Faith Popcorn's Predictions for 2006
In 2006, Consumers Will Do A Heavy Dose of Creating Control
In 2006, Consumers Will Do A Heavy Dose of Creating Control
NEW YORK -- Faith Popcorn anticipates a wave of confusion and coping as consumers question what is right and wrong. From the Boomers' first taste of old age to privacy's last gasp to the ethical ups and downs of modern business and government, consumers' cultural anchors have come loose. Our moral compass is spinning and we are searching for new guideposts.
About Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve
Globally recognized consumer Trend expert and marketing futurist, Faith Popcorn founded her consulting company, Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve, in 1974. The New York firm guides companies in understanding and anticipating consumer behavior and leveraging established brands, new products and services to meet the needs of future customers. The company operates with a core staff of 50 Trend-obsessed visionaries, and our TalentBank, a diverse roster of 8,000 influential global experts whose ideas shape society as we continue through the new century's first decade
Globally recognized consumer Trend expert and marketing futurist, Faith Popcorn founded her consulting company, Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve, in 1974. The New York firm guides companies in understanding and anticipating consumer behavior and leveraging established brands, new products and services to meet the needs of future customers. The company operates with a core staff of 50 Trend-obsessed visionaries, and our TalentBank, a diverse roster of 8,000 influential global experts whose ideas shape society as we continue through the new century's first decade
As consumers struggle to come to terms with growing ambiguity and change, and with the growing information and opportunities technology has brought as close as the nearest hotspot, they are finding new ways to create and exercise their own control. Two Trends will cycle high in our culture: Cocooning, our desire to shelter ourselves from the harsh realities of our world; and Fantasy Adventure, our hunger for the new and unconventional. We are torn between security and experimentation. Do we hide from our problems or embrace our hyper-enabled desires? Popcorn predicts that in the coming years we will do a heavy dose of both.
Skin Deeper
On the cutting edge of the developed world, our material opulence has bred isolation and left us emotionally starving. We crave physical contact. The fad for 'cuddle parties' is only the beginning; as our work hours mount and our friendships become virtual, we will seek simple physicality wherever we can find it. Doctors' offices and hospitals will begin keeping animals on hand to comfort recovering patients. Airports will discover that positive touches increase retail traffic and will hire actors to welcome you with a hug as you deplane. Mechanized 'hugging' booths will take the place of pay-phones in many cities. Even the most reserved financial advisors will literally hold your hand through tough times.
BrainFitness
Having lavished so much time on improving our bodies, we now want the mind to match. A mental fitness boom is brewing, driven by a bevy of new research and the boomers' desire to hide their mental age. Like hair-coloring and contact lenses, mental agility is the newest shortcut to a youthful impression. Ginseng will fall off the market as the demand for brain workouts surges and delivers results. Expect brain trainers to exercise your recall, retort coaches to sharpen your wit, and the gym lunch break to become a cerebral drill session.
Secondhand Nostalgia
Our FutureTENSE Trend tells us that people find modern life more and more difficult and the potential risks of the future horrific. We are scrambling for a safe place, and without the comfort of present or future, we are retreating to the past. But it is an idealized past that none of us actually lived through. Didn't you go to a roller-rink and eat KFC when you were a kid? It doesn't matter; we all share the same icons thanks to decades of media saturation. Don't be surprised by a surge in popularity of 1950s slang and demand for digital alterations of family photos as we rewrite our own personal histories.
America's Next Top Surgery
Just as the first face transplant has turned its recipient into an overnight celebrity, cutting edge medical advances will become a spectator sport. Our Fantasy Adventure Trend indicates that people will become obsessed with the success or failure of risky but life-saving organ transplants, skin grafts and limb replacements. Reality television will chronicle participants' lives before and after, and magazines will speculate endlessly on who will be the next patient selected. The medical-hopeful will compete in American-Idol-like auditions to prove that they are the most deserving. It's survival of the media-friendliest.
No Olds Barred
Today's Baby Boomers define 'old age' as starting at 80-three years after the average person is dead. Tomorrow, Boomers won't acknowledge 'old' at all. Terms like 'elderly' and 'mature' will become insults, tantamount to harassment. Boomers will demand recognition of their special needs but not to be treated like 'special people;' imagine large, stylishly iconic but easy-to-read buttons gracing luxury cars like the Infinity and BMW. Even death will get a make-over: The generation that shuns pity will transform hospices into hot-spots as funerals become 'going-away parties' worthy of a lasting legacy.
Family Pets
Today, we treat our pets like surrogate children. Soon animal lovers and their furry companions will grow even closer, biologically! As the cost of genetic modification plummets, engineering services will be able to create pets from scratch and pepper your future companion's DNA with your own. The result will be a unique representation of you: a pet that looks and acts like you. These animals will be such an accurate reflection of your temperament that therapists will begin seeing pets as proxies for their patients.
ExpertEASE
With the availability of so much information, expertise is no longer earned through years of training; all it takes is a little research. People are scouring television and the internet for opinions and personal testimony as a stand in for first-hand knowledge. So much of what we consume is virtual that we've lost the preferred taste for actual experience. Look for removable cochlear-implants, rentable by the hour, that instantly lend you fluency in French or an understanding of how to tune a car.
DeBug-ReBug
In the past, clean meant health and dirty meant sickness. But the more we learn of biology, the more we realize that once-icky organisms are actually beneficial. Don't think antibiotic, think probiotic. 'Good' bacteria are vital for our colon-health. Maggots can be used to quickly disinfect wounds. Cleansing is moving from purging the bad to merging with the good. Look for high-end spas, healthcare facilities, and celebrity retreats to offer designer bio-symbiotics and
grow-your-own-treatment home kits.
Mood Tuning
We're redefining 'retail-therapy.' No longer content to simply buy things, we are beginning to expect that the things we buy will actively help us adjust our feelings. We are tweaking our moods with biologically-enhanced purchases. Soon our clothing will be infused with neuro-chemicals: evening-wear and lingerie will promote confidence, whereas work-gloves and boots will encourage perseverance. We will use aromatic deodorant to loosen laughter at parties, and school lunches will be engineered to improve student's acuity.
About Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve
Globally recognized consumer Trend expert and marketing futurist, Faith Popcorn founded her consulting company, Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve, in 1974. The New York firm guides companies in understanding and anticipating consumer behavior and leveraging established brands, new products and services to meet the needs of future customers. The company operates with a core staff of 50 Trend-obsessed visionaries, and our TalentBank, a diverse roster of 8,000 influential global experts whose ideas shape society as we continue through the new century's first decade
Respect for elders and their experience could make a comeback, Popcorn
believes. Look for Ask Your Grandma hotlines and seniors starring in
how-to videocasts.
SOURCE: Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve
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