GLOBAL – NEW YORK, USA, DECEMBER 2010—Marian Salzman, president of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America, and industry-renowned trendspotter, has issued her list of top trends for 2011. With her background in PR, marketing and sociology—and personal interest in cultural monitoring—Salzman creates her annual list by digging deep to look for social patterns, then applying everything to where the future is headed, in cultural, political and economic matters.
Over the past 15 years, Salzman has forecast that companies would make money on the Internet, that bloggers around the world would lose their anonymity, the rapid global spread of disease with resultant xenophobia, and the ideas that we now know as corporate social responsibility, the Kindle and Facebook, among many others.
“This year, one trend that will be especially global in scope is that men will increasingly need to accept that they can’t expect their gender alone to give them a head start,” said Salzman. “The gender gap in access to resources and opportunities is narrowing, led by Iceland, Norway and Finland, with the U.K., the U.S. and Australia all in the top 23. Women are growing into new roles and men are growing out of the traditional male roles that gave them their top-class swagger. They’ll no longer automatically be the head of household, the sexual initiator, the protector and provider, and the decision-maker.”
Salzman’s 2011 list provides an in-depth forecast of the following trends (because social media is a key driver in much of what is happening today and in the future, these are tweet-version summaries of each):
• Mad as Hell—and Only Getting Madder. Always many reasons 4 anger (but 2010 upped the ante); today’s 24/7 news & blogosphere amplifies the hottest people & topics, adding fuel.
• Talk to the Hands. As world reboots, people reassess worth of selves & things. Feeling loss of control & desire 4 simple life, they yearn 2 B practical DIYers.
• Net Gain. People are losing trust in institutions but gaining faith in tech & looking more to digital and social media networks to meet their needs.
• Public Mycasting System. Broadcast news: dead. Mycasting emerges. People curate interactive content, expressing their worldview in images, shared links, tweets.
• Booting Up. Watch out for the return of skin-thickening boot camps to toughen up kids and employees for the rigors of the 21st century.
• Yes, We Can…Reinvent Ourselves. “Change”: Slogan no more, it’s becoming a way of life 4 many. Volunteering or forced into it, boomers+ are tapping the U.S. can-do spirit.
• Reinvention, Part II. Even with loads of anger, as regular Joes reinvent, they’ll allow egregious stars & corporations to do the same. (Dare we say even BP?)
• Separated at Worth. Pay & compensation are now confused & big $$ smells rotten. Emo (emotional) bling—friends going the extra 10 miles—will replace cash wealth.
• Gender Bender. Masters of all they survey no more, men will have 2 adjust 2 treatment women have long endured: shown as sex objects or selfless homemakers.
• Who’s in Control? Public & private finances globally unstable; addictive behaviors & foreign dictates a concern. More ppl will look for more control.
• Tapping Minitrends. On our radar: the rise of African consumers, small-scale solar energy, cellular money-transfer services & a smarter way to read on mobile.
Salzman doesn’t stop at her main trends in this year’s report; she also lists two dozen “Future Byte” insights in a variety of areas—short hits about what to expect in everything from luxury brands and parenting to travel, science and alternative energy.
To view a virtual report card of Salzman’s past forecasts (a bonus with her 2010 trends report last year) and read further into her predictions for 2011, visit www.eurorscgpr.com.
