trends

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As I await the new Apple Tablet announcement and the shininess of it all, I am anticipating the potential new uses for this device. My clues came from Steve Jobs’ apparent comment of wanting it to be more than something you read in the bathroom. This is what I have come up with so far, but you likely have more imaginative ideas.

  1. Digital photo frame
  2. Puzzle games e.g. crosswords, crypto quotes
  3. E-book reader – connected to iTunes
  4. Presentation screen – for keynote presentations
  5. Music videos to accompany music – attached to iTunes
  6. Read the rest of this entry »

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I like this kind of thinking. We tend to focus on what is failing in our economy, but this article from Piers Fawkes makes us focus on how our economy is being re-ordered. Behaviors are changing rapidly and it is driven by our digital behavior and our rethinking of consumerism. Throw an economic crisis into the mix, and the whole thing speeds up. The companies that get it are thriving. To use a sports analogy, see where the ball is going, not where it is now.

http://http://www.psfk.com/2008/12/recession-or-reorder.html

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080523.re-laneway-0523/BNStory/RealEstate

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I listened to a webcast this afternoon on functional food trends. There are some underserved areas in relation to the trends. They include:

Healthy convenience foods for families
Nutritional bars for kids to match their nutritional requirements
Sports drinks for those 50+ years

By the way, the top new product pacesetter is Campbell’s reduced sodium soups – $101 million in sales. http://www.campbellsoup.com/lowersodium.aspx

Here is an article on the top 10 functional foods: http://sloantrend.com/Documents/2008-04IFTTop10FunctionalTrends.pdf

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Excellent radio segment called ”It’s the Insight, Stupid” that was aired on May 3 on the Age of Persuasion radio show. Here’s the link to the audio file: http://www.cbc.ca/ageofpersuasion/2008/05/its_the_insight_stupid.html#more

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To find out more…

http://laughingsquid.com/

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVZ30yB2mSo]

Link to the handbook: http://www.hipsterhandbook.com

Q &A with the author of the Hipster Handbook: http://www.randomhouse.com/anchor/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400032013&view=qa

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Yesterday, I attended an open house of a new condo development in Charlottetown…and for a small town of about 40,000, this condo looked like it should be in downtown NYC. The architect that designed these condos creates sustainable, artistic and urban living…with that wonderful feeling of open spaces. The typical design is a lower level that is open with an upper level loft bedroom and a staircase to a roof-top patio/garden. It is a rennovated building, so he has maintained the solid woods.

The condos are tapped into the green energy plan which is powered by wind and the biofuel infrastructure from the city…so it is green and good and beautiful. About 10% of PEI’s energy is produced by wind farms located on the eastern and western tips of the island.

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There are people on Twitter who want to find out what you had for lunch, especially food trend watchers, but it is also a place to get some “tweet cred”. It is a good medium to find out what your followers want to know about and to contribute in a valuable way. As trends people who want to be ahead of the curve…it can be a little isolating at times. We have to be ahead of the masses…we are always thinking about what they want next or what we want them to want next. Twitter can tap into the collective brain of those who are also checking into the future.

“The medium is the massage.” Marshall McLuhan

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http://socialight.com/

Twitter asks what you are doing….Socialight suggests what you could be doing.

I like this product and discovered it unfortunately after my NYC trip. I was in NYC a month ago and wanted to know what the best places were, so I am asking people at the trends conference and art show that I was attending. It is basically research of one or two. With Socialight, I could have been informed on my mobile device of all the Socialight subscriber’s favourite things in the neighbourhoods I was walking through. As you check out the recommendations, you can give it an onsite thumbs up or thumbs down so future Socialights can benefit.

I am not one of those people who meticulously plans their trips. I am a writer and photographer at heart and I like to wander in a new city and just observe. As a marketer, I watch for patterns of what is going on, what’s in style, what had changed since the last time I was here. I document my trip in photos and when I return home, I write about it and pass on ideas to clients. Socialight would be a great companion for my pursuits.

Socialight has not expanded into Canada yet, but they are working on it. I think it will be  popular in Toronto…has similar dynamics as NYC. I am already letting my clients know about it, have set up an account and am listing my favourite places.

Way to go Socialight…you’ve got my attention.

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