JWT: 100 Things to Watch in 2011

100 THINGS TO WATCHIN 2011December 2010WHAT WE’LL COVER• Background• Our Track Record• Our Things to Watch in 2011BACKGROUND• As part of our annual forecast, JWT presents 100 Things to Watch in 2011.• Some of the items on our list reflect broader shifts we’ve been following:– Mobile as the Everything Hub: More consumers and brands are embracing a trend weoutlined two years ago, one that will manifest in a multitude of ways next year—from mobilememes to “moblogging” to waning interest in point-and-shoot cameras.– The evolution of media as content becomes digitized over various platforms: Books will takenew forms, entertainment will go transmedia, and journalists will get more entrepreneurial.• Some reflect counter-trends to broad shifts in consumer behavior:– To balance out our increasing immersion in the digital world, people will embrace face-to-face gatherings and digital downtime, and come to fetishize physical objects once consideredhumdrum. – The trend toward Radical Transparency will see a growing backlash (Ignorance Is Bliss). BACKGROUND (cont’d.)• As always, new technology is a theme.– We’ll see smart infrastructure ramping up, tablets for tots as this platform gets widelyadopted and some truly futuristic-seeming developments (3D printing, virtual mirrors,electronic profiling).• While some of our Things to Watch may not yet reflect a broader trend, we believe theyeventually will ladder up to one. Retail as the Third Space, one of our Things to Watch from lastyear, and De-Teching, one of our Things to Watch for 2008, both gained momentum since wefirst spotlighted them. This year we included them among our “10 Trends for 2011.”• The people on our list—from pop culture, sports, architecture, fashion and other realms—havethe potential to drive or shape trends in the near future. OUR TRACK RECORD• In the past few years, we’ve been spot-on about what to watch.• To name just a few Things to Watch from last year:– Mobile Money: The digital wallet became a reality for more consumers in more markets,although we’ll see more tech advances in 2011 that will help drive this trend further into themainstream. In 2010, among other things, the practice of texting donations becamewidespread after the Haiti earthquake, an updated PayPal app allowed users to exchangemoney by bumping phones, and various new tools turned phones into credit card terminals. – Coconut Water: PepsiCo is partnering with GNC to put out coconut water products under thebrand name Phenom. And coconut water has gone Hollywood, with Madonna, Demi Mooreand Matthew McConaughey all investing in Vita Coco. In May, Time reported that coconutwater “has recently caught on among athletes, health nuts and bleary-eyed urbanites in theU.S.” (the latter because of its reputed ability to help hangovers).– Foursquare: This mobile gaming app was relatively new on the scene when we included it onlast year’s list; this year its worldwide user base grew more than tenfold and is now in theneighborhood of 5 million. Its two founders are appearing in holiday Gap ads. Indeed, someFoursquare backlash has set in, with some arguing that it won’t go beyond niche adoption,that check-in fatigue is setting in and that newer rivals might go further with the idea. OUR TRACK RECORD (cont’d.)• To name just a few Things to Watch from last year (cont’d.):– Ethical Fashion: Examples included Tesco collaborating with ethical fashion label FromSomewhere on a line of upcycled clothing and H&M launching the Garden collection, madefrom organic and recycled fabrics. In September, the Guardian reported from Paris that “TheEthical Fashion Show, the world’s largest event devoted solely to sustainable fashion, is …becoming increasingly mainstream: there are over a hundred brands represented, and theshow has outgrown its humble origins in disused warehouses to occupy the … home of theFrench Fashion Institute.”– Greening the Palate: The UN published a report saying that “a global shift towards a vegandiet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climatechange,” according to the Guardian. A new vegetarian fast-food mini-chain in New York andLondon, Otarian, touts not only the carbon footprint of each menu item but how it compareswith a similar non-vegetarian item. – Bacon Everywhere: Bacon was spotted in everything from flavoring syrup (from Torani) tomore cocktails and desserts; L.A. even got a bacon-themed food truck; and Jones Soda wentso far as to release a limited-edition bacon-flavored beverage. OUR TRACK RECORD (cont’d.)