Industry Trends
Note to Mentors
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Unit Purpose and Aims
The purpose of this unit is to;
In this unit the learner will learn how to extrapolate trends from research and how these trends might affect their industry and business.
Learning Outcomes
Learners will;
1. Describe trends for the next year based on research.
1.1 Identify key sources of research for the advertising business.
1.2 Create a 12 month forecast of advertising revenue trends
1.3 Show clear analysis of where these trends emerge from
1.4 Describe key factors influencing the market over the next 12 months
1.5 Describe how these trends might affect two given real world agencies.
Learning Tools, Resources & Links
Things that will help the learner develop understanding of this unit;
Mentors please add your ideas, examples, case studies, links to articles, videos, etc. here.
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New business models for the design industry
Both design and advertising are getting more entrepreneurial. Designer breakfasts is exploring co-creation and how designers can be much more than suppliers in helping businesses innovate. <http://www.designerbreakfasts.net/
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Keeping up with industry trends can be done easily via blogs, however it bears the danger of generating monodimensional thinking. Try to keep up on the web but get inspired in RL.
Here are some blogs and documents:
http://www.thecoolhunter.net
ibelieveinadv.com
theinspirationroom.com
coloribus.com
Another great way is to visit industry related talks, such as internet week or social media week.
Read here and here how that works. Usually there are some really interesting discussions and keynote speakers contributing to the events and telling you where the industry is moving toward at the moment.
The Digital Buzz Blog is one of the best sites that you should follow if you’re interested in Digital and what’s happening around the arena. They’ve got a close to everyday updates and it’s worthwhile dropping by.
‘All Top’ was launched by Guy Kawasaki (wiki), the evangelist of Apple and tech. He founded the Trend page which is pretty much up to date on many topics that are pretty relevant to the industry. Technology, Fashion and etc. His twitter feed is always on an auto roll and he’s got a team behind it to get stuff out to people. Worth a follow.
INFLUENCERS In-depth Series features Steve Stoute, Founder and CEO of Translation, a brand management firm that arranges strategic partnerships between Pop Culture icons (Jay-Z, Gwen Stefani, Lebron James, Justin Timberlake, etc.) and Fortune 500 companies.
In this episode, Steve Stoute discusses the concept of cool, how new cultural codes are redefining traditional corporation communication. He also talks about creating successful collaborations between Artists and Brands.
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Agency Blogs/Tweets
BBH Labs seem to do hardly anything else but find amazing articles, write them themselves or get other people to do that.
This article i.e. talks about Quora, a platform which might be able to reduce much of our time spent looking for answers on google, read why here.
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Be a gadget head.
Spot trends and start using them, this will enable you to be on top of things once they become important to the mass market. Buy i.e. a touchscreen device, see it as a future investment into understanding what makes it so attractive to use, why it is “the future”, why people go crazy about certain apps and not so much about others.
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Read up on future predictions.
Make sure you analyse the predictions and make your own. See what is up and coming, not only in advertising but in the creative industries in general.
Have a look around and see how i.e. store design at the high street changes, and where these changes originate from, analyse that and find out where more changes come from.
Hang out on the “uncool” and boring pages around the web, sometimes they report milestones in change and trends. When i.e. is London getting a digital officer like NYC?
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Explore different areas.
If we only look at the things which initially are in our field of interest we cannot come up with original or unconventional ideas. If everything we look at and absorb is only linked to best business or interest for the brand we are working on, we forget about that it is most of the times the small things which move people and make them think about a service, brand, product or in the best case about their life. If you challenge yourself in thinking in different direction it will not only benefit your work but also your personal development. Have a look here what those students did.
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New Media Engagement
Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, but what will it actually tell us?
Finally a much needed paper is out telling us about the differences in Facebook marketing campaigns as well as brand engagement.
You can read up on what it is all about here.
It’s quite short (8 or 9 pages only) so easily readable in lunch break.
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