Homepage | Archives | Tell a friend

This month, we introduce you to GENERATION C, which is such a big trend (and opportunity!) that we're already working on part II for next month. We also highlight MATURIALISM, and we've updated two previous trends, including many new images. Enough to get you going!

For those of you who crave even more: we'll be coming to your area, launching a series of TREND IMMERSION SEMINARS from New York to London to Shanghai to Sydney. Very hands-on, and loaded with trends, insights and new business ideas, starting in March 2004. Wherever you work or live, do check it out! >>

The next edition of the newsletter will go out 26 February 2004.

No, this is not about a new niche generation of youngsters born between March 12, 1988 and April 24, 1993; the C stands for CONTENT, and anyone with even a tiny amount of creative talent can (and probably will) be part of this not-so-exclusive trend.

So what is it all about? The GENERATION C phenomenon captures the tsunami of consumer generated 'content' that is building on the Web, adding tera-peta bytes of new text, images, audio and video on an ongoing basis.

The two main drivers fuelling this trend? (1) The creative urges each consumer undeniably possesses. We're all artists, but until now we neither had the guts nor the means to go all out. (2) The manufacturers of content-creating tools, who relentlessly push us to unleash that creativity, using -- of course -- their ever cheaper, ever more powerful gadgets and gizmos. Instead of asking consumers to watch, to listen, to play, to passively consume, the race is on to get them to create, to produce, and to participate.

Examples?

It's Canon telling aspiring directors and photographers that "professional digital photography is no longer just for the professionals", while Sony speaks directly to Home Movie Directors and DVD Producers (whose 'stars', incidentally, are enjoying their duckies in the tub; see the ads on our image resource page).

It's the Vodafones and Oranges and ATTs and T-Mobiles and O2s and Sprints and NTT DoCoMos enticing consumers to go snap-crazy with their camera-phones, uploading pics to dedicated MMS websites. Conservative estimates are that by 2008, more than 380 million camera phones will have been sold worldwide. With the first 1.3 MegaPixel phone already spotted, the upcoming deluge of cam-pics and movies will be of biblical proportions.



It's HP spending USD 300 million on a campaign telling consumers it's all about 'You', and 'You' should be taking pictures, and sharing them and forwarding and printing them, AND posting photographic essays on a HP web site.

It's Blogger offering you "instant communication power by letting you post your thoughts to the web whenever the urge strikes". Which is exactly what 5 million people have done so far, and what tens of millions of others will soon do, too.

It's Xingtone.com, letting consumers compose their own ringtones, and Sony PlayStation2's Noiseupthesuburbs.com inviting an emerging generation of DIY music pioneers, from bedroom DJs and producers to pirate radio and independent label founders, to make use of its music-making software.

And so on.

Don't get us wrong: superior tools and no talent still equals useless content. GENERATION C is and will continue to create heaps and heaps of crap which, at best, will be appreciated only by inner-circle friends and family.

However, when Canon (see above) tells consumers that its products 'leave one difference between you and a professional. They get paid', they're kind of behind already: talented members of GENERATION C actually DO get paid, as their stories, their observations, their articles, their pictures, their songs, and their books are noticed and bought by niche audiences, as well as (increasingly) by mass-media moguls eager for real-time, original content. Think thousands of 'My News' citizen reporters in South Korea, or tens of thousands of bloggers building personal brands (and thus warranting professional fees, and reaping advertising revenues). Or eBay-style marketplaces for content like lulu.com and redpaper.com, the latter describing itself as "a place on the Internet where any type of digital content no mater how abstract can be bought and sold by anyone interested in transacting it". Or the guy who recently created a feature length movie on his iMac using iMovie, for USD 218.32, which was apparently good enough to be shown at Sundance last month, with Gus Van Sant's backing.

From a business and money point of view, this trend truly has something to offer to everyone!

OPPORTUNITIES
GENERATION C is where some of TRENDWATCHING.COM's other Big Trends converge: it's fueled by ONLINE OXYGEN as the required online access to content channels is becoming universal. It's about OLDBIES: hundreds of millions of consumers who, since first dipping their toes into the online revolution a few years ago, are becoming comfortable with digital creation. And it's about MASS CLASS and MATURIALISM as consumers all over the world increasingly have the means to purchase or download professional-grade, powerful hardware and software needed to become part of GENERATION C.

More on GENERATION C next month, when we'll be sending you 'part II', including new business opportunities for a host of industries. In the mean time, start thinking about how to jump on this bandwagon: are you asking your customers to consume or to create? Are you partnering with new niche content players? Are you turning this tsunami of data and information into new business intelligence? This trend WILL roll on, with or without you. >> Email this trend to a friend.

WANT TO LINK TO THIS TREND?
www.trendwatching.com/trends/GENERATION_C.htm

Whether it's adults fed up with the dumbed-down teen/tween culture dominating everyday life, or just a serious case of boomer decadence: MATURIALISM is HOT. A vital combination of 'mature' consumers pursuing a seemingly restrained 'best of the best' materialism is driving the trend in ditching mundane goods and services for more professional, premium or sassier versions. From heavy duty power tools to state-of-the-art cameras to grown-up ice-cream flavors.

