JWT: The Future 100 (December 2014)

THE FUTURE 10 0: TRENDS AND CHANGE
TO WATCH IN 2015
December 2014

22
CULTURE p4
Symbiotic celebrity brand tie-ups, Save Our Subcultures (the new
rallying cry from Gen Y), new feminism and design for all.
BEAUTY p26
Hot ingredients charcoal and kale, South Korean innovation
and beauty for the rising cohort of over-50 consumers.
BRANDS p32
Third Way commerce, do brands and the me brands that let
consumers take center stage as micropreneur stewards.
FOOD AND DRINK p37
Enjoy haute vegan, eat from tin cans, sip on matcha—
or try a cup of bone broth.
INNOVATION p48
The tactile Internet, the long near revolution, in-house
innovation units, aging—Silicon Valley’s new target—
and looming moral questions for tech giants.
LIFESTYLE p55
New surf, adventurism, the ‘now’ age and mindfulness in business.
LUXURY p65
High-net-worth Athenas, share-con luxury
and luxury e-commerce—the new emerging market to watch.
RETAIL p70
BuzzFeed commerce, category collapse, mass boutique—plus
Amazon’s very first store!
SUSTAINABILITY p82
Washing without water, recycling chic, two-wheeled travel
and making scraps delicious.
TRAVEL p88
Low-cost long haul, local networking, thought leadership
getaways and wellness tourism.
TECHNOLOGY p96
Ethical smartphones, cloud-run businesses, going invisible,
Oculus Rift communications, clever fabrics, cognitive technology,
serendipitous algorithms—and more…
Foresta Lumina by Moment Factory, Canada.
Contents

3
The Future 100: Trends
and Change to Watch
in 2015
2015 is nearly here, and there is a tidal wave of change on the horizon. At
JWTIntelligence, we’re all about change—what’s new, what’s next and, more
important, what it means. What does change say about consumers, their
outlooks today and their evolving behaviors and aspirations?
Aside from the fact that we’re living increasingly digital lives, the
smartphone is perhaps the biggest single influence on consumer change.
It has shifted from being a communication device to a pocket portal to
the world: a way to share, search the streetscape, pay for items, document
vacations—and the rise of the Internet of Things means it’s set to become
our “life remote control,” used for everything from regulating our home’s
heating to watering our plants. Within decades, in many parts of the world,
there will be few who remember life without mobile phones. Ericsson
forecasts that by 2020, 90% of the world’s population over age 6 will have a
mobile phone, while substantial ongoing price drops mean that eventually
most of the world will have access to a web-enabled phone (Ericsson reports
that around 65% of all mobile phones sold in Q3 2014 were smartphones).
The ubiquity of the web has accelerated the pace of trends, the spread of
information and the sophistication of consumers, who are increasingly
confident and expect brands to work around them rather than dictate to
them. Other consumer expectations are also shifting in this new landscape,
under influences as diverse as the vast range of information available on
the Internet, globalization, environmental change and difficult economic
times. As a given, not a bonus, brands are expected to deliver experiences,
be hyper-transparent and achieve sustainability. They’re expected to
produce beautifully designed products and environments. And they are
also increasingly expected to be societal leaders, benefactors, innovators
and philanthropists.
As life expectancy increases, health is becoming the watchword for all
consumers, from Millennials to Baby Boomers. Consumers are investing
heavily in fitness and nutrition, and seeing their bodies as an ecosystem
where beauty, diet, mental health and fitness are interlinked. All this, and
much more, lies ahead.
So what’s next for 2015?
JWTIntelligence has rounded up
100 trends and changes, some big,
some small, all worth noting, to
watch in the coming year.
Lucie Greene, Worldwide Director,
JWTIntelligence
by JWTIntelligence

4
Symbiotic celebrity brand tie-ups,
Save Our Subcultures (the new
rallying cry from Gen Y), new
feminism and design for all.
4

5
Why it’s interesting:
China’s wealth will be concentrated in these urban areas. Over the next
decade, McKinsey expects Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Chongqing and
Shenzhen, in addition to Hong Kong, to join the list of top luxury cities.
China, home to the world’s second-largest rural population, is expected
to add close to 300 million more urbanites by 2030, when Shanghai and
Beijing will likely account for two of the world’s top five mega-cities,
according to new U.N. research. “We are observing one of the most
significant economic transformations the world has seen: 21st-century
China is urbanizing on a scale 100 times that seen in 19th-century
Britain and at 10 times the speed,” notes a McKinsey paper on cities
and luxury markets.
Megalopolises
Burberry flagship store at Kerry Centre,
Shanghai, 2014.

6
There’s a fundamental shift. Feminism today is less politicized and more
about community, empowerment and conﬁdence than antagonism. It’s also
multigenerational and powered by social media.
Feminism is being rebooted for the digital era, across all generations,
with a newly collaborative, open and empowered spirit. Feminist rhetoric
is also occupying the center of popular discourse. Examples are multiple
and include Sarah Silverman’s viral video about the pay gap in the U.S.;
toy manufacturer GoldieBlox championing girl coders; Disney’s Frozen
co-opting parents with its female-friendship narrative rather than the
traditional prince-rescues-princess theme; and Emma Watson speaking
at the U.N., imploring more men to become feminists. The growing crop
of female empowerment conferences ranges from Cosmopolitan’s Fun
Fearless Life to National Journal’s Women 2020 to Arianna Hufﬁngton’s
Thrive and Tina Brown’s Women in the World.
New Feminism
Women Fashion Power at Design Museum.
Credit: Photos by Mirren Rosie.

7
Consumers—mindful of extended lifespans, many living in an increasingly
agnostic society—are starting to contemplate their mortality and the
afterlife more seriously, linked, perhaps, to the cult of health.
When artist Doug Wheeler created an illusion of inﬁnite white space
inspired by his vision of the afterlife, at Palazzo Grassi in Venice, he pointed
to a rising ﬁxation. Consumers, mindful of their life, health and ultimate
fate, are starting to focus on their mortality more and more. New York’s
Metropolitan Museum of Art recently launched an exhibition of mourning
attire. Dezeen, the popular design blog, recently charted the world’s most
avant-garde funeral architecture.
Mortal Beings
The Illusion of Light by Doug Wheeler at
Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 2014.
Credit: Photo by Fulvio Orsenigo © 2014
Doug Wheeler; courtesy David Zwirner,
New York/London.

8
Children under 10 are more technically advanced even than their teenage
siblings. Their familiarity with technology, and their expectations of it, go
far beyond that of previous generations.
Three-quarters of American children under 8 have access to a smartphone
or tablet, according to Common Sense Media. A poll of U.K. parents
conducted by Vodafone found that 93% allow children to use their
smartphone and tablets. Kids are more connected digitally than ever, and
new toys and services are rising to satisfy their hunger for technology.
LittleBits, for example, which makes DIY electronics kits, has introduced
a platform that allows kids to connect household objects to the Internet
(harnessing the rise of the Internet of Things).
Connected Kids
LittleBits by Ayah Bdeir:
Remote Pet Feeder, Arduino Coding Kit.

9
Redemption Bar, London.
The face of youth is changing as Millennials become more aware of their
health and longevity, and fitness and health are being rebranded in hip,
sociable ways.
Millennials are drinking less than older generations and embracing healthy
lifestyles and fitness. According to Channel 4, one in four young British
people (aged 16-30) say they do not drink alcohol, compared with just one
in seven older people (aged 60 and over). Reflecting this, a new range of
platforms is offering alcohol-free hedonism, such as Redemption, a new
alcohol-free bar in London, and yoga raves.
Teetotal
Millennials

10
Aside from studios playing it safe, on the consumer front, this could be an
indication that tumultuous times of global protest and economic stagnation
are lending familiar classics greater appeal. The other common thread is
fantasy: Are consumers seeking escapism as a result of austerity fatigue?
As movie theater attendance slides, studios are returning to old favorites,
reimagined classics and sequels to attract audiences. In 2015, Twentieth
Century Fox is releasing Taken 3—more kidnappings out there, it seems—
as well as The Fantastic Four. We’re due the fourth Jurassic Park from
Universal Studios. Walt Disney Studios is releasing Marvel’s Avengers:
Age of Ultron, as well as a souped-up 2015 version of Cinderella, starring
Helena Bonham Carter and Cate Blanchett. From Paramount Pictures,
expect the sixth Paranormal Activity. Lionsgate will release the final Hunger
Games and second Divergent.
2015: The Year
of the Sequel
As our attitude toward age changes, there is rising appreciation of the
strength and tenacity of older workers. Companies have been strongly
focused on Millennials up to now—but watch out for more recognition of
the powerful benefits of a mature workforce.
Companies are quickly retooling for a rapidly aging workforce. Recognizing
that older workers have different needs, skills and challenges, employers
are changing their educational curricula or adding new features to their
factory floors. In Germany, BMW has installed adjustable chairs and special
tools to cater to older workers. In the U.S., CVS has a “Snowbird” program
that migrates older workers from Northern states to warmer states
during the winter.
Retooling for an
Aging Population

11
Biocouture by Suzanne Lee.
BioSkirt-2 Credit: Photography
by House of Radon.
Bacteria previously suffered from the “yuck factor” but is now attracting
interest from creatives and innovators for its various properties, including
the potential for growable products.
Bacteria is undergoing an image overhaul in food, beauty and luxury as
more consumers see the beneﬁts of growable products and as experiments
in this ﬁeld become more creative. For the Festival of Imagination at
Selfridges, the retailer collaborated with creative studio super/collider and
Suzanne Lee of Biocouture on a series of workshops called “Growing the
Future.” Biocouture, a London company, experiments with living organisms
such as yeast, fungi and algae to grow garments. And as part of the Central
Saint Martins art school exhibit at the London Design Festival, Zuzana
Gombosova showcased Invisible Resources, an exploration of the potential
of lab-grown materials.
Bacteria Chic

12
Like ethical behavior and sustainability, consumers increasingly
take good design as a given, particularly Millennials.
Call it the “Pinterest phenomenon”—consumers with open access
to sophisticated lifestyle press and blogs are increasingly expecting
intelligent design, even from entry-level products, functional products and
mass-market services. On cue, sectors from mass-market food retailers
to pharmacies to budget hotels are being reimagined with new looks.
Consider Radisson Blu’s collaboration with avant-garde designer Jaime
Hayon or the McDonald’s partnership with Patrick Norguet. Even Lowes
Foods supermarkets have been overhauled, by design agency The Variable,
to suit the upscale design sensibility of Millennials. Norway’s passports
have been updated by the Neue Design Studio in Oslo and now feature
chic graphics, while Stanley’s, a pharmacy in New York, is reimagining how
the drugstore should look.
Universal
Intelligent Design
Norwegian passport design by Neue, Oslo.
Norwegian bank note design by Snøhetta, Oslo.

13
Books such as The Athena Doctrine: How Women (and the Men Who Think
Like Them) Will Rule the Future, by John Gerzema and Michael D’Antonio,
and statistics about women’s education and economic influence, paint a
future of rising female influence. Will traditional business structures and
reward systems need to evolve?
As women rise in businesses across the world, so too a new definition
of power and success—along female lines—is set to evolve. Arianna
Huffington highlights this in her 2014 book Thrive, in which she discusses
the Third Metric, an increasing sense that balance, well-being and
effectiveness are just as important definers of success as money.
Explains Pattie Sellers, Fortune senior editor-at-large and executive director
of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit: “Women think about power
much more horizontally, and men think about power vertically—this is a
stereotype, but I’ve asked hundreds of powerful women and dozens and
dozens of powerful men, ‘How do you define power?’ And women almost
inevitably define it in some kind of horizontal way. Often, they use the
words ‘influence’ and ‘impact.’ And men tend to talk about either getting
people to do things they don’t want to do or achieving something in terms
of success, or a level of success.”
Womenomics: New
Definitions of Power
Lean In Cirle.
Sheryl Sandberg.

14
Increasingly, the streetscape is becoming a rich palette not only for
interactive retail and location-sensitive games but experiences too. Clever
brands such as Lucy use wonder and experience—and offer a public
service—to integrate themselves into consumers’ everyday activities.
Creatives are helping us explore the outside world with new multisensory
experiences that augment nature and public spaces. Moment Factory’s
Foresta Lumina in Quebec’s Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook turned a
nighttime trail into an immersive experience that included mythical
creatures, illuminated trees and a soundtrack. Living Symphonies, a project
staged at Thetford Forest in the U.K., created music out of real-time
recordings from the forest, which played through speakers placed around
the area. A Dutch artist has created a solar-powered bike trail that looks
like Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” after dark. And activewear brand Lucy
installed a Light Forest in Boston, with 10,000 solar-powered lights and a
soundtrack to match.
Experiential
Public Spaces
Living Symphonies.

15
This is worth noting when considering Millennials in particular. “The
Tumblr-generation muse is no longer a flawlessly airbrushed A-lister
flashing her pearly whites on the cover of the September Issue while
dripping in borrowed diamonds,” writes Jane Helpern, editor at Smashbox
Studios and Nasty Gal, in i-D. “Today’s of-the-moment model has dark
circles under her eyes, she’s makeup-free, she’s gap-toothed, gangly, and
uninterested in being edited into submission."
Beyoncé’s recent “homemade” music video responds to a telling twist in
our visual culture. The global pop sensation released her single “7/11” with
a YouTube video that could easily have been produced by a fan, from a
hotel room in Las Vegas. While elements of wardrobe and choreography
were, of course, carefully orchestrated, Beyoncé appears makeup-free, in
scenes played out in the bathroom, a messy bedroom and on a balcony,
using a mounted camera. As more entertainment becomes grassroots
and more celebrities and influencers are initially seen on YouTube, Tumblr
and Instagram, so too our visual language is changing to one where the
candid and the real become the ideal. Already celebrities such as Reese
Witherspoon, Kate Hudson and Gwyneth Paltrow are communicating via
social media with seemingly unretouched images.
Real Aspirations
"7/11" by Beyoncé, 2014.

