Non Obvious | Trends Standard

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Welcome to the Non-Obvious Trend Collection!

Every year our team curates the most interesting and impactful trends shaping culture and business. On this site, you can browse all of the trends from the past nine years by category, industry or year.

Computer Keyboard

As a consequence of eroding trust in media and institutions, people are engaging in a personal quest for the truth based on direct observation and face-to-face interaction....

Touchworthy

Overwhelmed by digital and tired of sitting behind a screen, consumers are seeking products and experiences that they can touch and feel.....

ApproachableLuxury

Approachable Luxury

Luxury is no longer defined by scarcity and privilege: Today’s consumers value down-to-earth, authentic human experiences and unique unrepeatable experiences....

man and transgender symbol

Shifting definitions of traditional gender roles are leading some to reject the notion of gender completely, while others aim to eliminate it from products, experiences, and even their own identities. ...

HumanMode

Thanks to automation, people crave experiences, advice, and services delivered by actual humans. ...

Backstorytelling

Backstorytelling

Organizations are using the power of stories to share relatable heritages, missions, personalities and reasons for existing. ...

Print

Lured by the promise of Big Data, organizations segment audiences too narrowly and unintentionally end up abandoning large groups of potentially lucrative customers. ...

Manipulated Outrage

Manipulated Outrage

New tools in media and advertising make it easier for brands and organizations to manipulate people’s emotions, incite rage and elicit strong reactions for their benefit. ...

Enlightened Consumption

Enlightened Consumption

Empowered with more information about products and services than ever, people are choosing to make a statement about their values and the world today through how they buy, work, consume, and invest. ...

LightSpeedLearning

Lightspeed Learning

The road to mastery of any topic is shorter thanks to the popularity of bite-sized learning modules that make education more time efficient, engaging, useful and fun. ...

DisruptiveDistribution

Disruptive Distribution

New models of distribution are disrupting the usual channels, cutting out middlemen and building more direct connections with fans and buyers. ...

VirtualEmpathy

Virtual Empathy

Immersive technological experiences generate empathy through helping people see the world through new eyes. ...

DataPollution

Organizations are facing the challenge of finding and investing in the tools that help them draw actionable, practical insight out of data that can mislead as easily as it informs. ...

DataPollution

Predictive Protection

Organizations are designing smarter connected products, services and features that provide safety, boost our health, and protect our environment through anticipating our needs. ...

MainstreamMindfulness

Mainstream Mindfulness

Some of today’s most innovative and influential ideas are coming from complete outsiders whose unconventional quirks disrupt entire industries. ...

OutrageousOutsiders

Outrageous Outsiders

Some of today’s most innovative and influential ideas are coming from complete outsiders whose unconventional quirks disrupt entire industries. ...

Self-AwareData

Self-Aware Data

As technology advances, algorithms and artificial intelligence make real-time analysis so fast that it can move from input to insight to action all on its own. ...

RobotRennaissance

Robot Renaissance

As robots’ utility moves into the home and the workplace, they adopt more human-like interfaces and in some cases, micro-personalities. ...

InvisibleTechnology

Invisible Technology

As technology becomes more sophisticated, it becomes better at predicting and anticipating needs, protecting us, and providing utility while blending seamlessly into our lives. ...

PreciousPrint

Thanks to the digital revolution, people are developing a more meaningful and emotional relationship with physical objects and printed material. ...

PassiveLoyalty

Passive Loyalty

A new understanding of loyalty is challenging brands to get smarter about how they can generate brand enthusiasts. ...

FierceFemininity

Fierce Femininity

Over the past few years the fierce, independent woman has emerged, redefining the concept of femininity and reimagining gender roles across the political, cultural, and social realms. ...

LovableUnperfection

Lovable Unperfection

Today, successful marketing campaigns are putting an increasing focus on using the power of personality, quirkiness, and imperfections to create authentic with customers. ...

DesperateDetox

Desperate Detox

As technology, media clutter and an overload of gadgets make life increasingly stressful, people are seeking moments of reflection and pause. ...

sidequirks

A global shift toward individualism has led to a surge in side businesses and a renewed appreciation for what makes people unique. ...

PreservedPast2

Technology is offering new ways to preserve history, changing the way we learn from, experience, and remember the past in the process. ...

AutomatedAdulthood

Automated Adulthood

More people are going through a prolonged period of emerging adulthood, focusing on their career, getting married later, and adopting technology and innovative products that automate "adult" tasks. ...

InsourcedIncubation

Insourced Incubation

Companies are building in-house innovation labs to inspire novel ideas within their four walls instead of seeking outside help. ...

Heroic-Design

Design is shaping the way we plan our cities, homes, and futures, and inspiring nuanced, sometimes unexpectedly heroic experiments from architects, urban planners, industrial engineers and tech gurus alike. ...

DataOverflow

Volumes of both personal and corporate-owned data are increasing at an exponential rate, creating pressure to turn that data into tools that serve as both practical and ethical instead of disconnected data points. ...

EarnedConsumption

Earned Consumption

Consumers’ increasing desire for authentic experiences means that they are more willing to earn their right to consume, which offers businesses the chance to build more loyalty and engagement ...

PersonalityMapping

Personality Mapping

Brands and organizations are turning to psychology to better understand the motivations and emotions behind their customers’ decisions and inspire better performance from their employees. ...

B2Beyond

Brands are embracing their humanity, taking inspiration from other sectors and thinking more broadly about effectively marketing to people first and buyers second. ...

OptimisticAging

Optimistic Aging

After years of being told that aging is something we should hide, society is starting to appreciate the upside of getting older: financial freedom, respect, and time that the “third lifetime” can offer. ...

StrategicDowngrading

Strategic Downgrading

As more products become Internet-enabled and digitalized, consumers are selectively rejecting supposedly improved products and services, opting for simpler, cheaper, and sometimes more functional versions instead. ...

EmpulseBuying

E-mpulse Buying

While e-commerce is changing the way people impulse buy, the integration of mobile devices into the shopping experience has opened up possibilities for real-time marketing that encourages people to make split-second emotional buying decisions in a new way. ...

BrandedUtility

Branded Utility

Brands are using a combination of content marketing and greater integration between marketing and operations to augment promotions with practical and human added value. ...

Engineered-Addiction

Engineered Addiction

Thanks to our increasing understanding of the behavioral science behind the formation of habits, marketers, designers, and engineers are creating products and services that are as addictive as possible. ...

Branded-Benevolence

Branded Benevolence

Companies are putting a purpose greater than revenue at the center of their businesses in order to form deeper connections with consumers. ...

Experimedia

Content creators make use of social experiments and real-life interactions to reveal interesting insight about human behavior and build more authentic connections with their audiences. ...

Mood-Matching

As tracking technology becomes more sophisticated, marketers are turning to immersive experiences inspired by industries like gaming to make sure that their content adapts to their consumers’ moods. ...

Glanceable-Content

Glanceable Content

Marketing effectively today means capturing the attention of a consumer base that is increasingly resistant to the stream of content they see all day. ...

Reluctant-Marketing

Reluctant Marketing

Marketing used to focus almost exclusively on the messaging behind and promotion of products and services, but today, marketers are becoming key to informing their organizations’ product development and research. ...

MyMagic

Everyday Stardom

Some of today’s most innovative and influential ideas are coming from complete outsiders whose unconventional quirks disrupt entire industries. ...