TRENDSACTIVE
Koningslaan 17
3583 GD Utrecht
The Netherlands

info@trendsactive.com

Phone: +31(0)30 2544 448 

TRENDSACTIVE is alive and kicking since ‘06. It was founded by Rene Maas and Kees Elands, who both have a background in trendwatching, design, marketing and business strategy. They also run Communication Agency Input, which they founded in 2003.

TRENDSACTIVE is located in the centre of Utrecht. Which lies spot on in the middle of  Holland which lies in the middle of Europe, which is - arguably - the middle of the world. Just to say, we like to be in the middle of things.

TRENDSACTIVE delivers tailor-made trend consultancy, concepts and product development based on international socio-cultural trend research.

1. INSIGHTS
Filter and simplify international trend research (socio-cultural)

2. INTERPRETATION
Interpretation of insights (clients and ours)

3. IMAGINATION
Concept development, consultancy

Yes, we do like mind numbing statistics and intelligent academic theories; but we love using creativity to translate this theory into practical designs.
 
We are not entertainers who’ll show you some cool slides while you’re on ‘motivation weekend’. We take our clients and ourselves seriously. 

We did projects for:

RENE MAAS / BUSINESS DIRECTOR
In the mid nineties Rene (1965) was the Godfather of guerilla marketing at Nike Europe. After being head of marketing at Audi and brand director at Lowe, Rene left the multinational galaxy. With his prodigy Kees Elands he started his own marketing & communication agency: Input. In 2006 they founded TRENDSACTIVE. With his elaborate business expertise in the multinational world, Rene is an invaluable asset to the TRENDSACTIVE process; he, like no one else, knows the practical business side of trend implementation.

KEES ELANDS / CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Kees (1976) is a classically schooled art student. Kees - as a true member of Generation Y - wanted to do more than just designing. He started working as a trendwatcher for Signs of the Time (Carl Rohde) and he developed a business plan for a clothing brand based on trends. This landed him a job as freelance art director/strategist for Kuyichi. Around the same time he met Rene Maas, who loved his ideas straight away. They met at the crossroads where creativity, strategy, business knowledge and trends meet up. If Kees was religious, he'd believe in Creativity—but never Creativity for creativity's sake, always combined with Strategy. To Kees, TRENDSACTIVE is his church, where Creativity, Strategy and Trends come together—in perfect harmony.

THIMON DE JONG / RESEARCH DIRECTOR
If you aspire to become a trendwatcher, Thimon (1977) strongly suggests to study Cultural Science as he did. He graduated on subcultures and extreme sports. Following that line he started working as a journalist for several extreme sports mags, which led to a job as Editor-in-Chief for RELOAD magazine. Thimon is a strong believer in interdisciplinary thinking and having an interdisciplinary career, which is why he started working as a trendwatcher as well. First for Signs of the Time (Carl Rohde) and then for FreedomLab Future Studies. In 2007 he joined TRENDSACTIVE where he feels completely at home leading the research pack. He currently works on a ‘Trend Masterplan’, of which he hopes it will be the Dead Sea Scrolls of the 21st century. On the side, Thimon works as a freelance photographer & writer for various magazines on music, extreme sports, travel and trends.

“I started working as a trendwatcher seven years ago. Over the years I've given countless trend presentations. The trends were always well received, but companies kept asking me what they could do with them: What did this trend mean for their business?

Of course I answered. That is — I tried. Over the years, I grew frustrated with trying. I wanted business questions answered in a relevant and practical way.

That’s why I started TRENDSACTIVE, an agency that specializes in the interpretation of trends. After two years of working on bridging the gap between theory and practice, we now CAN answer those questions.” :)

Kees Elands
Creative director & Partner TRENDSACTIVE

Just like every other agency, we have a network of specialists with whom we collaborate on a regular basis.

We work with:
trendgurus
fashionista’s
digital natives
asia experts
sociologists
community specialists
etc.

Depending on the question we get, we put our network to good use.

We are young, we are passionate and we are experienced. TRENDSACTIVE is a mix of people with CREATIVE and BUSINESS expertise in the field of business strategy and international research. This unique combination is the strength of our organization and makes us stand out from our competitors.

We always start with YOUR business question(s). This can be on anything; we work from long term business strategy all the way to inspirational product design. In order to answer your question, we need YOUR know-how (brand insights, target group, branch knowledge etc). We add this to OUR selection of trend research that is most relevant for your brand and question(s).

Together we then ‘trendslate’  this info into practical, tailor-made inspiration that is ready to use. The result: YOUR strategy, product or communication will be loaded with a deeper meaning, get rooted in society and will have a stronger connection to what is happening in the world. You will stand out from your competitors. Just like us!

We keep a constant tap on the world’s best trend research. We:
- read academic books
- buy international trend research
- visit seminars
- keep the web under surveillance

We then:
- cut away all the trend wabble-babble
- summarize the remainder
- reformulate the best trends into clear, practical language

It is VERY important to point out we focus on socio-cultural trends. These trends have long-term value and can be applied to any business.

Unfortunately, we cannot show a lot of our work, as most of it is confidential or long-term work in progress. But to illustrate a little more of what we do, these are some questions we answered from our clients.

“How can we use and implement trends effectively in our global business strategy?”
RESULT: Strategy development / general trend presentation / tailor made socio-cultural presentations / concept development for marketing and design / moodboards & designbriefings / trend application consultancy

“What are the latest global trends in sustainability and how can we implement these in our strategy and products for the US market?”
RESULT:  Strategy development / sustainability research / tailor made presentation (animation/movie)

“Inspire our decision makers on how to apply trends to create new tv concepts and formats.”
RESULT: Strategy development / general trend presentation / tailor made socio-cultural presentations / concept development for tv formats / trend application consultancy

SOME DETAILS OF MARKETING / PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

SOME DETAILS OF RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS