Wunderman Thompson Launches Annual Future 100 Report

Wunderman Thompson, a WPP agency, launched its annual Future 100 report, lifting the lid on trends shaping the coming 12 months. The report is developed by Wunderman Thompson Intelligence, the agency’s futures think tank and innovation unit.

These wide-ranging trends look at creative innovations set to go mainstream along with shifts in consumer behaviors, across 10 different sectors. It also features 20 opinions from experts including Brenda Milis, principal of creative and consumer insights at Adobe Stock and Don Stein, CEO and founder of Teooh, Mark Reid WPP, among many others. 

The one hundred trends are drawn from the culture, technology, travel, branding & marketing, food & drink, beauty, retail, health, business and finance sectors. For the first time, the report also looks at work trends, as the dual forces of a mass shift to home working and the rise in unemployment fueled by the pandemic, change our professional lives dramatically.

Mel Edwards, Global CEO, Wunderman Thompson commented

“At a time when gaining a competitive advantage has never been more important, the Future 100 report reveals the key trends that will shape consumer behaviour and define the way ambitious brands engage with their customers during the coming year. These insights will help marketing leaders inspire growth for their organisations and move forward into 2021 with confidence and optimism.”

Developments under the spotlight include:

Micropreneurs: Move over side hustles, there is a startup boom in the making, fueled by the pandemic and rising unemployment, driving more and more people to make entrepreneurship their next career move

Immunity wellness: The world has never been so interested in how our immune systems can be boosted and the coming year will see numerous experts telling us how; from ancient treatments to DNA research

Unbiased banking: Another industry where inclusivity is on the rise is banking – specifically the online-only neobanks, including Simba and Greenwood, which address the frequently overlooked needs of minority groups

Cloud gaming: As video games become the latest media to get Netflixized, major players, including Amazon, Google, Tencent, Microsoft, Sony and Facebook, are betting big on cloud gaming

Multigenerational travel: Extended families, forced to spend so much time apart in 2020, are increasingly likely to opt to vacation together – often a practical choice as well as a caring one 

Ethical scoreboard: A rise in the number of platforms which monitor corporate behaviour, as more people make purchase decisions influenced by brand purpose

Ghost kitchens: Influenced by the growth of delivery-first dining, this new restaurant concept sees off-premises dining prioritized

Foraged ingredients: Not another food trend, but a beauty one, with the emergence of new skincare brands made with wild-harvested plants and promising potent result 

Intersectional beauty: in an industry where diversity has been sorely lacking, independent brands are now leading the way in championing intersectional beauty, such as LGBTQ+ advocate We Are Fluide and indigenous-owned Prados Beauty

Live commerce: Retail-tainment is moving online with engaging, tailored shopping experiences using video streaming to demonstrate and sell products and interact with customers in real time

Emma Chiu, Global Director at Wunderman Thompson Intelligence, said:

“Few of us will have experienced quite as much drama on a societal and global level as we did in 2020 and the fallout from that is more new trends than we’ve seen since we started publishing The Future 100, and behaviors which had been evolving slowly thrust into the mainstream. Knowing which of these trends matter and why has never been so important for marketers at a time when the very survival of many brands depends on adapting at pace.”