Yes, there is an overlap with our MASSCLUSIVITY trend, as some of these goods do have high snob appeal, but MATURIALISM, unlike MASSCLUSIVITY, doesn't necessarily bring its owners a degree of privilege. The delights associated with MATURIALISM are enjoyed on a more intimate level: the pleasure of consuming (and sometimes subtly showing off) premium goods and services, with the 'professional-grade' or 'mature' label justifying the purchase of items that might otherwise have been considered 'flashy'.

Want some hands-on examples?

Home Depot's line of Ridgid Power tools, previously only sold to professionals, are now actively being billed to consumers as 'powerful, durable and professional'. The tools are priced at up to USD 600.


From our GENERATION C trend: Canon is touting its new digital cameras with the tagline "Professional Digital Photography, no longer just for the professionals".

Braun's Oral B Professional Care 7000 series power toothbrushes ("Brush like a Dentist!"), starting at USD 79 (source: USA Today).

Siemens new professional EUR 1199 (USD 1499 ) shirt-ironing appliance, dubbed the 'Dressman'. An appliance that elevates domestic ironing to industrial levels. Tagline: "Its results even amaze professional launderers". Siemens hopes to sell hundreds of thousands of them in Europe over the next few months.



How about something a bit more indulgent? Consider:

'What Happens Here, Stays Here', the new nationwide promotional campaign for Las Vegas, returning this adult playground to its mature roots, which certainly hasn't fallen upon deaf ears down at Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas' new 18-years-and-up 'Zumanity' show. No tweens in sight there!

Haagen Dazs recently introduced its Desserts Extraordinaire, which include, amongst others, adult flavors like Bananas Foster (banana ice cream with brown sugar and rum swirls) and Tres Leches Three Milks Cake (made with cream, condensed milk, and skim milk mixed with rum-flavored sponge cake).



The MATURIALISM list goes on and on, from North Face's professional camping gear and apparel, to Viking Range's professional kitchen appliances ("the ultimate blend of professional performance and residential convenience").

Sure, the popularity of professional-grade goods and grown-up indulgencies has been on the rise for a while, but TRENDWATCHING.COM believes companies should prepare for an ever bigger surge over the coming years:

A. 'Experienced' consumers (read: wealthy boomers) in North America, the European Union and Australasia are nearing retirement, leaving them with plenty of time, space and money to spend on the finer, mature things in life. From gourmet cooking to high-end DIY!

B. With the majority of most mundane products soon to come from China and other hyper-efficient, low-cost, economies-of-scale-obsessed 'workplaces of the world', manufacturers firmly rooted in developed economies will have little choice but to upgrade their output to premium, higher margin goods if they want to survive the looming Sea of Low-Cost Sameness.

C. On top of B: ongoing technological advances make that professional goods, especially in the ITC sector, will become increasingly more affordable, thereby more ubiquitous, thus raising the bar even further for manufacturers of not-so-special goods. See also GENERATION C.

Needless to say, we'll be updating this trend for you over the next few months, including more facts and figures. Time to initiate a good old fashioned brainstorm session on how to elevate your goods and services to MATURIALISM status? >> Email this trend to a friend.

WANT TO LINK TO THIS TREND?
www.trendwatching.com/trends/MATURIALISM.htm

"Certain focused and well respected brands, often beacons of coolness and quality, are now cashing in by partnering and enriching other, more all-encompassing brands."

BRANDED BRANDS are not only here to stay, but they're becoming more numerous as well. So much for 'the brandless era' and other theoretical nonsense. We prefer to stick with what we spot around the world ;-). So without further ado, check out the latest and greatest in well-known brands that are walking down the aisle together:

Philips and Unilever: Perfective Iron
Steaming hot: Teaming up to bring the world a better (or in their own words 'revolutionary') ironing experience, Philips and Unilever are about to launch the 'Perfective' (Perfect and Active). It's all about a Philips iron incorporating a specially developed cartridge containing an anti-crease agent, provided by 'Robijn', one of Unilever's garment care brands.



Philips and Unilever's extensive market research has shown that when it comes to ironing, the consumer wants a perfect end result without having to spend too much time. WOW. TRENDWATCHING.COM likes to believe it could have concluded this research for them in a single afternoon. Anyway, what counts is the end-product, and that's where it DOES get promising: the iron releases a fine spray of anti-crease fluid over the item of clothing, which is then activated by the iron. Resulting, reportedly, in superior results.

The Perfective will first be launched in The Netherlands, where Philips is the market leader in traditional irons. Priced at EUR 99 (with cartridges costing EUR 3.99 a pop), Philips hopes to sell 300,000 irons in the first six months after launch (source: Volkskrant).

This roll-out closely mirrors the approach Philips and partner Sara Lee put in place for their hugely successful 'Senseo' coffee machine, yet another astute example of BRANDED BRANDING.