16
Nike x Pedro Lourenço collection.
16
Avant-Garde
Dance Vanguard

17
Brands have relied on music and comedy for viral content. Now dance,
especially dance from the high-culture world, is being employed as a new
shareable medium.
Musicians, brands and tech giants are using dance in new, artistic,
conceptual and creative ways to create viral media. FKA Twigs’ new
collaboration with Google Glass accompanies a reimagined score of her
songs “Video Girl” and “Glass & Patron,” which feature the artist acting out
a contemporary dance. Sia’s video for “Chandelier” features dancer Maddie
Ziegler. The Nowness, owned by LVMH, recently teamed with dancers from
London’s Sadler’s Wells to create a shoppable ﬁlm, Mine, directed by Luke
White and Remi Weekes, with items by La Perla, Kenzo and Louis Vuitton.
Benjamin Millepied’s L.A. Dance Project turned the Ace Hotel in downtown
Los Angeles into a multistory stage, creating a dance love letter to the
city. Abteen Bagheri, creator of music videos for A$AP Rocky and Blood
Orange, collaborated with Nike Women, Pedro Lourenço and the Nowness
to create a dance video set in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains to showcase a
new sports collection. The list goes on.
Avant-Garde
Dance Vanguard

18
Increasingly, all entertainment, from books to music to video to
advertising and content, is becoming grassroots-led and putting
consumers center stage.
Yes, it’s an actual thing. Twitch, a destination for the live broadcast of
consumer video gaming, has 55 million unique visitors and a million
participating broadcasters. Amazon bought it this year for $970 million.
Broadcast
Gaming
Social media is increasing awareness among consumers of not only their
favorite fashion designers but also the plethora of other creative talents
behind the scenes.
First came the stylists. Now every fashion and beauty industry expert
behind the scenes, from makeup and hair artists to store architects, is
being feted with books and exhibitions. Beauty retailer Space NK held an
exhibition this fall dedicated to the legacy of late makeup artist Kevyn
Aucoin. Meanwhile, luxury store architect Peter Marino (who has designed
stores for Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Chanel) was celebrated in an
exhibit during Design Miami 2014. Next stop the ﬂorists?
Backstage
Celebrities

19
Gaming is evolving in many directions for new audiences—women, for
example, now make up nearly half of gamers (and slightly more in the
U.K. at 52%). Gaming mechanics are also being applied to everything from
music videos to retail.
Alongside Broadcast Gaming, we’re seeing an emerging new wave of
intellectual, artistic and poetic video games. These focus on learning, self-
actualizing and experience over punching out soldiers or whizzing past a
virtual ﬁnishing line. Nothing of This Is Ours by Alex Myers, for example, is
an experiential art piece-meets-installation of “inﬁnite, surrealistic worlds
with creatures.” Morphopolis is a poetic hand-animated game involving
exploration of a surreal insect world and metamorphosis. The developers
behind Morphopolis have also come up with Calvino Noir, which features
beautifully rendered 1930s architecture in monochrome and puzzles linked
by a noir-esque narrative. Land’s End is a new virtual reality computer
game with dreamy landscapes and architectural puzzles, created by digital
agency UsTwo for the Samsung Gear VR headset.
Intellectual,
Artistic Gaming
Calvino Noir by Micro Macro Games, release date 2015.
Morphopolis by Micro Macro Games, 2013.

20
Social media has sped up the rate of trend and niche discovery, and its
path to mass exposure, but some celebrities and brands are doing this
too fast, and in an inauthentic way, creating a backlash among connected,
sophisticated Millennials, who view it as opportunistic. There’s an
opportunity for brands to connect with real subcultures, but they must
tread a careful path or risk looking cynical.
It started, perhaps, when Vice staff writer Clive Martin wrote a story
headlined “Stop F*cking With Our Youth Subcultures.”While Tumblr, social
networks and blogs have spread information and inspiration and created
communities of teens, they’ve also sped up the pace of discovery and mass
co-option of niche urban styles—but there are signs of a move against
this. Martin’s article pointed out Rihanna’s adoption of ghetto gothic, Katy
Perry’s adoption of seapunk and Harry Styles’ emulation of East London
style. Shortly after, The Guardian ran a fashion headline “Chola Style—the
latest cultural appropriation fashion crime?,” a think piece on Rihanna,
Selena Gomez and FK Twigs’ embrace of Mexican-American gang style.
Sensing a change in mood, fashion brands have made moves to connect
with real subcultures. Marc Jacobs has collaborated with i-D to create
Tribes, a three-part documentary video series proﬁling American
subcultures. “Combining fashion with documentary storytelling, each of
the three videos explores a different subculture that represents rebellion
and self-expression,” i-D said. Nicola Formichetti’s fall 2014 collection
for Diesel is inspired by subcultures, with Tumblr stars and Instagram
inﬂuencers featured in the campaign, shot by Inez van Lamsweerde
and Vinoodh Matadin. Cool things really happen working this way, says
Formichetti: “I wanted to tap into that and see the real thing again.”
Save Our
Subcultures
The Bronx BMX Crew
by Marc Jacobs and i-D, 2014.

21
2121
Digital Revolution at the Barbican, London, 2014 Umbrellium's
Assemblance. © Matthew G Lloyd/Getty Images
Digital High Culture

22
Live streaming and digital
technology are opening up high
art to mass audiences in new ways.
Meanwhile, major art institutions
are increasingly examining digital
culture and its impact.
High culture is going digital—using digital platforms, beacon technology
and social media to connect to new audiences. Consider the rise of live-
streamed operas and theater in the U.K. The Nether, a play in London, was
promoted by an interactive game/experience. The Rubens House museum
in Antwerp is using Estimote beacons to augment the exhibition and make
it more interactive. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the largest
art museum in the western U.S., has teamed with Snapchat to promote its
exhibits. Google Art Project, which allows Internet users to view exhibits,
has partnered with artist Kara Walker and Creative Time; Walker’s “A
Subtlety” installation can be seen all over the world, with 360-degree views.
At the same time, high culture is examining technological capabilities as
part of the works themselves: Consider “Digital Revolution,” an immersive
exhibition of art, design, ﬁlm, music and video games, staged at the
Barbican Centre in London.
Digital High Culture
Aspe vendebis nullandis nient enimus
modictur sed erro maxim ut aliqui dendam
explab incia imporitatat ommoloratios et
destiameni rem sitiatur sam ipit maios ea
Digital Revolution at the Barbican, London, 2014.
Credits: Chris Milk, "The Treachery of Sanctuary," State of Play © Matthew G Lloyd/
Getty Images. Minimaforms' Petting Zoo ©Matthew G Lloyd/Getty Images. Umbrellium's
Assemblance © Matthew G Lloyd/Getty Images.

23
Not only do consumers want an experience that’s immersive and inspiring,
they’re increasingly open to being tested and taken out of their comfort
zone, for added bragging rights.
As experientialism hits the mainstream, consumers are becoming
increasingly sophisticated. Experience is now a given in stores and
hospitality spaces, and brands are having to work harder than ever
to wow customers, wrapping in theater, avant-garde art, gastronomy
and synesthesia. The latest wave? Dark, dystopian and sometimes
uncomfortable experiences. Wolvesmouth, the hot invite-only supper club
originally based in Los Angeles, plays to the dark side, dressing dishes like
roadkill. Apocalypse Postponed, the Hong Kong art bar created by Nadim
Abbas in collaboration with Absolut, is a cyberpunk concrete bunker with
wall-to-wall sandbags and metal-framed windows—a perfect backdrop for
the challenging performances staged there.
Then there’s the rising thread of immersive “escape game” experiences.
Escape the Room is an interactive event staged in New York. Guests are
expected to figure out how to literally escape the room by finding hidden
objects, answering clues and solving puzzles in 60 minutes—the final
countdown inevitably ending in panic. Similar games are popping up
around the world. In Los Angeles, “The Purge: Breakout” was an immersive
game experience staged for the launch of the film The Purge: Anarchy. “It’s
Purge Night, and your group is being held captive by a demented torturer
… with only 30 minutes before the start of The Purge. Trapped ...” reads the
promotion, with a tagline: “Can you survive the night?”
Experiences Go Dark
Apocalypse Postponed by Nadim Abbas for Absolut, 2014.

24
As more celebrities launch their own lifestyle brands (see Gwyneth Paltrow
and Blake Lively, among others), they’re finding direct ways to monetize
their influence. Collaborating with brands in a business partnership also
means the double halo effect of joint social media buzz and promotion.
Celebrities are moving beyond merely fronting brands to acting as
business partners, collaborating on creative, appearing in campaigns,
plugging products in social media, and getting a greater cut of the profit
as a result. Diageo has launched Haig Club, a single-grain Scotch whisky,
in partnership with David Beckham and British entrepreneur Simon
Fuller; they’re all working together to develop the brand, its strategy and
positioning. Beckham appears in ad campaigns and also fronts the whisky’s
responsible-drinking program. Beyoncé and Topshop have formed a 50-50
joint venture, athletic streetwear brand Parkwood Topshop Athletic Ltd., set
for launch in 2015 (Beyoncé’s 19 million Instagram followers will no doubt
help promote it).
Celebrity
Business Partners
As new Islamic-centric markets, from the Middle East to Southeast
Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, become more
influential, marketers are taking notice of the digitally connected, stylish,
entrepreneurial new stance among young Muslim women.
There’s a redefinition of femininity among young Muslim women. The
hijabistas, hijabsters, mipsters or mipsterz (that’s Muslim + hipsters) are
connected, entrepreneurial, fashion-conscious and increasingly visible
in pop culture, from Adidas campaigns to Madonna videos. Yunalis Mat
Zara’ai, a Muslim pop singer and songwriter from Malaysia, has appeared
on The Tonight Show presenting this new iteration of Islam. The New York
Times is inviting stylish Muslim girls to post pictures of themselves in
hijabs to Instagram. Mexico-based design agency Anagrama has created
hip branding for turban maker T4Turban, while photographer Hassan Hajjaj
has launched a blog about hip Moroccan Islamic biker women.
Mipsters

25
There is increasing mass awareness of thought leadership and growing
consumer interest in it, alongside an appetite for live events. Many
celebrities already reinvent themselves as lifestyle brands, and this is yet
another way to extend and monetize their influence.
Channeling the appetite for live events, as well as their own influence,
celebrities are expanding their brands into thought-leadership conferences.
There was Oprah’s “The Life You Want Weekend” tour, launched this year,
held in Miami, Houston, Newark and Seattle, complete with “reinvention
tents,” head massages, inspirational talks and appearances from Oprah
herself, Elizabeth Gilbert and Mark Nepo. P. Diddy’s new Revolt is a music
convergence “where technology meets influencers, music executives,
entrepreneurs, songwriters, designers, producers, bloggers, students, brand
managers, marketing executives, publicists, music artists, and more,” or so
the website says. “It is the must-attend, one-of-a-kind forum designed to
help guests do one thing: understand and navigate the evolution of the
music business.” Expect Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Summit next.
Celebrities As
Thought Leaders
Revolt TV by P. Diddy.

2626
Hot ingredients charcoal and kale, South
Korean innovation and beauty for the rising
cohort of over-50 consumers.
IOPE Air Cushion Compact BB cream, South Korea
26

27
Charcoal anise soap by Leaves of Trees.
Charcoal lemonade by Juice Served Here.
Minerals, both ingestible and applied externally, are becoming
a key selling point for health and beauty.
There’s a rising reverence for minerals in beauty, largely centered on
charcoal—inspired by the ingestible-health trend. Juice brands such as Juice
Served Here and Juice Generation are using it as an ingredient. According
to Juice Generation, charcoal helps trap chemicals and stop them from
being absorbed into the skin. Leaves of Trees, launched this year, is a
beauty brand offering charcoal anise soap. Expect more.
Charcoal

28
Consumers are increasingly understanding health, beauty and well-being
as one 360-degree system and are seeing the potential in ingestible
supplements. “Superfoods and cold-pressed juices have become such a
phenomenon among consumers, who see feeling good as key to looking
good—these new ranges tap into that, with extra ingredients aimed
speciﬁcally at enhancing skin health and radiance,” says Bella Blissett,
beauty consultant and columnist for the U.K.’s Mail on Sunday.
Beauty is co-opting the superfood phenomenon, most recently tapping
the properties of kale. Nails Inc. has introduced the NailKale range of
nail polishes, packed with the antioxidant superfood to “nurture nails.”
Éminence Organics has launched Éminence Citrus & Kale Potent C+E
Serum, which contains kale, broccoli, sprouts and spinach to “restore
youthful radiance.”Then there’s Nourish Advanced Cellular Skin Perfection,
which is selling kale-based cleansers and anti-aging hand creams. The
trend sits within a wider trend where the worlds of beauty, superfoods and
cold-pressed juices are converging.
Elle Macpherson’s Super Elixir is a beauty superfood powder supplement
that contains 45 key ingredients, including bioavailable alkalizing super-
greens, Chinese herbs, digestive enzymes and members of the maitake
mushroom family. Juice Generation has launched Beauty Bombs, a range of
three beauty juices: Activated Lemonade, Activated Protein and Activated
Greens, which feature charcoal as well as two shots called Le Détox and
Pure Earth. The Body Deli, based in California, makes products using raw
superfoods such as acai berries. Skin Nutrition, showcased at Cosmoprof
2014, is a line of beauty “smoothies” featuring raw, cold-pressed ingredients.
Kale and the
Superfood Beauty Wave
Beauty Bombs by Juice Generation.
NailKale by Nails Inc.

