Download pdf - 8 Consumer Trends 2008

7/31/2019 8 Consumer Trends 2008

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Another year has almost passed. Over the last 11 months, wehave highlighted trends like (STILL) MADE HERE, FEMALE FE-VER, TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY, TRYSUMERS and more. Nodoubt 2008 will be as trend-heavy; to get you going, here areeight trends to watch and capitalize on in the new year . Oh,and may we be among the rst to wish you an innovative, pros-perous, trendy 2008!

Want to get your hands on all the trends that are on our radar for 2008? Then please check out our 2008 Trend Report: www.trendwatching.com/trendreport

Let's start this December Trend Brieng by looking back. At thebeginning of 2007, as part of our STATUS LIFESTYLES trend , wewrote:

"Here's something trend watchers, CMOs and other business professionals should be able to agree on: in the end, when dealing with (and selling to) people, everything always comes back to status. In a traditional consumer society, he or she who consumes the most, the best, the coolest, the most expensive, the scarcest or the most popular goods, will typi- cally also gain the most status."

Now, you guessed it: the above will still ring true in 2008, andshould be on your mind whenever/wherever in the new yearwhen tracking trends, when mapping out new strategies and whencoming up with new products and services for your customers. Infact, expect 2008 to be the year in which even more brands real-

ize (if not grudgingly accept) that 'old', mass-era status symbols,from the Audi R8 to the De Beers Talisman Watch Collection areno longer every consumer's wet dream. After all, as mature con-sumer societies are increasingly dominated by (physical) abun-dance, by saturation, by experiences, by virtual worlds, by indi-vidualism, by participation, by feelings of guilt and concern aboutthe side effects of unbridled consumption, status is to be had inmany more ways than leading a lifestyle centered on hoarding asmany branded, luxury goods as possible.

We've dubbed the above phenomenon STATUS SPHERES: avariety of lifestyles, activities and persuasions, which can bemixed and matched by consumers looking for recognition fromvarious crowds and scenes. Getting too vague? Here are someSTATUS SPHERES to keep an eye out for in 2008:

Traditional consumption is about buying more and/or better stuffthan fellow consumers. Which is by no means dead. In fact, ex-pect the consumer arena in 2008 to still be about hundreds ofmillions of consumers who do want to consume more, whocovet all things bling, who do crave in-your-face brands. Oh, and

even if (a big if*) conspicuous consumption were ever to subsidein mature consumer societies, then count on the emerging middleclasses in China,** India, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Nigeria,Vietnam and Brazil to proudly take over the torch. In other words,count on multiple consumption and status arenas to develop si-multaneously for years to come.

However, while the rise of the global middle class is as big a storyas they come, the rise of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) hasan equally signicant impact on consumerism. Consider the fol-

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lowing numbers, from the 2007 World Wealth Report by MerrillLynch and Capgemini:

The number of HNWIsindividuals with net assets of atleast USD 1 million, excluding their primary residenceand consumablesin the world increased 8.3% to 9.5million.

The number of ultra-HNWIsindividuals with net assetsof at least USD 30 million, excluding their primary resi-dence and consumablesgrew by 11.3% to 94,970.

The BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) con-tinue to play increasingly important roles in the globaleconomy. China and Russia were among the top tencountries with the fastest growing HNWI populations.China s HNWI population grew by 7.8% to 345,000 peo-ple and Russia s has increased by 15.5% to 119,000.Brazil (120,000 HNWIs) and India (100,000 HNWIs) alsoshowed continued strength.

With so much (new) wealth and disposable income around theworld, not only is there money to be made from selling premium

goods, there

s also a constant need for redening what constitutesluxury, for what constitutes status in bling-driven consumer socie-ties. If millions have access to the same premium goods, to thesame premium brands, these premium offerings lose some of theirvalue, as their entire raison d tre was to offer something that oth-ers could not get access to. Scarcity is becoming less scarce andwealth is always relative, leading to actual STATUS DESPAIR among those who are by all means, nancially well off.

So in an arena that has become crowded with middle class andhigh net worth consumers, expect luxury goods to take on moreoutlandish forms and shapes, at ever-higher costs. Our most re-cent favorite example of STATUS DESPAIR was Prince Alwaleedbin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia buying himself aUSD 320 million Airbus 380, which for another USD 100+ millionwill be turned into a 'ying palace' with three bedrooms, privatelounges, bathrooms, ofces, a steam bath and exercise machines.But even here, commoditization is threatening the Prince's pur-chase: Airbus actually expects to sell about 20 VIP versions of theA380.

* As we ve pointed out many times before, one mistake both trend watchers and brands make all the time, is to assume or pretend that a certain trend will affect or be embraced by ALL consumers.No. Remember, in life and in trends: beauty (or ugliness) is in the

eye of the beholder.

** The Chinese middle class consists of those people who have a degree of economic independence, but not a great deal of social inuence or power. The term often encompasses merchants and professionals, bureaucrats, and some farmers and skilled workers.Denition of middle class in China: managers, professionals,skilled technicians and service workers earning USD 2,500 to USD 10,000 a year each. It is expected to grow from 100 million people in 2005 to 200 million people by 2010, reaching 315 million by 2015. (Source: Insight Bureau.)

Luckily, before we reach total STATUS DESPAIR, there's stillplenty of room for innovation in the traditional sphere: checkPREMIUMIZATION (trend # 2) below.

Attractive to consumers who are driven by experiences instead of

the xedthose who are driven by entertainment, by discovery,by ghting boredom, who increasingly live a transient lifestyle,freeing themselves from the hassles of permanent ownership andpossessions.

We dubbed these consumers TRANSUMERS about a year ago,and the trend is still building. Implications for 2008? An obsessionwith the here and now, an ever-shorter satisfaction span, and alust to collect as many experiences and stories as possible ,undermining the perceived value (and thus status) of xed goodsand services. More practical examples in SNACK CULTURE(trend # 3) below.

Where to begin? In an online world or virtual world, social status2.0 is all about who you connect to and who wants to connect toyou, tribal-style. It also encompasses status gained from the num-ber of views for one's photos on Flickr, to the number of friends onFacebook, to one's gaming skills and levels (just a snippet: Micro-soft's Halo 3 racked up USD 170 million in sales on its rst day ofavailability , making it the hottest-selling title in video game his-tory. Total sales since September 2007: 4+ million copies) to thegood looks of one's avatar, to nding out about whatever/whereveron anything before anyone else does. More on this in ONLINEOXYGEN (trend # 4) below.

With the environment nally on the agenda of most powers thatbe, and millions of consumers now actively trying to greenify theirlives, status in the eco-sphere is both more readily available, andincreasing in value. A substantial subset of consumers is alreadybestowing recognition and pra ise on Prius dri vers while scorningSUV owners, and this will only accelerate as even more design-minded and branding-savvy eco-rms push to the forefront in2008. Make it green, make it effortless, make it visible if not bold ifnot iconic, and don't hesitate to point out your competitor's pollut-ing alternatives ;-) For more on this, see ECO-ICONIC (trend #5)below.

Find us one high-prole billionaire who's not deeply into 'giving'right now. In fact, whether it's giving away your riches, your time,or sharing your (content) creations with total strangers, giving is

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the new taking. For an excellent overview of the world's most gen-erous philanthropists (trendsetters par excellence!), check outBusinessWeek's recent special on the topic. For brand implica-tions, see BRAND BUTLERS (trend #6) below.

Especially for younger (and younger-at-heart) consumers, partici-pation is the new consumption. For these creative beings, statuscomes from nding an appreciative audience, which is much thesame way brands operate. No wonder that it's becoming increas-ingly important to hone one's creative skills. Status symbols, makeway for STATUS SKILLS ? What's going to be your participationstrategy for 2008? See also trends #7 and 8 in this brieng: MYI |MAKE IT YOURSELF and CROWD MINING.

One thing you can't go wrong with in 2008 is to ask yourself how

your current and new products and experiences will satisfy anaudience of very diverse status seekers. If you haven't done soalready, get rid of the habit of only focusing on traditional statussymbols, and you will nd there is no end to the number ofSTATUS SPHERES you'll be able to identify.

London's St. Pancras International railway station is now home to Europe's longest champagne bar (96 meters)

Denitely part of the 'traditional sphere', PREMIUMIZATION is notgoing to go away in 2008. Basically, with more wealth burningholes in (saturated and experienced) consumers' pocketsthan ever before, quick status xes derived from premiumproducts and premium experiences will continue in full forcenext year.

What's new then? How about 2008 being about the PREMIUMI-ZATION of everything and anything . In other words, no industry,no sector, no product will escape a premium version in the next 12months. Some poignant PREMIUMIZATION examples for thatsign of the times feeling:

OK, so we've done wine, coffee and tea, which leaveswater to get its much-deserved PREMIUMIZATION mo-ment. And we don't mean of the Pellegrino or Perrierkind: those 'upgraded' bottled water brands have becometoo mainstream to excite truly premium-obsessed con-sumers (who don't care about carbon footprints, but we'llget back to that later on). So make way for Evian's limitedrelease Palace bottle, only available in high end bars andrestaurants. Features a specially designed pouring top

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and is accompanied by a stainless steel coaster, sellingfor USD 15-20 per bottle.

Bling H20 is bottled water that comes in limited edition,corked, 750 ml frosted glass bottles, embellishe d with Swarovski crystals. Established in 2005 by a Hollywoodwriter-producer who noticed that you could tell a lotabout a person by the bottled water that they carried,

Bling H20 is designed to be as much a fashion accessoryas a drink of water. Aiming to be the Cristal of bottledwater, it's been spotted at everything from the MTVAwards to the Emmys. The bottles cost from USD 17480.

Tasmanian Rain is captured "on the pristine north westcoast of the island of Tasmania, Australia." The water iscollected "just minutes from where the World Meteoro-logical Organization records the world's purest air." Asthis rain has traveled eastward via air currents over Ant-arctica and 10,000 miles of ocean, it contains 17 partsper million of dissolved solids. Tasmanian Rain is col-lected by a custom-designed catchment facility and never

touches the ground. And so on.

Carlsberg 900 (which doesn't have its own website)launched this summer in a very limited number of se-lected bars in Stockholm. Developed in collaboration with

12 top Swedish bartenders, Carlsberg 900 is brewedfrom rened virgin hops and selected crystal malt, andtriple ltered with a longer cooler fermentation process toensure a pure, delicate taste. Carlsberg 900 is priced atthe premium end of the market, about the price of decentglass of champagne.

Further proof that *anything* can be PREMIUMIZED:luxury marshmallows. From Dean & DeLuca 's 1-poundBoul Marshmallow Sampler of lemon chiffon, passionfruit, vanilla and rose-petal avors (USD 28) to Pete'sGourmet dipped and undipped marshmallows, which are1 USD a piece.

Get ready to welcome honey to the world of PREMIUMI-ZATION. Most supermarket honey is imported fromChina and Argentina, and/or blended from many sources,creating a homogenous taste. But, like water, marshmal-lows, and beer, honey is now striking back with a sweetvengeance, and artisanal honeys are on the rise. Sincehoney's avor and color are determined by the source of

nectar, there's a huge variety of very local and exclusivetypes of honey, with oral sources varying from tupelogum tree and Tasmanian leatherwood to cranberry andorange blossom. T he Sa vannah Bee Company , for eample, sells its honeycomb jars with this awe-inspiringdescription: "Filled with honey equaling the life's work oftwo be es, ea ch golden cell brims with the concentr atenectar of thousands of rare and remote Ge orgia owersIn New York, the Blue Ribbon Bakery Market has istall ed a hon ey bar, selling imported raw honey fromMexico. Seasonal (read: l imited time only) varieties in-clude mesquite blossom, orange blossom and goldenreserve. Also emphasizing the unique avors of different

varieties, Bee Raw Honey sells sets of honey samples,packaging the liquid gold in test-tubes that are corkedand hand-sealed with beeswax.

More PREMIUMIZATION of the sweet kind: chocolatesuccumbed to PREMIUMIZATION years ago, with artisanchocolate boutiques now c harging top dollar/euro/poundfor wasabi-infused bonbons from San Francisco to Sin-gapore. So what's next? A recent article in the FinancialTimes' How to Spend It supplement (which, togetherwith Monocle , is probably the best publication dedicatedto PREMIUMIZATI ON) lists a number of chocolati ers whare going 'bespoke'. Check out rms like Melt , Paul Young and Sir Hans Sloane Chocolate Housesome mouth-watering bespoke inspiration, then gureout if the future of PREMIUMIZATION for your industry isbespoke, too. Hey, Pu ma is already on board ;-)

Now, even though the food and beverage sector denitely leadsthe PREMIUMIZATION trend, there's much more going on:

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The Hasbro FurReal Friends Butterscotch Pony seeksto "fulll every little girl's dream of having her very ownpony." From Hasbro: Butterscotch is a miniature Shet-land pony, with a fur coat and mane that feel just like areal pony. Butterscotch also has built-in sensors all overher body, which enable her to respond to children in life-like ways. If talked to, she will cock her head toward thespeaker quizzically and blink her eyes. She will also reactto petting, showing her enjoyment by rubbing her headagainst a child, twitching her ears, and swishing her tail.

At over three feet tall, Butterscotch is more than strongenough to support a rider up to 80 pounds in weight.Along with her brush and carrot, Butterscotch comes witha special adoption certicate. Hasbro told Busi-nessWeek that Butterscotch is an attempt to think be-yond the toy industry's usual pricing limits to capture abigger shar e of the family budgets that regularly go toiPods and video game consoles.

Portuguese paper products company Renova sells Re-nova Black , lauded as the rst fashionable toilet paper.Price per roll is EUR 2.17. Renova Black is also availableas Renova Red, Renova Orange, and Renova Green.

Emirates' First Class private suites

Singapore Airlines Suites

Jet Airways' Suite in the Sky

Air travel has become one massive inspiration source forPREMIUMIZATION. We're not even going to try to list allthe business-class-only carriers that have sprung up,some of which are thriving. Also keep a close eye on thePREMIUMIZATION pissing match in First involving air-lines like Emirates ('First Class private suites '), Singapore Airlines (12 suites on board of each of its new Air-bus 380s) and JetMax (Suite in the Sky ).

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The battle continues on terra rma: Lufthansa has beenoperating a dedicated First Class terminal in Frankfurtfor a few years now, but got trumped in size and pomp byQatar Airways' Premium Terminal in Doha. BTW, noticehow these exercises in PREMIUMIZATION do wondersfor brand and quality perception across the board...

Hauzen is Samsung's new premium home appliancebrand. Products include a washing machine, kimchicooler, fridge and air conditioning system. All appliancesare designed by well-known Korean designer Andre Kim.

Not available outside South Korea. Yet. The Plantronics Voyager 855 is the rst two-in-one ste-

reo bluetooth headset with "exclusive AudioIQ technologyfor crystal clear wireless sound." Price: USD 120.

