From Trendwatch comes a list of 10 trends to watch in the coming year (click for full list), presented here in outline form:
BUSINESS AS UNUSUAL
Forget the recession: the societal changes that will dominate 2010 were set in motion way before we temporarily stared into the abyss.
URBANY
Urban culture is the culture. Extreme urbanization, in 2010, 2011, 2012 and far beyond will lead to more sophisticated and demanding consumers around the world.
REAL TIME REVIEWS
Whatever it is you’re selling or launching in 2010, it will be reviewed ‘en masse’, live, 24/7.
(F)LUXURY
Closely tied to what constitutes status (which is becoming more fragmented), luxury will be whatever consumers want it to be over the next 12 months.
MASS MINGLING
Online lifestyles are fueling and encouraging ‘real world’ meet-ups like there’s no tomorrow, shattering all cliches and predictions about a desk-bound, virtual, isolated future.
ECO-EASY
To really reach some meaningful sustainability goals in 2010, corporations and governments will have to forcefully make it ‘easy’ for consumers to be more green, by restricting the alternatives.
TRACKING & ALERTING
Tracking and alerting are the new search, and 2010 will see countless new INFOLUST services that will help consumers expand their web of control.
EMBEDDED GENEROSITY
Next year, generosity as a trend will adapt to the zeitgeist, leading to more pragmatic and collaborative donation services for consumers.
PROFILE MYNING
With hundreds of millions of consumers now nurturing some sort of online profile, 2010 will be a good year to introduce some services to help them make the most of it (financially), from intention-based models to digital afterlife services.
MATURALISM
2010 will be even more opinionated, risqué, outspoken, if not ‘raw’ than 2009; you can thank the anything-goes online world for that. Will your brand be as daring?
The emoeba version of the list distills it to 5 (or 6) points to consider in the coming year to make your business more successful—or to make the launch of a new business/brand/extension successful:
Be local.
Be sustainable.
Be wired.
Be personable.
Be unique.
Be bold.
To constantly monitor the heartbeat of the cultural zeitgeist, emoeba keep our fingers on the wrist of www.trendwatching.com (one of the world’s leading trend firms, which [plug] sends out its free, monthly Trend Briefings to more than 160,000 subscribers worldwide. [/plug])