• In 2009, we spotlighted Lady Gaga just as her career was taking off, as well as:– Crowdfunding, which took off in a big way in 2010: Kickstarter, launched in 2009, has raisedmore than $20 million in funds for projects so far, including one recent project that garneredalmost a million dollars from more than 13,000 backers.– Doha: We pointed to Qatar’s capital because of its cultural offerings being designed byfamous architects; now the city looks likely to be in the spotlight into the next decade andbeyond as Qatar gets ready to host the World Cup in 2022.– WikiLeaks, which we told readers to expect “to start making more headlines.” In 2010, JulianAssange and the site’s leaked revelations were in the headlines daily.– Cloud Computing, which went mainstream in 2009 and became one of the biggest tech buzzwords of the year in 2010.– Gluten-Free: Where few people were worrying about gluten sensitivity two years ago, it’s nowfrequently cited as a concern. Big brands have responded, among them General Mills (withits gluten-free Betty Crocker brownie mix and Bisquick). – The Decline of E-mail: Facebook is making updates so that sending a message will feel morelike texting than e-mailing. ComScore numbers show a drop of about 6 percent in 2010 fortotal unique visitors in the U.S. to e-mail sites like Yahoo! and Hotmail; visits from teenagersdropped by 18 percent. While visits to Gmail’s site have risen, services there now also includevideo conferencing, instant messaging and phone calling. OUR TRACK RECORD (cont’d.)• In 2008, we listed French President Nicolas Sarkozy (a runner-up for Time’s 2008 Person of theyear); “radical transparency”; and the “staycation.”• In 2007, we were right about Barack Obama, Amy Winehouse, Jennifer Hudson, companiesgoing green and age shuffling. • Check out the following slides to see what you’ll be hearing more about in 2011. OUR THINGS TO WATCH IN 20111. 3D Printing23.Deforestation43.Ignorance Is Bliss 63.Odyssey Trackers 83.Social Objects2. Africa’s Middle Class Awareness 44.In the Flesh 64.Older Workforce 84.Space Travel Goes3. Apps Beyond Mobile24.Detroit45.Jennifer Lawrence 65.The Oprah WinfreyPrivate4. Art.sy25.Digital Downtime 46.London TourismNetwork (OWN)85.Storied Products 5. Auto Apps 26.Digital Etiquette 47.Long-Form Content66.Pedro Lourenço 86.Stricter Green BuildingStandards6. Automatic Check-Ins 27.Digital Indoor Maps48.Matcha67.Personal Taste Graphs 87.Tablets for Tots7. Bamboo28.Digital Interventions 49.mHealth 68.Piers Morgan88.Tap-to-Pay8. Banks Branch Out29.East London Tech City50.Michael Jackson Lives69.Pogo89.Tech Liaisons9. Banner Ads Do More 30.E-Book Sharing On70.P-to-P Car Sharing 90.Tech-Enabled10.Beer Sommeliers31.Electronic Profiling 51.Micro-Businesses71.Rooney Mara Throwbacks11.Biomimicry32.Entrepreneurial52.Mobile Blogging 72.RumJournalism91.Temporary Tattoos Go12.Bjarke Ingels53.Mobile Memes73.Rye RyeHigh-End 33.Facebook Alternatives 13.Brazil as E-Leader 54.The Nail Polish74.Ryo Ishikawa92.Tintin the Movie34.Fashion Fast-ForwardEconomy14.Breaking the Book 75.Scanning Everything93.Transmedia Producers35.F-Commerce 55.Nanobrewers15.Brigadeiro76.Self-Powering Devices 94.Tube-Free Toilet Paper36.Food, Ph.D.56.Near Field16.“Buy One, Give One77.Smart LunchroomsCommunication95.UkraineAway”37.Gay-Centric Hotels78.Smart-Infrastructure57.The New Mobility96.Urban Industrial Parks17.CAPTCHA Advertising 38.Global Disease,InvestmentRefocusedIndustry97.Video Calling18.Children’s E-Books 79.Smartphone Cameras39.Green Luxury Cars58.New Nordic CuisineTake Over98.Virtual Mirrors 19.Coming Clean with Green40.Group-Manipulated59.Next-Generation80.Smoking on the Fringe99.Voice-Activated Apps 20.Costlier Cotton PricingDocumentarians81.Social Browsers Go100.YouTube the21.Culinary Calling Cards41.Heirloom Apples60.NeymarMainstreamBroadcaster 22.Decline of the Cash42.Home Energy Monitors61.NKOTBSB 82.Social NetworkingRegister62.Objectifying Objects Surveillance100 THINGS TO WATCH IN 2011No. 1 3D PrintingAs the technology gets more affordable, 3D printers willcome into mainstream use, allowing users to createeverything from jewelry to lamps to homes (a Los Angelescompany is developing a printer capable of making a house).Simply send a file to a 3D printer, choose from a range ofmaterials (resin, glass, silver, etc.) and receive the productshortly thereafter. Pioneering Dutch startup Shapeways hasmoved its headquarters to New York; Hewlett-Packard isselling a 3D printer; Google’s SketchUp software helps usersturn designs into printable objects. Photo credit: Creative Tools| Back to 100 |