The KABE Royal Tower is a double-decker caravan.The 8.2 meter long camper is 4.4 meters high, allowingpeople to stand up straight even on the top deck. Thelower deck features a living room, kitchen and breakfastdinette, plus a bedroom with single beds, while the upperdeck ha s a 'lounge' with an L-shaped sofa and a cocktailcabinet. A door from the lounge leads out onto the roof ofthe front section, which serves as a sunbathing terrace.The new double-decker caravan is fully equipped with airconditioning on both oors, a dishwasher and more.Price: EUR 105,000.

Strollers had their PREMIUMIZATION moment a fewyears ago when Bugaboos and Stokkes burst onto thescene. Now car manufacturers like Porsche want piece of the premium pie: their stroller folds up smallenough to t in the luggage compartment of almost allsports cars. It comes with pneumatic tires and Carrera Srims for a high-performance ride, as well as a lockable

front wheel, a handbrake and parking brake. Price: USD690. Next: baby furniture. Combining functionality with style,

Ooba designs cribs and high chairs that are touted byeveryone from the curator of MoMA to French magazinesthat cater to parents who want to help their children de-velop a taste for beautiful objects.

Lenovo now offers the ThinkPad Reserve Edition lap-top , encased in leather. The Reserve Edition is based onthe recently released 12.1-inch Lenovo ThinkPad X61s,and comes with 'Blue-Button Instant Access' for instantmessaging with dedicated support staff. Price: USD5,000, sold by invitation only.

The Laundress is a collection of high-end fabric deter-gents and care products. When Lindsey Wieber, a salesexecutive for Chanel, and Gwen Whiting, a senior de-signer for Ralph Lauren, realized that their expensiveclothes were suffering from dry cleaning, they took mat-ters into their own hands and created The Laundress.Their line of premium fabric care products provides de-tergents for superior fabrics, from wool/cashmere sham-poo to baby detergent. In their own words: All fabrics aredifferenteverything needs to be treated differently. All ofour products were developed for a specic reason. Add-ing to the sense of luxury, detergents and care productscome in four signature fragrances: Classic, Cedar, Babyand Lady. The Laundress range also includes laundrybags and 'wet' swimsuit pouches.

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British Feature Radiators proudly states: Our collectionis made up of the best contemporary designer radiators(including stainless steel radiators), traditional cast ironradiators, electric radiators and towel rails on the market.With over 150 radiators on display in our showroom, ex-pert advice, unrivalled customer service and nationwidedelivery, feature radiators has been recognized the UK'sleading radiator specialist." And regarding their 'Trend'model: "Tall and at-fronted, this supermodel in the radia-tor world is an exclusive addition to Feature Radiators'

contemporary collection.

Made of lightweight aluminumand created by top Italian designers, the Trend not onlyhas a tidy appearance but also has a magnicent heatoutput. Available in classic white and silver metallic.

Clearly, the list goes on forever. In 2008, no self-respecting brand,even those who market the most mundane of commodities, will failto introduce at least one premium version of whatever it is they'repeddling. (Cand les! Did we mention candl es yet? Check out Ac-qua di Parma's Design Candle Collection , priced at a cool USD130 per candle). Is your industry or sector next?

SNACK CULTURE represents the 'transient sphere' on steroids,catering to consumers insatiable craving for instant gratication.SNACK CULTURE thus embodies the phenomenon of prod-ucts, services and experiences becoming more temporaryand transient; products that are being deconstructed in eas-ier to digest, easier to afford bits, making it possible to col-lect even more experiences, as often as possible, in an evenshorter timeframe. The signs are everywhere, from ubiquitouscommerce to fragmented (shattered?) media to fast fashion totemporary ownership to Netix-style all-you-can-eat models.SNACK CULTURE, like PREMIUMIZATION, is not a 'new new 'trend, but denitely one that will continue to thrive next year.

To get you going, here s a list of fairly random SNACK CULTUREspottings that is sure to grow longer in 2008:

Food & Beverage | Some numbers on actual foosnacks from the New York Times:

In just three years, sales of 100-calorie packs ofcrackers, chips, cookies and candy havepassed the USD 200-million-a-year mark, andsales grew nearly 30 percent last year. Accord-ing to analysts, the market for these pint-size

packages could easily double because of theirsimple appeal: they help consumers eat lesswithout having to count calories themselves.The growing popularity of these snack packsmay also be another sign that some consumershave had their ll of supersized food.

A report from the Hartman Group found that 29percent of Americans believed that 100-caloriepackages were worth the extra cost. For manu-

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facturers, snack packs are about 20 percentmore protable than larger packages.

Some snack makers think even 100 caloriesmight be too much for some diet-consciousconsumers. Hershey, for example, now sells 60-calorie chocolate bars. And Jell-O sells 60-calorie pudding packs.

Which then may explain the success of Chi cago-basedburger joint Minnies , which proves that bigger isn't al-ways better. Featuring a wide selection of Lilliputiangourmet burgers and sandwichesincluding traditionalfavorites such as grilled cheese and Reubens, alongsidethe more inventive Mykonos (roast chicken, tzatzikisauce and kalamata tapenade) and Thanksgiving Delight(roast turkey, cranberries and wild rice gravy)Minniesapplies nouvelle cuisine portions to casual dining.

Old-school SNACK CULTURE meets PREMIUMIZA-TION: in Europe, McDonald s is replacing bolted-down,yellow-and-white plastic furniture with lime green de-

signer chairs and dark leather upholstery. It is the restau-rant chain s biggest overhaul in more than 20 years and,with its franchisees, it plans to spend more than EUR 600million euros (USD 890 million), remodeling 1,280 Euro-pean restaurants by the end of this year.

Laundry ca re | Proc ter & Gamble s Swash offers stu-dents dryer sheets, dewrinkling spray, stain-removingpens, odor-removing sprays and lint rollers that can helpgive their clothes the look and smell of having beenwashed without the trouble or expense of actual washing.

Cosmetics | Take a high-margin product like cosmetics,and cut prices by at least half. Now add online accessibil-ity with customization, community and values. Throw in apinch of demystifying expert advice, and you've got e.l.short for "eyes, lips, face." Launched by New York-basedJA Cosmetics roughly three years ago, e.l.f. appears tobe turning the cosmetics industry on its ear. All cosmeticscost just USD 1, and customers can create personalizedproles that generate product recommendations andcustomized looks. e.l.f. currently ships only to US and

Canadian addresses, but versions of the site have re-cently launched for both the UK and Australia. The com-pany 's products are also available in US stores, includ-ing Target and a variety of drugstores and conveniencechains.

Automotive | Just like bicycles, a pretty staid sectorsuddenly brimming with innovation, the small car sectorseems ready for a truly global boom. Eco-concerns , dsign savvy and an (urban) willingness to regard cars as autility instead of the ultimate status symbol will lead to aneverending stream of small-car innovations. Keep an

eye on the company who kick-started most of this: Smart.Since its introduction in October 1998, nearly 800,000people in 36 countries have purchased a Smart FortwoThe new Smart Fortwo was released in Europe in April2007 and will become available in the US , for the rtime, in Q1 of 2008. The vehicles will be built at a plant inFrance and will be equipped for the US market. TheSmart Fortwo will come in three trim levelsa Purebaseline model that starts under USD 12,000, a PassionCoupe that starts under USD 14,000 and a convertible

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that starts under USD 17,000. Consumers can place aUSD 99 refundable reservation for a production model onthe smartusa.com . So far, more than 30,000 reserva-tions have been received.

