We are in the middle of the rise of a new visual culture. Especially the younger generations (the millennials and the digital natives) are changing the way they behave because of this visualization: they think visually, they learn in images and they long for innovative visual concepts. A way to connect with this younger generations through visuals is for example by playing with visuals or by using iconic images from their childhood.

Another interesting way of using visual culture is hidden communication. One example is translating brand logo’s (see how we used hidden communication for brand logo’s here). Another example is an ad by Spain’s ANAR Foundation, aimed at children suffering from abuse by adults. The advertisement uses a lenticular lens that displays different messages to an adult and a child looking at the ad. The adult sees a general warning about child abuse, the children see a message uring them to seek help with a number to dial. The lenticular lens only allows the message to be seen from below a certain hight, giving a child a hidden message and an opportunity to seek help without alerting their abuser.

TrendsActive developed a table runner for Fairminds, a fair trade co-creation platform in the Netherlands. Fairminds asked TrendsActive to create a giveaway for World Fairtrade Day. The table runner, Gespreksstof, is now available at WAAR-shops and Wereldwinkels and has been based on the trend connected society. In our connected society, it is becoming more and more difficult to disconnect and leave our phones off. Whether it is at the office, during the car ride home, in a restaurant with friends or during a holiday, we cannot switch off (an earlier post about this can be found here).

With this in mind, we designed a table runner for Fairminds. Our dinners and conversations are getting more digital and we can use some help to relax, have a nice meal, drink some wine and chat away. Without the constant distraction of our smartphones. The table runner is filled with conversation starters, funny facts and even mini quizzes. Because what suits better with a great wine and a nice dinner then a good conversation?

*Fairminds is a fair trade co-creation platform in the Netherlands. It aims to get young consumers (18-28) to participate in fair trade consumption, to co-create with fair trade producers and to activate others to start consuming fair trade products. TrendsActive has been working with Fairminds for a while. For example, TrendsActive developed their brand identity, name, marketing communication, strategy and online platform and worked on projects such as The Best Rice Dish and the DYO Papercraft.

Digitalization has fundamentally changed society. We are connected to everyone and everything and we are constantly ‘on’. Information is available and accessible at any place and time. Even when we don’t want or need it. The availability of information has a lot of benefits, but the amount of content that is launched at us every day through our social networks, news sites and mobile devices can be quite overwhelming. The abundance of content has led to overwhelmed and stressed consumers that have trouble finding relevant content.

Lately, there have been several attempts of filtering information and offering this information to consumers in manageable amounts. One of those initiatives is Summly, an app that simplifies information (and was build by a seventeen year old high schooler). Summly uses a natural algorithm that summarizes news messages in sentences with less than four hundred characters. Since it’s release, the app has been downloaded more than one million times. The app has received an award for Apple’s Best Apps of 2012 and has recently been acquired by Yahoo!.

Even though the growth in availability of information caused by the internet is great, there is a growing need in filtering the abundance. The popularity of Summly and other programs alike, shows that consumers are looking for help in filtering the enormous amount of information and content they receive on a daily basis.

Together with the Utrecht School of Governance, TrendsActive has developed an executive program focused on the interpretation and application of trends. The main goal of this program is to show essential developments in different perspectives and to make these developments practical and applicable to your own organization and work.

The executive program ‘Interpreting and Applying Trends’ gives politicians, managers and decisionmakers insight in current social issues and the meaning of these issues in their sector, organisation or department. During the executive program there will be a continuous interaction between academic knowledge transfer and the practical application of this knowledge.

The program teaches participants insight in essential societal developments and trends that will remain important for many years ahead. The participants will also learn how to apply the knowledge on their own field with the help of experienced consultants and moderators. The first edition has been very succesful. Participantssay they ‘can now see through the important changes in society’ and ‘look at economical, social and societal systems and developments with a new and refreshed view’.

After a successful first edition that will end this May, the second program will start in October 2013. If you are interested in following the course or would like to receive more information, please contact us at kees@trendsactive.com. The brochure with more information on the contents of the program can be found by following this link (in Dutch).

Every month TrendsActive interprets and visualizes a sociocultural trend for the Dutch Journal of Marketing (Tijdschrift voor Marketing). This month we looked at how to reach different types of women with one product.

An important characteristic of women is that they have multiple identities and switch between different roles during the day. The question is how to adress these different types of women with just one product.

In this example we have made a concept for a billboard campaign that shows how the product is suitable for different women ánd for the different roles and identities that women have. In this way, as a brand you show that you understand that a women cannot be reached by focusing on just one type of identity. After a day full of stress and taking on different roles, Kneipp can be the ideal product to relax with.

Possession of products and services is becoming less important for consumers. What consumers really want is access. Access to products and services when they need them, not products and services that are used once and than locked away in the attic for the rest of the year. Or products you are bored with in a few months and end up in the back of your closet.

Renting or borrowing has become a popular concept. We’ve already seen it’s success in areas such as music (Spotify, Deezer) and now, it has come to fashion. Jeans brand Mud Jeans has launched Lease a Jeans, an innovative fashion concept that is aimed at making fashion both affordable and sustainable. According to Mud Jeans the initiave makes sustainable fashion available to everyone. The jeans are made from organic and recycled cotton that is produced in a 100% responsible way.

The lease jeans are in the customers care for a year and after that you can send the jeans back to Mud Jeans. Mud Jeans then checks to see if the jeans are reusable, in need of repare or are ready to be recycled. Customers can choose a new pair of jeans, without having an old pair lying in the back of the closet going to waste. It is an interesting way of looking at consumption in a time where sustainable – and affordable – consumption is becoming more and more important to consumers.

All trends have countertrends. It is inevitable. Either because there’ll always be people who go left when everyone goes right, or because when something becomes popular, people not only discover the pros but also the cons of the situation. One example of this is the countertrend for connected society. It is clear that everybody is connecting in more ways than we ever thought was possible. Although people enjoy the fact of always being connected and in the know, people have also started to feel resentment towards the constant flow of information and distraction.

Research shows people find it difficult to go offline for a while and have even become addicted to always being connected. Lately, there has been an increase in initiatives helping people to go offline for a while. Selfhelp books, digital detox weeks and wifi-blockers are on the rise. Digital Detox offers holidays where you can ‘disconnect to reconnect’, offering several retreats without the possibility of going online. Even the Marriott and Renaissance are now offering tech-free zones for those in need of a so-called ‘braincation’.

According to Bozoki, the Marriott’s Director of Marketing, the tech-free zones offer tourist a personal, rather than a digital connection on their holiday. “Our resorts are located in some of the most beautiful settings in the world and we provide an escape from the stresses of work and today’s hectic lifestyles,” said Bozoki. “Our hope is that we can encourage guests to take some time out for themselves and appreciate both the natural beauty of their environment and, more importantly, have a human connection with those traveling with them.”