JWT Predicts 2008 Societal Trends

JWT has its sights set on 2008--predicting a future where blue is the new green--at least in eco-circles.

For advertisers, the new year is a chance to capitalize on changing social expectations and experiences. JWT, which tracks future trends, has issued its own forecast: Not only will blue replace green as the environmental movement's color, but it has good news for aging baby boomers: Genetic testing and available medical breakthroughs will help prevent chronic disease.

These are among the 10 trends for the near future released in an agency report. "We believe it's essential to plot societal shifts in order to develop big brand ideas," says Ann Mack, director of trend-spotting at JWT. "Trend-spotting allows us to tune into the zeitgeist, discover how seemingly disconnected details are connected and figure out how the mood of the moment is affecting people's lives."

On the youth front, "nothing to hide" will be the new norm--but it will be tempered, in part, as online exhibitionists enter college and the workforce. That produces two interesting behaviors: a trend toward "rethinking instant gratification" and favoring what JWT calls "radical transparency."

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Conversely, as the world grows increasingly more local, sharing will be in vogue--that is, "cooperative consumption." Pooling resources, however, will become more sophisticated, be it cars for the masses or jet planes for the elite.

In 1939, JWT pioneered the first national consumer research panel. In 1988, it created the first research study of consumer lifestyles.

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