Fast Fashion | Snacks, cars, magazines. And fashion,of course! If you need to explain SNACK CULTURE tocolleagues who may not totally get it (yet), discussing thesuccess of the Zaras and H&Ms of this world will proba-bly do the trick. Whether it s fast fashion s fast movingproduct cycle s, lo w prices, o r SNACK-style wear-only-a-few-times'. In fact, shopping for clothes increasingly re-sembles shopping for groceries.

The numbers are impressive: H&Ms turnover in 2006was SEK 68,400,000,000 (EUR 6.8 billion). Currently,H&M has 1,400+ stores in 28 c ountries . Most of its futureexpansion will take place in the USA, Spain, Italy, Ger-many, the UK and Canada. In 2007, H&M opened storesin Hong Kong and Shanghai, with a Tokyo store planned

for fall 2008. Zara is part of Spanish Inditex , which alsoincludes fashion chain Bershka. Zara s turnover (EUR5.35 billion in 2006) accounts for two-thirds of Inditex sturnover (EUR 8.2 billion in 2006). For the next years, thefocus of Inditex s expansion will be on Europe (outsidehome market Spain) and on Japan and China. Zara had990 stores in 62 countries at the end of last year, andexpects to have added another 130-140 before the endof this year.

Media | Described as "Rocketboom for Wall Street" and"Squawk Box meets Saturday Night Live", Wallstripfers stock advice in a format that's second nature toviewers who watch YouTube instead of CNBC. Wallstrip'sdaily videos are taped in New York, hosted by actressLindsay Campbell, and feature one public company inevery 3-minute online show. Wallstrip was founded inOctober 2006, aiming to be both sassy and serious whileteaching a new generation of investors to pick their ownstocks. The show was created by Howard Lindzon, whoruns an investment rm and hedge fund in Arizona and aventure capital fund in Toronto. Following Lindzon's per-sonal investment philosophy, the focus is on stocks at all-time highs, like Apple, Google and Toyota, analyzing whythey're strong and whether they'll continue to increase invalue. 'Man on the street' interviews add to Wallstrip's

informal vibe. The show has been voted one of the toppodcasts on iTunes, and is also distributed via socialvideo sites like Revver and YouTube. With enough VCbacking to wait and see how its own value will develop,Wallstrip is in no hurry to chase advertising revenues,focusing instead on building a dedicated followingvaluable eyeballs.

Wallstrip perfectly ts what Wired Magazine touted'snack-o-tainment' earlier this year (yes, that inspired usto come up with SNACK CULTURE). People are becom-ing accustomed to consuming large amounts of 'bite-size'content rather than the longer-form stuff of traditionalmedia. Online video clips, the iPod Nano, pay-per-viewTV shows on iTunes, short games played on handhelddevices, the list goes on. From Wired's article:

Music, television, games, movies, fashion: We now de-vour our pop culture the same way we enjoy candy andchipsin conveniently packaged bite-size nuggets madeto be munched easily with increased frequency andmaximum speed. Today, media snacking is a way of life.In the morning, we check news and tap out emails on our

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laptops. At work, we graze all day on videos and blogs.Back home, the giant HDTV is for 10-course feasting -say, an entire season of 24. In between are the morselsthat ll those whenever minutes, as your mobile phonecarrier calls them: a 30-second game on your NintendoDS, a 60-second webisode on your cell, a three-minutepodcast on your MP3 player. Like Homer Simpson at the

all-you-can-eat seafood buffet, we are capable of devour-ing whatever is in front of usdown to the plastic crusta-ceansand still go shing for Colbert clips at 3 am.

OK, so one more: 20 Minutes , which distributes morethan 2,3 million copies every weekday in Spain, Franceand Switzerland. Forget free newspapers that want 1hour of your time; 20 minutes is all consumers need toget their daily x.

Surprise | Infusing SNACK CULTURE with a dose ofsurprise, Singapore beverage company Out of the Box

caters to consumers who respond to "What would youlike to drink?" with a non-committal "anything" or "what-ever". The company has launched two complementarybrands: Anything and Whatever . Anything is zzy andcomes in six avors (Cola with Lemon, Apple, Fizz Up,Cloudy Lemon and Root Beer), while Whatever is non-carbonated (Ice Lemon Tea, Peach Tea, Jasmine GreenTea, White Grape Tea, Apple Tea, Chrysanthemum Tea).The surprise part? Consumers don 't know which avorthey're getting until they take a sip. Cans are simply la-beled Anything and Whatever, and the list of ingredientsis limited to generic wording. Judging from the buzz onSingapore forums, teens immediately got the conceptand are loving it. Surprise ts SNACK CULTURE well, asit satises the desire for the thrill, for discovery. Worthbringing a surprise to market in 2008, even if it's just aone-off, and even if only for creating a buzz.

People | SNACK CULTURE applies to more than con-sumption of goods and services. Consider Adult Friend-Finder , the casual encounters site now claiming morethan 19 million active members. (Real world) sex too hasnow become something that can be instantly gratied,with the help from millions of other willing and able paticipants. The rate before you date features add a levelof TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY , too.

Note: not everything will come in bite-size format. If only for themass-scale infrastructure that is needed to jet off countless susnack travelers, or to ship those millions of containers loaded withSNACK CULTURE goods and ingredients. So in addition to theever-sma ller, we re seeing the ever-bigger. In fact, 'biggest of thebiggest' is going to grab quite a few headlines in 200 8. Check out:

The Emma Mrsk was named in August 2007 atOdense Steel Shipyard, Denmark, and at 397 meterslong, 56 meters wide and at 11,000 TEU*, she and hersister vessels** are the largest container vessels in theworld. EMMA MRSK, and three of her sister vessels,are visiting the following ports: Algeciras, Bremerhaven,Hong Kong, Ningbo, Rotterdam, Suez Canal, TanjungPelepas, Yantian and Xiamen.

Singapore Airlines debuted the rst of its new A380airplanes last month. Singapore Airlines has conguredthe aircraft in a 471-seat layout, even though it has thepotential to hold 853 people in full economy class con-guration.

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* TEU stands for 'twenty-foot equivalent unit'; a measure of vol-ume based on the size of a container that is twenty feet long byeight feet wide by eight feet high.

** There will be a total of eight of these mammoth ships, with thelast one due for delivery to Mrsk Line in January 2008.

Oh, and then we haven't even discussed SNACK CULTURE inl-trating banking ( ING Direct , anyone?) or hotels (from Ginger Ho-tels to Yotel to Qbic )... Needless to say, we re truly looking for-ward to your transient, SNACK CULTURE innovations in 2008. Letus know, so that we can include them in our 2009 overview ;-)

SNACK CULTURE meets 'Instant Gratication 2.0': thegrowing number of sophisticated SEE-HEAR-BUY serv-ices that enable consumers to instantly purchase any-thing virtual they see or hear. Best example to watch in2008: the iTunes WiFi Music Store . How it works: whena user hears a particular song playing at his or her localStarbucks, he/she can instantly nd the artist, album andname of the track on his iPhone or iPod Touch. By tap-ping the Starbucks button in either device's main menu,the current song shows up, as well as the last ten songsplayed. They can be purchased and downloaded in-stantly via Starbucks' wi connection.

