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letscolourproject.com/gallery-brazil/

http://www.letscolourproject.com/gallery-brazil/

FUTURING

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INSIGHT •• HILDE ROOTHART (TRENDSLATOR)

THE FUTUREOF YOURBRANDTRENDS BRANDS

stephen elop, the new ceo of nokia, sent all his

co-workers a letter in which he described the company as

a 'burning platform' a 'sinking ship'. It was made clear in

the letter what the worst problems at Nokia were. "What

happened at Nokia when our competitors fed the fire? We

fell behind, we missed the big trends, we lost time. We

thought we were making the right decisions, but with the

knowledge of now we see that we were years behind."

See here the importance of trend investigating in a

nutshell. Companies that are not connected to the spirit

of the time could capsize and find themselves at the

bottom of the sea. The other side of the coin is that

innovation is not simple because a lot of innovations fail.

The good news is that companies can not only anticipate

on trends to translate to their supply of products and

services. Product development is only one way to

anticipate trends. By translating trends into brands,

companies are much more effective and sometimes

easier at anticipating trends. Here it also applies that

good preparation and a structured approach are crucial.

This way of thinking and of working is being described in

From Trends to Brands (Kluwer 2001) through three

examples: Futuring, Domaining and Brand in Time.

Futuring is investigating and translating trends to a vision

of the future. Domaining is the mapping from the brand

portfolio and Brand in Time is the translating of trends to

brands.

TREND WATCHING? Not so difficult if you do your homework. TREND TRANSLATING? Very difficult if you don't know where you have to start and how it needs to develop.

Trends translating to brands gives a company the decisive advantage to be well prepared for the future. trends to brands offers a structured approach.

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FuturingThe basic principle is very simple. There are trends in

different shapes and sizes, like different levels of trends.

In the research of trends there is a distinction being

made between duration and impact.

Product and market trends, short terms trends that are

happening in certain branches, last a maximum of 5

years. What is at stake here is the changing of the

supply. In every branch there are market trends. As an

example of a market trend is an 'art collective'. At

various communities and platforms artist, musicians

and designers offer their creative products. Take for

example Etsy.com. In addition, they find each through

music and art projects, where collectively they work

together on art work or charity projects.

Consumer trends, trends of mid length, have a duration

of between 5 to 10 years. In this case it is about

changing behaviour, preferences and needs of consum-

ers or citizens. An example of a consumer trend is the

need for connectivity. As described with terms as Share

(MOOD 07, Trendslator 2006) and Connect (MOOD 10, Trendslator 2009). We are witnessing the end of

privatization, market working and the extreme form of

'the biggest interest is self interest'.

What has to change is a society in which self interest is

replaced with common interest. The time of extreme

capitalism in which the individual freedom was of

central importance has passed. The essential term New

forms of solidarity are born.

Finally, there are trends that have their impact for a

period of 10 to 30 years. Societal trends are overshad-

owing market trends. They have their impact on big

groups of consumers in society as well as governments,

companies and organizations. Nothing and no-one can

escape from societal trends.

An example of such a long term trend is 'socialization'

(Zien, Business Contact 2005). The age of the

individual is reaching its end. The main question for the

future is not how individual needs can be fulfilled but

rather how we bring everyone back together. What

replaces the individual will not be a return to the pillar

society or the target groups of the eighties. What is

more likely to happen are flexible forms of socialization

in which every individual contributes to the group.

The examples in the trends described are not contra-

dicting each other, they go in the same direction. Short

term, mid term and long term trends can be compared

with each other based mutual content.

DomainingWhere trends are constantly under the pressure of

change, brands are static, rock solid. But nothing is

farther from the truth. Brands need to go with the flow

in order to be and to stay relevant for the consumer and

shareholders.

After the economic crisis more and more companies

replaced the capitals in their logos with lower case

letters. For example, Nationale-Nederlanden is now

called nationale nederlanden and Alex is changed to as

alex. This is how companies take a step back, instead of

being over confident in their logo, they express

modesty, soberness and restraint.

Most companies do not have one brand but several.

