Posts filed under 'trends'
A dog’s breakfast?
Alastair Morton writes:
In recent years cookery shows have picked up and amplified a wide range of consumer trends, from Gary Rhodes’ rock-chef rebelliousness of the mid ’90s to the apparent ‘authenticity’ of Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares providing, at times, gripping viewing.
This thought was brought home to me by Delia’s latest offering – more a case of ‘How to Cheat at Tapping into Trends’ than a food heaven. The premise is clearly to help out the ‘time-starved’ consumer, but there’s more than a pinch of ‘community connections’ with both family and tribal (Norwich City FC) references, topped off last week by a good slug of Catholicism to tap into the search for meaning. And let’s not forget about ‘health and wellness’ – tinned food as nutritious as its fresh counterpart? Well, I could go on.
I know that different trends play out in different ways for different people, and that Delia’s trying to stand out in a crowded market where there’s also a significant movement towards ethical food and slow food, with Hugh and Jamie’s respective chicken liberation fronts leading the charge. But beyond the fact that not all trends pull in the same direction, Delia’s approach comes unstuck, at least for me, because I think the joy in cooking is in the dream of what you’re going to create, from start to finish, and not just opening the relevant cans or defrosting the right pellets.
Image courtesy of http://www.joe-ks.com
Add comment 25 March 2008
Influential Boomers
Siân Davies writes:
Henley Centre HeadlightVision is just embarking on a merger with the US research company Yankelovich – the market leaders in understanding the changing values and behaviours of US consumers.
While we’ve been negotiating I’ve had the good fortune to immerse myself in much of their research. One publication which stood out for me was ‘Generation Ageless‘, by J Walker Smith and Ann Clurman, Yankelovich’s leading commentators on generational marketing. Yankelovich coined the term ‘baby boomers’ in the 1960s when they first started collecting data on this influential generation. As Walker and Ann say: “Without notice or warning, in defiance of all trends and expectations, Baby Boomers exploded onto the American scene, and in the process changed everything”.
Add comment 1 February 2008
In with the old?
Jo Philips writes:
I was struck by the following quote when reading the historian Theodore Zeldin today:
“What to do with too much information is the great riddle of our time. My solution is to look at the facts through two lenses simultaneously, both through a microscope, choosing details that illuminate life in those aspects that touch people most closely, and through a telescope, surveying large problems from a great distance.”
Zeldin’s argument reinforces Michelle Singer’s previous post on understanding both macro- and micro-narratives to build a robust picture of change. History also helps. Recently in an office workshop we looked back to images from 50 years ago to see what had changed and what had stayed the same. Some of the findings were quite surprising, and it made me think about the importance of a grounding in history to imagine the future. Perhaps the New Year newspapers’ reviews of 2007 are as important for understanding future change as their predictions for the year ahead…
Add comment 7 January 2008
Online couch potatoes
Becky Rowe writes:
Watching TV on your own or looking to indulge in the irreverent wit of a bunch of Guardian Unlimited readers? Then log on to the ‘Real time telly – talk about it now’ thread. The premise is that you can chat about what you are watching, whilst you are watching. Particularly good to spice up the solo viewing experience, or if your ‘witty’ comments have been banned by your sofa buddy, but you are still desperate to share…
This phenomenon came to my attention last Saturday when I noticed that the X-factor thread had become one of the most active on the GU discussion boards. Not only is a place to share observations about the contestants, or canvass votes for your favourite, but there is now a real sense of online community around the live Saturday night transmission. A perfect example of what happens when real (if you count X-factor as real!?) collides with virtual
Add comment 26 November 2007
Modern evils
Michelle Singer writes:
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has now closed its website questionnaire on the subject of ‘modern social evils’. It reports that 3,500 responses were submitted, and these are now being analysed prior to the publication of a report on the subject early next year.Over a century ago, Joseph Rowntree was concerned to address “the underlying causes of weakness or evil in the community, rather than remedying their more superficial manifestations”. Amongst these “great scourges of humanity”, he included war, slavery, intemperance, impurity, the opium traffic and gambling.
Add comment 15 October 2007
Simple pleasures
Jo Phillips writes:
A shop in Soho (London) that I visited recently asks its customers “What is your luxury?” You are invited to chalk yours up on a huge blackboard alongside those of your predecessors.
Add comment 15 October 2007
The simplicity trend
Andrew Curry writes:
One of the trends we’ve been following for a while is that of increasing simplicity – a response to increasing product complexity. One of the signs of this was the emergence at MIT of John Maeda’s Simplicity consortium, attended by various leading businesses. (Another was the success of Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan ’s book Simply Better).
John Maeda has recently distilled his thoughts on simplicity into a book, The Laws of Simplicity – currently running at #1,333 on the Amazon best-sellers list. The blog at TED.com has a video of him doing his Simplicity thing. (It runs just under 18 minutes).
Thanks to flatcrabs for the image of the poster.
Add comment 24 September 2007
A backlash against agelessness?
Jo Phillips writes:
Dove has recently launched a range of “pro-age” products under the slogan “Dove is pro-age, not anti-age” and backed by the alluring belief that “beauty has no age limit.” This obviously builds on their successful and agenda-changing Campaign for Real Beauty brand manifesto. According to Dove’s 2006 global study 91% of women feel the media and advertising need to do a better job of representing realistic images of women over 50.
Whilst it feels like we are still a long way from a 70-year old Vogue cover-girl, there has been a recent spate of fashion magazine comparisons in the UK between those who have had plastic surgery and those who have kept their ‘natural beauty,’ with some praise for the latter group. There have also been several pieces arguing against plastic surgery, and its effect on society, including Bobbi Brown in the Telegraph last year.
We can separate two aspects of agelessness – firstly the desire to feel and act young and secondly the desire to look physically young. It is likely that we will increasingly see a bifurcation of views about physical ageing, between, on the one had, those who take advantage of the growing availability and possibilities for enhancement and those who opt to stay natural. But perhaps we will also see a backlash against the ideal of acting and feeling young. In this Sunday’s Observer Viv Groskop argues in the comment piece Let’s hear it for wisdom, not eternal youth that our “false celebration of agelessness is threatening to eclipse the true value of experience.” We know that people are increasingly valuing their portfolio of life experiences such as travel, extreme sports or voluntary work as a demonstration of their identity.
Is it possible that the lines on your face will in future again be valued as an indication of your life experience?
Add comment 7 September 2007
