10 Trends for 2020

Here are 10 trends highlighted at the Trend Watching conference that I attended in NYC this past week.

1. Brand Coins

Companies are taking loyalty programs and rewards to the next level.  They are creating currency and rewarding customers for it.  The LIBRA idea by Facebook was discussed.  Jaguar Land Rover is planning to reward drivers with cryptocurrency for good driving habits.

2. Brand Avatars

Miquela

Artificial Avatars are being deployed to sell products and interact with real actors.  Miquela is a virtual model "hired" by Calvin Klein.  Their advertisement created a fair bit of controversy (and attracted attention).

3.  Metamorphic Design

I trip over this word.  What it really means is that the design of a service changes with who is asking for it.  Really made possible by the availability of big data and AI.

London Tube - Fixed Routing

An example of this is a bus route.  In the traditional model a bus route is designed, consistent and timed.  In a model which is flexible, the route is automatically updated based on where the passengers are.  Imagine Uber meets Bus service.

4.  Interventionist Brands

This is my favorite trend of the ten that we discussed.  Normally we think of a brand as standing for something.  Walmart stands for the place where you can get products at the lowest price.  But the brand does not do anything per se.

An interventionist brand communicates and helps a customer take an action.

Mastercard has a credit card called Doconomy.  It tracks carbon emissions for each purchase made.  The customer can set a limit.  And as the limit is reached the brand interacts with the customer for them to decide how to manage the "carbon budget."



5.  Selective Presence

Facial recognition, tracking one's every move and expenditure on the phone, Facebook preferences, surveillance - it has gotten to a point that unless one actively goes off the grid, it is impossible to keep one's affairs private.

Selective presence is the trend to help customers decide what they want to share and what they don't and help them accomplish that goal.

6.  Burnout

The World Health Organization has identified burnout as a legitimate diagnosis.

An overall trend towards the development of a wellness economy is now fully underway.  Yoga studio anyone?

In my own work, we just published a report on workplace benefits - and the number of benefits that a company can now think of providing their employees for their wellbeing is so varied, that employees actually do not even know that they are being offered.


7.  Air dimension

This trend is all about drones.  In the US at least several major companies are getting permission to use drones to deliver goods and services.  Amazon Prime Air and Walgreen are but two major examples.

Singapore is developing Volocopter for flying cars.

8.  Green Pressure

I have known this topic intimately from my own work in Green and Sustainable Investing.  But the number of ideas, products, brands and services that are pursuing "green" businesses is rapidly multiplying.

Impossible Burger is one idea.  The Doconomy credit card mentioned above is another.  Adidas is creating shoes from plastic trash dumped in the oceans.


9.  Single Serve

As we grow older and live longer, there are many more people who are single.  Thus a whole economy is springing up to cater to people who are living or prefer to live single.

Modular balconies so singles can visit each other, flat packed furniture so single people can move easily are ideas that are becoming prevalant.

10.  New Hires

I spend a fair bit of time on campus these days hiring candidates from the Gen Z class.  Their awareness and concern for topics like discrimination, inequality, environment and issues similar to that are paramount.  The ability to showcase and demonstrate that companies are living up to these promises are very important to this generation.

And if indeed there is a "war or talent" that is taking place, understanding the mindset of the new hires is high priority.

Here is a sentence that imagines a company in the near future that incorporates many of these trends:

Imagine a company that interacts with its customers through a digital avatar created by the customer, that rewards the customers with branded currency for behaviors that are good for their wellness, while protecting their privacy and enabling them to contribute positively to the environment.

I quite enjoyed the conference and these ten trends provoked me into thinking in new ways about evolving preferences.