Which will be the trends that David Mattin and his team at Trendwatching will define as the most important for 2017? Be among the first to know, what trend scouts all around the world found out about the next most relevant (as opposed to most hyped) trends in the world.
24. In 2017, a shift years in the making
finally becomes a reality, as digital
– including VR and AR –
experiences become a real status
currency for millions of consumers
worldwide.
VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE
ECONOMY
25. POKÉMON GO Global phenomenon provides
(super-fun!) chance for status
display
41. Consumers, accustomed to AI-
fueled assistance, seek to outsource
the willpower, planning and
coaching needed to self-improve.
MOTIVATED
MINDLESSNESS
51. INCOGNITO INDIVIDUALS
In 2017, consumers will embrace new
tools, services and platforms that
enable them to strip away the identity
imposed on them by demographic
circumstance, and be their true selves.
61. VISIBLE INDIVIDUALS
The other side of the identity coin?
Consumers will embrace new
platforms and tools that allow them
to proudly inhabit and celebrate
their own identity.
71. In 2017, smart brands will prove
that they understand tech can and
should RENEW us all, by rolling
tech-powered solutions that enrich
human life.
HUMANS
RENEWED
‘Fine, you’re showing me all these innovations, but won’t most of them fail? How do I know which will really succeed?’
The thing is, when we’re looking at expectations, success or failure is not the point. To make that clear, I want to super-quickly show you three phones.
But Pokemon Go came along and changed the way we view the world. There could be a slowpoke in your driveway… or a charizard overy on your colleagues desks!
Is anyone still playing it here?
BUT
On the other hand there is human nature, whicn fundamentally does not change much over time. Human beings are driven by this set of BASIC NEEDS & WANTS
– think safety, fun, value, connection–
they don’t change from month to month, or season to season.
The third strand of this model is INNOVATIONS. They play a central role in our methodology.
We can see trends emerge via the new innovations that address these BASIC NEEDS in novel ways.
The three fundamental elements – basic needs, external change and innovations – will help you understand trends. But sensing where and how these come together to form new levels of customer expectation will help you act on trends. That’s because identifying what the people embracing the brands, products and services that embody the trend now want and even expect is the best way to spot the potential opportunities within a trend.
That’s expectation transfer in action.
And it should lead you to the question: who are you really competing against? Others in your industry?
NO! Your competition is the best in class, whoever that may be.
Think Apple for design, Patagonia for ethics, whoever your favourites are.
Is a person stepping into a BMW comparing the music system to that of a Mercedes? No, they’re just saying ‘why isn’t this as usable as my iPhone’.
Expectation transfer crosses INDUSTRIES, BORDERS and PRICE POINTS.
You’re going to see examples of today’s trends from all over the world.
We couldn’t pull off that global reach at a local level without the help of our spotter network – sending us examples from Boston to Beijing.
Launched in July 2016, new webite to match Pokemon Go players for dates. Those interested in finding love are matched based on a questionnaire about preferences and a mutual desire to play Pokemon Go. PokeDates then selects a match, finds a time based on members' provided availability and selects a convenient PokeGym or PokeStop to meet.
In July 2016, immersive virtual reality theme park The Void opened a Ghostbusters experience at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in New York City's Time Square. Timed to coincide with the release of the movie reboot, the 12-minute Ghostbusters: Dimension experience saw participants don VR headsets and haptic vests, and walk freely around a stage set to capture virtual ghosts. The Void say they plan to create similar experiences around the world.
Link: https://ghostbusters.madametussauds.com/
May 2016 saw Google launch Tilt Brush, an app for the HTV Vive VR headset. The app allows the user to 'paint' in three dimensions, using a simple handheld controller as the 'brush'. Brushes – including ink, snow and smoke effects – and colors are selected from a virtual palette. Users can share their creations as animated GIFs.
Link: https://www.tiltbrush.com
If you’re talking Internet of Things, remember to also be talking basic human needs! The same goes for all discussions of tech!
Raising more than USD 1.7 million on Kickstarter in July 2016, Vi [LINK: https://getvi.com/] is a personal training device that uses AI to help users meet their weight loss and training goals. The neckband device uses biosensing earphones to collect data, and creates personalized fitness plans in real-time, based on the user’s location, speed, heart rate and cadence. Vi can relay real-time data such as breathing and heartrate on request, and also offer real-time advice to help a user keep pace or know when they should slow down due to fatigue. US-based makers LifeBeam say the Vi is 'the world's first AI personal trainer'.
In April 2016, Google introduced the Goals [LINK: https://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/find-time-goals-google-calendar.html] feature to its Calendar app. The function uses machine learning to help users schedule and stick to self-improvement activities. Users add a personal objective to their daily calendar, such as: ‘do more exercise’ or ‘practise a language’. The app asks questions and identifies appropriate windows in the user’s schedule Users can defer a goal, and the app will reschedule for another appropriate date. Over time, Google Goals will become better at learning the schedules a user is most likely to stick to.
US-based AVA [LINK: http://www.eatwithava.com/] is an intelligent eating assistant that uses a combination of image recognition, AI and nutritionists to help people eat more healthily. Users take a photo of their food, send it to AVA and receive nutritional and caloric information about their meal. All data is automatically added to a personal food journal; AVA also generates meal suggestions, based on individual habits and data drawn from a database of around 50,000 meals. In June 2016, AVA raised USD 3 million in seed funding following a private beta launch in Q1 2016.
India-based Boltt [LINK: https://boltt.com/] are developing an ecosystem of wearable devices – including smart shoes and a wristband – that allow users to track and compare health and fitness data on one platform. The start-up is also developing an AI-fueled personal coach that will crunch user data and offer real-time advice across a range of self-improvement areas, including fitness, nutrition and sleep. All the programs were developed in partnership with coaches and trainers. Boltt is set to launch in Q4 2016.
