Currently, anticipating trends and futures has become essential for the prosperity of any business. This process is not just a curious speculation, but an active strategy for navigating the complexities of contemporary times. Understanding future consumer demands, technological opportunities and latent needs is crucial to determining a company's successful trajectory.

The Strategic Importance of Trends

Paula Englert, CEO of Box1824, highlights the importance of mapping technological opportunities, consumer demands and evolving business needs. This synergy between these three elements underlies business strategy, where trends play a vital role. They are the essential ingredients to lead the desired future, avoiding being merely affected by it.

We believe in the active approach to understanding futures and trends at Box1824. But what does it really mean to map trends?

Uncovering the Concept of Trend

In general terms, a trend represents a collective inclination in response to the reality experienced in a given context. For example, the recent emergence of “weird style” on social media and in the market is a manifestation of this inclination, especially in the areas of fashion, beauty and content production.

In the healthcare sector, we identify the Psychedelic Renaissance as an emerging trend. In a complex world like today, the influence of psychedelia permeates different segments, offering optimism and hope in the face of an uncertain future, allowing for a radical reimagining of the world.

Differentiating Trends from Fads

It is crucial to distinguish between trends and fads. Fairy Core or Barbie Core may be momentary fads, while decision automation or product customization represent more substantial and lasting trends. True novelty comes from people's behaviors, not just from technologies or innovation centers.

Macrotrends and Microtrends

A trend can be a manifestation of change that impacts not just one, but multiple industries simultaneously. We call this a macrotrend. Being behavioral, it is disruptive and lasting, transforming from global spheres to local communities and from the mainstream to niches.

During this funneling journey, the macrotrend adapts, giving rise to microtrends. These express how the macrotrend manifests itself locally in specific sectors, making its greater expression tangible in people's daily lives.

Generating Opportunities from Trends

Understanding the different application times of trends is essential for implementing them in business. Julia Curan, Director of Trends and Futures, highlights that opportunities arise from trends, covering new products, services, business models and communication strategies.

When applying trends in business, application prioritization is crucial. Considering the timeline of applicability, impact, increment and disruption is vital. It is necessary to align business ambitions, necessary resources and differentiation in relation to competitors.

Case Study: Fiat and Trend Anticipation

In 2010, Box1824 collaborated with Fiat on a trend research project for the development of the Novo Uno. This project, which lasted four years, exemplifies the practical application of anticipating trends to identify opportunities in a competitive market.

Over the last 20 years, Box1824 has become a reference as a trend research and strategic consultancy company. Partnerships with large global companies, such as Itaú Unibanco, Stellantis, Vivo, ABInBev, Google and RD, highlight the importance of trends in creating not only business opportunities, but also strategies to tackle social problems.

Regenerative Society and New Horizons

In a Regenerative Society context, we identified three behavioral drivers accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. These drivers form the basis for a more transparent, fair and responsible economic model. Furthermore, we expanded our horizons with Knowledge School, a business unit dedicated to sharing our studies and methodologies with more people and companies.

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