Amazon.com's just-launched Kindle , a digital book read-

ing device, is going after the same market for the written

word, with books and (international or niche) paper-based magazines as the most desirable 'must have rightnow' items. (We're not sure about charging for otherwisefree blogs, though ;-)

However, taking the SEE-HEAR-BUY trend one stepfurther is Midomi ; anyone who's ever had a song stuck inhis or her head (and who hasn't?) but was unable toplace the title or artist is bound to think Midomi pure gen-ius. Users need only sing, hum or whistle a few bars intotheir computer microphones, and this online search en-gine can match the tune against its ever-growing musicallibrary. The customer then has the option to purchase thetrack and can connect with others who share the same

musical interests. Currently available in six languagesand with more than two million licensed music tracks anda growing collection of user-created les, Midomi still haslots of potential for further enhancements, such as allow-ing for customers to call Midomi and download songsdire ctly to their mobile devices.

So... Who's going to build similar SEE-HEAR-BUY services in2008 for looking up movies, television shows and even commer-cials by just saying a few lines? And how will these instant grati-cation services further shape expectations among demanding,INFOLUSTY consumers? More on this in our January 2008 Brief-ing, which will highlight the EXPECTATION ECONOMY . Statuned ;-)

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Ah, the Online Revolution, the mega-trend that keeps on giving,one that single-handedly dominates the 'connecting sphere'. While Web 2.0 has already single-ha ndledly created young brands thatare now bigger an d more valua ble (at le ast o n paper) than many an old economy stalwart, Web 3.0 and 4.0 and 5.0 guaranteeenough motion for this innovation-orgasm to continue uninter-rupted for years to come. Five years ago, we introduced ONLINEOXYGEN as the engine behind all this excitement: control-cravingconsumers needing online access as much as they need oxygen.

Fast forward to 2008, when we would need a thousand pages/ screens to highlight every noteworthy online sub-trend and BigIdea to watch; the Joosts and Androids and Spores and order-ing burgers in Seoul by RFID and the hundreds of yet-unknownstart-ups that are about to make an appearance on TechCrunch .So instead, we'll look at a few developments that will spread andencourage ONLINE OXYGEN even further in the next few yearsto come.

If there's one device that's going to introduce another few hundredmillion people to the online world, it's the phone. And yes, initia-

tives like Google's Android and 'their bidding on the 700MHband' and WiMax and so on are denitely going to speed thingsup. We know this is not a new insight, and nor will it happen over-night in 2008, but if you're inclined to look beyond 2008, considerthis:

Right now, there are 2.7 billion mobile phones in use.

The number of worldwide mobile pho ne use rs is expected to grow to approximately 3.3 billion in 2011. TheAsia-Pacic region is expected to account for 47.9% ofglobal subscribers by 2011.

Globally, nearly 1 in 3 mobile subscribers will use amobile broadband connection by 2012. This will rep-resent over 1 billion users.

(Sources: Juniper, EITO, MIC, Strategy Analytics. )

2008 will also see a number of initiatives to bring (back) ONLINEOXYGEN to the last vestiges of ofine-ness, the pockets of thereal world that have managed to keep even regular mobile broad-band connections at bay (planes, trains, and automobiles any-

one?):

Even though Boeing discontinued its Connexion inightinternet service last year, don't count on consumers' insa-tiable demand to be online 24/7 to remain unmet forever.In fact, the problem wasn't passenger demand; thesatellite-based service was simply too expensive and tooheavy (weight equals cost in aviation). So Lufthansa andAmerican Airlines are among the rst airlines to bringback inight internet somewhere in 2008. Lufthansaworking with T-Mobile to bring back wi to its planes andwill also offer text messaging, e-mail and data access for

cell phones, but not phone calls.

American Airlines has signed up with AirCell and wiinitially test a broadband service on trans-Atlantic ightson its eet of 767s. Virgin America has also teamed upwith AirCell to offer broadband internet services for pas-sengers traveling in the continental US sometime in2008. The service will allow passengers to go online us-ing either Virgin America's Red inight entertainments ystem or their own wi-enable d devic es while in ight

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Virgin America will launch the service across its entireeet of aircraft.

Meanwhile, Australian carrier Qantas will offer wi andelectrical outlets on its new A380 and renovated 747-400s in the second half of 2008.

European high speed train operator Thalys will provide

wireless broadband internet access to passengers travel-ing in Comfort 1 and Comfort 2 between Paris, Brussels,Amsterdam and Cologne by 2008. It will be the rst inter-national high speed train to provide this service acrossEuropean borders. A consortium, consisting of NokiaSiemens Networks, satellite operator 21NET and Bel-gium broadband cable operator Telenet, will com bine satellite, GPRS and UMTS technologies with wirelessnetworks similar to wi hotspots to provide a continuousinternet connection on board trains traveling across theborders at speeds of 300 km/h. The rst Thalys trainsequipped with wi will run commercially in the next fewweeks.

Autonet Mobile is a wireless internet service designedto maintain seamless connectivity while driving. Theservice turns a car into a wi hotspot, allowing multiplepeople to connect their own wi-enabled computers tothe internet. Autonet runs over both 3G and 2.5G cellulardata networks. Users simply plug the in-car router intotheir cigarette car lighter, connect their wi device(s) andsurf the net. Autonet Mobile claims to be effective onmore than 95% of roads in the US. Avis is the rst corpo-rate customer of Autonet, rebranding the service as AvisConnect . Avis Connect is currently available at SanFrancisco, Las Vegas, Newark, New York LaGuardia,Chicago O Hare and Chicago Midway, Dallas/Ft. Worth,Miami, West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale airports, aswell as at a San Francisco Avis ofce. The cost of theAvis Connect service is USD 10.95 per day. For individ-ual users, the equipment will cost US D 399 plus monthlycosts.

Sometimes, the Next Big Thing can be right under your nose.Consider the online riches to be reaped in 2008 from... ecommerce ! Sure, it's been around for years and years, but prepare fora forceful 'sequel'. After all, never before have so many consum-ers been willing to overcome security threats, still shockingly bad

(or boring) design, and delivery screwups. In other words, 2008could be a goldmine for smart e-tailers, who, if they get their acttogether, could make billions and billions of dollars, euros, pounds,yen, kroner, lira and rand that are impatiently waiting to be spentby web-savvy consumers around the world.So iIn 2008, spend blood, sweat and tears on improving yourecommerce presence; the pay-off will be immediate, and far moresubstantial than investing in Web 2.0 me-toos!

We'll let the numbers do (some of) the talking:

In the US, ecommerce is expected to reap sales of USD259 billion this year, representing an 18% gain over2006. The online retail industry still only accounts for 7%of total retail sales, excluding travel. But certain catego-ries represent a much higher percentage, like computers,where online sales make up 44% of the total. The foodand beverage category, by contrast, represents only 1%.(Source: Shop.org.)

Forrester estimates that in the US, almost USD 400 bil-lion of store sales or 16% of total retail sales aredirectly inuenced by the web as consumers researchproducts online and purchase them ofine. This will ex-pand at a 17% compounded annual growth rate over thenext ve years, resulting in more than USD 1 trillion ofstore sales by 2012.

In the UK, online shopping sales exceeded GBP 4 billiona month for the rst time in July 2007. On a 12-monthbasis, online sales are up 36%. (Source: Brand Repub-lic.)

South Korea's ecommerce sales soared more than 26%in 2006, thanks to increased spending on children'sgoods, fashion and sports-related items. Combinedecommerce transactions reached 13.45 trillion won (USD14.29 billion). (Source: Yonhap.)

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Now, if you want some tried and tested tips and examples of howto make the most of your ecommerce presence in 2008, includingcollaborative ltering 2.0, upselling and cr oss-selling, establishingofine outposts f or your online brand, real world pick-up services,luxury e-tailing, group buying services and more, you will have topurchase the 2008 Trend Report . But even if y ou decide to stick

just to this Brieng, we hope ECOMMERCE | THE SEQUEL is on

your radar now!