Which inspired us to round up some other BRANDED BRAND examples idly sitting in our database; some new, some 'seasoned'. Starting off with even more Philips Electronics cases:

Philips and Sara Lee: the aforementioned Senseo. A Philips coffee machine that uses Sara Lee coffee pads. Wildly popular in Europe. See our Springwise article for the full story.

Philips and Nivea: the Cool Skin, an electrical shaver that uses replaceable Nivea For Men cartridges, containing either shaving lotion or fresh gel.

Philips and Nike: psaplay, portable sport audio products, from headphones to digital audio players, ergonomically designed by Nike and manufactured by Philips.



Philips and IKEA: Instead of fake, plastic boxes posing for TV sets and DVD players, IKEA showrooms now boast real consumer electronics in their try-out living corners, kitchens and bedrooms. Provided by Philips, of course.

Adidas and Goodyear: cool sneakers with Goodyear rubber soles. After all, if Puma partners with Mini Cooper, and Nike Air with Cole Haan (see the gateway page for this trend for previous examples), why not claim leadership in burning superior rubber?

Audi, Bose and Recaro: Audi's snazzy TT Coupe comes with a built-in Bose music system, and seats from Recaro, the aircraft seating specialist.

McDonald's and M&Ms and Cadbury Dairy Milk and Smarties and ... <insert your local candy brand here>: the McFlurry!

Song and Kate & Jack Spade: Flight attendant uniforms and accessories: Song's female flight attendants are dressed by Kate Spade; male attendants wear Jack Spade. JetBlue relies on Stan Herman (who also did FedEx's new look). YSL clothed Quantas, CK worked on SAS Scandinavian Airlines, and Ralph Lauren did TWA, a long time ago (source: FoxNews).

Smart (itself a hybrid of Swatch watches and Mercedes Benz) and iMove: an exclusive iPod specially outfitted for car use, available in Europe. In the US, the same spiel was concocted by iPod and Volkswagen.

Acer and Ferrari: mainly a (very good) design job, though the specs claim that the AMD Athlon™ XP-M processor 2500+ was designed expressly for the Ferrari 3000, to give you Ferrari's 'speed and lead'.

Duracell, Oral-B, Braun and Disney: not two, but four brands coming together in this funky battery toothbrush! Each brand brings it own 'core competence': Duracell for battery life, Oral-B for brushing, Braun for electronics and Disney for design and entertainment.



Now, if you've been a diligent reader of our past publications, you know that there's also some interesting procreation going on between Bulgari and Marriott, Nickelodeon and Holiday Inn, Westin and Aveda, Lay's and Heinz, and so forth. To serve and inspire you, TRENDWATCHING.COM has compiled all updates, examples and the original trend description on one single page, so you have absolutely no excuse for not dreaming up at least one BRANDED BRAND concept for your own corporation. >> Email this trend to a friend.

WANT TO LINK TO THIS TREND?
www.trendwatching.com/trends/2003/01/BRANDEDBRANDS.html

"The increasing flow of money linked to selling and buying goods in, or from, immigrants' countries of origin."

An interesting twist on our previous IMMI-MERCE spottings: Former immigrants from Central and South America, now US citizens, going back to their native countries to set up and manage US retail chains.



Case in point: PaylessShoeSource Inc, a US based, no-frills shoe store chain, became a popular household brand for Latin American immigrants and refugees living in US barrios in the 1980s and 90s (source: WSJ). Many of them eventually returned to Central and South America, and Payless followed these loyal customers in 2000, opening stores in a handful of Central American nations. It found that brand awareness was high: not only had heavy HOME TROTTING by immigrants contributed to exposure of the brand across Central America, but Latin American wholesalers over the years had also been bulk-buying Payless branded boxes to resell back home. Growth has been phenomenal: last year, the tally came to 200 Shoeless stores in 12 Latin American countries.

So, besides popular brands from immigrants' native countries expanding to the US to serve their former fellow country men in their new homeland -- like Pollo Campero, a Guatemalan fried-chicken chain -- and businesses such as Argentinean Disco Virtual catering to immigrants in the US who use websites to order goods for their relatives and friends in South America, there are now also brands that follow immigrants when they move back 'home'.

OPPORTUNITIES
Where to start if you want to make money from this trend? Well, examining the top 10 global destinations of remittances will give you a quick insight into which immigrant communities are actively sending billions (and goods!) back home:



Chances are, they've been telling their friends and family about your brand already, if not treated them to it! >> Email this trend to a friend.

WANT TO VIEW THE ENTIRE TREND DESCRIPTION?
www.trendwatching.com/trends/2003/04/IMMI-MERCE.html

Want even more inspiration? Our March 2004 newsletter, which we'll send out on 26 February 2004, will bring you new trends like 'DEATH OF SATURATION' and 'POCKET PATTERNS'. And in the mean time: do check out our upcoming series of TREND IMMERSION SEMINARS, from New York to London to Shanghai to Sydney. Very hands-on, and loaded with trends, insights and new business ideas. More >>