• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, March 6, 2012

WPP’s Mindshare is ramping up its trend-spotting efforts with a series of new in-depth quarterly reports under the title Culture Vulture.

The reports are designed to inform the company’s communications planning practice -- which helps global clients allocate budget to different communications channels -- with contributions from the agency’s different geographic territories.

The basic research from the reports comes from two existing research panels, including the Mindshare Global Scout Network, comprising a global team of consumer trend-spotters, and Mindreader, an ongoing quantitative study covering 40,000 people in 40 countries. Those panels are more tactical in nature, while the Culture Vulture series will attempt to address global cultural themes.

The basic reason for doing the broader and global culture studies is to “fuel the thinking” for the shop’s communications planning practice, said Mark Potts, New York-based managing director, consumer insights. The Culture Vulture reports will be free to clients. The comps planning practice is not.

The quarterly Culture Vulture reports will take on a different theme with each edition. The inaugural issue addresses General Y entrepreneurs around the globe and examines over 300 Gen Y startups across 38 markets, including New York, Buenos Aires, London and Shanghai. That theme was chosen to gain insight into how Gen Y ideas and innovation impact and possibly change communication behavior.

“At the core of this first edition is the belief that businesses need a little bit of reverse mentoring from time to time,” stated Singapore-based Mindshare strategy director Catherine Williams, who oversees the Culture Vulture series. “Big blue-chip companies can learn from the nimble and creative entrepreneurs of Gen Y,” she added.  

While each edition will have a different theme, separate editions will focus on individual geographic regions, said Potts.

The global culture reports are being coordinated out of Mindshare’s Asia-Pacific region, with input from other regions.