OK, one more ONLINE OXYGEN subtrend, if not sub-sub-trend:our two cents on social networking. As discussed in earlier brief-ings, nichication based on interest, background, afliation, hob-bies, travel destinations and so on is now a fact. In fact, expect

experienced social networkers to not only have a Facebook, Xing,Bebo, Linkedin or MySpace prole, but to also spend time onsmaller networking sites (from Mesh Tennis to Yideoz toGoodreads to Trupoli to KLM Airlines' Club China to (soon)DanceJam ) when things get, well, focused.

So what's next for 2008? One thing to watch is social networks ofany kind going local, if not hyperlocal. Neighborhoods. Streets.Buildings. Floors. Like many subtrends, this one isn't spankingnew, in fact, we dubbed this opportunity NETHOODS ( "neighbor-hoods, streets and even apartment buildings will get theirown internet and intranet sites: not just to promote the manyqualities they have to offer their (prospective) inhabitants, butalso to provide communal interaction and localized services" )in 2003, but sometimes timing is everything, and now that net-working on a grander scale is in place, connecting locals if notneighbors is just a business opportunity waiting to happen. To getyou going, h ere's what our sist er publication Springwise NewBusiness Ideas recently wrote about LifeAt:

Launched in March 2007, LifeAt offers property manag-ers a turnkey solution for launching a 'nethood' for theirbuilding. So far, over 335 buildings have joined. The

property websites are private and password protected,for use by residents only. Besides offering a platformwhere residents can meet and communicate, sites alsoallow users to post classied ads and rate and reviewlocal businesses. In addition, property managers postnews about vacancies and maintenance work. By con-necting people who tend to share not only a building but

also similar socioeconomic backgrounds, and offeringthem a source of hyperlocal information, LifeAt is creat-ing valuable links between cyberspace and 'meatspace'.The concept is likely to nd a wider audience now thatpeople of all ages are getting used to sharing informationonline. Free for residents, LifeAt charges buildings a one-off fee of around USD 6,000 to create and launch a site.One to set up in other countries? And how about a ver-sion focusing specically on ofce buildings? Also checko u t N e i g h b o r o l o g y , N e i g h b o u r s . i e , antownconnect.com .

Yours to run with in 2008, and yes, if you do this well (just think ofthe local advertising opportunities), Google Local or Yellow Pages

will buy you. Don't forget, all politics and business is local ;-)

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The reason so many people fell for our ECO-FATIGUE spoof lastmonth (rest assured, we'll never spoof anyone again ;-) is that aneco-backlash is actually quite plausible. After all, while millions ofconsumers are rmly rooted in the aforementioned ECO-SPHERE, millions of others are not. But let's focus on those whoare now getting their status x from consuming in a more sustain-

able manner.

Over the past few years, the ECO trend has moved from ECO-UGLY (ugly, over-priced, low performance alternatives to shiny'traditional sphere' products and services) to ECO-CHIC (eco-friendly stuff that actually looks as nice and cool as the less re-sponsible version) to ECO-ICONIC in 2008: "Eco-friendly goodsand services sporting bold, iconic design and markers, thathelp their eco-conscious owners to visibly tout their eco-credentials to peers."

So what does ECO-ICONIC look like? How about the new HondaFCX Clarity, or the Mitsubishi I:

Honda's FCX Clarity is a fuel cell vehicle that runs onelectricity powered by hydrogen, and emits only watervapor and heat. It will be certied by the California AirResources Board as a Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) andby the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as aTier-2 Bin 1, the lowest possible federal EPA emissionrating. It will also receive an EPA Inherently Low Emis-sion Vehicle rating due to its entirely sealed fuel system.It will qualify for accessing High Occupancy Vehicle lanesin California with just one person on board. As the fuelcell technology was developed by Honda exclusively for

the FCX Clar ity, and was not retrotted to an existingmodel, Honda's engineers "cleared away all precon-ceived notions of automobile design, challenging them-selves to discover the new possibilities that can only berealized with the fuel cell vehicle." Our verdict: the FCXwill be more recognizable than the Prius, making an evenmore telling statement about the owner's 'STATUS

SPHERE'.

Another zero-emission car with iconic potential is theMitsubishi i , rst exhibited at the 40th Tokyo MotorShow, this September. From the brochure: "The 'fast-back' exterior design expresses the quickness of the carwith an appearance that is pleasing and lively. Geometry,metallic materials and body epitomize the futuristic elec-tric vehicle. The light green exterior marks another asso-ciation with nature. The pearlescent paint, which shineswhen hit with direct light, brings feelings of advanced,futuristic technology and environmental peace of mind."

When designing your 2008 or 2009 eco-product line, don't mirrorwhat's already out there in the non-eco world, but be bold, original,and yes, iconic.

There's also going to be some serious ECO-EMBEDDED activitytaking place in 2008, with governments taking the lead. After all,corporations and consumers good intentions don t always cut itSo expect 2008 to see much more of the 'fourth R', aka regulation (remember: reduce, reuse, recycle..) For more on this, seeour 2008 Trend Report .

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Consider this for 2008: if consumers value the authentic, the prac-tical, the exclusive, and they're also forever looking to make lifemore convenient, even save some time, then why persist in bom-barding them with your mega-million dollar/euro/pound, one-wayadvertising campaigns? Instead of stalking potential and existingcustomers (which is not very 2008), why not assist them in smart,relevant way s, making the most of yo ur products and whatever itis your brand stands for? Remember, giving is the new taking ;-)

Think baby food or diaper brands opening a lounge area, includingdiaper-changing facilities and microwaves, for parents and theiroffspring at a major airport or in malls. Or a bank installing secure,high-tech lockers next to the beach, so beachgoers can safelystore their belongings when going for a swim or walk.

Now, we're not branding gurus, and we're not suggesting thatBRAND BUTLERS is the new (or rehashed) 'lovemark', but if thefollowing examples don't inspire you to do something truly usefuland new with (a small part of) your advertising budget in 2008,then we don't know what will:

Continuing the tradition of using shipping containers tohouse all things pop-up, a spotting from the Netherlandscaught our eye. At the Lowlands music festival, jeansbrand Wrangler offered festival-goers a much-neededservice: laundry. At 18 meters wide and 9 meters high,the Wrangler Laundromat was hard to miss. Peopledropped off their mud-encrusted laundry and were sent atext message the moment it was ready. No change ofclothes? Wrangler came up with a generous solution tothat problem, too: they handed out black overalls to any-one who used the laundromat. Like most other pop-upventures, Wrangler Laundromat is an exercise in experi-ential marketing, aimed at surprising and delighting con-

sumers in a way that magazine ads or TV spots usuallycan't.

Wrangler isn't the only brand to have tackled dirty laundryat pop festivals. In Slovenia, home appliance manufac-turer Zanussi-Electrolux has been offering free laundryservices at Rock Oto ec for several years and hascleaned thousands of muddy t-shirts and jeans. Afterpicking up their spotless garments, visitors are given a"Dear Mom, I'm clean" postcard to send home.

