Trends Identified

Human obsolescence - How quickly will machines sweep man aside?
Predictions about artificial intelligence (AI) have a patchy record. Any greybeard in the field will tell you tales of previous hype cycles in the 1970s and 1980s that crashed when their fabulous promises were not fulfilled. Now, though, times are good again. A spurt of progress in machine learning, a sub-field of AI, has companies piling in. The technology is being used for everything from working out how best to aim advertisements at web-surfers to how to develop selfdriving cars. A landmark was working out how to beat humans at Go, an East Asian strategy game that computers have historically found hard. An AI created by DeepMind, a British subsidiary of Google, beat a human champion of the game in 2015.
2018
The world in 2018
The Economist
Silencing is golden - A new era of medicine will come into view
Medical historians of the future will describe 2018 as the year that “advanced” medicines started to become a reality. It is hard, without the benefit of hindsight, to appreciate fully the long-term significance of any individual development. Nevertheless, it is clear from a pattern of expected events during 2018 that the world is on the threshold of an exciting medical future.
2018
The world in 2018
The Economist
A new malaria vaccine finally offers real hope - High hopes for a malaria vaccine
One unsung success of the 21st century has been the fight against malaria. In 2000 the disease killed 47 people per 100,000 of those at risk. In 2015, the most recent year for which figures are available, that had dropped to 19—a fall of 60%. Even so, malaria kills 430,000 people each year. Some 70% of those who succumb are children under five.
2018
The world in 2018
The Economist
A new age of discovery for biology - An age of discovery is in prospect for biology, predicts Feng Zhang, neuroscience professor at MIT and co-inventor of CRISPR
In the era of modern science, hardly a week goes by without a big advance in biology. Although such progress will continue in 2018, it will not bring a cure for cancer, a remedy for Alzheimer’s or a pill to slow ageing. That is because biology, as a field, is largely still about exploring and not yet about engineering. Some of the greatest scientific successes of the past century have come by marrying science and engineering, from the Apollo mission to the Large Hadron Collider. Similarly, the Human Genome Project required both basic research and technology development. The disciplines at the heart of these successes—mathematics, engineering, and material and computer sciences—have propelled the technology economy, giving rise to nearly all of the most dominant companies in the world today.
2018
The world in 2018
The Economist
A good user experience ≠ a good brand experience
In 2019, frictionless is the new commoditization. When “seamless” and “efficient” are the only goals in creating an experience, that consumer experience becomes merely transactional and there are few opportunities for brands to differentiate. Consider airline apps, for example. While it’s simple and streamlined to make or change a reservation or check flight status on any airline app, it’s harder to remember which airline app you are using.
2019
The top trends for brands to watch in 2019
Landor
The end of gender generalization
Historically, when companies designed products, the first decision they would make was whether the brand was intended for men or for women. As gender becomes more open, inclusive, and nuanced, the overarching traditional gender decision is no longer the best starting point for brand personality. Gender roles will continue to blur and gender will often not be a helpful categorization for many brands.
2019
The top trends for brands to watch in 2019
Landor
Subscribe to the future
In 2019, we’ll see the sharing economy continue to give way to the subscription economy. Subscriptions that provide on-demand products and services will become the norm for a growing number of sectors and products. The subscription model can reframe the brand beyond the category, radically changing the business model and profoundly changing how marketers need to approach the entire product development, distribution, and go-to-market process. Subscription appeals to virtually every consumer, giving them access to highly personalized just-in-time inventory without the need to invest in big-ticket items. Older generations are generally accustomed to subscribing to a relatively small number of product categories—periodicals, cable television, smartphones, apartments, insurance—and those subscriptions tend to be static (you don’t get much flexibility in changing product preferences mid-subscription).
2019
The top trends for brands to watch in 2019
Landor
Redefine winning: The new rules for sports brands
A new global generation of fans and customers has emerged, with new tastes and new expectations, shifting definitions of what sports brands actually are. From the rise of eSports to the transforming face of fandom, there are new rules and new winners. From fields to phones, all sports are increasingly digital. And digital distinctiveness is ever more important—to stand for something can mean everything to the next generation.
2019
The top trends for brands to watch in 2019
Landor
Every company is a wellness company
Every brand should provide appropriate solutions for supporting physical and/or mental wellness. All companies—from retail to real estate—should offer some degree of a wellness experience to maintain a competitive advantage. Wellness options include physical health programs as well as offerings that support mental health and balance, providing stress relief or even addressing issues such as social isolation.
2019
The top trends for brands to watch in 2019
Landor
Marketing and HR: unlikely allies
Brand marketers and HR join forces to drive greater value from the inside out, from employee to customer.As demand for more connectivity increases across all touchpoints in our lives, the push for end-to-end experience design will require closer relationships between people and product. Employee engagement, employee satisfaction, and employee retention are key to those relationships. Marketing and HR departments that partner together and blur traditional functional siloes are better positioned to attract, engage, and outperform their competition.With the rise in demand for innovative, creative, and branded employee experiences, leaders from HR and marketing will be 2019’s most critical power team. This new emphasis on the integration between customer experience and employee experience will require diversifying and attracting new types of talent to those roles.
2019
The top trends for brands to watch in 2019
Landor