29
Ready access to the Internet and social media means that not only are
trends spreading faster but new centers of influence are emerging. In
beauty, these new influences are increasingly coming from the East.
The axis of influence has changed in the beauty world, and South Korea is
becoming increasingly relevant. Following the BB cream phenomenon—
which spurred a whole category of alphabetical additions: CC, DD and the
rest—the global appetite for South Korean beauty is rising. According to
Statistics Korea, the country’s beauty exports hit a record $1.04 billion in
2013, and the Seoul International Cosmetics & Beauty Expo cited an annual
growth rate of 26%.
U.S. and European retailers are taking note. Urban Outfitters became the
biggest American stockist of Korean beauty brands in 2014. Refinery29
recently hired a South Korean beauty correspondent, Joyce Kong,
to chart the trend for readers. “The South Korean beauty market is
increasingly influential, in part because the government has invested in
R&D. Manufacturers are also highly responsive to trends,” says Florence
Bernardin, founder of Information & Inspiration, a Paris-based consultancy
specializing in Asian beauty trends. Bernardin says trends to watch include
bubbling beauty products that use carbonic acid, fermented skin care
products, and sheets and body masks loaded with skin care properties.
Anna-Marie Solowij, beauty consultant and founder of U.K. retailer
BeautyMART, says, “The latest Korean beauty trend product is the cushion,
a creamy combination of moisturizer, foundation and sunscreen in a
compact. The cushion formula has all the benefits of a BB cream—skin care
ingredients, tint and sunscreen—but without the opacity and weight of a BB.”
South Korean
Beauty
IOPE Air Cushion
Compact BB cream, South Korea.

30
The impact of stressful jobs and heavy use of technology is a growing
concern. According to research by YSL Beauté, spending a lot of time
checking your mobile or staring at a laptop or iPad screen is causing
premature aging. The brand uses the phrase “tech neck” to describe the
necklace-like creases caused by checking a smartphone 150 times a day,
which is, apparently, the average. “A rising number of products are being
introduced to firm the jawline and smooth the neck,” says Anna-Marie
Solowij, beauty expert and founder of U.K. retailer BeautyMART. Avon’s
Anew Clinical Infinite Lift Targeted Contouring Serum is one example.
In the broader sense, women are starting to make the connection between
work stress and visible aging. The Daily Mail ran the hyperbolic headline
“Stressed-out women are losing hair in their 20s,” citing research by L’Oréal
connecting hair loss to stress—a sixth of women said they had experienced
hair loss by age 30, and three-quarters blamed the condition of their hair
on stress. One in five high-earning men and women blamed work stress for
hair thinning, compared to just one in 10 low earners.
Digital Habits
and Stress
Avon’s Anew Clinical Infinite Lift Targeted
Contouring Serum.
Research has shown that
Millennials are more stressed
than any other generation and
are trying to manage the visible
manifestations. They’re also making
the connection between stress
and visible aging.

31
New Wave
Boomer Beauty
This year, Estée Lauder bought Olio Lusso, the skin care line founded by
66-year-old model Linda Rodin, tapping the ultimate poster girl for the
emerging “amortal” view of age. Fifty-plus, 60-plus and 70-plus consumers
are rebelling against traditional age stereotypes, continuing to work and
remaining active consumers. Rodin launched her brand when she was
nearly 60, and its USP is that it naturally enhances you to be the best you
can be. Expect more brands to tap a celebratory approach to age to reach
this audience. Rising life expectancy and larger numbers of vibrant 60-plus
and 70-plus consumers mean innovative brands will also start to evolve
tailored skin care solutions for older skin.
The global population is aging at an unprecedented rate thanks to
factors that include falling birth rates and longer life spans. The World
Health Organization estimates that by 2050, people aged 65 and over
will outnumber children aged 14 and under for the ﬁrst time. The U.S. is
forecast to see a 70% rise in people aged 50 and up between 2000 and
2030, when one in three Americans will likely be in this demographic.
The U.S. government’s Consumer Expenditure Survey also estimates that
Boomers already outspend other generations by approximately $400 billion
a year on consumer goods and services.
Rodin by Linda Rodin.
Fifty-plus consumers control as much as 50% of premium beauty
categories, yet for years they’ve been presented with marketing
images of 20-something models. Clever brands will target them
without patronizing them.

32
Third Way commerce, do brands and
the me brands that let consumers take
center stage as micropreneur stewards.
32
Our/Vodka by Pernod Ricard.

33
Consumers, particularly Millennials, are increasingly discriminating
between brands by looking for ethical behavior and sustainability.
They are also looking for brands and companies with clear values.
Charity and proﬁtability have traditionally been viewed as mutually
exclusive, but a new wave of business models is establishing a “third way”
that combines social good with sales and marketing—and it’s proving
popular with ethically minded Millennials. Toms popularized one-for-one
(buy one, give one), a great example of this new mode, and has expanded
from shoes to eyewear to an entire marketplace in the past year. Founder
Blake Mycoskie describes one-for-one as a “movement”: something bigger
than commerce that will transform one category after another. Coffee is
Mycoskie’s most recent addition—each bag sold provides a week of water
to people in need. In using philanthropy as the lead, Toms is also driving
sales; the brand is valued at $625 million. More companies are starting to
employ its model. San Francisco-based food delivery company Munchery,
for instance, donates a meal for every meal bought, and Warby Parker has
used a donation model with eyewear.
1-for-1: Third Way
Commerce
Munchery.

34
Rather than focus their efforts on
self-serving content, brands are
increasingly using innovation and
social initiatives with genuine merit
to tell their stories, and allowing
social media to do the rest.
A growing number of brands are focusing on doing rather than talking as
a marketing platform, using activism, innovation and philanthropy projects
to connect with consumers and inspire marketing content. Kenco, for
instance, sources its coffee from some of the most beautiful countries in
the world, but many have a strong gang culture. In a campaign executed
by JWT London, Kenco has embarked on a yearlong training scheme for
at-risk people working in coffee farming—advertising showcases the
project, not the coffee. Toms does not advertise but rather takes a group
of customers each year on a “giving trip,” during which they hand over the
donated pair of glasses or shoes to the person in need. Customers, who
become lifelong “super fans,” share videos of the trip online.
Patagonia has launched several innovative sustainability initiatives. In 2014,
it created an eco-friendly wetsuit with manufacturer Yulex. Rather than
lock Yulex into a lengthy exclusive contract, Patagonia signed the company
for just a year, inviting competitors to work with the new material to drive
down its price. Patagonia has also announced it is using tax credits to
invest $13 million in the construction of solar panels on 1,000 homes in
surf haven Hawaii, where utilities are very expensive, joining forces with a
local solar company and a Hawaiian bank to do so.
Do Brands
Kenco's Coffee vs. Gangs.

35
3535
Me Brands

36
Consumers, particularly Millennials, are increasingly starting to think
of themselves as brands, curating their online image and monetizing it
through social media clout, micro-retail platforms and YouTube.
They’re also using new platforms to become micro-entrepreneurs.
This is a way for brands to connect with this spirit and empower it.
A clutch of new platforms invites consumers to create personalized
and local “brands” in their own image—recognizing the sharing
economy’s growing desire for personalization, collaboration and
consumer entrepreneurship.
Pernod Ricard’s Our/Vodka invites customers to create their own local
version of its brand in a business partnership. Our/Vodka micro-distilleries
in Berlin and Detroit, among other cities, were opened in partnership with
local stakeholders, who receive 20% of the proﬁt in exchange for investing
their time and managing the distillery as well as marketing and events.
Pernod Ricard invested the capital and supplied a global recipe, which
is adjusted to include local ingredients. In Glasgow, the new boutique
brewery Drygate invites consumers to create their own beer “brand,”
complete with personal labeling. In May 2014, Tumblr updated its iOS app,
allowing users to customize the look and design of their blog from within
the app for the ﬁrst time; they can also change colors, fonts, pictures and
much more. The total number of unique iterations possible is now 3.3
billion, one for every Internet user in the world.
Me Brands

37
Enjoy haute vegan, eat from tin
cans, sip on matcha—or try a cup
of bone broth.
Bar Tartine by Nicolaus Balla, Credit: Photography by Chad Robertson,

38
More consumers are conscious not
only of their food’s nutritional value
but also its carbon footprint. This
will make them more open-minded
about alternatives.
Faux meat isn’t new, but a crop of food-science startups have drawn
venture-capital attention by taking innovative approaches to the concept.
Beyond Meat produces a fake chicken that has fooled some experts, as well
as a “beef crumble” made with pea protein. The company’s backers include
Kleiner Perkins Cauﬁeld & Byers (KPCB). Impossible Foods, backed by
$75 million in VC funding, makes veggie burgers using what it calls “plant
blood,” a liquid that causes the patties to sizzle like beef burgers. Then
there’s Modern Meadow, a startup making meat from animal skin cells that
recently collected $10 million in funding.
VCs are also backing Hampton Creek Foods, which produces the eggless
Just Mayo and a line of dairy-free cookies. San Francisco chef James Corwell
has invented a process that transforms tomatoes into a substance that
mimics tuna. His tomato sushi is available at several California grocers, and
a Kickstarter campaign to expand the operation was successful.
Food 2.0 Startups
Just Mayo by Hampton Creek.
Beyond Meat by Ethan Brown
and Brent Taylor.

39
Cold-pressed and unprocessed foods are
increasingly becoming fetishized by consumers.
First came juices, then came beauty products and now we have nut milk.
“Cold pressed” is becoming a byword for purity and quality. Alt.Milk, a cold-
pressed, sleekly branded almond milk, is the latest example, introduced to
London by high-end department store Fortnum & Mason.
Cold-Pressed Everything
Alt.Milk, U.K.

40
Consumers are embracing an ironic, high-low attitude toward food.
Meanwhile, creatives are redeﬁning lowbrow foods with gourmet twists.
The humble tin can is being reinvented as a sleek food-packaging device for
gourmet stores and restaurants alike. Hong Kong gallery and dining space
The Popsy Room, in Sheung Wan’s Upper Lascar Row, offers synesthetic
menus that include avant-garde food presented in tins. Argentine branding
agency Empatía has created cool tin-can packaging for Swedish seafood
company Swish. Tincan in London’s Soho, a pop-up restaurant by architects
AL_A, serves gourmet canned food from around the world.
Tin Can Upgrade
Tincan by AL_A.

Loco’l is another example of how ethical businesses are being rebranded in
an aspirational, hip way for younger audiences.
Healthy, ethical fast food will gain momentum in 2015 as a raft of virtuous
brands appropriates junk style for the Millennial generation. Roy Choi and
Daniel Patterson’s eagerly anticipated fast-food concept Loco’l is set to
open in San Francisco and Los Angeles next year. Pitched at the same price
point as other national fast-food chains, Loco’l will serve carefully sourced,
seasonal food for under $6. In the U.K., O-food has a similar mission,
aiming “to make the humble everyday meal a true joy for your taste buds
even when time is short.”After running a successful pop-up in London’s
Shoreditch, the company is understood to be eyeing a permanent location.
Guilt-Free o-Go
These mashups play into the hands of adventure-seeking Millennials,
who are drawn to new ﬂavors and experiences in the beverage market.
While 2014 was the year of hybrid foods, 2015 is the year of new alcoholic
mashups as distillers and blenders take their core spirits and age them in
barrels previously used for other spirits or wines. Jim Beam Kentucky Dram,
described as a “premium Bourbon infused with Highland Scotch whisky,”
will launch into travel retail in June 2015. It follows hybrid launches such as
Grey Goose VX, which marries the brand’s vodka with a hint of cognac, and
Espolòn Añejo, an añejo tequila aged in bourbon barrels.
Liquor Mashups
41

42
Why it’s interesting: As consumers become more sophisticated and
confident in their understanding of food, they’re adopting new, niche
and experimental cuisines at a quicker rate.
As interest grows in sour over sweet in food and drink, more fermented
products will find their way onto menus and shelves. London’s Rawduck
restaurant is making all its own ferments, pickles and drinking vinegars,
and elsewhere in the city, Blanch & Shock Food Design is trying out
flavored vinegars such as smoked beer and celery. Chefs Nick Balla and
Cortney Burns of San Francisco’s Bar Tartine are experimenting with
holding vegetables at certain temperatures as if they were dry-aging
meat, says Michael Harlan Turkell, host of “The Food Seen” on Heritage
Radio Network: “It’s developing flavor in a way we haven’t experienced in a
restaurant setting before.”
Ferment Fervor
Bar Tartine by Nicolaus Balla.
Credit: Photography by Chad Robertson.
Blanch & Shock Food Design, London.
Credit: Smoked porter vinegar by Blanch
& Shock Design, London. Sloe vinegar by
Blanch & Shock Design, London.

43
Health and health foods are being reimagined
by creative brands for a savvy Millennial audience.
The Japanese powdered green tea is becoming the new uber-health drink
among hipsters. MatchaBar just launched in Williamsburg, Brooklyn,
furnished with the usual hipster accoutrements: industrial stools, polished
concrete surfaces, plants, etc. Expect more to come.
Hipster Matcha
MatchaBar, New York.
Credit: Photography NickyDigital.com.

Consumers are becoming increasingly open to the repackaging of goods
that have historically relied on glass to communicate quality and luxury—
particularly if it adds convenience, lowers cost and helps the environment.
Alternatives to glass wine bottles will grow in popularity as consumers
look for more convenient options—particularly for cheaper variants—
when they’re outdoors or on the go. U.K. retailers have already launched
bigger pouch formats to add value, but Tim Wilson, managing director of
the Wilson Drinks Report, points to supply chain savings, environmental
beneﬁts and health as key drivers that could see smaller-serve Tetra Pak
cartons of wine take off in the future. “Typically, you’re looking at a 75 cL
glass bottle,” he says, “but that can be too much for a one- or two-person
household, so there’s a massive opportunity for smaller-serve cartons.”
Wine to Go
In the same way that junk food has gone gourmet, creatives in the food
industry are playing with high-low combinations to reinvent dishes and
cocktails in fun ways.
A shot and a beer, once considered a dive-bar order, is getting a high-end
twist. Bartenders are moving beyond traditional serves—a lighter-style
beer and shot of whiskey on the side, or the infamous boilermaker, where
the shot is dropped into the beer—to pair high-end single-malt Scotch or
local liqueurs with big, bold ales. Prepare for more elevated combinations
as bartenders look to offer more personalized serves. “We’re trying to
introduce it to a new kind of client: one that has discerning taste and now
can elevate their drinking experience by trying different options,” says
Adam Wilson, bar and beverage consultant at Modern Beverage Merchants.
Bomb Shots Reloaded
44

4545
—Jasmine Hemsley, of Hemsley+Hemsley, in U.S. Vogue
Bone Broth:
The Hot New Beverage
“Bone broth is the often-forgotten superfood
that forms the basis of nearly all our soups
and stews. It’s nourishing, simple, cheap and
makes everything taste amazing.”
Silo by Joost.
Credit: Photography by Sean Fennessy.

46
It’s another sign of consumers’ culinary sophistication and daring, showing
intelligent foodie-ism has become mainstream, and also reflects the
growing influence of Paleo diets.
Blame it on the Paleo thing—meat and meat-associated products have
become fetishized. The next stage? Broth as the hot Paleo drink of choice.
Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley of Hemsley + Hemsley in East London have
a cult following, and their book, The Art of Eating Well, has been translated
into three languages. Their mantra, they tell U.S. Vogue, is “Boil your bones.”
“Bone broth is the often-forgotten superfood that forms the basis of nearly
all our soups and stews. It’s nourishing, simple, cheap and makes everything
taste amazing,” says Jasmine Hemsley. The duo highlight the nutritional
value of broth, which is rich in Omega 3, 6 and 9, as well as minerals.
In New York, Brodo, a broth takeout, has introduced grass-fed beef broth
infused with ginger to the East Village. See also Sally Fallon Morell’s book,
Nourishing Broth: An Old-Fashioned Remedy for the Modern World. New
York-based skin care expert Julia March recently highlighted the beauty
benefits of sipping bone broth every day.
Bone Broth:
The Hot New Beverage
Silo by Joost.
Credit: Photography by Sean Fennessy.
Brodo by Marco Canora, NYC, 2014.

47
Healthy and responsible eating has
moved from the marginal to the
mass, and healthy foods are being
repositioned as aspirational. Brands
that do not update their design
could lose out—veganism is on
the rise.
In response to a rising interest in meat alternatives and vegan/vegetarian
food, especially among Millennials, a wave of hip restaurant concepts
have appeared that depart from the earnest or hippie vibe associated with
meat-free dining. This new crop offers slick branding, a youthful look and
a gourmet sensibility. Till the Cows Come Home is a cool “vegetarian slow
food” café housed in a shipping container in a trendy Berlin neighborhood.
M.O.B., which started in Brooklyn and has expanded to Paris, comes from
the founder of the Mama Shelter hotels and features bold branding, a clean
industrial feel and a sense of humor. Jugofresh in Miami serves gourmet
vegan food and cold-pressed juice; at the Wynwood branch, patrons listen
to blasting hip-hop and sit in reclaimed church pews.
Veganism and vegetarianism are on the rise, so expect more of this. Three
out of 10 respondents in a 2014 Datamonitor study across 24 countries
said they are actively trying to limit their daily meat intake. “Flexitarian”
eating—a mostly vegetarian diet—is becoming more common, as is the
concept of cutting out meat one day a week, as suggested by the Meatless
Monday and Meat Free Monday campaigns, while Mark Bittman’s “Vegan
Before 6:00” idea advocates a vegan diet until 6 p.m.
Haute Vegan
Aspe vendebis nullandis nient enimus
modictur sed erro maxim ut aliqui dendam
explab incia imporitatat ommoloratios et
destiameni rem sitiatur sam ipit maios ea
Till the Cows Come Home
by Natalie Viaux, Berlin.

48
The tactile Internet, the long near
revolution, in-house innovation units,
aging—Silicon Valley’s new target—
and looming moral questions for
tech giants.
48
Foodini by Natural Machines, Spain.

4949
—Mischa Dohler, head of the Centre for Telecommunications Research and professor of wireless
communications at King's College London
Vessyl.
The Tactile
Internet
“Suﬃciently responsive, reliable network
connectivity will enable [haptic technology, robots
and the Internet of Things] to deliver physical,
tactile experiences remotely.”
49

50
It marks the latest direction in Silicon Valley’s rhetoric of solving world
problems. Will the techies enable us to live forever? And should they
even try?
“We could be doing a lot more in the fight against aging,” PayPal
co-founder Peter Thiel said at the 2014 Web Summit in Dublin during his
interview with Financial Times editor Caroline Daniel, pointing to a rising
theme in Silicon Valley. “It’s a problem that could be slowed. We could
figure out what causes it, how to reverse it. Almost every disease in the
world is linked to aging: We have a one in a thousand chance of getting
cancer in the next year at age 30, and a 1 in 10 chance at age 80. Almost
everything is like that.”
Tech giants are exploring ways to tackle age. Google is backing Calico,
a biotech company focused on health and well-being, particularly in
relation to aging and associated diseases. Explained Google CEO Larry
Page: “Illness and aging affect all our families. With some longer term,
‘moonshot’ thinking around health care and biotechnology, I believe we
can improve millions of lives.” In September 2014, the company announced
a new facility to research diseases that often affect the elderly, such as
neurodegeneration and cancer. Watch this space.
Aging: Silicon Valley’s
Next Frontier
While this is still at the very early stages, innovators are playing with haptic
technology, wrapping in Internet connectivity with physical action.
Haptic technology, robots and the Internet of Things will lead to the
age of the Tactile Internet, argue Mischa Dohler, head of the Centre for
Telecommunications Research and professor of wireless communications
at King’s College London, and Gerhard Fettweis, a professor of mobile
communications at Technische Universitat Dresden. They refer to
the Tactile Internet as a “true paradigm shift” and write: “Sufficiently
responsive, reliable network connectivity will enable it to deliver physical,
tactile experiences remotely. … It will be able to interconnect with the
traditional wired Internet, the mobile Internet and the Internet of Things—
thereby forming an Internet of entirely new dimensions and capabilities.”
According to the professors, for example, this could have great impact on
medical care, with diagnoses and treatment delivered remotely.
The Tactile
Internet

51
5151
The Interval.
The Long
Near Game

52
The Interval, San Francisco.
More companies appear to be taking not just a near-term but also a macro
view of future business, which could have long-term implications for
business models. When short-term gains are sacrificed in the interest of
50-year plans, how will publicly traded companies adjust?
Companies and brands, particularly the behemoths, are taking a dualistic
approach to future-proofing by looking at both the long- and short-term
games. They’re introducing innovation units to remain nimble, agile and
in touch with change—everyone from Target and Coca-Cola to Levi’s and
Marks & Spencer has introduced in-house labs and innovation units to keep
abreast of new technology and test new concepts.
Coupled with this, many are setting up long-view projects to analyze
how macro shifts in the economy and consumer trends will affect them.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is a famous advocate of long-term strategizing,
defending Amazon’s lack of profit and reinvestment as key to capturing
a greater part of the future of commerce. San Francisco’s The Long Now
Foundation recently launched The Interval, a bar dedicated to discussing
the future and what it will mean. Meanwhile, many businesses are
embarking on research projects that focus on the world in 2020. London-
based trends consultancy The Future Laboratory has dubbed it the Age of
the Long Near.
The Long
Near Game

53
3D printing, while heavily publicized, has not yet been embraced by the
mass or consumer markets. New services that help regulate some of the
contentious issues around 3D printing could drive wider adoption.
While consumer 3D printers have been getting more affordable, and some
toy and jewelry companies are selling 3D-printed products, we’ve yet to
see consumer-facing 3D printing reach critical mass. Pundits and futurists,
meanwhile, continue to raise concerns over intellectual property and quality
control. This is set to change in 2015, says Sophie Hackford, director of
Wired Consulting: “I’m watching a raft of service providers appearing that
will make it real for business.”These include authentication companies such
as Authentise, which helps 3D designers optimize their designs and protect
and stream design ﬁles to print to ensure quality control; Medical Modeling,
which manufactures anatomical implants; and Etsy, which is now providing
wholesale services for the micro-businesses of the maker movement.
3D Printing
Grows Up
Foodini by Natural Machines, Spain.

54
The past decade has been defined by the exponential rise of tech giants, and
the pool is still growing, as businesses from Airbnb to Uber spring ahead.
But in some instances, this growth has accelerated ahead of developing
a responsible corporate culture. As these companies reach critical mass,
consumers will put more pressure on them to conform to standards expected
of corporations in traditional sectors and to build clear cultural codes.
There will be moral, political and public relations battles ahead as the public
and governments cast a more critical eye over the behavior of Silicon Valley
companies. And as their exploration continues and advances race ahead,
lawmakers will work harder to keep up and establish regulation of new
business models, modes of trade and legal loopholes.
Silicon Valley may claim to be “making the world a better place,” but
the past year has seen a rising tide of criticism. Facebook was hit with a
backlash after manipulating the news feeds of nearly 700,000 users to
see how that would affect their emotions. Uber’s reported attempts to
aggressively sabotage rival Lyft were documented in the press, and CEO
and founder Travis Kalanick infamously suggested digging up dirt on
critical journalists.
Meanwhile, as our digital footprints continue to grow, our awareness of
the companies holding our data is also growing.
Growing Pains: Silicon
Valley’s Moral Dilemma
After digitizing all payments, the next frontier in banking is the global
unbanked and underbanked population. In October, Bill Gates spoke
about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s goal for those who lack
effective banking: “to help people in the world’s poorest regions improve
their lives and build sustainable futures by connecting them with digitally
based financial tools and services.”Venture capitalists and corporations
like American Express have also been exploring initiatives to bank the
unbanked. American Express sponsored a documentary, Spent: Looking for
Change, that focuses on the 70 million Americans locked out of traditional
financial options.
Arjan Schütte, founder and managing partner of Core Innovation Capital,
told Bloomberg Businessweek that as many as 1 in 3 Americans are un-
or underbanked, and spend disproportionately on emergency financial
services as a result. “It’s a mass-market problem and opportunity,” he said.
“The un- and underbanked generate a trillion dollars in income. They are
spending $100 billion in financial services. There’s an opportunity to make
money as well as change people’s lives. Historically, people addressing
the un- or underbanked have fit into two buckets: They’re either in the
missionary camp or the mercenary camp. We’re in the visionary camp.
There is a third way.”
Banking the
Unbanked
The worlds of philanthropy and commercialism are increasingly merging.

New surf, adventurism, the "now" age
and mindfulness in business.
Ace Hotel Downtown LA.
55

56
Consumers are seeking meaning but are looking beyond traditional
channels to find it. Spiritualism is being adopted by new younger
audiences—prompting a wave of retail, media and product concepts that
are presenting the movement in a cool way.
Call it hippie-dom for the social media age—or a call for higher meaning
in an increasingly agnostic society. Spiritualism is gaining mainstream
awareness, and new platforms, stores, brands and publications are
reinterpreting it for young, hip Millennial audiences. Examples include
Gabrielle Bernstein’s Spirit Junkie (which has exploded into a culture of
self-improving memes) and the SoulCycle phenomenon, which aligns
spiritualism with fitness. Recent research by Pew shows that a fifth
of consumers globally are not religiously affiliated, yet 37% consider
themselves spiritual. Deepak Chopra’s newest book, The Future of God,
aims to be “a practical approach to spirituality for our times.”
Retail is catching on too: Celestine Eleven, a new concept store in
groovy East London, claims to “redefine luxury” with jewelry, clothing
and apothecary goods that are intellectually, spiritually and aesthetically
uplifting. Sunday Times columnist Ruby Warrington has launched The
Numinous, a popular content platform featuring fashion and beauty
alongside astro and tarot sections, with updates on the “Now”Age.
The ‘Now’ Age
Spirit Junkie by Gabrielle Bernstein.

57
The axis of inﬂuence is shifting, more generally,
from the traditional capitals.
Long associated with entertainment, Los Angeles is reinventing itself as
a fashion, tech and innovation hub. It’s telling, perhaps, that Ace Hotel
launched its most recent iteration in downtown L.A. Meanwhile the city
is rapidly becoming a fashion hub, with Moschino’s Jeremy Scott, Saint
Laurent’s Hedi Slimane and hip Parisian concept store L’Eclaireur all
opening there. Downtown L.A. has emerged as the hub of this activity:
Pershing Square has been made over, and hip fashion brand Acne launched
its largest store ever in the area. New fashion and retail tech startups
abound, and the general tech scene is rising. Disney purchased Maker
Studios for $950 million, Facebook bought Oculus VR for $2 billion, and
Apple recently bought Beats for $3.2 billion. Hot companies including
Dollar Shave Club, Snapchat, Nasty Gal and Tinder are based there.
Los Angeles’
New Image
Ace Hotel Downtown LA.

58
Consumers of both sexes are spending on wellness. As of 2013, the
wellness industry, encapsulating spas, yoga and complementary therapies,
is worth $3.4 trillion and growing, according to SRI International.
Trend pieces have spotlighted “broga,” the rise in men taking up yoga,
for a while—now big business is ﬁnally taking note. Lululemon is about
to open its ﬁrst men’s yogawear store, in Manhattan. Lululemon Athletica
invented the premium women’s yoga and activewear category, which is
now booming with new players. If its broga line is as successful, expect
more to follow.
Brogawear Arrives
Broga class. Credit: Eli Dagostino.
Lululemon Athletica, Toronto.

59
Consumers across the board are
starting to prioritize experiences
from travel to food to exploration
over “stuff.” Smart brands are
connecting their products to
such experiences.
Following the boom in activewear, a new clutch of hipster-friendly brands
is championing adventurism and outdoor pursuits. Jordan Hufnagel and
James Crowe from Portland, Ore., co-founded West America, a line of
outdoor adventure staples, packaged on a sleek website with inspirational
travel content. Urban Outﬁtters has launched Without Walls, a line of
clothing targeting adventure-hungry Millennials. Some ranges are aimed
at adventurist women, like Bowndling, a new boutique line of British-
made adventure gear founded by Collyn Ahart that combines high-tech
functionality with beautiful design.
Expect more of this as adventure travel grows—adventure tourism is one
of the fastest-growing travel segments in the world, hitting a global value
of $263 billion in 2013, according to TTG Asia. It has increased 195% from
2011, says the recent UNWTO Global Report on Adventure Tourism.
Adventurist Impulse
Bowndling by Collyn Ahart, London, 2014.

60
Penny for London.
Research into Millennials’ ﬁnancial habits shows they are not effective
savers. This is an opportunity to facilitate better ﬁnancial management.
Incremental savings and donations are on the rise, powered by new mobile
payments and banking apps. Penny for London, a new charity platform,
encourages commuters to use contactless payment across the Oyster
subway transportation network to donate a small amount to charity every
time they make a journey. Using Visa or MasterCard, they can give between
a penny and 10 pence per journey, up to a maximum of 99 pence each
month. More banking apps are also allowing customers to make small
incidental savings. In the U.K., Nationwide and Lloyds have both introduced
impulse-based incremental automated savings systems.
Incremental Savings
and Donations

61
As more consumers prioritize sport, and spend heavily on sporting apparel,
they’re increasingly willing to invest in premium goods. They’re also
taking sports more seriously, meaning that expertise and aligning with
professional standards is a big selling point. Specializing gives brands
authenticity. Moving beyond conventional sports aesthetics of basic
graphics and Lycra toward more sophisticated branding also sits well
with a more reﬁned audience.
Niche, beautifully branded premium brands are creating waves in the
sports apparel industry by focusing on one sport only, developing genuine
expertise and connecting to enthusiast audiences through cleverly
executed social media and community platforms. This started with Rapha,
the premium cycle brand, and was followed in the past year by adventurist
line Bowndling, founded by advertising strategist Collyn Ahart, surf label
Finisterre, U.S. surf line Saturdays and Tracksmith, the new running venture
by Rapha co-founder Luke Scheybeler. Rather than attempt to be the
master of all categories, as many traditional global sports groups have
done in the past decade, these brands proudly focus on just one, producing
premium, high-tech goods with a reﬁned design aesthetic and using social
media and content to build cult followings among fans. Some are not sold
in stores but are available only via the brand’s website, allowing products to
be wrapped in storytelling and not diluted by
second-party retail.
Sports Brands:
New Niche
CWS by Finisterre.
Credit: Photography by David Gray.
Rapha. Credit: Photography by Jake
Stangel and Rapha.

6262
—Google industry head Fintan Gillespie, founder of the Surf Summit.
Surf Renaissance
“The laid-back Californian lifestyle is changing
business culture. In big business, deals are done
over a round of golf. In Silicon Valley, deals are
done over adventure activities.”
Cage Installation by Alexander Wang
and Haydenshapes, 2014.

63
The image change is less interesting than the appeal of surf to those in
business—it’s becoming seen as a mind-body activity, a way to connect
to the elements, almost a form of active meditation.
After a downturn in the late 2000s due to the decline of Aussie surf giants,
surfing is enjoying a renaissance as the ultimate mind-body pursuit for
Silicon Valley CEOs, hip urban professionals and anyone seeking to unplug
and be at one with the elements. “The laid-back Californian lifestyle is
changing business culture. In big business, deals are done over a round of
golf. In Silicon Valley, deals are done over adventure activities,” says Google
industry head Fintan Gillespie, who in 2014 founded the Surf Summit,
a sister event to the Web Summit in Dublin. The Surf Summit attracted
groups of entrepreneurs, investors and professional surfers, who were
taken to Ireland for a weekend of surf sessions, discussions and networking
designed to drive creative thought.
The surf look is also being overhauled, as seen in the recent Chanel No. 5
ad by Baz Luhrmann that features a surfing Gisele Bündchen, and niche
luxury surf and lifestyle brands such as Finisterre and Saturdays. Brands
such as Patagonia are also using high-profile innovation in sustainability as
a PR platform—Patagonia recently introduced a sustainable alternative to
neoprene wetsuits using a new fiber from Yulex. The traditional hot spots
are also being rethought, as exploratory surf tourism shifts to new frontiers
such as Ireland, Iceland, Norway and Alaska.
Surf Renaissance
Cage Installation by Alexander Wang
and Haydenshapes, 2014.

64
This is the latest thread in a growing trend. Daisy Waugh’s book I Don’t
Know Why She Bothers, written in response to Allison Pearson’s popular
I Don’t Know How She Does It, helped to start the trend. New discourse
around parenthood is increasingly parent-first, less reverent and idealizing
of children, and firmly anti-coddling.
There’s a rising realization that parents have gone too far in shielding and
coddling kids—and leaving little time for themselves. “Somehow, as we’ve
learned to treat children as people with desires and rights of their own,
we’ve stopped treating ourselves and one another as such,” writes Heather
Havrilesky in her New York Times op-ed “Our ‘Mommy’ Problem.”This
thread is appearing in other parenting discourse. Today show contributor
Amy McCready’s book If I Have to Tell You One More Time promotes an
anti-helicopter approach: “For kids who are developmentally ready, the
long-term benefits of implementing a ‘no rescue’ policy are responsibility
and accountability.”
Helicopter
Parenting Crashes
Thanks in part to Silicon Valley buy-in, mindfulness is increasingly being
embraced en masse and recognized for its benefits not just to well-being
but also to career progression and workplace effectiveness.
Meditation and mindfulness are getting mass appreciation for benefits not
just in well-being but also in work success—and being embraced by young
urban audiences from Silicon Valley to Manhattan. Arianna Huffington’s
Thrive further established the links between meditation and effectiveness
at work. Next stop: Unplug, a new meditation studio in Los Angeles by
Glamour editor Suze Yalof Schwartz, which is pitched as the “Drybar of
meditation.” Unplug features sleek, minimalist white interiors, mood lighting
and a selection of chic lifestyle goods for sale. The Path, launched by Dina
Kaplan, is an invitation-only meditation studio in New York that has emerged
as a downtown hub where technology and fashion entrepreneurs relax and
network. Kaplan recently wrote an op-ed for Medium, “The Cult of Busy,”
calling for workspace effectiveness rather than engaging in endless tasks.
“Busy should be a confession, not a brag,” she wrote. “Spend time setting up
processes that make sense, rather than simply working more.” Kaplan also
recommended meditation. Expect more of this.
Mindfulness
in Business

65
High-net-worth Athenas, share-con
luxury and luxury e-commerce—the
new emerging market to watch.
65
"Traveling Around the World with Selma" by Michael Kors using WeChat, 2014.

66
As more women hit the affluent, high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth
brackets, luxury brands that traditionally have catered to men will have to
find new voices, products and approaches to speak to a growing category
of sophisticated, affluent women.
Women are an increasingly dominant economic force—and all sectors,
luxury brands and male-dominated categories in particular, will have
to adapt their tactics to reach the rising female audience. The Boston
Consulting Group projects that women will control 75% of discretionary
spending around the world by 2028. Nielsen estimates that by then, women
will collectively out-earn men in the U.S. More immediately, BCG expects
women’s global income to reach $18 trillion by 2018, up from $13 trillion
in 2013. In developing nations, earned income among women has been
growing at a rate of 8.1%, compared with 5.8% for men, according to
Deloitte’s Gender Dividend report. In China, for instance, women’s average
contribution to household income has more than doubled since 1980,
reaching 50% in 2014.
Gucci has already launched the Chime for Change, a female empowerment
platform, while Hermès recently hosted a fashion show dedicated to the
power of women and Tory Burch has established a platform for female
entrepreneurs.
Womenomic Luxury
Tory Burch flagship store at
Kerry Centre, Shanghai, 2014.
Credit: Kerry Centre Interior.

67
More businesses are embracing “lean startup” culture and are therefore
taking affordable sharing economy platforms such as Uber more seriously.
As Airbnb users top 10 million, the company is moving away from its
couch-surﬁng roots and evolving into a credible hospitality service that
consumers rich and poor, Millennial and Boomer, are embracing.
The sharing economy is growing up, formalizing services and aligning
with upscale brands and big business. Airbnb is expanding its brand beyond
the digital world, launching a glossy coffee-table magazine, Pineapple, in
2014 and collaborating with the London Design Festival on an interiors
exhibit. Airbnb has also partnered with Concur, a company specializing
in business travel and expense management. Uber also has signed a
partnership deal with Concur, making it easy for employers to pay for rides
that employees take.
Share-Con Luxury
A Place Called Home by Airbnb at the
London Design Festival, 2014.

68
Strange to think, in a world where we can now purchase with a thumbprint,
that luxury has not joined the digital revolution wholeheartedly. According
to the Luxury Institute, luxury consumers are far from averse to mobile
spending; 72% say there is no upper limit to what they’d spend on an app.
While exclusivity certainly adds to luxury’s allure, are luxury brands missing
a trick?
We may think that everyone and everything is online, if not mobile-
optimized, but there’s one sector that deﬁnitely is not—the luxury sector.
Net-a-Porter, MatchesFashion.com and Saks Fifth Avenue are successful
online outlets, but 40% of luxury brands are still not on the web, according
to Bain & Company. E-commerce has been described as “the next China”
for the luxury industry as sales slow down—and has the potential to add
about $43 billion in sales through 2020, forecasts Exane BNP Paribas
analyst Luca Solca.
E-Commerce, the
Assumed but Not
Leveraged Frontier
Luxury fashion retailer and e-tailer MatchesFashion.com

69
American contemporary luxury brands are well-distributed in the U.S., but in
markets like China they are still perceived as relatively exotic, in contrast to the
blue-chip European brands, which have been present for years. Will European
luxury brands need to rethink their strategy to capture this new mood?
As the Chinese and Asian market for uber-luxury slows, analysts are
pointing to another lucrative market in these regions: masstige. American
contemporary brands are big in the U.S. but underexposed in China
compared with brands such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci, and are poised
for expansion, their popularity also driven by visas that allow Chinese
citizens to shop in the U.S. Coach is recruiting Chinese-speaking staff for
its American stores, to capitalize on this. Both Coach and Michael Kors are
using Chinese social networking apps such as WeChat and expanding in
China; Coach has reported an increase of 10% in comparable sales in China
in some instances, while Kate Spade saw comparable sales from its China
joint venture rise 28% in 2014.
American Masstige
Luxury Rising
"Traveling Around the World with Selma"
by Michael Kors using WeChat, 2014.

7070
BuzzFeed commerce, category collapse,
mass boutique—plus Amazon’s very
first store!
Fragrance Lab by Campaign and The Future Laboratory for Selfridges. Credit: Hufton+Crow.

71
Fast-fashion brands can no longer rely on simply being stylish and cheap;
they now have to be smart too, reﬂecting a general rise in consumer
sophistication and expectations from brands.
Luxury brands have long fostered close ties with the art world, but now
mass-market brands are also seeking the cool points generated by
aligning with cutting-edge creatives. Gap teamed with Frieze in London
and New York to create concept stores with themed products, and H&M
collaborated with Jeff Koons in 2014.
Mass Market
Art-tail
H&M collaboration with
Jeff Koons, NYC, 2014.

