TrendWatching | MakeShift

Edition #21 | Your weekly inspiration fix • 26 October - 01 November 2023

INTRO

2024 Trend Check: Opportunities that transcend industry

As the new year kicks off, it’s time to set your innovative intentions for this next trip around the sun. Our 2024 Trend Check helps you do just that by showcasing practical solutions to complex global challenges, all with a cross-industry take. In this edition, we’re specifically highlighting how brands across sectors can delve into new levels of personalization, give back to nature and embody cultural values. Be sure to check the full report for more!

Dive deeper into the 2024 Trend Check

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INNOVATION

🇦🇪 Panadol uses generative AI to visualize people's unique perceptions of pain relief

Pain is deeply personal, a subjective experience. And the same goes for pain relief. Exactly how different that sensation can be for different people recently came to light in Dubai… read more

INNOVATION

🇯🇵 Property developer Staple shifts to worker-owned model for hotels across Japan

A property management brand describing itself as a 'soft developer,' focused on 20-minute neighborhoods in livable cities, is taking a major step to empower a key soft asset — its employees… read more

INNOVATION

🇸🇪🇦🇺 Nudging consumers to try plant-based hot dogs and milk, one gulp at a time

In Sweden, convenience chain Pressbyrån launched what might be the most innovative hot dog ever. Aptly named 'The Transition Hot Dog,' the creation guides consumers from meat to plant in five bites… read more

TREND

ECO-BOOSTERS: Sustenance that gives back to nature

A new wave of food and beverage consumers don’t want to just ‘cause less harm’, they want to go further, returning more to nature than they take. Yes, 83% of people across G20 countries want to do more to restore nature in the future and impact-driven F&B businesses recognize that active regeneration benefits both the planet and company profits.

The F&B sector – particularly brands tied to agriculture – is uniquely positioned for leadership and can pioneer change by adopting a blend of (forgotten) regenerative wisdom and high-tech innovations. This includes practices like carbon sequestration and biodiversity monitoring. To spearhead the ECO-BOOSTERS revolution, empower people to replenish the earth with every bite and sip.

Beyond F&B, imagine developing eco-boosting construction methods much like Vandersanden or Bouwboerens (mentioned below). Or how about regenerative mining, carbon-absorbing vending machines or packaging that doubles as a beehive? Think cross-industry on this one!

PROMO

Join our Trend Check Webinar!

Join fellow trend enthusiasts for our free, immersive 2024 Trend Check Webinar, uncovering 2024's BIG ideas and related hands-on innovation opportunities, from SUSTAINABILITY ON DISPLAY to CULTURAL CREDITORS 🙌

Hosted by one of our Sr Trend Analysts - sign up now for 30 or 31 January 2024!

THOUGHT STARTER

Reconnecting a divided world through entertainment

Embraced by 94% of Gen Alpha, video games from cozy gaming to UGC platforms have dominated 2023’s leisure activities. Can you unite opponents through the shared joy of gaming, rather than contributing to online discord?

TREND

CODE-IT-YOURSELF: New tools enable consumer-led personalization

Ever since the generative AI boom, conversations about tech have dominated public discourse. The adoption of LLMs and text-to-anything software created a newfound willingness to play and experiment, giving rise to a CODE-IT-YOURSELF mindset.

Between highly bespoke emojis, AI assistants and an increased tech-savvyness among consumers, the shift towards personalized technology is clear. Your call to action? Invite your customers to (co-)design and (re-)build your products and services. That could mean enabling them to assemble tech of their own (it doesn’t get more custom than that), repairing gadgets when they break or allowing them to design their own UI.

Any sector can dive into the world of consumer-led personalization. Work and education? Think about AI-powered custom learning experiences. Social media? How about enabling users to design their own algorithms? Can they build it? Yes they can! 👷

TREND

DRAFTED BY AI: NGOs pioneering next-gen AI ethics

The way gen AI could profoundly transform the Nonprofit & Social Cause sector is twofold. For starters, consider that 74% of US nonprofits reported job vacancies in April 2023. To tackle workforce shortages, gen AI could expedite and streamline labor-intensive internal processes to free up budgets and reduce stress (two leading causes for vacancies within the nonprofit sector).

Secondly, while the increased level of global giving observed during the pandemic has stabilized, gen AI could help to capture new donors’ attention through novel text, imagery, videos and more. However, whenever you utilize text-to-anything tools, always consider the potential reputational concerns tied to AI. NGOs, the most trusted source of information, must lead the way in wielding AI as a force for good.

INNOVATION

🇩🇪 A modern clay pot cooler, Tony doesn't need power to keep fruit and veg fresh longer

What do tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and melons have in common? They shouldn't be stowed in a refrigerator. They maintain better flavor and texture if stored with less chill, yet spoil more quickly …read more

INNOVATION

🇳🇱 Growing greener buildings? BouwBoeren harvests acres of construction materials

BouwBoeren, meaning 'construction farmers', contracts farmers to grow fibrous crops, which BouwBoeren harvests and processes on-site. Founded by brothers Luc and Wout de Wit — one a property developer, the other… read more

Talk to us

Be sure to ping our editor, Galina Yordanov, if you're working on something we should feature on MakeShift.

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