Acknowledging that traveling with infants can be a strainon both parents and children, Amsterdam's SchipholAirport opened the Schiphol Babycare Lounge by Nutri-cia last summer (2007). Located in the airport's maindeparture terminal, the lounge is (as the name indicates)a co-branding effort by Schiphol and Nutricia, a Dutchbaby food brand. Designed by MV Architects , thlounge is serenely stylish and geared to ensuring a

baby's well-being while en route. T he 90 m2

area features seven circular 'cabins', each of which can be closedoff with sheer curtains to create a personal zone. Thebooths have comfortable circular seating curving arounda crib. Lights in the lounge are dimmed for sleeping ba-bies, with individual reading lights for parents. For infantsthat need a bit of distraction, each booth has a gadgetthat projects colored lights onto the ceiling, just above thecrib. Other facilities include a changing area, baby bathsand a microwave for heating food. Although Nutriciahasn't stocked a pantry with samples of their own babyfood, the brand does offer tips on baby nutrition and trav-eling with children. The space is open daily from 6 am to

10 pm, accessible free of charge to parents and childrenaged 03.

Also check out Turkish diaper brand Evy Baby , which reaching out to parents by placing changing rooms inTurkish shopping malls. The diap er manufacturer haalready installed 22 changing rooms in Istanbul, Ankara,Izmir, Antalya, Adana and Mersin. Each clean and cheer-ful room has a changing table and comfortable chairs fornursing. And, of course, samples of Evy Baby's products.

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More on sanitary sto ps meeting BRA ND BUTLERS:Charmin restrooms . Due to its success last year (closeto 430,000 people made use of the service), Procter andGamble's bathroom tissue brand has just reopened itstemporary 20-stall restroom in the heart of Times Squareat 1540 Broadway, between 45th and 46th Streets. Openuntil 31 December 2007, the facilities offer clean, deluxe

bathrooms, baby changing stations, stroller parking, seat-ing areas and of course lots of luxury toilet and bath tis-sue (including Ch armin's new product lineup, which in-cludes a choice between Ultra Soft and Ultra Strong ver-sions). Specially designed, water-conserving toilets andfaucets are provided by Kohler, while cleanliness is guar-anteed by the presence of plenty of bathroom attendants.

Hotel chain Le Mridien is marketing itself as a destina-

tion for art enthusiasts. As part of its Unlock Art pro-gram, it has cut deals with local contemporary culturalinstitutions to allow hotel guests free entry by presentingtheir artist-designed room key cards and it has hiredmodern art curator Jrme Sans to organize special ex-hibits. Partner arts institutions include the Yerba BuenaCenter for the Arts in San Francisco, the Museum ofContemporary Arts (MOCA) in Shanghai, the ViennaSuccession, Nouveau Muse National de Monaco, Gal-leriiizu Contemporary Arts Centre in Kuala Lumpur, andAbout Studio/About Caf in Bangkok. Ultimately, the goalis for every Le Mridien hotel worldwide to have partner-

ships with leading cultural institutions. Austrian Airlines offers passengers free entry to culturalinstitutions in Vienna with their boarding cards. Passen-gers traveling with the airline can keep the tear-off stubfrom their used boarding cards (along with a photo ID) forfree entry to ve museums in Vienna.

Again, there is no brand that cannot apply the BRAND BUTLERStrend in 2008. Being relevant (gasp), assisting and facilitating po-tential and existing customers when they truly appreciate it (asopposed to inundating them with advertising) will go down well.Promise. More examples in our 2008 Trend Report .

Let's have a more in-depth look at the 'participation sphere'. Foryears, we've been going on about GENERATION C , with the mainly representing 'content'. In other words, digital creation. Pic-tures. Movies. Blogs. Music.

It's a mainstream trend now, one that keep s giving , with millions oconsumers uploading their creative endeavors online, and tens ofmillions of others enjoying the fruits of their creativity. User-generated content, at least in the online world, has grown fromteenage hobby to an almost equal contender to established enti-ties in news, media, entertainment and craft.

And yes, as predicted, GENERATION C is increasingly beingwarded for its output. In fact, with some members of GENERA-TION C attracting mass audiences, there's real money to be

made. In its rst year, video sharing site Revver , which matchesevery video uploaded with advertisements and splits the ad reve-nue 50/50 with the video's creator and then shares 20% off the topwith the video's distributor, has paid USD 1 million to video crea-tors and sharers.

So what's next for GENERATION C? With (in particular younger)consumers having come to expect to be able to create anythingthey want as long as it is digital, and to customize and personalizemany physical goods, the next frontier will be digitally designingproducts from scratch, then having them turned into real physicagoods as well. In fact, expect MIY | MAKE IT YOURSELF (anthen SIY | SELL IT YOURSELF) ventures to become increasinglysophisticated in the next 12 months:

http://www.trendwatching.com/trendreporthttp://www.aua.com/at/eng/about_flight/boardingpasshttp://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=104574&p=irol-newsArticleMain&ID=1079885http://www.revver.com/http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/gen-cash.htmhttp://www.trendwatching.com/http://www.trendwatching.com/http://www.revver.com/http://www.revver.com/http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/gen-cash.htmhttp://www.trendwatching.com/trends/gen-cash.htmhttp://www.trendwatching.com/trends/gen-cash.htmhttp://www.trendwatching.com/trends/gen-cash.htmhttp://trendwatching.com/trends/GENERATION_C.htmhttp://trendwatching.com/trends/GENERATION_C.htmhttp://www.trendwatching.com/trendreporthttp://www.trendwatching.com/trendreporthttp://www.aua.com/at/eng/about_flight/boardingpasshttp://www.aua.com/at/eng/about_flight/boardingpasshttp://www.lemeridien.com/http://www.lemeridien.com/http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=104574&p=irol-newsArticleMain&ID=1079885http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=104574&p=irol-newsArticleMain&ID=1079885


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New Zealand-based Ponoko (which works like aCafePress for 3D objects) is offering consumers a newway to turn their creative ideas into real-world objects.After uploading their own design to the website (in EPSle format ), or choosing a free design, users can choosefrom a variety of materials. Ponoko then runs the design through a laser cutter. Besides offering access to profes-sional tools to manufacture products, Ponoko also helpsusers bring their products to market. Once they re readyto sell, members can add photos of their product to theirprole page, together with a description and pricing in-formation. Products can either be delivered to the de-signer for assembly before being shipped to customers,or self-assembly products can be sent directly to the end-customer. Ponoko currently only offers two-dimensionalsheet cutting, which limits designs to at objects or three-dimensional objects that can be assembled from atpieces, but plans for 3D printing are in the works.

As well as being a manufacturing platform, Ponoko also

serves as a community where edgling one-off fabrica-tors and designers can exchange ideas and help solveeach other s problems. The larger goal, according toPonoko, is to be a catalyst that helps bring personalmanufacturing of individualized products to the masses.

Swedish design group FRONT has launched SketchFurniture , which is a method to materialize freehandsketches. Pen strokes made in the air are recorded withMotion Capture, and the resulting 3-D patterns are outputdigitally to a laser sintering machine. Over several days,the machine produces t he object by shaping and harden-ing 0.1-mm layers of liquid plastic. Sketch Furniture is onview and on sale (about USD 10,500 per piece) at theBarry Friedman Gallery in New York.

Fab Lab Bcn (Barcelona) is part of the worldwide net-work of Fab Labs, an initiative of MIT Center for Bits andAtoms, and provides a laser-cutter, water jet, 3D printer,mini-mill and other machines for participants to use. FabLab Bcn's 4x8 Workshops focus on creating objects from4x8 feet sheets of plywood using digital tools. One of FabLab's initiators is Neil Gershenfeld, professor at MIT andauthor of FAB: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop .

Other Fab Labs have been opened in rural India, north-ern Norway, Ghana, Boston and Costa Rica.

Even sweeter? Designing something and then have it made athome (which reminds us of INSPERIENCES ):

The Desktop Factory 3D printer , with a list price oUSD 4,995, uses an inexpensive halogen light sourceand drum printing technology to build robust parts from

composite plastic powder, layer by layer. Desktop Fac-tory envisages that within three years, Desktop Factory's3D printers will be affordable for home use.

