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How will Digital Reality influence design? Have you recognised the New Feminism Opportunity yet? How is the Global Food Love-In shaping attitudes to consumption? What will Outrospective Thinking bring to your business? These influences are redefining the shape of things to come. In a world of continuous change, it’s time for brands to harness disruptive modes of thinking and fresh approaches to innovation. The biannual Stylus Insights & Engagement Consumer Innovation Industry Trend report explores the insights and influences driving the worlds of consumer lifestyle, consumer product and consumer engagement. This report presents some of the key emerging trends the global Stylus team will continue to explore over the coming months. Use this as cross-industry insight to spark innovation within your business. Consumer Lifestyle Trends: Concerned with shifting consumer mindsets and behaviours, demographic issues and evolving social frameworks. 1 Consumer Product Trends: Exploring innovation in product development – from colour and materials through to fashion, beauty and interiors. Consumer Engagement Trends: Dedicated to influential themes and opportunities in retail, brand marketing, Smart Teens Smart culture and media. Index 5 Executive Summary 6 Consumer Lifestyle 8 Smart Teens 20 The New Spirituality 30 Modern Family 40 Global Food Love-In 52 Outrospective Thinking 64 Consumer Product 66 Quiet 78 Changing the Rules 92 Redefining Precious 104 Digital Reality 114 Consumer Engagement 116 Brand of Me 126 Content is (Still) King 140 Tech-Fuelled Retail Spaces 154 Edutainment Retail 168 The New Feminism Opportunity What is Stylus? Stylus is an innovation research and advisory firm. We help businesses process the world’s consumer lifestyle, product and engagement insights, stimulating innovation and growth. Fostering Innovation Engagement Consumer Stylus is the perfect resource for professionals in innovation, strategy and marketing roles who are responsible for driving new strategies and product development. What are Industry Trends? At Stylus, we understand that successful innovation is one of the biggest challenges facing businesses today, and we have tailored our services to help you meet that challenge. As part of our service, Industry Trend reports bring together emerging insights from across industries, exploring innovative shifts across consumer lifestyle, product and engagement. They provide a host of case studies to inspire creative ideas and sharper business thinking. Stylus Methodology 3 We meet client challenges with a simple, yet powerful five-step process: 3 1. We see innovation as a process. 2. We research global consumer lifestyle, product and engagement trends. 3. We apply our unique process based on analysis of emerging opportunities. 4. We identify the implications and applications of our research across industries. 5. We help clients make smarter innovation decisions using our proven trend-adoption methodology. Our Global Analysts Teens Smart Innovation is driven by curious minds. With access to Stylus, businesses benefit from a global team of inquisitive creatives. As specialists in our fields, we are passionate about sharing our expertise, intelligence and insights. Consisting of 35 analysts and researchers, the Stylus team is joined by more than 75 global consultants in 20 countries. Between us, we’ve worked for a wide variety of leading brands and businesses and bring in-depth knowledge of key creative and consumer-facing industries, from retail and product design to marketing and consumer trends. Our experience means we understand the commercial challenges and industry shifts your business faces, delivering actionable insights to spark innovation. Think of us as your in-house innovation and intelligence team. Future Insights Be agile: We live in a world of constant disruption and challenging innovation. Think and act agile; adopt start-up thinking. From product development to brand marketing, innovate to stay ahead of your competitors. Exploit technology: A digital-first approach is essential. Explore how your brand can embrace technology to drive greater reach and create more value for the customer. Understand shifting gender roles and new demographics: From smart teens to single households, there are new demographics to provide for and market to. But the biggest challenge may be responding to a more feminised world, where brands must deliver beyond the usual gender stereotypes. Respond to commodity challenges: From food to water to the manufacturing process, sustainability is an issue that will continue to dominate the 21st century. Brand strategies must take this into account to ensure credibility in a market where consumers expect responsible attitudes. Turn your brand values into compelling content: Inform, entertain, communicate. Brands must think wider. Use your brand’s influence to support artistic, educational or 4 scientific projects. Explore the connections between digital and real world: The sweet spot for creativity is where the real and unreal meet. And wearable technology opens up new horizons for the fashion sector in particular. Executive Summary Today’s teenagers are dynamic, digital, agile and Technology and the real world are merging adaptive individuals who have grown up with and connecting. New products embedded with accessible, portable technology at their fingertips. technology are changing how we communicate, Instant access to a vast wealth of information – interact with things, and view the outside world. and opportunities – has furnished them with an The interface between analogue and digital is also entrepreneurial spirit and a ‘just do it’ attitude to generating a new aesthetic, characterised by web- Engagement Consumer life. Smart teens are proving themselves as major driven visuals and computer-generated players across virtually every consumer industry. production techniques. In a post-acquisitive era – where luxury products It’s time to rethink what can be precious. Using and experiences are being redefined – food has overlooked and recycled materials, blended with become the new cultural capital. From thrill-seeker technology and reinvented with purpose, precious dining to eating-and-tweeting, millennials are leading products can drive a new future for luxury. the way. Food start-ups that harness technology The Brand of Me is a Stylus term that highlights how and sustainable ideologies are rethinking traditional brands can utilise new technologies to wrap their production and distribution systems. experience around the consumer. It encapsulates how consumers are transitioning into producers and The decline of the conventional family unit has sellers in their own right. In the media and marketing spurred new templates for living. worlds, the Brand of Me captures how consumers now expect a cross-platform brand narrative that can Single households reflect society’s cult of the begin and end anywhere. individual, while multi-generational co-habitation is 5 symptomatic of economic challenges and an ageing Advertising and marketing roles are being redefined 5 society. These revised set-ups generate demand for in the drive to engage through content and multi- evolved consumer products and services that offer media experiences. Newsjacking – the current buzz acute personalisation and a user-centred approach trend in advertising – is encouraging brands and to design. agencies to work in a more agile manner, more like a newsroom, to reach consumers in real time. Fresh approaches to spirituality are emerging as individuals seek purpose in their lives, as well as Retail, which has sometimes seen digital commerce respite from the frenetic pace of modern society. as a potential threat, is now embracing the To this end, contemporary spiritual leaders, thought- possibilities of technology in reinventing the shop provoking academies and even intense sports space. The new focus is on entertaining, amazing regimes provide a sense of belonging and community. and seeking convergence between bricks-and- Teens Smart Thoughtful brands are tuning into this and building mortar stores and online. And edutainment – in thought leadership and authentic community which stores become locations for consumers to experiences into their strategies. learn – offers a world of opportunities for brands to offer added value to consumers. The rules of design are changing. Innovations such as 3D printing are putting design skills in the hands of Women are taking the lead online and a new consumers and disrupting traditional manufacturing language of femininity is developing. Stylus processes. Open-source designing and hacking detects a shift in attitude towards a more feminised widen the potential for a design revolution world picture, with empathy at its core. Gender further still. stereotypes – for both men and women – are being challenged by consumers and more forward-thinking A growing number of consumers are seeking brands. uncomplicated products and objects with minimal aesthetics – a kind of quiet design. These products can create an emotional connection with the consumer through use of traditional techniques and materials. Designers are reusing common materials with imperfect aesthetics to highlight authenticity. Redefine 6 Consumer Lifestyle © Ashoka © Start Empathy Reebok CrossFit © Reebok Nick D’Aloisio © Getty Imagess © Matthew Williams Matthew © LifeEdited Colourful Stitches © Colourful Stitches 7 Andrea Brocca Runways/ Vintage © Piepo Antonio Consumer Lifestyle Consumer Section Editor: Mandy Saven,