Last week I started reading the book Lagom, which is about the Swedish art of living a balanced life. The word means something like not too much, not too little but just enough. It’s a way of living that promotes harmony, looking into all aspects of life (family, the environment, work etc.). I’m a big fan of the Scandinavian lifestyle and luckily I’ve had the chance to experience it myself during my exchange semester in Denmark so that is one of the main reasons why I choose to read this book. But secondly, reading about Lagom is, in my opinion, an approachable and optimistic way to improve your daily life with small changes.

Of course, there are other best-selling books at the bookstore like the Danish Hygge, the Dutch Bedrock Book, Dankboek, and the Life-changing magic of tidying up from Japanese writer Marie Kondo, that are all about the pursuit of happiness in modern society. But what is interesting about these books is that they share the underlying idea that getting closer to a more balanced lifestyle is about making small changes and appreciation, rather than ownership of newer or better things.  This idea resonates well with one of our societal trends: Quest for Happiness, suggesting that happiness is not materialistic and that experiences are becoming even more important. People try to reach their full potential, and therefore it’s not a surprise that these books about balance appear. I believe that they can give us insights on how to do so. You just need to learn to filter what’s relevant for your lifestyle and be able to laugh off some of the advices you think are ridiculous.

– Pauline Taks

It’s Innovation Month at Discovery Networks Benelux and TrendsActive is part of it! In a series of innovation sessions we help Amsterdam-based Discovery Networks to apply innovation methodology in order to create meaningful concepts. The broadcasting company houses four different channels: Discovery, TLC, Eurosport and ID.

With today’s continuous technological innovation and ongoing democratization of content creation, the media landscape is evolving quickly and so it can often be hard to keep up. Nonetheless, technology is only useful if it serves human-needs.  That’s why we do not just focus on technological innovations, but we also take a human-centered approach by using sociocultural trend insights to contextualize the role of technology.

Using our trend research on Gen Z, we help Discovery Networks to understand their future consumer better. Today’s kids are watching different media on different channels. That’s why we’ve also invited some experts from the field of technology to cover the technological possibilities of reaching the Gen Z audience. As such we aim to bring consumer-centric thinking and disruptive-thinking together to create future proof concepts.

During Innovation Month, every week a presentation will be given by an expert to inspire the employees. Each presenter touches upon a topic that is impacting the way media is consumed. The companies attending are: Blendle, The Next Ad, Tweakers, Samhoud Media and Techonomy.

All the knowledge and inspiration is integrated into the “Innovation Challenge”, an internal competition for the most innovative concept. At the end the (international) jury will decide which one of the eight teams has designed the best concept. We’re really excited about this project and very curious about the outcomes of the challenge. Let the games begin!

Wij zijn per direct op zoek naar een (interim) Creative Director met een flinke dosis ervaring. Als Creative Director werk je mee aan verschillende projecten, je vertaalt trend- en merkstrategieën door naar inhoudelijk sterke concepten, en zet concepten om naar marketingcommunicatiemiddelen. Ook help je mee TrendsActive als merk te versterken.

We zijn een no-nonsense bureau en zoeken dat ook in jou! Verder ben je een open en flexibel persoon, heb je humor, zeg je waar op het staat en ben je positief kritisch. Je denkt onafhankelijk, maar bent zeker bereid om te werken binnen onze bewezen aanpak.

Wij bieden een inspirerende werkomgeving, interessante klanten – grote internationale merken als Asics, VICE, Vodafone, organisaties als KRO NCRV en KNVB en start-ups als Florismart – en een ervaren en divers team. TrendsActive is volop in beweging en wij bieden de kans om met ons mee te groeien.

Bekijk de volledige vacaturetekst hier. Ben je geïnteresseerd? Stuur dan een e-mail naar rene@trendsactive.com of bel naar 030-2544448.

The summer holiday is over and it’s time to get back to real life – meaning, stress levels are probably going up again. As we know from our trend research, one of the ways that people are finding bliss in everyday life is by trying to be more mindful and being more present. Being mindful helps people destress and appreciate living in the moment more. So while you may no longer on the Spanish beach, maybe looking for a yoga school or mindfulness course could help you get some rest and relaxation in your daily grind. But in fact, we have found a way to turn your own living room into a private meditation studio.

Iron your stress away with Brabantia. The homeware brand recently launched ironing boards followed by a campaign in which they turn this mundane exercise of ironing into a relaxation ritual. Ironing is a task that needs to be done, so why get some zen out of it by ironing out one crease at a time? ‘Take your time, relax and iron the stress away’, Brabantia quote in their press release. The brand introduces some new ironing boards, and even customised music playlists at Spotify to help you relax and get into the flow. So there’s nothing that stands in your way to turn ironing in me-time, right?

Only question that’s left: Which one would you choose, The ‘Saturday Night Ironing’ list or ‘Ironing Down Memory Lane’?