No! Not another crowd-esque trend! Don't worry; CROWD MIN-

ING is simply a moniker for how we see crowd-based businessconcepts evolving in 2008. But rst let's take a look at some of the'crowd pleasers' we enjoyed tracking this year:

Remember SellaBand , which lets fans sponsor unknownbands and artists by buying the band's shares or parts?(Once a band has raised USD 50,000 by selling 5,000parts, SellaBand sets up a professional recording ses-sion. The recorded songs are sold to new fans, and boththe artists and owners of their parts (Believers) receive ashare of the income generated through music sales andadvertising revenues.) They're certainly having fun: a fewweeks ago, Believers who own parts in Cubworld,Nemesea, Second Person and Maitreya received theirrst payout, which was transferred to their Believer Bal-ance. While the rst payout wasn't massive (in Sella-Band's words: "E nough to buy a beer at the pub, ormaybe even a rou nd or two"), it's a sign that SellaBand'scrowdfunding and crowdrewarding model is working asplanned. Ad revenues are expected to grow over the nextfew months, as SellaBand is working on deals with media

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agencies for countries outside their main three mar-ketsthe Netherlands, United States and United King-dom. One to watch in 2008.

MyFootballClub , which launched in May 2007, recentlyannounced that they've agreed to buy a controlling stakein Ebbseet United FC , with the option to buy the theremaining share in the future. To refresh your memory: inless than three months, MyFootballClub signed up50,000 people willing to pay a GBP 35 membership feeto buy and manage a soccer team with a crowd of otherdedicated fans. MyFootballClub members will vote onplayer selection, transfers and all other major decisions.When it got down to picking a team to buy, MyFootball-Club was approached by nine football club owners andalso sought contact w ith s evera l others. Some of thecrowd's favorite clubs didn't make the cut, because they

had too much debt or were too regional. One of the rea-sons for picking Ebbseet United is that it stands a goodchance to reach the national Football League. We'll de-nitely keep score of this one in 2008.

P2P banking pioneers Zopa and Prosper are still doingwell, in fact, P2P banking is an excellent example of howfast a new concept can spread, and also how much op-portunity remains in turning consumers into mini-banks.Quick recap: peer-to-peer lending marketplaces allowpeople to lend money directly to others, cutting out banksand other middlemen. Which means better interest ratesfor borrowers and higher returns for lenders. Described

as eBay for loans, the P2P money exchanges work asfollows: borrowers list loa n details and a personal prole,and lenders bid on the loan. Lowest interest rates win.Lenders bid in in crements and minimize their risk by bid-ding on numerous loans. A study by Online Banking Re-port predicts that by 2011 person-to-person lending in theUS could surpass 100,000 loans a year, worth more thanUSD 1 billion. Unlike eBay, which can connect buyersand sellers from around the world, peer-to-peer lending isgenerally bound by local nancial regulations. Which

means there's ample room for national or regional ver-sions. Besides Zopa and Prosper, here s what was outthere last time we looked, from the promising to the ob-scure, and from the established to coming soon :

Smava elolly.de PPdai

Circle Lending Lendary Boober CommunityLend Peermint Lending Club Wiseclerk.com Fairrates Nexx GlobeFunder

So... lots of innovation going on, yet there s plenty oroom for a second player in all of these markets; and

dozens of countries don t yet have a P2P banking brand.And what about the many other nancial concepts wait-ing to be explored, from crowd investments (check outYou Be The VC ) to insurance plays? Will more consum-ers become comfortable with these concepts? Will bigbanks step in? This one too is all yours in 2008 ;-)

Now, let's go back to CROWD MINING: when co-creating, co-funding, co-buying, co-designing, co-managing *anything* with'crowds', the emphasis in 2008 will move from just getting themasses in, to mining those crowds for the rough and polisheddiamonds. How to do that? Shower them with love, respect andheaps of money, of cours e. Two examples, from Netix and Goo-gle, setting the standards for CROWD MINING in 2008:

Still going strong: Netix, the DVD rental site, is offering aGrand P rize of USD 1 million to the individual who cansubstanti ally improve the accuracy of predictions abouthow muc h someo ne is going to love a movie based ontheir mov ie preferences. From their site (great copy if youever wa nt to set up something similar for your ownbrand): Netix is a ll about connecting people to the mov-ies they l ove. To help custo mers nd those movies, we

develope d our w orld-class movie recommendation sys-tem: Cin ematch. Now there are a lot of interesting alter-native a pproaches to h ow Cinematch works that wehaven t tried. We re curious whether any of these canbeat Cin ematch b y making better predictions.So, we t hought we d make a contest out of nding theanswer. It s 'easy', really. We provide you with a lot ofanonymous rating data, and a prediction accuracy barthat is 10% better than what Cinematch can do on thesame training data set. If you develop a system that we

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judge most beats that bar on the qualifying test set weprovide, you get serious money and the bragging rights.But (and you knew there would be a catch, right?) only ifyou share your method with us and describe to the worldhow you did it and why it works. To keep things interest-ing, in addition to the Grand Prize, we re also offering aUSD 50,000 Progress Prize each year the contest runs.

It goes to the team whose system we judge shows themost improvement over the previous year s best accu-racy bar on the same qualifying test set. No improve-ment, no prize."To keep things transparent, progress can be monitoredon an online leaderboard . So far, more than 27,000 con-testants from 161 countries have submitted theirguesses, with the winner for 2007 being Team KorBell fortheir October 2007 su bmission , achieving an 8.43% im-provement over Cinematch, which netted them the USD50,000 Progress Prize. Now, they got close, but not closeenough, which means the USD 1 million grand prize isstill up for grabs ;-)

The Open Handset Alliance's most prominent member,

Google, is developing Android : the rst complete, open,and free mobile platform. To support the quest for appsthat surprise and delight mobile users, to be created bydevelopers a round the w orld, Google has launched theAndroid Developer Challenge, which will provide USD 10

million in awards for innovative applications. The rst partof the challenge (submissions are accepted from January2 through March 3, 2008), will reward 50 entries withUSD 25,000 to fund further development. Those selectedwill then be eligible for even greater recognition via tenUSD 275,000 awards and ten USD 100,000 awards.

So... What's your brand's biggest challenge (or opportunity), andwhat kind of dough would you be willing to dole out to have bril-liant crowds solve it for you in 2008?

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Sure, there's much, much more in 2008 that's worthy of yourattention. But for now, take any of the eight trends above, sit downwith your colleagues and/or clients, and gure out how, in 2008, tocome up with at least one new premium product, one 'snack' ver-sion of an existing product, two or three major tweaks to yourecommerce presence, one eco-iconic innovation, two or threemarketing campaigns that are about aiding consumers, not stalk-ing them, introducing one MIY concept, and asking the rest of theworld for help with at least one of your company's major opportuni-ties or challenges.

For some help, don't forget our 'How to Apply Trends' checklist:

1. Vision Do these trends have the potential to inuenceor shape your company's vision?

2. New business concepts Can these trends point you tonew business concepts, or entirely new ventures?3. New products, services, experiences Can these

trends inspire you to add 'something' new for a certaincustomer segment?

4. Mark eting, advertising, PR Will these trends help youspeak the language of those consumers that are already'living' a trend?

For more tips on how to applytrends, please check out our TrendTips section.

And, heywe're counting on theentrepreneurs amongst you to turnsome of these predictions into self-fullling prophecies in 2008!

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