Rewind: Shifting Trends and Prevailing Patterns

Future Commerce Podcast: eCommerce, DTC and Retail Strategy

In this episode of Future Commerce Rewind, our summer series where we compare today's news against episodes from the archives, we are revisiting Episode 341 with friend of the pod and cultural theorist, Matt Klein, to discuss the findings from his annual META Trends Report. Today, we're not just talking about trends and data. We're talking about a deep human need that's driving patterns and how businesses can begin to sense those patterns and tap into and address the core desires and anxiety of people, and that's what it's all about.

“Going Airplane Mode”

Key takeaways:

- A key takeaway from analyzing over one hundred trend reports spanning several years: many of the reported trends remain unchanged year after year after year.

- Language used to describe disruptive changes often relies on established nomenclature instead of introducing new terminology.

- There is an opportunity to hack trend reports by strategically seeding ideas and language that can shape future trends.

- The ranking of meta-trends in reports can differ between what is frequently mentioned and what exists in cultural data, creating a discrepancy and an opportunity for manipulation.

- Understanding the deeper human needs beneath trend manifestations is key for organizations to find success in addressing cultural shifts.

• {00:04:50} - “It's quite cliche, but it's a call to action for a little bit of bravery of not what's already being reported and said and what's comfortable, but what do we want to see, what does not yet exist, and how do we put our neck out there and really speak about the things that are uncomfortable, fringy, edgy, and strange because after all that is where change emanates from.” - Matt
• {00:12:57} - “The problem is the scant few people that are actually doing this type of work and research and will put the quantifiable and qualitative mind to analyzing trends is a small group of people that are all highly self-referential because they're all analyzing the same cohort of data because they're all kind of tapped into the same algorithm.” - Phillip
• {00:19:47} - “The meta trends act as trailheads for understanding all else within culture. When you acknowledge what's trying to be desired here… you understand beneath the surface what people actually need, that's where organizations find success.” - Matt
• {00:26:59} - “There's certainly importance and maybe I'm saying that because there's a livelihood or a career anchored or tethered to it, but I would say there are some implications and serious business consequences that come from this, but it is also fun. It is entertaining to be talking about these things and to be dissecting and analyzing.” - Matt
• {00:30:39} - “It's all from fear. No one wants to be disrupted. No one wants to be the disruptor either. That goes back to this idea of bravery, being the first to say something or sticking their neck out or reporting on the thing that no one else has reported. So you operate from a sense of, "Well, we wanna be the first to be second."’ - Matt
• {00:39:42} - “Every business is unique, everyone has their different challenges, everyone has their different audiences, and those audiences or those products interpret each of the meta trends uniquely. So what this really is is the starting point, not the answer key.” - Matt

Associated Links:

• Learn more about Matt Klein
• Read the 2024 Meta Trends Report
• Check out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and print
• The MUSES Journal is here! Grab your copy of our latest annual journal today at musesjournal.com
• Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?
• Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!