Consumer Trend Seminar Istanbul 2012 Presentations

1. TRENDDESK Trend Briefing 2013+
trendwatching.com Seminar
6 September 2012, İstanbul
Background:
During trendwatching.com seminar in Istanbul, TRENDDESK presented a selection of
trends that will shape year 2013 and beyond. We presented each trend with at least 5
symptoms – new products/services, business models, marketing initiatives and design
alternatives from different sectors and geographies. We evaluated growth potential
from a local perspective. Finally, we concluded each trend with 5 critical questions in
order to help the audience evaluate relevancy and create concrete ideas.
This document summarizes the main body of our trend briefing. You are welcomed to
share it with your colleagues... and if you share partial content, please make a
reference to the source. Thank you!
Future trends, symptoms, critical questions:
Without doubt, there are countless trends that shape consumer choices and business
practices. This section included five of them – those that have not reached maturity
stage yet and carry significant growth potential. In other words, those companies that
realize the potential of these trends have an opportunity to leapfrog beyond present
time and competition. Of course, you know your business much better than we do and
you are the best decision maker when it comes to evaluating which trend is the best
leverage for a specific endeavor. It may be none of the below, or more than one can
function as potential growth catalysts in your business.
1) Back-to-The Future (“Geçmişteki Gelecek”)
Past carries warm feelings and security that is most needed in times of uncertainty.
Childhood memories reincarnate with the power of nostalgia. Nostalgic tastes, design
and communication styles are welcomed. Whereas gourmet milk shakes are being
relaunched in the US, “Alaska Frigo” (taste legend of movie breaks before 1980s) gains
nationwide penetration in Turkey. Back-to-the-Future trend merges with the specific
history of the county and morphs into “Ottomanism” - celebration of iconic
personalities, stories, and motives from the past. Those who intend to leverage the
trend should be aware of this opportunity as well.
Ask yourself these critical questions:
 Do you have a nostalgic aspect in your business that you can bring forth (i.e.,
package, anniversary, recipe...etc.)?
TRENDDESK Trend Briefing 2013+
Synopsis, September 2012

2.  What do consumers in your target group remember as childhood memories?
 How about images… Are there iconic people or cartoon characters from the past
and can you associate your brand with them?
 Are there specific designs, patterns or color combinations from the past that can be
carried to communication?
 Is there an opportunity in the glorious Ottoman past that you can utilize?
2) Let’s Play! (“Oyuna Gel!”)
The need to give break to daily worries and concerns, combined with the power of
technology, give rise to play. Let’s Play trend goes beyond digital games. Products,
spaces, promotions transform to more fun/interactive formats with the integration of
playful elements. For example; users can interact with and customize the face of
Pentax Optio NB1000 camera. Furthermore, retail experience transforms radically.
In Turkey, “Let’s Play” trend is in its infant phase: It exists extensively in the form of
digital gaming, QR codes…etc. The real opportunity will reveal itself as companies
discover more creative ways of leveraging the trend. The starting point is to leave
behind the literal meaning of play. Please spend some time on critical questions to
come up with potential ideas.
Ask yourself these critical questions:
 How can you integrate play into each contact point with the consumer?
 Think about the retail experience that you provide to consumers. How can you
make it more playful?
 Can (generic price) promotions be fun?
 What sorts of games are popular nationwide? Can you connect with them?
 Move to bigger ideas that involve product innovation: How do you make your
products more playful?
TRENDDESK Trend Briefing 2013+
Synopsis, September 2012

3. 3) EcoLogical (“EkoLojik”)
Of all the trends that we covered during Trend Briefing, “EcoLogical” is the one with
biggest growth potential. Perhaps because it rises from a concrete fact: Natural
resources are limited and increase in their cost is inevitable. Ecological is about
environmentalism being logical. What is good (or less harmful) to the planet is good
for the pocket, too. Hence the new solutions that help decrease from carbon emissions
find a wide open space in the hearts and minds of savvy consumers. Energy-saving
devices are the star-category of the coming years. Since we coined the term
“EcoLogical” at TRENDDESK three years ago, we continuously observed the increasing
relevancy of this trend globally and in Turkey. See if the critical questions ‘click’.
Ask yourself these critical questions:
 Think about the effects that your products have on
environment AND on consumer pocket. That
overlap is your playground.
 How can you help consumer save from energy &
water?
 E-waste is a huge topic. Do you have a role to play
there?
 Design from scratch: If you were to create a
totally new package for your products, what would
they look like? What would they turn into, after
products are consumed?
 A new production paradigm: From linear to cyclic
production processes
TRENDDESK Trend Briefing 2013+
Synopsis, September 2012

