2020: The Ultimate Trend Accelerant

2020 has not been a year of small changes.

As I was reflecting on this year, it’s hard to remember all of the important and impactful things that have happened within these past 9 months as there have been so many.

Environmentally we kicked off with the Australian wildfires in January burning over 16 million acres and threatening habitats of wildlife and we’ve now come back full circle as the west coast continues to burn.

Socially we’ve seen protesters in Hong Kong continue to fight for independence from the Chinese government since March, continued protests globally since the death of George Floyd in May and calls to defund the police. Still, these complex social justice issues continue without nearing any sort of solid solution.

Economically we’ve seen stock market volatility and unemployment reaching an all-time high of 14.7% in the US in April and economic forecasts that warn of the impending problems that could occur when federal aid runs out. The latest Small Business Pulse Survey by the Census Bureau collected in mid-August stated that roughly 1 in 20 small businesses expect to permanently shut down in the next six months.

Politically we see technology provoking conversation around the role brands play in our lives, democracy and free speech. We watched the CEOs of tech giants Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook testify before congress and Tik Tok remain in limbo and rising US-China tensions. We also watched the 2020 Presidential debate this week and well…. like much of 2020, it was a shitshow.

Psychologically we could all be doing a bit better. Covid-19 has been on everyone’s mind and will continue to be as second waves pop up globally and the quest for a vaccine continues. Will we be able to go back to our offices soon? Will it be safe send our kids to school in winter? Can we take that much-needed vacation next spring? Will someone from my family fall ill? We are living in extremely uncertain times.

All of the events of this year touch on themes that have shaped consumer behavior today and will for the next few years. They touch on themes of polarization, distrust, justice, anxiety and fear.

You might be thinking, "I hear a lot of negative news. Any good news you'd like to share instead?" Well, I do have some good news and I’m stealing it off of Rahm Emanuel, the former US Chief of Staff:

“Never let a crisis go to waste […] it’s an opportunity to do things you thought you could not do before.”

After speaking with dozens of our clients, what I keep hearing is that many of them were able to achieve things in months or even weeks that would’ve taken them years if some of these events had not occurred. Experts are saying e-commerce achieved 10 years of growth in just 8 weeks (see above graph) and work culture has advanced 10 years in the first few weeks of the pandemic. We've also started to see reforms when it comes to social justice (although there is still a lot of work to be done), but the good news is many people are looking to educate themselves. All of the books in this week's NYT paperback non-fiction bestseller list are about racism, fascism or trauma.

At Trend Hunter, we’ve been studying how to turn a crisis into an opportunity for a long time now and published our first book on the subject back in 2009 just as a recession hit, which is why this year, we’re focusing on how to rechart during times of chaos in for our virtual Future Festival World Summit.

This event is not only going to be fun and engaging, but also give attendees a better understanding of where consumer mindsets were before some of these major shifts, what impact some of the milestones of 2020 have had and the fallout that they’re having on purchasing patterns and consumer mentality for 2021 and beyond.

The truth of the matter is that the events of 2020 haven’t changed our world, they’ve just accelerated the changes already happening and we’re excited to give you a window into what we’ve studied and where consumers are headed next.

If you're interested, pop me over a DM or head to our site for 4-for1 pricing. Also, let me know your thoughts and feelings on 2020!