimed by Content ID. With social media, it is easy for a video with outstanding content to go viral. Videos support brand storytelling, they help brands create buzz and they are a part of the interactive brand experience. Video needs to be a part of your brand tool kit.

6. Building a Meaningful Presence on Mobile Devices

Smartphones and tablets are taking over. According to digby.com, over half of American adults are now smartphone owners, “mobile now accounts for 12% of Americans’ media consumption time (triple its share in 2009) and 27% of companies worldwide planned to implement location-based marketing in 2013.” Brands need to engineer a meaningful presence on mobile devices. Charmin’s “sit or squat” app  (mentioned in #2) is a good example of this.

I wish you great success in aligning your brand with these trends.