Macro Trends
WHAT & WHY
Macro trends identify what consumers will desire next and what will drive their decisions in the next 5+ years. Identifying Macro Trends helps inform strategic decisions within a company across multiple teams such as creative, marketing, product development, innovation and social. Once teams are informed and aligned, they can create competitive offerings and messaging that is effective and relevant – especially when companies have long development cycles or are large brands that are in the spotlight & need to get it right.
CHALLENGE
Multiple teams throughout the company were working in silo’s, utilizing different outside resources to inform trends for their specific area, without alignment across the company on a singular point of view.
GOAL
Create a macro trend deck that is approved at the highest level, share it across all business units so all teams are working from the same trends and using them to inform their work, causing alignment across the company.
RESULT
With this being a new venture for the company, much education, relationship building, and buy-in was needed. We did this by building relationships across departments, and presenting the information. We joined team meetings to brainstorm. The work was utilized across multiple teams in varying degrees. For example, it unlocked marketing messaging from wash, rinse, repeat based on last years data, to a more relevant space and it sharpened and aligned campaigns across teams.
BRAND
Starbucks
MY ROLE
Secondary trend research across a variety of industries
Lead collaboration sessions to identify macro trends and synthesize research into clear storytelling
Deck strategy and design
TEAM
Josephine Kimberling, Associate Creative Director & Trend Strategist
Emilie Bélis, Trend Strategist
Francesca Merlini, Copywriter
The Work
Without sharing our secret sauce, what I can tell you is that we looked across three areas of influence to identify and define our Macro Trends: global activities, changes in social behavior and innovation, from around the world.
We researched political events, laws, environmental changes, pop culture, scientific breakthroughs, innovative business models, technological advancements, and many more, then synthesized the information, identifying patterns that informed what trends are most likely to be driving consumer behavior over the next 3-5 years.
*Additional details available upon request
methodology
Our final deck identified 5 Macro Trends (3 shown here), with 6+ pages per trend of data, consumer mindsets and drivers, real-life examples, and future predictions. Below are examples of a few of the pages from the deck, and trends we identified.