4. 4) (re)Connect with Source (“Kaynağına Bağlanmak”)
Industrialization made life easier. On the other hand, massive scale of production
alienated end-users from the source – the land, animal, farmer, craftsman.
“(re)Connect with Source” trend rises from the need to make that connection again.
Reconnecting turns into a way of adding back the authenticity that has been lost over
the centuries in Europe and US, and in Turkey only a few decades. Furthermore, this
trend has a significant growth potential in Turkey due to food security issues.
Ask yourself these critical questions:
 Is it relevant and technically do-able to set up a traceability system that would allow
consumers know the source of each and every product?
 How can you “humanize” your products: Adding human stories and human visuals
from the source…?
 How about organizing factory tours?
 Does it make sense to link products to specific locations/towns?
 Is this trend limited to products?
5) Power of Simplicity (“Basitliğin Gücü”)
Abundance of choice triggers a longing for simplicity. We believe that in Turkey this
trend is relevant for specific groups of consumers – upper middle and/or high income
segment professionals who travel frequently, receive information all the time and have
long-term experience in shopping. It is likely that these individuals suffer from
abundance of all sorts and show interest in solutions that would simplify life. If this is
the target segment of your business/brand, think about leveraging power of simplicity.
Ask yourself these critical questions:
 How do you simplify life for your consumers?
 Think about where your brands/products function, and all the complexities
consumers are facing in those areas. What is your solution?
 Less is more. Are you saying what you want to say, or are you dancing around it?
 Especially in food; can you simplify ingredients and make them understandable?
 Especially in technical areas; how can you simplify delivery of information? Consider
both the content and the process.
About 2013+
What we presented at trendwatching.com seminar is a sample Trend Briefing focusing
on the “key trends that shape 2013 and beyond”. Starting from October we will be
holding extensive workshops around the same topic, this time for our clients. Called
“PlayShop 2013+”, workshops will offer a unique ideation experience that we have
developed at TRENDDESK over the past years in the light of creativity research and
brainstorming techniques. It will start with a detailed trend briefing as the key stimulus
and continue with ideation sessions supported with unique creativity tools. Top
management, marketing and new business teams who want to develop/revisit medium-
term business plans or have a specific project to develop will be typical participants.
Content as well as creativity tools will be customized for the company and brief in hand.
Contact with TRENDDESK if you are interested in “PlayShop 2013+”.
TRENDDESK Trend Briefing 2013+
Synopsis, September 2012

5. About TRENDDESK and Zeynep Arhon:
Zeynep Arhon is a future trends consultant and accredited
Biomimicry professional based in Istanbul. She drives the innovation
process in the corporate world by leveraging a unique combination
of future and nature. Predicting what is to come in the next 3-5
years, identifying how to best integrate future foresights into
business, and answering business questions with solutions inspired
by nature are at the core of her work. The end result is a future-
ready company.
Her company TRENDDESK pioneers in future trends in Turkey. Trend briefings and
PlayShops inspire management teams with new product ideas, business models, brand
platforms and marketing initiatives. Furthermore, TRENDDESK pioneers in the field of
Biomimicry globally. Biomimicry (from "bios" meaning life, and "mimesis" meaning to
imitate) is a new innovation field that develops sustainable solutions (products,
processes, designs, business models) by emulating nature’s strategies. This rare
expertise enables TRENDDESK find innovative answers to business questions such as
“how do we survive in a new field?” or “how can we develop the packaging of future?”
TRENDDESK cooperates with an international network of biologists, designers and
engineers in answering these questions.
Zeynep contributes to innovation thinking in Turkey with a wide range of publications:
A weekly newsletter with a reach of about three thousand business professionals
("Masadakiler"), a weekly column at national business newspaper Dünya (“Gelecek
Burada”), an exclusive trends section at monthly business magazine Platin, and
Biomimicry articles at “İş’te Kobi” portal of İş Bankası…
Her corporate background includes strategic leadership and brand management at The
Coca-Cola Company and Eczacıbaşı conglomerate of Turkey. She holds an MBA and a
BA Degree in International Relations & Political Science (Boğaziçi University, Istanbul).
Finally, she is the first European graduate of Biomimicry Group’s two-year professional
program (Montana, US). She maintains a close relationship with the group as a co-
trainer of the next cohort.
Zeynep believes in the power of business in shaping the future, and the power of
nature in shaping business. She is passionate about a future when business will create
conditions conducive to life. This passion is the fuel of her work.
TRENDDESK Trend Briefing 2013+
Synopsis, September 2012