On Trend

October 18, 2011

Each month we have trendwatching.com's Henry Mason update us on what is this month's biggest consumer trend.

Here the company's head of research and analysis, Henry Mason, tells us what to watch out for this month.

CITYSUMERS
Forget national pride - nowadays, it's all about urban pride. Just 100 cities account for 30% of the world's economy, and metropolis dwellers are justifiably proud of their cities, embracing fun, iconic products that connect them to their particular "brand" - think of the I heart NY T-shirts, first created in the 1970s. Nowadays, manufacturers are looking to reflect something of a city's identity in their products to entice the "citysumers".

This summer, fragrance house Histoires de Parfums, for instance, created the Scent of Departure range (thescentofdeparture.com), with the aim of capturing a city's essence in a bottle. Scents are available for Munich, Vienna, Istanbul, Budapest and Frankfurt.

Meanwhile, Heineken launched limited-edition beer can designs in France, with music-related images representing the culture of cities: turntables for Berlin, a drum kit for London and headphones for Paris.

The idea often goes even more local. Spanish candle brand Cerabella (1862.cat), for instance, brought out a range of candles capturing the scents of Barcelona's districts, like the flower-seller-inspired La Rambla and cosmopolitan, cinnamon El Raval.

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