A simple 'mashup' overview of 13 interesting micro and macro trends from 2013.

1. 13 TRENDS
FOR 2013
STEVE WILLIAMSON - KUZUNGA

2. 1.
Slow-moving traditional institutions are
being superseded by smaller fast-moving
communities and individuals. This is creating
an interesting new play on traditional power
hierarchies and structures.
‘Digital wallets and mobile banking are opening the door for telcos
and software players....in an increasingly crowded and cashless
financial system, banks may no longer be key players.’
Source: economist.com
THE GREAT
POWER SHIFT

3. 2.
From crowdfunding communities such
as kickstarter.com, to crowdsourcing
activities such as Wikipedia, to the new
pre-sumerism where people are funding
and ordering products before they are
even developed; there are now limitless
opportunities for brands to form deep
and lasting connections with consumers.
MADE
WITH
YOU
>CROWDFUNDING
> CROWDSOURCING
>PRESUMERISM

4. 3.
Create a bespoke experience for your
consumers by giving them the ability to
customise and tailor your product or service
to their needs. Done right, this is a savvy
way to create connections, add value, and
capture higher margins.
MADE
FOR
YOU

5. 4.
Consumers now expect and demand a
seamless experience of your brand and
business identity across all platforms;
mobile internet, devices, computers,
brick-and-mortar stores, television,
catalog, and beyond.
OMNICHANNEL

6. 5.
More and more of your consumers are
using traditional retail stores purely
as a showroom to experience, try on,
and evaluate a product. They will then
search online to find it at the best
price and buy at their convenience.
This means your brick-andmortar presence needs to be more
experiential and your retail staff must
(more than ever) have exceptional
customer service skills in order to
create the emotional and human
connection with your brand.
SHOW
ROOMING

7. 6.
Mark it in your calendar - 2013 is
the year that mobile phones are
predicted to officially overtake PCs
as the most commonly used devices
to access the Web. So how is your
mobile web strategy looking?
MOBILE
DEVICE
BATTLES

8. 7.
‘Virtual stores’ consisting of QR code
enabled kiosks are a perfect way to deliver simple
‘point-and-shop’ convenience to your consumers.
QR CODE
ENABLED
KIOSKS

9. 8.
Delivering ‘conspicuous’ brand
experiences to your consumers is the new
luxury. By providing them with content
and tools to share their experiences in
ways that enhance their status amongst
their peers, you can generate new value
for your brand.
STATUS
STORIES

10. 9.
You can now use ‘mobile augmented reality’
technologies to generate and interact with digital
content that overlays real world environments and
objects. This is going to be the next wave in mobile
technology and will give your brand/business
untold new ways to increase connectivity and
engagement with the end users of your products.
AUGMENTED
REALITY
MEETS
GESTURE
RECOGNITION

11. 10.
Get on the front foot and open the
curtain on your brand. Invite
your customers and consumers
in, show them your supply-chain,
and introduce them to the people
and places behind your products
and services.
PRO-ACTIVELY
SHOWING AND
PROVING YOU HAVE
NOTHING TO HIDE

12. 11.
Your brand/business needs to
give as much as it takes – to
balance profits with purpose.
Start by measuring both your
return on investment, and
your return on improvement
(that is the degree to which
you are contributing positively
to society).
FROM
PROFIT TO
PURPOSE

13. 12.
Watch out for the
emerging category of
‘propa-products’ - these
are products that can be
planted and grown, or
used to propagate and
nourish an ecosystem at
the end of their lifecycle.
(Like a merino garment
for example!)
NEW
LIFE
INSIDE

14. 13.
Social news refers to websites where users
submit and vote on news stories or other links,
to determine which are most popular.
So make sure the stories your brand/business is
offering are both compelling, entertaining and
touch on at least one of the 13 trends listed here!
SOCIAL
NEWS
IS THE
NEWS