72
Consumers are increasingly seeking niche, independent
brands with artisan credentials and slick branding.
Mass-market global brands are creating hip boutique sub-brands to appeal
to discerning Millennials. PepsiCo has launched “craft soda” Caleb’s Kola,
made with cane sugar and kola nuts. Lidl, after a marketing stunt in which
it presented its food at a gourmet farmers market, launched a pop-up
restaurant, Deluxe, in the groovy east London neighborhood Shoreditch.
Fruit of the Loom, the T-shirt brand that was a huge seller in the 1980s,
recently created the separately branded premium line Seek No Further.
Starbucks is introducing a higher-end chain, Starbucks Reserve Roastery
and Tasting Room. And Cinnabon’s Bon Bake Shop, a new concept in
Houston, sells smaller rolls with more ﬂavor twists.
Mass Boutique
A slew of online retailers have opened physical spaces, so Amazon is late
to the game in launching a brick-and-mortar presence. Its move is telling,
though: While consumers increasingly shop online and via mobile, they
also seek compelling in-store experiences.
Amazon has signed the lease on its ﬁrst physical store in New York City,
a 470,000-square-foot space near Herald Square—are we ready for the
Amazon mega-store to be imagined as a physical space?
Amazon Store

73
Perhaps this trend says something about customization. Customers have
been given access to millions of options and color combinations, but
while they may not know what to choose or may not even like what they’re
creating, they still want the personalization option. The techniques detailed
above are a fresh way to reinstate brand authority while making the
consumer the center of the show. They’re also a great
engagement platform.
BuzzFeed Retail
The new iteration of bespoke in retail experiences occupies BuzzFeed
survey territory (“What NYC neighborhood should I actually live in?”).
Using a seemingly abstract series of questions, retailers are selecting the
perfect product for consumers, who engage in an immersive journey as
they progress from abstract questionnaire to object selection.
Selfridges, Campaign Design and The Future Laboratory collaborated on
Fragrance Lab, an in-store project that took customers through a series
of stages—selecting objects, answering personality questions and visiting
several sensory rooms—before their ideal fragrance was presented to
them. Interestingly, customers paid a ticket price for the experience and
the scent was included, rather than the price being attached to the scent.
(Participants were presented with their prescribed scent at the end and
could opt in or out as they wished.)
NYCxDesign collaborated with Bentley in a similar New York pop-up
project that was designed to make the personalization of Bentley cars
more accessible and experiential. Customers were invited to engage in an
interactive process, selecting the colors and ﬁnishes ideal for them. The
process included a “mood station” where people were asked to gauge their
response to a series of images; this was then interpreted for paint-color
preferences and presented back to participants in a visual display.
Fragrance Lab by Campaign and
The Future Laboratory for Selfridges.
Credit: Hufton+Crow.

74
Entertainment, retail, gaming, content and advertising are continuing
to converge as entertainment becomes internet-first (and therefore
more easily connected to commerce.) With Amazon producing original
entertainment series, will shopping its shows be the next addition?
Internet-enabled televisions, Internet-first networks like Netflix and
Amazon, and the migration of both commerce and content to mobile
platforms will help drive a merger of shopping and entertainment.
Shoppable videos are the first wave and getting more sophisticated—for
instance, Mr Porter’s suave “The Gentleman’s Wager,” produced with
Johnnie Walker Blue Label, which stars Jude Law and Giancarlo Giannini.
Online retailer Ssense features music videos on its site, with links below to
shop the menswear and/or womenswear featured.
Shoptainment
Johnnie Walker Blue Label
presents Jude Law in
"The Gentleman's Wager."

75
Technology is evolving, making traditional forms of payment obsolete.
Soon, our physical selves will be all we need to complete transactions.
To improve security, businesses are starting to adopt systems that identify
and authenticate people from physical or behavioral characteristics: iris
scans, digital ﬁngerprints, voice prints, vein or facial maps, and so on. The
method is also more convenient for users than typing passwords, although
privacy will be a concern for some.
Fingerprint recognition, the most widely used biometric system thus far,
will become increasingly common now that it’s baked in to Apple’s Pay
system. The Samsung Galaxy S5 enables ﬁngerprint payment via PayPal’s
app; PayPal has started experimenting with facial recognition; and Biyo,
a new payment technology, reads the vein pattern in your palm. It is
expected that there will be 471 million global biometric smartphone users
by 2017, up from 43 million in 2013.
Physical
Payments
Biyo payment app.

7676
—OrderWithMe CEO Jonathan Jenkins
24/7: Unlimited Hours
“Because you don’t go to Zappos.com
at 3 a.m. and they say, ‘We’re closed.’”
The Blanket Wrap by Kit and Ace.

77
Globalization and the Internet are collapsing the
traditional boundaries that once kept retail and working
hours in check.
Zappos and OrderWithMe set up a 24/7 pop-up this holiday season in a
20,000-square-foot retail space in Las Vegas. OrderWithMe CEO Jonathan
Jenkins explained the long hours by noting, “You don’t go to Zappos.com
at 3 a.m. and they say, ‘We’re closed.’” As the world becomes more global,
more businesses become global operations and Internet connectivity
proliferates, we’re waving goodbye to working-hours conventions,
expecting to shop 24/7—but also being expected to work 24/7.
Bloomberg Businessweek journalist Brad Stone highlighted the impact of
24/7 global companies on work in the article “Work-Life Balance and the
New Night Shift,” citing late-night working hours as a direct result of
communicating with multiple businesses in multiple time zones.
24/7:Unlimited
Hours
Zappos' pop-up store in collaboration with
OrderWithMe, Las Vegas, 2014.

78
Globalization is blurring weather-related seasons, and there’s a sense of
conﬁdent hyper-individualism among consumers, who are increasingly
reluctant to follow either trends or seasons—they want to dress for
themselves and expect brands to work outward from this.
A combination of climate change, social media, gender equality, brand
fatigue and global travel are starting to erode longstanding boundaries
and constructs in fashion. Brands are rethinking the traditional seasonal
drops of winter and summer fashion. Sneakerboy, a sneaker store in
Melbourne, is seasonless, reasoning that tourists from any number of
markets and climates come to the store regardless of Australian seasons.
Tamara Mellon, Stefano Pilati (for Agnona) and Donna Karan have launched
seasonless concepts recently, and affordable, seasonless luxury basics are
appearing from Tomas Maier, the new Kit and Ace and Everlane,
among others.
Meanwhile, Acne founder Jonny Johansson has spoken of increasing
gender blur, or neutrality, in contemporary fashion. Hip streetwear brand
Hood By Air is gender neutral. Miuccia Prada has also talked about the
rise of genderless fashion: “More and more, it feels instinctively right to
translate the same idea for both genders.”
Seasonless, Gender
Neutral, Unbranded
Tomas Maier Spring/Summer 2015
menswear, photography by David Schulze.
Kit and Ace.

79
Globalization means that from Black Friday to Singles’ Day, “shopping
holidays” are quickly being introduced to new markets. Although the U.K.
doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, shoppers there embraced Black Friday with
enthusiasm in 2014.
Singles’ Day is shaping up as a global shopping phenomenon. It began as
a novelty in China to mark the supposed loneliest day of the year (Nov.
11, as 11/11 stacks up to a pile of ones) and has become the largest online
shopping day in the world after being appropriated by Alibaba, the largest
e-retailer in China—even trumping Black Friday. In 2014 Alibaba made
$1 billion in the ﬁrst 17 minutes of Singles’ Day.
Now the concept is expanding globally. Alibaba’s CEO believes Singles’ Day
deals will reach consumers in 220 countries in the next year, and if global
shifts are anything to go by, he’s probably right. Single living is certainly
a global trend. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the proportion of
single-person households in the U.S. alone increased from 17% to 27.5%
between 1970 and 2012.
Celebrating
Singles
Two juggernauts, each with deep take-up in their own territory, are moving
into the other’s grounds. The issue, of course, will be whether Alibaba can
win American trust and whether the Chinese will migrate to Amazon’s offer.
Will they also need to differentiate their offers?
Two Internet giants are rapidly expanding into each other’s home turfs.
Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba is staking its claim in the U.S.,
staging an IPO in September (the biggest in Wall Street history at $21.8
billion) and has started selling to Americans through mobile boutique app
11 Main. Meanwhile, a group of U.S. retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue,
Macy’s and Neiman Marcus has started using Alipay, Alibaba’s payment
service. Amazon is expanding in China, where Amazon China enables
consumers to buy American goods, and staged a two-day campaign to
introduce the Black Friday sales frenzy to China.
Alibaba and Amazon
Swap Territories

80
Concept store formats cater to the consumer desire for curation, as well
as the sense of “magazine format” in retail, where formats are regularly
switched, updated and refreshed.
Established retailers and brands are tapping the glamour of the concept
store format to impress savvy, global-shopping Millennials with local,
artisanal, curated and niche products. Pop-In @ Nordstrom is a series of
themed pop-ups curated by Olivia Kim, director of creative projects and
former vice president of creative at Opening Ceremony. Lord & Taylor’s
Birdcage, in its New York store, is a concept shop-in-shop selling carefully
curated pieces from New York-based creatives. Diesel’s 101, a pop-up
boutique in Brooklyn, sells carefully curated goods including pieces from
Brooklyn Candle Studio, T-shirts by photographers Inez van Lamsweerde
and Vinoodh Matadin, and nail polish by Deborah Lippmann.
Concept Cohort
Having focused on hard luxury, many luxury brands are zeroing in on their
aspirational entry-point categories, celebrating them in theatrical ﬂagships.
Luxury brands are enhancing their entry-point categories; Burberry, Dior
and Chanel all recently launched beauty and fragrance “temples” that
emphasize their product offer, and incorporate luxurious interiors and
digital technology. The next phase? Eyewear. In a telling move, luxury group
Kering has bought back its eyewear licences. Next stop, perhaps, luxury
eyewear ﬂagships akin to those of Warby Parker.
Eyewear Temples

81
More retailers and brands are embracing e- and m-commerce, but this
means the number of apps in consumers’ lives has exploded. In the future,
consumers will look for one-stop shops.
A new wave of app platforms offers streamlined, consolidated ways to
store bank cards and shop efﬁciently. Lyst’s universal shopping cart allows
consumers to shop from multiple online retailers and pay in a single
transaction. Apple Pay and Coin let customers digitally store their cards,
loyalty points and coupons in one place.
Consolidation
Apps
Apple Pay.

82
Washing without water, recycling chic,
two-wheeled travel and making scraps
delicious.
Patagonia Truth to Materials. Credit: Todd Copeland.

83
Cleaning Up
Washing Practice
As sustainability becomes a priority for consumers, and they become
more informed about chemicals in products, they are scrutinizing regular
cleansing products and water-based washing, and making the connection
between garment laundering and water waste.
Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh says he doesn’t wash his jeans—and that you
shouldn’t either. Bumble and Bumble founder Michael Gordon launched
a detergent-free hair care line, Purely Perfect, that doesn’t foam, and
compares washing hair in the conventional way with throwing a cashmere
sweater in the washing machine: “I honestly think in ﬁve years people
are going to go, ‘Oh God, remember when we used to wash our hair with
shampoo?’” he told Wired. Responding to drought, the California Energy
Commission is supporting CO2 Nexus' development of a water-free
washing machine that uses carbon dioxide to clean garments.
Water<Less campaign by Levi's.

84
—Michael Gordon, Purely Perfect, Wired
Cleaning Up
Washing Practice
“I honestly think in ﬁve years people are
going to go, ‘Oh God, remember when we
used to wash our hair with shampoo?’”
Patagonia Truth to Materials.
Credit: Jeff Johnson.

85
Reuse has become aspirational, and brands are using
innovative recycling strategies as a marketing platform.
Recycled fabrics and clothing are being reclaimed by innovative brands as
cool. Denim brand G-Star has introduced RAW for the Oceans, a collection
made from recycled plastic. Faherty, the cool surf line based in California,
creates shorts made from recycled plastic. Patagonia’s new Truth to
Materials range is made entirely from reclaimed or alternatively sourced
fabrics, including cutting-room scraps that would otherwise have ended up
in landﬁlls. And Freitag, a clothing company based in Zürich, has created a
chic biodegradable-textile brand.
Recycling
Reinvented
Patagonia Truth to Materials.
Credit: Jeff Johnson.

86
Many young urbanites are choosing not to buy expensive, polluting cars
and instead simply rent them as needed, so a power shift from car to
bicycle is emerging. Cycling is also becoming part of city culture–not just
a means of getting from A to B but also a social pursuit and a leisure and
holiday activity.
A cycle revolution is occurring as more cities take up bike-share schemes
and construct cycleways. From China to India to Los Angeles, sales of
premium bicycles and accessories are growing, and environments from
cafés to workspaces are being designed around the bike. In Europe, bike
unit sales are now outstripping those of cars. Cycle commuters in the U.K.
increased by 17% from 2001–2011, census data shows. London’s Barclays
cycle-hire program continues to expand—there’s been a staggering 155%
increase in cycling to work in inner London in the past decade. In the car-
centric U.S., there are now bike-sharing programs in 36 cities, including
Chicago, Minneapolis and San Francisco. Since 2007, there have been 23
million cycle-share rides in the U.S.
Consumers are starting to splurge on luxury bicycles and gear, and taking
part in triathlons and cycling challenges. Halfords, the U.K.’s largest cycling
retailer, reported sales of £939.7 million for the year to March 2014, an
increase of 7.9% attributed largely to the appetite for premium cycles.
Premium cult cycle brand Rapha, which sells upscale cycle wear and
accessories and even runs Rapha cycling holidays, saw its revenue increase
56% last year to £28 million.
Now car brands are tapping in to cycle culture: Toyota recently released a
luxury million-yen ($10,000) bicycle under its Lexus brand. Trendy bicycle
workshop cafés are emerging—Rapha Cycle Clubs feature cafés, and Look
Mum No Hands is a bike workshop and café in East London. Companies
are also incorporating bicycle culture into the design of ofﬁces. Stockholm
courier service Ryska Posten’s ofﬁces, designed by architecture studio Vida,
resemble a city’s streets, with each meeting room separated by a bike path;
staff are encouraged to cycle through the premises.
Cycle-First
Cities
Rapha Cycle Club, London.

