I’m not very good at long-term predictions but I’m so good at short-term predictions sometimes I wonder if I’m psychic.  For instance, I can predict that my boyfriend won’t have done the washing up because he’s probably spent most of the day doing this.  I can also predict with 100 per cent accuracy that my mum will always grab the Jesus Handle in the car when I’m driving.

My favourite long-term predictors are the folks at Trendwatching.  I can’t get enough of their stuff. You can buy their annual report or download their free monthly briefings which are full of great insights and case studies.

There’s also Trendspotting who have put together a series of presentations with predictions from industry experts.  My only question is does Seth know they found his doppleganger? 

I thought slide 5 on Feedback 3.0 was a cool way to describe the move toward businesses listening and engaging in two-way communication, and I’m sure there will be a collective sign of relief from slide 7.  Apparently ‘The Dowdy Look’ is back which is excellent because it’s far too labour intensive doing ‘Flashy Sexy’ all the time, where as I can pull of Dowdy almost effortlessly.

While we’re on the topic of consumer insights, earlier this month Nielson unveiled the monthly Economic Current.

If you have any favourite consumer or trend predictors or predictions be sure to leave us a comment.

Posted by Renee Creer

“Change is the only constant”

The last ‘big change’ change I can remember in the PR industry involved switching from faxing to emailing press releases and wow, didn’t that shake things up! 

In case you didn’t realise, PR is undergoing some pretty big changes and we have social media to thank for these exciting times. 

The evolution of technology and the creation of social tools on the web has opened up a brand new world of opportunity for the PR industry. 

Huge debates have been happening (mostly in the US for well over a year) around who should own a social media program; how PR will adapt to social media; how and if practitioners will upskill to seize this opportunity; whether social media will kill PR; even how the social media release might kill off the traditional media release.  I know what you’re thinking - “Please dear God, not the press release!!!” 

I’ve spent hours following these debates in the blogosphere, and I’ve gone so far down the rabbit hole my mind has boggled, or should that be bloggled?  To date, a blog by Brian Solis best captures the state of play and provides the best overview of most current debates and Jeremiah Owyang’s Social Media Frequently Asked Questions is also a great starting point.

Renee Creer

This clip blew my mind.

Not just because of the freaky awesome technology or the fact that the demo, by coincidence, combined my two greatest passions (snowboarding and wine), but because it provides a window into the exciting future of customisation and user driven experiences.

If that means nothing to you, perhaps check out some trend reports at Trend Watching.

I hope Apple’s not listening but full props to Microsoft.  The clip is worth the whole 9 minutes of viewing time but the wine relevant stuff kicks in at about 6 minutes if that’s your thing.