IG's May 2012 Trend School

• 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles California
• May 10, 2012
  Start Time: 9:00 AM
• http://trendschool.intelg.com/

TREND SCHOOL: SPECIAL INNOVATION WORKSHOP Gain real insights into the behavior, attitudes, and preferences of elusive young consumers with a special focus on Innovation. --- More than 1,500 business executives have gained the awareness and strategic vision necessary to connect with young consumers by attending Trend School. In this next series of workshops, The Intelligence Group brings its industry-leading Cassandra Report: The Innovation Issue to life in an intimate, interactive, daylong immersion into youth culture and social trends. We go beyond what’s happening with young consumers by delving into why they’re acting, and reacting, the way they are. Innovation is an area that’s of paramount importance to Gen Y consumers today. As a generation, they hold their peers accountable for conceiving solutions to global problems. Consequently, innovation has become an integral part of their DNA and has spawned a new class of inventors, hackers, creators, entrepreneurs and disruptors who value creativity, collaboration, technology, and groundbreaking ideas above all else. This highly focused workshop will address topics that include: · Solutions for Good · Tapping into the Creative Community · Fostering a Culture of Innovation · Finding Innovation Partners · Creating Innovation Platforms, Idea Banks and Competitions · Incubators · 10 Areas of Innovation Brands Need to Know We will also review, and place into context, the emerging macro-trends covered in the latest edition of Cassandra, notably: · The emergence of a new form of virtual consumption in which consumers “claim” ownership of identity-defining objects, images, experiences, and ideas, without accumulating an abundance of physical goods. This POSTconsumption gives rise to a new way of shopping, as a diminishing brick-and-mortar “hunting-gathering” experience increasingly shifts to the Web. · The real-time Web has broken down the wall between corporations and consumers, shifting brands into the role of companions. Indeed, brands are now able to converse, listen, hang out, “friend” consumers, and forge more intimate one-to-one relationships, compelling young consumers to think of them as trusted friends. Today, companies that strive to be Brand Friends Forever—or BFF—must wholly develop their human sides, and act more like people than inanimate institutions. · Young consumers catalog life events as they occur, and thus have built an ongoing, open archive of personal history: a store of digital memory. As such, their bygone experiences have an increased presence—and relevance—in everyday life. To acknowledge the emergence of this PAST PRESENCE, marketers will not only have to refer to, and draw from, the histories of young consumers, but also tap into their own, highlighting brand heritage and eliciting inspiration and ideas from the ever-present past. We hope you’ll join us on April 30th at Crosby Street Hotel in NY and on May 10th at CAA in LA.* It’s a genuinely hands-on event that places the newest social movements and consumer trends into context rather than just calling out “cool for cool’s sake.” *Upcoming dates in San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, and London will soon be announced. Please visit our website to find out more about the day. To inquire about cost and further details, contact Allison Arling-Giorgi at aarling@intelg.com.

Contact: Allison Arling The Intelligence Group , 424-288-2865, aarling@intelg.com