Adapting a trend for today doesn't have to be a mysterious, intuition-led process. Instead, it's about evaluating the three core elements of the trend and how they are coming together to create new expectations. [1] Basic needs: how are the basic needs that underlie this trend being expressed now? If the trend is an established one, how has this

applying a trend now means adapting it around the human nature, external change, and new expectations as they are currently manifesting themselves.

The reality for many brands today is that the needs and wants of customers—who are constructing new, diverse, and more personally meaningful lifestyles—simply don't align with the narrative that brands have labored to build. For rising numbers of those customers, brand heritage and story have become at best irrelevant, and at worst an active

Customer-led cultures are reactive and too self-consciously explicit about putting the customer first. Customer-centered cultures, on the other hand, are grounded in a deeply empathetic understanding of customer needs and wants, but also grant an organization the freedom to make the unexpected and often unasked-for leaps forward that will lead to

To understand this race to the top—and to prosper inside it—it pays to appreciate the forces driving customer expectations of quality: Transparency Triumph and the survival of the best. Creative Destruction and the many benefits it brings people. Easy Experimentation and a tendency toward greater access to—and trust of—the new.

We look at two main forces when assessing our mega-trends: [1] Human. These are the universally relevant human needs and wants that make up the first fundamental element of trend analysis. They include the search for social status, for connection, for self-improvement, for entertainment, for reliable and trusted information, and more. [2]

inhabitants share a common mind-set: astonishingly elevated expectations, set at the high watermark not of personal but of collective experience, and applied ruthlessly to each and every business, product, service, or experience available. Welcome to the Expectation Economy. Three Strands of Expectation THE EXPECTATION ECONOMY: AN ECONOMY OF

Indeed, once people have experienced Apple's design, H&M's affordability, or Singapore Airlines' level of service, it's hard to tolerate “normal” (i.e., lower) standards.

During your CTR discussions, it will pay particular dividends to note when a trend that you feel is important is either: [i] not reflected in any of your established goals or aims, or [ii] is a trend that your current capabilities make it very hard or impossible to apply.