If you’re talking Internet of Things, remember to also be talking basic human needs! The same goes for all discussions of tech!
Interviewing.io, a US-developed platform for engineers to practice technical job interviews, announced a feature that disguises both the interviewer's and candidate's voices. Using Twilio's cloud communications technology and proprietary voice software, the service alters voices to sound androgynous, add synthetic elements or sound like animals to eliminate interview bias. Users can reveal their identities should they want the interview process to continue. As of Q2 2016, the voice-masking feature was in private beta.
Available to download from July 2016, US-based Candid is a chat app allowing users to anonymously discuss topics with friends and strangers. To avoid the harassment and abuse that often comes with anonymous sharing, Candid developed machine learning algorithms that analyze posts and filter out abusive and inflammatory content. All posts that are flagged are then reviewed by a member of the Candid team. The algorithm also identities potentially unsubstantiated rumors, which are then cross-checked with web and Twitter data.
Available to download from January 2016, Antipersona enables users to experience Twitter from another user’s perspective. Users can select any Twitter user they would like to discover, and receive the same alerts, retweets, notifications and follows that individual receives.
If you’re talking Internet of Things, remember to also be talking basic human needs! The same goes for all discussions of tech!
Available to download from January 2016, Inclov is a dating app for people with disabilities and health conditions. Developed in India, the free mobile app allows people to find matches based on their disability type, as well as their age and location. Users are connected if they both swipe right, allowing them to chat and arrange to meet if they wish. Talkback and screen-reader functions allow the visually-impaired to use Inclov, while color themes and font options are on offer for those with retina disorders or color blindness.
Link: http://www.inclov.com/
If you’re talking Internet of Things, remember to also be talking basic human needs! The same goes for all discussions of tech!
April 2016 saw ING unveil The Next Rembrandt: a 3D-printed painting created based on big data and generated via computer algorithms. Data scientists, engineers and art historians were involved in the project which resulted in scanning Rembrandt’s complete body of work to create a painting mimicking the look of an actual new work by the artist. Designed to create a conversation about the relationship between art and technology, the Dutch bank’s portrait consists of over 148 million pixels, based on 168,263 painting fragments. The Next Rembrandt won Grands Prix in both Creative Data and Cyber at Cannes Lions 2016.
Public Speaking VR – a free mobile app launched in February 2016 by London based VirtualSpeech – allows people to practice public speaking in front of a virtual audience. Available for Google Cardboard, the 360-degree app enables users to speak to small or large audiences in a variety of locations, adding their own presentation slides to a virtual screen. The screen helps the speaker to keep track of time while learning to deal with distractions and make eye contact with the audience.
Unveiled by Puma in April 2016, the BeatBot is a self-driving robot developed in conjunction with a NASA robotics engineer, and designed to help the brand’s sponsored athletes in their training. Using an associated app, runners enter their desired race time and distance. Placed on a running track, the BeatBot then paces out the selected race, enabling runners to test their speed and stamina. The device uses infrared sensors to follow the white markings on a running track and navigate bends, while GoPro cameras enable runners to review their performance after the race.
In August 2016 Stanford University student Joshua Browder expanded the capabilities of his DoNotPay [LINK: http://www.donotpay.co.uk/signup.php] chatbot lawyer to include help for peolpe in the UK who are homeless or have been evicted from their public housing. The chatbot asks users basic questions to ascertain whether or not they are homeless and how they became homeless, before offering advice, often in the form of a letter they can send to the relevant authority to apply for emergency housing. The bot uses data gathered via a Freedom of Information act request
to draft the best letter for each individual. DoNotPay was initially launched in February 2016 and focused on parking tickets; it won public attention after successfully appealing 160,000 tickets issued to UK drivers.
If you’re talking Internet of Things, remember to also be talking basic human needs! The same goes for all discussions of tech!
STATUS SEEKERS
The relentless, often subconscious, yet ever-present force that underpins almost all consumer behavior
BETTERMENT
The universal quest for self-improvement
YOUNIVERSE
Make your consumers the center of their YOUNIVERSE
LOCAL LOVE
Why ‘local’ is, and will remain, loved
PLAYSUMERS
Who said business had to be boring?
EPHEMERAL
Why consumers will embrace the here, the now, and the soon-to-be-gone
HELPFUL
Be part of the solution, not the problem
JOYNING
The eternal desire for connection, and the many (new) ways it can be satisfied
HUMAN BRANDS
Why personality and purpose will mean profit
BETTER BUSINESS
Why ‘good’ business will be good for business
UBITECH
The ever-greater pervasiveness of technology
INFOLUST
Why consumers’ voracious appetite for (even more) information will only grow
FUZZYNOMICS
The divisions between producers and consumers, brands and customers will continue to blur
PRICING PANDEMONIUM
Pricing: more fluid and flexible than ever
POST-DEMOGRAPHIC
Welcome to the age of disrupted demographics
REMAPPED
The epic power shifts in the global economy
BUT
On the other hand there is human nature, whicn fundamentally does not change much over time. Human beings are driven by this set of BASIC NEEDS & WANTS
– think safety, fun, value, connection–
they don’t change from month to month, or season to season.
The third strand of this model is INNOVATIONS. They play a central role in our methodology.
We can see trends emerge via the new innovations that address these BASIC NEEDS in novel ways.
The three fundamental elements – basic needs, external change and innovations – will help you understand trends. But sensing where and how these come together to form new levels of customer expectation will help you act on trends. That’s because identifying what the people embracing the brands, products and services that embody the trend now want and even expect is the best way to spot the potential opportunities within a trend.