Great piece in Trend Watching (www.trendwatching.com) called "Top 5 Consumer Trends For 2007," while we're still fresh in the New Year spirit. But 12 pages are a bit tough to re-print, so here are some highlights that stuck out:

1) Status Lifestyles

"Expect 2007 to be the year in which many brands realize (if not grudgingly accept) that the 'old,' mass-era status symbols...are no longer every consumers' wet dream...mature consumer socities are increasingly dominated by (physical) abundance, by saturation, by experiences, by virtual worlds, by individualism, by participation, by feelings of guilt and concern about the side effects of unbridled consumption"

"With the environment finally on the agenda of most powers that be, and millions of consumers now actively trying to greenify their lives, status from leading an eco-responsible lifestyle is both more readily available, and increasing in value...Don't hesitate to point our your competitor's polluting alternatives."

"One thing you can't go wrong with in 2007 is to ask yourself how your current and new products and experiences will satisfy a plethora of very diverse status seekers."

2) Transparency Tyranny

"1+ billion consumers are now online, and the majority of them have been online for years. They're skilled bargain seekers and 'best of the best' hunters, they're avid online networkers and they're opinionated reviewers and advisors (tripadvisors.com now boasts 5,000,000+ travel reviews)."

"Everything brands do or don't do will end up on youtube.com, or on an undoubtedly soon to be launched youtube-clone dedicated to product reviews."

"Consumers reviews will increasingly become real time and on the spot, i.e. expect ever shorter gaps between a consumer experience (good or bad) and the rest of the world knowing about it...Smart 'participants' will want to get paid in 2007."

"Pleasant side-effect: mass postings will also unmask, outnumber, and neutralize any fake reviews posted by desparate brands trying to piggy back on the powers of transparency."

"What will make things easier this time around is that a) everybody is now online, and b) social software has taken care of the aggregation challenge. All this now needs is a crowd clout entreprenuer that will add a group-buying feature to existing networking sites."

3) Web N+1

"Quick tip: start by (re)reading everything by Kevin Kelly, who has been correct in predicting the Next Big Online Thing over and over again."

4) Trysumers

"Niche of course being the new mass, as consumer societies are now about standing out, not conformity, which in tun means an encouragement to explore one's often broader-than-assumed taste."

"Navigation is the new laissez faire."

"Since advertising is as trusted as a certain president with two more years to go, trying out and sampling is the new advertising."

"The auction culture is beginning to empower the consumer to reach because they can afford better items since they're not paying the whole ticket for them...they're willing to take more chances because they know there's an exit if they made a mistake."

5) The Global Brain

"This year, expect many opportunities, small and big, to aggressively court the 1% of most creative and experienced individuals roaming the globe."

Conclusion

"Take any of the five trends above, sit down with your colleagues or team, and figure out how they may impact your business, your brand, your job:

- Vision
- New business concepts
- New products, services, experiences
- Marketing, advertising, PR"

Well, folks, still a lot of gold that in there that isn't mentioned above. But TrendWatching.com is raising some great points about the times changing, and companies needing to change to meet consumer demands, rather than being the other way around -- "supply and demand" no longer means what it did for many years. And with changing companies, we have a changing workforce.

Stay tuned!

Labels: Online Advertising, Recruiting, Status, Trends