You are reading a PDF version of one of our free monthly Trend Brieﬁngs. More at: www.trendwatching.com

!!!!!

1 / 13

October 2009

| As the future is uncertain, and the past is, well, the past, instant-gratiﬁcation seek-ing consumers are embracing the ‘now’ with more passion than ever before. And despite thistrend’s seemingly ephemeral character, it is rich in solid, applicable trend examples.In our June 2009 Trend Brieﬁng, we covered

FOREVERISM

. But even then, we pointed out that theneed for everything that is (right) now/current/real-time, is being satisfied in numerous novel ways,with (wait for it) the online world showing the way forward.Dubbed 'NOWISM', this mega trend has, and will continue to have, a big impact on everythingfrom your corporate culture to customer relationships to product innovation to tactical campaigns. And yet you probably only have a few minutes to spare on it so we’ve done our best to keep thisTrend Briefing digestible.Let’s start with a definition:

NOWISM

| “Consumers’ ingrained* lust for instant gratification is being satisfied by a host of novel,important (offline and online) real-time products, services and experiences. Consumers are alsofeverishly

contributing

to the real-time content avalanche that’s building as we speak. As a result,expect your brand and company to have no choice but to ﬁnally mirror and join the ‘now’, in all itssplendid chaos, realness and excitement.”

*In the end, just like all our other trends, NOWISM represents a case of consumers jumping on something the moment they actually can. So, the need is never new, the new ways to fulﬁl it are.

trendwatching.com is an independent and opinionated consumer trends ﬁrm,relying on a global network of hundreds of spotters, working hard to deliverinspiration and pangs of anxiety to business professionals in 120+ countries worldwide.More information at www.trendwatching.com

Bloomsberry Chocolate

The power of all things ‘NOW’ can be traced back to the eternallure of instant gratiﬁcation and our current consumer societieshandily accommodating and encouraging this relentless pursuit ofinstant information, communications, pleasure, if not indulgences.

En passant

reducing the ‘now’ to mere minutes, if not seconds.It’s been a steady build-up:•In an age of abundance, with a reduced need for non-stop securing of the basics, and physical goods so plen-tiful (and/or ecologically harmful) that the status derivedfrom them is sometimes close to nil, only consumptionof the experience* and thus the now, the thrill, remains.In fact, many ‘ﬁxed’ items run the risk of becoming syn-onymous with boredom, hassle (Maintenance! Theft!Going out of style! Repairs!), eco-unfriendliness, andsinking a large part of one’sbudget into one object (which impedes spending on multiple experiences).

* Trends are never ‘or’, they're always ‘and’. There is, of course, always a need for roots, for non-transient relationships, for shelter.People, consumers, still need a base, and still need to be sure the basics are at least available at all times . Owning does imply acertain level of security, something that others can’t just take away from you.

•This focus on experiences, this living in the now, insteadof in the future, this lust to collect as many experiencesand stories as soon as possible, is addictive. Take travel:these days, it's more of a basic consumer need than aluxury. It’s about detachment, fractional ownership or noownership at all, trying out new things, escaping com-mitment and obligations, dropping formality, and ofcourse collecting endless new experiences. No wondertourism is and will remain one of the biggest industries inthe world. For more on transient lifestyles, see our

TRANSUMERS

brieﬁng.•In the still rapidly expanding online world, instant gratiﬁ-cation is even easier to obtain: 'digital' has become syn-onymous with 'instant'. Furthermore,

somethingdigital/online is too slow, too cumbersome, too poorlywritten, or too boring, a substitute is only a search termand a click away. And yes, this is indirectly setting con-sumers' expectations for the 'real' world, too.•For a broader, societal view on NOWISM, (re-)read Zyg-munt Bauman's musings on what he has dubbed

LiquidModernity

. Here are some snippets to get you going:"Liquid Modernity" is Bauman's term for the presentcondition of the world as contrasted with the"solid" modernity that preceded it. According to Bauman, thepassage from "solid" to "liquid" modernity has created anew and unprecedented setting for individual life pur-suits, confronting individuals with a series of challengesnever before encountered. Social forms and institutionsno longer have enough time to solidify and cannot serveas frames of reference for human actions and long-termlife plans, so individuals have to ﬁnd other ways to or-ganize their lives.Individuals have to splice together an unending series ofshort-term projects and episodes that don't add up tothe kind of sequence to which concepts like "career"and "progress" could be meaningfully applied.Such fragmented lives require individuals to be ﬂexibleand adaptable — to be constantly ready and willing tochange tactics at short notice, to abandon commitmentsand loyalties without regret and to pursue opportunitiesaccording to their current availability. In liquid modernitythe individual must act, plan actions and calculate thelikely gains and losses of acting (or failing to act) underconditions of endemic uncertainty."

You are reading a PDF version of one of our free monthly Trend Brieﬁngs. More at: www.trendwatching.com

!!!!!

2 / 13

Caffeinated soap, anyone?

In the past, both in our

free Trend Brieﬁngs

and our

paid AnnualTrend Reports

, we’ve spoken about phenomena like ‘FSTR','HYPERTASKING', 'BOOST' and ‘SNACKONOMY'. These trendsillustrate how more activities are being crammed into ever dimin-ishing timeframes, how convenience is king, how products andservices are literally becoming smaller or more fragmented sobudget conscious and/or time-poor consumers can collect asmany different experiences as possible, how caffeinated drinks,shampoos and chewing gum provide consumers with energy toprolong the 'now', and so on.For your amusement (or perhaps it’s ammunition for your nextinnovation session?), a handful of stats and signs of the times allpaying tribute to a world in which currency truly

the new cur-rency:•A Datamonitor consumer survey in April/May 2009 es-tablished that less than half of consumers across 17countries are satisﬁed with their work-life balance. Vari-ous commitments and demands fromwork and personal/family life have contributed to the feeling oftime-deprivation. People are looking for speed and con-venience and anything that allows them to feel more incontrol of time. (Source:

Datamonitor

, August 2009.)•Nearly half of all women (47 percent) said the big stressin their life is the demand on their time. 45 percent saidthey don't have "enough time for me." (Source:

TheBoston Consulting Group

, August 2009.)•"The Checkout" report found that 28 percent of June2009 shoppers describe themselves as "preferring tospend more if it saves them time." This was up from 23percent in May. Additionally, the number of customers(28 percent) who responded that "saving money byshopping around" was their top preference fell from 33percent the month prior. (Source:

M/A/R/C Researchand Integer

, August 2009.)•More than 30 percent of the people who visit a businessfor service expect instant attention - in some cases evenif they do not have an appointment. (Source:

BeagleResearch Group

, August 2009.)•According to Mintel's Global New Product Database,new energy drink product launches increased by morethan 110 percent from 2004 to 2009, boosting sales inthat sector during the same time-frame by more than240 percent. (Source:

Mintel

, August 2009.)•Ofﬁce furniture manufacturer Details’

Walkstation

is anelectric, height adjustable work station attached to acommercial grade treadmill with a maximum speed of 2miles per hour, and is designed to allow ofﬁce workers toburn up to 100 calories per hour without leaving theircomputer screens(!)•Expected to go on sale in December 2009, gScreen'sdual-screen

Spacebook

laptop features two 15 inchscreens. Last year, Samsung launched the SyncMaster2263DX, a 22" monitor withan additional 7" screen thatcan be attached to chat, browse the web, view photosetc.

You are reading a PDF version of one of our free monthly Trend Brieﬁngs. More at: www.trendwatching.com

!!!!!

3 / 13