The Futures Company

Opening up in Latin America

18 June 2010 at 10:44 am thenextwavefutures Leave a comment

Crawford Hollingworth writes:

We’ve been doing quite a lot of work in Latin America in recent years, and it seemed both inevitable and desirable that we’d want to open an office on the continent, not least because – in terms of social change – it’s one of the most innovative regions on the planet. And we’ve now managed to do this – working in partnership with Ogilvy in Buenos Aires. We’ve been lucky to find two outstanding people to launch the office for us, in Bernardo Geogheghan and Sebastian Codeseiro, who’re flanking me in the picture above.

I visited Buenos Aires for the launch, and while I was there I was interviewed by Clarin, Argentina’s largest paper. Here’s part of the interview – approximately translated.

- What emerging trends are we seeing?

“One of the trends that we analyze is that people feel that we live in a society which has greater risks than at other times. The way this risk emerges in each society is different. In Europe is related to the fear of others, the immigrant, and also with the possibility of a new economic crisis. In the U.S. it is the risk associated with the possibility of terrorist attacks. In Latin America it has other components linked to problems such as poverty and insecurity of property and people. In each area the trend is expressed differently.

- What other phenomenon can be anticipated for the coming years?

I think the one of the most important trends is the rise of protectionism in many forms and at many levels – national to regional and even at a city level [imagine a sort of new medievalism in which cities only care for, support and protect themselves].  This will be brought about by growing global and local power struggles, resource issues and social unrest.

Entry filed under: The Futures Company, trends. Tags: Buenos Aires, Latin America.