87
Consumers are more aware than ever of the food chain and its impact on
the environment, and are starting to adjust their habits. Smart hospitality
brands are making reuse not only palatable but aspirational.
A rising crop of hospitality brands is rebranding reuse and waste-saving as
hip. Renewable resources company Naturabiomat and Vera Wiedermann
Designstudio created the Biomat pop-up restaurant for Vienna’s 2013
Design Week. Diners brought in bags of compostable material, and each
kilo gained them a discount of €1. Nonproﬁts Rub & Stub in Copenhagen
and Skipchen in Bristol both cook with donated surplus food. The Salvage
Supperclub, which offered meals made from “unsaleable” food in Brooklyn
during summer 2014, seated diners in a Dumpster.
Brothl in Melbourne offers nutritious broth made from bones discarded by
top restaurants. Brothl launched as Silo by Joost and is run by sustainability
enthusiast Joost Bakker, who designs his restaurants “back to front,”
thinking ﬁrst of waste and working backward. Bakker has also helped open
a Silo zero-waste restaurant in Brighton, England; among other initiatives,
the restaurant takes its deliveries in reusable vessels and recycles all scraps
in a compost machine. “Doggie bags” were hardly known in France until
recently, but now the French government has launched a campaign to raise
awareness of the environmental impact of food waste—diners can request
a sleekly designed “gourmet bag” to carry their leftovers home.
Circular
Hospitality
The Real Junk Food Project.

88
Low-cost long haul, local networking,
thought leadership getaways and
wellness tourism.
The Perfectionists' Café at Heathrow by Heston Blumenthal.

89
Wellness is being repackaged in a hip new way for both Millennials and
Boomers, who are prioritizing health and well-being as a key part of their
lifestyle and leisure pursuits.
“You begin the day with homemade pumpkin seed, walnut and blueberry
muesli bars, then head out to cycle with new friends on quiet country
roads, breezes cooling you under the warm, bright sun. The colors of the
canyons change, like an all encompassing kaleidoscope, as you ride on.”
Such is the enticing vision laid out by the new TerraVelo Tours. Wellness
tourism is on the rise—the Global Wellness Tourism Congress says wellness
travel is already a $439 billion market and predicts growth of 55% by 2017.
In France, Le Nuage, a hip luxury wellness spa by Philippe Starck, opened
this year in Montpellier, offering health, fitness and relaxation facilities.
Wellness
Tourism
Consumers are increasingly shopping for adaptable,
high-low travel solutions.
Low-cost airlines are poised to expand into the long-haul travel space.
Scoot, part of Singapore Airlines, offers affordable flights between
Singapore and Tianjin in northern China. Norwegian Air Shuttle, a no-frills
European airline, has started flying to Thailand, and Wow Air, an Icelandic
airline, is starting routes from London to Boston via Reykjavik.
Low-Cost
Long Haul

90
Dubai has long been a shopping hub for luxury consumers, and it’s
increasingly becoming a hub for Chinese consumers too. It’s also
becoming a mature luxury market and, as such, switching from
bling to art and cultural projects.
Dubai is already established as a luxury shopping hub, and now it’s gaining
an avant-garde edge, thanks to the new Dubai Design District. The District
covers up to 25 million square feet and features a design school, concept
stores, boutique hotels, showrooms and residences. “People are hungry to
know more about our culture, about Dubai,”Amina Al Rustamani, group
chief executive ofﬁcer of Tecom Investments, which is spearheading the
project, told Women’s Wear Daily. “The project is to nurture local talent
and hopefully have the next global brand come out of Dubai. … This city is
full of secret talents.” Chanel, recognizing that Dubai is now a top-ranked
destination for tourists and that the city represents 30% of the Middle
Eastern luxury market, according to Bain & Company, recently staged a
fashion show there. Next stop: a new wave of luxury hotels. Rosewood, St.
Regis, W Hotel, a Palazzo Versace and The Langham are all slated to open
in 2015.
Dubai Resurgence
Dubai Design District (D3).
Credit: D3.

91
More travelers are seeking both authenticity
and social networking from their journeys.
A new wave of travel services is connecting consumers to local people,
social networks and influencers at their destination. Plus One in Berlin, now
My Plus One, was a forerunner, offering guests the chance to connect with
local experts to discover bars and stores and get the insider perspective.
The Ace Hotel in Shoreditch, London, has started monthly cycle tours led
by artists and influencers, to enhance the local flavor. Hallo Hello, a pop-up
restaurant in Copenhagen Airport, offered diners the chance to meet other
socially minded travelers over dinner, and Six Degrees, a social networking
platform launched by Marriott Hotels that includes mobile apps and an
“interactive table,” similarly connects like-minded guests.
Travel
Connections
My Plus One, Berlin.

92
More consumers are embracing global travel, making
airports a key hub not only for retail but for lifestyle and leisure.
Airports are becoming venues for art, gastronomy and wonder as global
consumer travel continues to grow. Moment Factory, the digital creative
collective, has created an interactive digital art wall at Los Angeles Airport.
Avant-garde chef Heston Blumenthal has launched the Perfectionists’ Café,
a chic eatery, at London’s Heathrow.
Airports are also becoming architectural monuments: Mexico City is set to
quadruple the number of passengers ﬂying in each year to 120 million by
2050 with a new $8.5 billion airport designed by British architect Norman
Foster and Mexico’s Fernando Romero. The airport’s lightweight, X-shaped
shell will be more environmentally friendly than conventional airport
buildings.
Airport Art–
and More
The Perfectionists' Café at Heathrow by
Heston Blumenthal.

93
Tech-Free
Travel
Forest Retreat by Uhlik Architekti,
Bohemia, 2014.

94
Forest Retreat by Uhlik Architekti,
Bohemia, 2014.
This isn’t about looking backward—people aren’t closing their cellphone
accounts anytime soon. But they are seeking greater control over their
technology habits. They’re also focusing on tech-free time as a means to
truly relax, truly connect and enjoy meaningful experiences.
As more consumers seek to manage their relationship with technology
and take time out from constant torrents of emails, hospitality spaces are
facilitating tech-free time and offering space for contemplation. A new
Westin package for its Hilton Head Island property in South Carolina
invites guests to surrender mobile devices and car keys at check-in and
enjoy exploring with an “unplugged survival kit” that includes maps of the
island. The increasingly popular Burning Man festival in Nevada’s Black
Rock Desert, where cell service is at a minimum and mobile phone usage is
frowned upon, is often viewed as an escape from technology—and society
at large. Bucato restaurant in Los Angeles has banned mobile phone use,
aiming to prevent what it has termed “gastro ADD.”Trendy new Parisian
bar L’Isolé (“Isolated”) has a no-Facebook, no-Twitter policy and purposely
refrains from providing Wi-Fi. Other eateries, including the August First
café in Vermont, are similarly cutting off Wi-Fi and banning laptops to
create a more Central Perk-type atmosphere.
Creatives are also playing with the notion of isolation and tech-free time.
Social Pool, a pool/sculpture created by Alfredo Barsuglia in the Southern
California desert, is “a complex replica of the contradictions and ideology
of contemporary society, where remoteness from others and quietude are
luxuries for the ever-communicating city-dweller.” Forest Retreat by Uhlik
Architekti is a similarly remote cabin in rural Bohemia, designed for a client
looking for a quiet escape from his hectic lifestyle in Prague.
Some de-teching proponents are also moving against the practice of
constantly sharing while on vacation. 99 Days of Freedom, by Dutch
creative agency Just, calls on people to replace their Facebook proﬁle
picture with a “time-off” image, write one last status update saying they
won’t be back for a while, and then log out for 99 days—and share how they
spend the time freed up by the experiment.
Tech-Free
Travel

95
As thought leadership and innovation receive mass interest not just in
business but also in the consumer press, we’ll look to tourism and vacations
to stimulate our minds, awareness and abilities.
Curiosity Retreats, a program created by Discovery Communications
founder John Hendricks and hosted at his western Colorado luxury resort,
Gateway Canyons, is one of the ﬁrst examples of a new travel opportunity
for hospitality giants: thought leadership getaways. The ﬁve-night retreats
offer small groups of guests the chance to learn about technology, science,
the human spirit and civilization through lectures while hobnobbing
with global thought leaders such as Deepak Chopra, Vint Cerf, chef Rick
Moonen and violinist Charles Yang.
Thought
Leadership Tourism
Curiosity Retreat by John Hendricks,
Colorado.

Ethical smartphones, cloud-run
businesses, going invisible, Oculus
Rift communications, clever fabrics,
cognitive technology, serendipitous
algorithms—and more…
96
BB.Suit 0.2 factory, Netherlands.

97
Expect more tech companies to start improving their
track record on how their products are made.
Last year’s launch of Fairphone, an ethically sourced and produced mobile
phone, put a spotlight on the raw materials in our digital devices. The
Dutch company, currently taking orders for a second batch of 35,000
phones, ensures that minerals come from conﬂict-free areas so they’re not
helping to fund armed groups. And Intel is showcasing its commitment to
using conﬂict-free minerals in its microprocessors, in a two-minute spot
and on its website. CEO Brian Krzanich also spoke on the topic at 2014’s
Consumer Electronics Show.
Ethical
Smartphones
Credit: Fairphone.

98
From luxury to technology, BRIC and emerging-market
brands are increasingly hitting the global stage.
While Snapchat’s recent data breaches through a third-party site may give
some users pause, the P2P payments space is a smart place to be, as young
consumers get accustomed to services like Venmo that make it easy and
even fun to pay friends.
Xiaomi, which we included on our 100 Things to Watch in 2014 list, is now
the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, according to IDC’s Worldwide
Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. The young company has seen triple-digit
year-over-year growth in smartphone shipments, according to IDC, surging
ahead of both LG and Lenovo. Often described as the “Apple of China,”
Xiaomi released its first phone just three years ago; its latest, Mi4, is an
iPhone clone that runs on a modified version of Android. The company is
expanding beyond China into India and Singapore, and planning to enter a
slew of other growth markets, including Russia, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico.
It’s also getting into the content game and smart-home products.
Disruption in the payments sphere is opening the way for social media
brands to act as intermediaries between consumers and their money,
as we noted in our report on payments and currency. Facebook is said
to be planning a P2P payments feature for Messenger, South Korea’s
KakaoTalk announced a PayPal-like service, and Line is creating a mobile
service that will let users make online and offline purchases. Snapchat is
partnering with Square to enable payments between users, as explained in
an energetic retro musical number delivered by video. After users (U.S. and
18-plus only) enter bank card information, they simply send a cash amount
within a text.
XiaomiPeer-to-Peer
Payments

99
Circle.
Circle co-founder Jeremy Allaire gave a keynote speech at the Inside
Bitcoins conference in April, citing the need for a “killer app” to bring
bitcoin into the mainstream. Now Circle seems to be taking the lead,
and others are sure to follow.
In late September, the startup Circle launched a web app that effectively
functions as a bitcoin bank. Using a debit card or bank account, users
transfer funds to Circle, which converts the money to bitcoin at no fee.
Circle also insures this money at no cost. The company aims to make
bitcoin more accessible via consumer-friendly design and is aiming to take
on traditional banks and companies like PayPal. Next up: Android and iOS
Circle apps.
Palatable
Cryptocurrency

100
SKRWT app.
More than ever, the latest
smartphones are allowing
consumers to become content
creators, and generators of
entertainment and high-quality
visual media. And with their
increased technical capabilities,
they are taking over from
traditional products such as
SLR cameras.
Advances in smartphone cameras and the proliferation of mobile editing
and recording apps are turning the mobile device into a portable studio
capable of professional-standard results. Photographers and videographers
can capture images and sound on the go, and edit and upload them
without setting foot in an editing suite. Amateurs can also produce high-
quality footage, which is opening the gates to more “citizen journalism”
and crowdsourced content.
Apps such as Snapseed, TouchRetouch and SKRWT, for instance, allow
users to enhance and transform their photos in ways that are often on par
with desktop applications. Cortex Camera lets photographers achieve high-
quality images in low light. For video editing, there’s Magisto, Animoto,
VidTrim and JumpCam. Magisto’s CamCrew technology, for instance,
optimizes for the important characters the user is ﬁlming and provides
real-time feedback on video lighting, framing and stability.
Last year, Apple partnered with Burberry on a video of the label’s fall
runway show in London, shot with iPhone 5s cameras. The camera is
expected to get better yet: The iPhone due out in 2015 is rumored to bring
“the biggest camera jump ever,” according to Apple commentator John
Gruber, who says the phone could reach DSLR quality by incorporating a
two-lens system. And OmniVision, which supplies camera components
for handset makers including Motorola, has said it’s producing a
23.8-megapixel sensor for smartphones (by contrast, Samsung’s Galaxy S5
has a 16-megapixel sensor).
Professional
Content Creation
Goes Mobile

101
Mobile really is just the start.
Increasingly, smart connectivity
will be integrated into the fabric of
our clothes, while the properties of
fabric and wearables will go beyond
monitoring us to enhancing and
“super-humanizing” us.
“These will outsmart wearables,” says Sophie Hackford, director of Wired
Consulting. While consumer-facing wearable technology has focused
largely on bracelets that monitor health and ﬁtness, a wave of innovation is
occurring in fabrication itself. Ralph Lauren, one of the early major brands
to explore this, introduced a Polo Tech smart shirt in 2014 that monitors
heart rate and breathing and delivers the data to a smartphone in real time.
Elsewhere, fabrics are being developed that can be grown, can correct the
air around us, can promote well-being and can also control our movements.
The BB.Suit 0.2, introduced at Beijing Design Week 2014, has an integrated
air quality sensor and can purify surrounding air using cold plasma
technology. Vasper, using technology designed for American astronauts,
uses a compression system to make the body believe a 20-minute workout
has lasted for three hours. Brendan Iribe, co-founder and CEO of Oculus,
which produces the Oculus Rift virtual reality platform, told crowds at Web
Summit 2014 in Dublin that the company is experimenting with clever
fabrication and suiting to enhance “the sensation you get with the sense
of presence when visually you feel like you’re there—it’s an incredibly
powerful component.”Watch for Oculus Rift playsuits.
Prosthetics, Performance
Enhancers, Exoskeletons
and Smart Fabrics
BB.Suit 0.2, Netherlands.