These brand can also be classified just like trends by

certain classification. There are sub-brands or product

brands, main brands or consumer brands (in case of

B2B; buyers brands) and corporate brands or organiza-

tion brands. These levels of brands are comparable with

the level of trends mentioned above.

In some cases these brand levels are noticeable to the

consumers. Dolce Gusto is a sub brand that is part of

the main brand Nescafé. The corporate brand can often

be found on the back of the package, in this case Nestlé.

Sub brands like AH Excellent, Allerhande and Euro

Shopper are brands under the umbrella of the main

brand Albert Heijn. The corporate brand is Ahold.

The main brand Coca Cola offers three sub brands. Coca

IT IS OVER WITH THE ExTREME FORMS OF CAPITALISM IN WHICH FREEDOM OF THE

INDIVIDUAL IS THE CENTRAL FOCUS

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Cola (the classic cola), Coca Cola zero and Diet Coke or

Coca Cola Light. The Coca Cola Company has more

brands than coca cola.

For every brand in a portfolio it is possible to identify

values (market-, consumer-, communal-, values). For Coca

Cola, for example, it is happiness, living positively.

Brand in TimeThe (precondition) for success for companies is not only

to know what the trends are (futuring) but also to know

yourself (domaining).

The challenge is to select and translate trends that are

connected with the different brands in the portfolio.

Sometimes this is simple, for example with organizing an

event, sale or a campaign. As KLM did with the premier of

a Twitter flight. KLM promised to organize an extra flight

for a concert in Miami if there were enough registrants

on www.fly2miami.nl. Within five hours the flight was full.

KLM cleverly and swiftly anticipated the market trend

'online actions' or 'Twitter events'.

A similar example is Flexa Let's Color. Let's Color is an

international movement that brings color to the

neighborhood, the street or building. With this campaign

Flexa anticipates on the market trend 'involved actions'.

Communication can be a effective means to anticipate

market trends. What provides more impact is to

anticipate on consumer trends. Potentially resulting in

the adjustment of an existing consumer brand or the

introduction of a new brand. Current examples are Sizz

from Vodafone and RTL, Inshared van Achmea and the

'Friends lottery' from the 'National Good Cause Lottery'.

Achmea as well as the National Good Cause Lottery

anticipate on the consumer trend of connectivity more

specifically, fair sharing. With InShared this is referred to

as 'we all benefit' and at 'Friends lottery' if you win, your

friends win, too.

The most far reaching translations of trends are those

trends that not only entail the department of communica-

tion or marketing but have their influence on the whole

management of the company. For example think of the

communal trends such as 'humanization' and 'sustain-

ability'. Annual reports about communal responsibility

and sustainability are not enough. The good intentions

have to be translated into good conduct.

Unilever explains on www.sustainable-lving.unilever.com

how it wants to make a difference in the long term on the

areas of health, sustainability, livability through many

small steps. With this a vision for the long term has been

translated to the corporate brand in the form of the

Unilever Sustainable Living Plan. In the future this plan

will be feasible through all kinds of main brands and sub

brands carried in the portfolio of Unilever. With this

Unilever is an example of a company that successfully

anticipates on all brand levels to trends. Leading by good

example.

BronnenVan Trends naar Brands

Hilde Roothart en Wim van der Pol - Kluwer 2001 Zien - Trends van vandaag, markten van morgen -

Hilde Roothart - Business Contact 2005MOOD 07 - Trendslator - Trendslator 2006MOOD 10 - Trendslator - Trendslator 2009

hilde RoothaRt

is a trend watcher and founder of Trendslator.www.trendslator.nl

www.trendstobrands.nl

TRENDS HAVE TO MOVE WITH THE WINDS OF TIME

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TRENDS TO BRANDS

FUTURINGThe research and translation of trends into a vision on the future

DOMAINING Structuring of the brand portfolio

BRAND IN TIMEResearch and translating of trends to brands

A foundation for a new professional area. That is what Hilde Roothart from Trendslator and Wim van der Pol had in mind when they described the method

to integrate trend- and, brand management. Ten years after VAN TRENDS NAAR BRANDS (From Trends to Brands) it is time to look back and ahead.

And to prove that the methods described in this book do work.

WWW.TRENDSTOBRANDS.NL

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