Macro Trends

Major shifts in consumer behaviour that will dictate our business environment in the long term.

Innovation Debrief 2025–2026

With eyes on 2025–2026, our annual report delves into 50 signals emerging from the margins

Culture-coded Retail

Digital commerce may offer consumers convenience, but a new generation of in-person retail experiences energised by cultural relevance and built on brand community is luring them back into the store

Macro Trends

The Future of Sports Fandom

By embracing new technologies, geographies and audiences, sport is becoming bigger than ever and offering valuable lessons on nurturing a new era of fandom

Macro Trends

Functional Feasting

As we move past the ‘free from’ era, consumers are increasingly favouring products that do more with less, bringing flavour and fun back into functional nutrition

Macro Trends

Home States Futures: Residential Retail

With hybrid working becoming the new normal, global retail footfall in decline and the loss of third spaces, the home is shifting from a fundamental comfort and security shelter to a dynamic commercial hub bubbling with retail innovations

Macro Trends

New Bricolage Living

Identity used to be something that you were born with. Age, race, gender and nationality were firmly fixed and determined your place in the world....

Macro Trends

Neutral Culture

Historically, race and gender have been the most divisive markers of identity. And while they are a foundation of mainstream culture, we are begi...

Neutral Culture : Diversity : LGBT

Macro Trends

The Immortal Brand

Brands and consumers are no longer satisfied by instantaneous gratification. Can we really plan in years, decades – even centuries?

The Age Of The Long Near : Evernote : Long Now Foundation

Macro Trends

The Optimised Self

Humanity is on a quest. It is not a quest for perfection, but for optimisation – to be the optimal versions of ourselves, the most effective and th...

Optimisation : Health : Wellbeing

Macro Trends

Whole-system Thinking

As the boundaries between modern society and nature begin to blur, consumerism is becoming more integrated with our living world. As this shift u...

Anthropocene : Consilience : Life Sciences

Macro Trends

Awakening Tech

Our digital and offline worlds are converging. We have become bedfellows with robots, we take advice from gadgets, we ask mega-systems ...

Sensor Technology : Data Surge : Internet Of Things

Macro Trends

The New Value Economy

Ownership is receding as an ideal and a way to mark value. We share, rent and borrow products now, creating new systems of value and worth in the...

Collaborative Economy : Conspicuous Access : Reputation

Macro Trends

The Sharded Self

Social media is changing how we interact, make decisions and form opinions. As we pin, post and preen our way to an ideal identity online, these ...

Social Media Hotel : Identity : Online

Macro Trends

Neo-Tolkienism

There is a something afoot, a cultural shift that has been rumbling in the undergrowth of society for the past 10 years and is finally roaring to ...

Futuretainment : Storytelling : Fantasy

Macro Trends

The Flat Age Society

Something exciting is in the air. Forget everything you thought about being old, or age, even. In the society of the future, age isn’t just a num...

Baby Boomers : Age : Agelessness

Macro Trends

The Polarity Paradox

Moderation is no longer the modus operandi. In our busy, networked and choice-rich lives, people are finding a new model for self-restraint by fl...

Extreme Lifestyles : 5:2 Living : Pop Culture

Macro Trends

The Convergence Economy

Look to retail spaces, products, hospitality and entertainment these days and, increasingly, there’s one distinctive theme: it’s difficult to tel...

The Convergence Economy : Beth Bentley : ShopperTrak

Macro Trends

Futuretainment

As audiences flock to immersive, convivial experiences, entertainers are blurring the distinctions between spectator and performer, digital and phy...

Gaming : Third Rail Projects : Immersive Theatre

Macro Trends

The Athena Woman

Meet the modern woman. Educated. Affluent. Confident. Optimistic. She will rise to the top of her company, or start her own. She embraces community...

The Athena Women : New Adventure Seekers : Reality Check Branding

Macro Trends

Re-con Man

New shifts are placing men in uncharted territory. Rather than wallowing in the professed crisis of masculinity or the end of men, the Re-con Man i...

Collaboration : Crisis : Man-uals

Macro Trends

Soundscapes

Increasingly, marketers, designers and retailers understand that sound can influence behaviour. As technology advances they are dreaming up new sou...

Bespoke : Iceland : Installations

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