102
Consumers are increasingly putting a premium on managing not only their
digital footprint but their reputation. Will digital invisibility become a new
luxury product?
Consumers are multiscreening, hopping between one
channel and another, making it more challenging to track responses
and ad effectiveness.
Our digital footprint continues to grow and will only get bigger as the Internet
of Things connects some 30 billion devices to the web (as predicted by EMC).
With that, consumers are becoming more aware of their privacy. There’s
a growing expectation that web users have the right to a clean slate. The
European Court of Justice ruled in May 2014 that Google must honor requests
for links no longer relevant to the public interest to be deleted. Google had
received over half a million requests for link removal by November. This has
paved the way for similar initiatives elsewhere. South Korea is looking into
legislation that would help citizens remove personal online information. A
California law aimed at helping minors wipe their slate clean goes into effect
in January.
Meanwhile, a growing number of companies help people clean up their online
image or erase an online footprint altogether, including Reputation.com,
MyLife and Abine’s DeleteMe. In South Korea, these companies are known
as “digital laundry”services, and The Wall Street Journal reports that a crop of
such businesses are popping up.
Erik Johnson, managing director of Facebook’s Atlas, claims the cookie—
the traditional method of tracking consumers’ paths to purchase and
responses to ads—is over. Discussing Atlas, Facebook’s new analytics
program, at the Web Summit in Dublin, Johnson said 40% of transactions
begin on one device and end on another, which makes the cookie concept
redundant for understanding success of advertising and afﬁliated retail.
Atlas joins the dots between all channels: mobile, tablet and desktop, with
Facebook extending its reach beyond its own platform to connect in-store
purchases with Facebook proﬁles.
Premium
Invisibility
Death of
the Cookie?

103
—Matt Rhodes, director of digital strategy at FreshMinds
Celebrating
Serendipity
“If you’re only presenting people with
suggestions based on their past behaviors,
that becomes a narrowing ﬁeld. There has
to be serendipitous discovery.”
Credit: Prizm.

104
There’s a tension between the convenience and opportunity offered
by predictive retail and advertising, and the rising recognition of
the importance of randomness, chance and surprise. Innovators and
technologists will increasingly focus on incorporating chance discovery
to complement prediction and automation.
Big Data is enabling extreme personalization and also predictive marketing
and retail. Alongside that, there’s a rising focus on the importance of
serendipitous discovery and the power of serendipity and chance discovery
in innovation. “If you’re only presenting people with suggestions based on
their past behaviors, that becomes a narrowing ﬁeld,” explains Matt Rhodes,
digital strategy expert and director at FreshMinds consultancy. “There has
to be serendipitous discovery.” Chris Morton, CEO of curated shopping
platform Lyst, championed the same sentiment in a recent Financial Times
interview: “A fashion purchase should never be exclusively search-based—
there also has to be an element of serendipity for the shopping experience
to really resonate.” Skype co-founder Janus Friis is going down this route
with Random, an app that combines a predictive engine to pull out what
the reader wants, alongside random suggestions that may or may not
be of interest.
On a loftier scale, Nicholas Carr, author of The Glass Cage, questions the
dominance of automation, prediction and algorithms, arguing that total
automation stiﬂes innovation. “As original responses become rarer, the
predictions become predictions based on earlier predictions,” writes Carr.
“Where does the algorithm end and the self begin?” Meanwhile, Spotify
is celebrating serendipity with its new artist-in-residence program—
Serendipity. In a platform conceived by Brooklyn artist Kyle McDonald, the
company created the online Serendipity map, which cleverly shows when
two people around the world are playing the same song at exactly the
same time.
Celebrating
Serendipity
Spotify Serendipity.

105
Prizm.
True artificial intelligence is a
long way off, but technology is
increasingly becoming capable of
learning from its interactions with
us and presenting intuitive services.
Brands must be wary though—
anything too clever risks stepping
into “uncanny valley” territory.
Systems that learn over time to predict and intuit human desires are being
integrated into consumer devices. With the advent of intelligent personal
assistants like Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and Google Now, we’re
moving toward a future in which mobile devices harness AI and the rich
data contained in a phone—calendar, search history, payment history and
social media activity—to anticipate their owners’ needs.
Viv Labs, whose founders helped create Siri, are working on an advanced
digital assistant “who knows what you want before you ask for it,”
according to Wired. Viv Labs is hoping to see this technology integrated
into other devices and tools, from TVs to cars to apps. Speech-recognition
firm Nuance is focusing on Project Wintermute, a similar technology. And
Amazon’s Echo device, introduced in late 2014, is a self-learning digital
assistant in the form of a speaker for the home that tunes in whenever
the user addresses it. It can play music or take instruction from the user
(for example, it can add items to a to-do list). Google Now is an intelligent
personal assistant that uses a natural language user interface to answer
questions, make recommendations and perform actions by delegating
requests to a set of web services. Google Now can do anything from acting
as an intuitive wallpaper picker to organizing your day. It also brings you
information when you want it.
Cone, introduced in 2014, is a speaker that “learns what, when, and how
you like to listen to music. Turn it on and it automatically plays what you’ll
love.”The first product from the startup Aether, the stylish Wi-Fi-connected
speaker plays music from the streaming service Rdio and tracks from the
user’s Apple devices. Pressing a button on Cone lets you verbally request
a track or artist, but the idea is that it requires little user intervention, even
self-adjusting volume based on learned preferences. Prizm, which recently
conducted a successful Kickstarter campaign, is a similar product from
a French company that works with multiple music services. The speaker
can also adapt based on who is in the room (as long as people have the
companion app on their phones), finding music that it predicts everyone
will like.
Cognitive
Technology

106
The mobile phone is increasingly becoming our portal to the world, the
channel through which we shop, share, search and direct. As the Internet of
Things connects our mobile phones to more and more objects, our phones
will know us better than anybody. Who will own that data?
As Internet of Things products for the home come to market, consumers will
control household appliances via their smartphones—making the phone the
“everything hub”of the future. The app for the Nest thermostat lets users
change the temperature and set schedules, and the Philips Hue lighting
system’s app allows users to adjust the color and brightness of the bulbs.
Through Logitech’s Harmony Home Control, users can control any integrated
connected lights, locks, blinds, thermostats, sensors or home entertainment
devices through the corresponding app. “The more we use our mobile phone
to control thermostats, enable connectivity in our car and to act as barcodes to
get on the train to work, the more it becomes integral to our lives. The phone
is bound to become the remote control,”says Paul Berney, co-founder and
managing partner at mCordis.
Mobile
Everything Portals
Nest, USA.

107
Affordable smartphones are nothing new, but the key shift is that
affordable is becoming aspirational—and Sculley is introducing a design
ethos to lower-end products. JWTIntelligence has been monitoring
Millennials’ increasingly sophisticated expectations of design. By
presenting an affordable brand as hip, and sleekly designed too, Obi is
positioning itself well.
John Sculley, ex-CEO of Apple, is launching an affordable phone brand
starting in emerging markets, aimed at young people with a sophisticated
design sensibility. He has enlisted Robert Brunner, former director of
industrial design at Apple and chief designer behind Beats Electronics,
among others, to launch the Obi Mobiles project. Obi phones, priced
between $70 and $200, are aimed at tweens and young Millennials
in emerging markets. Mobile prices are falling, and the new area of
competition is the lower end of the market. According to research firm
IDC, which pitched this as a rising trend for 2015, the average price of a
smartphone fell from $335 in 2013 to $314 in 2014. The average selling price
of the iPhone was $652 in 2011 and $607 in 2013. Affordable internet-first
phone brand Xiaomi is the world’s fastest-growing phone-maker.
Affordable,
Aspirational
Smartphone: Obi
From governmental bodies to consumers to brands, we’re increasingly
moving from the idea of needing to own technology to the idea of
technology as a service. As Hackford points out, it’s like the move “from
ownership to renting.”
Cloud businesses are set to be big in 2015 as more major companies,
organizations, brands and consumers outsource their IT to the cloud. For
new companies, access to this ready infrastructure will make it easier to
launch businesses and jump off from a higher level. Amazon Web Services,
Amazon’s cloud-based computing services platform, is growing twice as
fast as the rest of Amazon and generating as much as $5 billion annually,
with major companies and brands using it. Google, Microsoft and Cisco
are all expanding their cloud services. “All business should be on the cloud,”
says Sophie Hackford, director of Wired Consulting. “And thinking and
acting like a cloud company.”
Businesses Look
to the Cloud

108
Pundits have speculated on
the future of Oculus Rift and
its potential to revolutionize
gaming, retail and entertainment.
Communications is a new avenue.
Oculus Rift CEO Brendan Iribe recently said that in the long term, the
most exciting thing about his company’s virtual reality headset is its
potential to revolutionize communications, just as email and telephones
did. He envisions people wearing headsets to feel as though they’re in
the same room with others around the world in real time—3D phone
virtual reality/augmented reality communication, in other words.
“Face-to-face communication where we can hopefully put on a pair of
sunglasses or ski goggles and have a conversation but be in different
places in the world—just think how big of an impact that is,” said Iribe.
“Most people travel and get in airplanes and cars to go have face-to-face
communications. If you could throw on a pair of sunglasses and have that
same conversation with people around the world … that’s transformative.
When you think about the big new medias that have transformed the world,
it’s communications—the telephone, the Internet and personal computers.
This is an application that could appeal to billions of people.”
Oculus Rift:
The New Skype?
Adr1ft game for Oculus Rift, release 2015.

109
As Big Data grows, particularly
with the Internet of Things, the
convenience of technology
platforms will increasingly be
coupled with distrust. Installations
and platforms that display tech as
wondrous, inspiring and intimate
will help win consumers over.
Big Data and technology loom ever larger in consumer consciousness,
and artists, retailers, advertisers and brands are seeking to illuminate the
creative potential of technology with interactive, inspiring, spectacular
displays of tech virtuosity. Consider Nike’s “House of Mamba” LED
interactive basketball court, which features responsive, lit-up data that
tracks players as they move. Universal Everything has created the largest
LED screen in the world, in New York’s Times Square, to showcase
inspiring advertising. In Montreal, the Quartier des Spectacles introduced
an interactive digital exhibit, including an illuminated wheat ﬁeld and
robot-populated video games, on 100-foot screens. Fashion brand Diesel
has collaborated with German artist Andreas Fischer to create a “living”
digital exhibit that responds to Twitter posts in an installation. Google’s
Creative Lab made Unnumbered Sparks, an interactive digital sculpture
in Vancouver: A shimmering, glowing cloud that changes in response to
nearby smartphones.
Tech-tacular
Nike Rise by AKQA for Nike, 2014.

Credits / Contact:
JWTIntelligence
Lucie Greene, worldwide director
lucie.greene@jwt.com
Marian Berelowitz, editorial director
Nicholas Ayala, trends strategist
Hallie Steiner, proofreader
About J. Walter Thompson
J. Walter Thompson, the world’s best-known marketing communications
brand, has been inventing pioneering ideas for the past 150 years.
Headquartered in New York, JWT is a true global network with more than
200 ofﬁces in over 90 countries, employing nearly 10,000 marketing
professionals. JWT consistently ranks among the top agency networks
in the world and continues a dominant presence in the industry by
staying on the leading edge—from hiring the industry’s ﬁrst female
copywriter to developing award-winning branded content today.
For more information, please visit www.jwt.com
and follow us @JWT_Worldwide.
About JWTIntelligence
JWTIntelligence is a center for provocative thinking that focuses on
identifying shifts in the global zeitgeist. Its aim is to bring the outside in—
to help inspire ideas beyond brand, category and consumer conventions—
and to identify emerging opportunities so they can be leveraged for
business gain. As a part of JWT, the world’s best-known marketing
communications brand, JWTIntelligence has conducted trends research and
analysis across categories and geographies for the past decade.
For more information, please visit www.jwtintelligence.com
and follow us @JWTIntelligence.
110

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JWT: The Future 100 (December 2014)