5+ Year Trend Reports - Premium Research for the Future

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Trend Reports

Every year you set out to envision the next five. It's an arduous process that takes energy and expertise. Time better spent on planning.

Each report explores trends from a variety of lenses:

SOCIAL

DEMOGRAPHIC

GEOPOLITICAL

ECONOMIC

ENVIRONMENTAL

TECHNOLOGY

FOOD & BEVERAGE

Introduction

Greetings,

Enclosed, you’ll have a glimpse into the world 5+ Years into the future. Unlike our traditional custom trend reports, this report takes a longer term view beyond the consumer trends, looking at the macro forces which have the potential to dramatically impact your company. After working on more than 10,000 trend projects for 800 brands, I can assure you that this time period is one of the most unique because it is the most critical for strategic change, and yet the most significant blind spot for leaders in almost every industry. Four key factors should differentiate your thinking within the 5-year timeframe:

1. The Human Forecasting Blindspot: Most leaders are terrific at predicting what will happen next year, or even two years into the future -- unless there is a global pandemic. Interestingly, most leaders are also relatively capable of predicting what their industry will look like in the far-distant future, such as 10 years out. However, the difficult time period is 5+ Years into the future. Humans are generally terrible at predicting what occurs in this time frame because we overestimate the amount of change we think we will be capable of impacting. We overestimate our level of control and underestimate the amount of change imposed by technology and the competitive market.
->Implication: The far-distant forecasts of your market and competitors will probably happen sooner than you think.

2. The Farmer Trap of Clinging to the Status Quo: More than half of the companies on the Fortune 500 list in the year 2000 are gone or displaced. These were the best-equipped companies for change, theoretically. Still, there is such a strong desire to repeat whatever led to last year’s harvest that people dismiss trends and ideas that fail to align with their vision of the expected future.
->Implication: As we experience history’s highest rate of change, challenge your expectations, and keep an open mind to potential.

3. The Sweet Spot for Market Disruption: Bold moves that switch which company is in the lead don’t happen overnight. Launching major product lines, expanding into new markets, and completing successful M&A activity all take several years to enact. If your company gets disrupted or disrupts someone else, it will generally happen from moves completed with 3-5+ Years of vision.
->Implication: Use the 5-year report to craft the scenarios for how your market could be reshuffled, either by yourself or a disruptive competitor from another industry.

4. The Window of Opportunity to Make a Difference: As leaders, many of our incentives and duties are driven by the pressure to hit quarterly and annual numbers. This leads to an over-focus on short-term decision making, which is unfortunate since most of the shorter-term decisions are optimizations of the current status quo. Longer-term strategies about products, services, and resource allocations have a much more significant impact on our companies and personal careers, but they take several years to manifest.
->Implication: Use the implications of this time frame to rethink your career legacy.

If you would like to think more deeply about making innovation and change happen, contact us for a copy of my latest bestseller, Create the Future – Tactics for Disruptive Thinking. The book explores the human traps that cause us to cling to the path we are on while showing the tactics and tools we’ve learned from helping smart people like you figure out how to unlock their full potential.

Additionally, if you would like to further explore and iterate on the implications for your brand, we offer a series of strategic planning workshops to help you plan out your future scenarios and opportunities.

Enjoy,
Jeremy Gutsche Signature
Jeremy Gutsche
CEO of Trend Hunter and NY Times Bestselling Author

An Essential Input

The 5+ Year Trend Reports have been created to plug and play into your strategic and business planning. All the time you previously spent on research can be redirected towards action planning. When you know what’s coming, you can direct your organization to opportunities sooner.

Executive Summary

This future-visioning report identifies 7 macro forces and trends that will transform your business over the next 5+ Years. This report grants a holistic view of these disruptors. This report’s catalyst is our brand partners seeking an engaging way to interact with disruptive forces to assist in strategic planning. Social, demographic, geopolitical, economic, environmental, technology, and consumer consumption shifts create headwinds & tailwinds. Several trends are explored for each force, and thought-provoking workshop questions are included to encourage reflection, spark discussion, debate & generation of new ideas.

Within social trends, we explore political unrest & equality for all; concepts that are not new but have recently gained momentum. Health & mental well being has become a global agenda item, in addition to how the future of work is re-imagined in pandemic recovery. Demographic trends include the impact of an aging population, the power shift already underway with Millennials, and the growing wealth disparity in society having a seismic impact on life as we know it. The next 5+ Years will see transformational geopolitical developments as a result of China’s ambition to secure its place as a global power player, the growing tide of protectionism, the race to technology domination and escalating global data & cybersecurity issues. Globally, there will be an economic rebound and return to growth, but that growth will be inconsistent both geographically and by industry. Environmental issues will take center stage for countries, governments, and businesses alike. Climate crisis, water security, biodiversity protection, clean energy & the circular economy will dominate strategy & initiatives. Innovation & investment in these areas will fuel the creation of new jobs. These jobs will replace some of those lost by rapidly employed technology advancements such as AI, machine learning & robot automation. Extended reality and the Internet of Things (IoT) will drive digital connection & the creation of new experiences & convenience expectations.

Health & wellness aspirations will dramatically drive different consumer values, behavior, and consumption choices. These choices will be more purposeful, sustainable & personalized as we increasingly care about what we consume, where it came from, how it was made, delivered, and recycled. We encourage you to really explore these trends; consider and debate all the potential implications they might have on your business within your teams, then develop transformationally strategies to become a disruptive force in your industry.

Disruption & Scenario Planning Workshops

The next 5 to 10 years are about to redefine humanity. As you approach your planning, keep this report close. It will help you understand the social drivers fuelling future trends, and empower your team to get to ideas faster. This is an essential, premium piece designed to fuel your fires for change.

Add on the 5+ Year Trend Report Workshop

Get more from your 5+ Year Trend Report with a companion workshop. Work with a Trend Hunter Futurist on scenario planning, identifying barriers and discovering opportunities. Together you’ll create an actionable plan that pairs with the 5+ Year Trend Report report findings.

Available Now.

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