Through 2030, values-based consumption rises among the increasingly prosperous middle classes of emerging markets, and they look to brands for cues. Ethical and ideological concerns carry more weight in brand choice, partially edging out value-for-money and conspicuous consumption as drivers. What’s driving this forecast… Growing middle classes. Global middle classes are adding hundreds of millions…
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Intelligent, customizable brands seek out consumers. With the influx of data analytics about consumer needs, sentiment, and lifestyle choices, by 2030 brands are seeking out users, rather than users seeking brands. Consumers no longer pay attention to brands because AI brands now know what consumers need, and present them with appropriate, individualized choices at the…
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In the wake of World Water Day, there has been a meme floating around social media stating that “More people have access to mobile phones than toilets.” The statistic behind this (which is not usually cited on social media) comes from a UN report on access to toilet sanitation which states 6 billion people have…
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So, the 2012 election cycle is in our rear-view mirror, and the political media is only half-jokingly running stories on possible 2016 contenders. In the immediate aftermath of November 6, there have been two dominant stories about the election, the demographic challenges facing the Republican party and how unprepared the Republicans were for losing. As someone who…
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I have an article on the future of human rights in the current issue of The Futurist magazine. (Download the article in PDF — courtesy of the World Future Society, www.wfs.org.) I note that human rights are being transformed by “several powerful, positive trends … centered around changes in values and new technology.” I suggest…
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A report last week about the continued decline of the cost of genetic sequencing got me thinking about genetic privacy. The fabled “$1,000 genome” is coming into view, the pricepoint at which full sequencing can begin to be part of routine medical care in the developed world. That pricepoint also opens sequencing up for non-medical…
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Futurists often talk about values and their impact on the way the future unfolds. Earlier this year, as my wife and I were planning a trip to New Zealand, my Foresight Alliance colleague Josh Calder made me aware of the thesis of David Hackett Fischer’s book, Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies:…
DetailsI’ve just finished reading The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love, and Family, by Liza Mundy, a Washington Post reporter. Mundy closely examines what she calls the Big Flip: the rapid trend toward millions of women in the US, Western Europe, and East Asia becoming the primary breadwinner…
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We’ve just heard that for the first time there are more U.S. women Olympians than male Olympians. Women have continued to make significant progress in all aspects of our society. One way to understand this progress is to look very precisely at the ways women are accepted in our culture. Edgar Schein, notable in the…
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I recently had the opportunity to be futurist in the “ask a futurist booth” at the American Association of Museums conference. The intent of the booth was to pose alternative scenarios that would encourage museum folks to think about different possible future environments and what changes they might suggest for the museum experience. The theme…
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