Chris Sanderson

1. Chris Sanderson The Future Laboratory

3. THE : FUTURE : LABORATORY • 24 : 01 : 2012 • :: BEST WESTERN • :: BUILDING A BRAND IN AN AGE OF CHANGE

4. Turbulence and TeensTurbulence, noun; a state or condition of confusion,movement, or agitation; disorder, instabilityTeens, noun; the numbers 13 through 19, esp. ina progression, as in the 13th to 19th years ofa lifetime or of a given or implied century

5. Times are still turbulent • In the next 10 years, incremental change will no longer be sufficient to navigate the turbulent economy. ‘We’re at the base of a mountain of disruption,’ says Daniel Burrus, author of Flash Foresight: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible. ‘But it’s also a mountain of opportunity’ Guests at the Monte Rosa Hütte, Switzerland, must hike across the Swiss mountains in order to reach their cabin. Photography by Tonatiuh Ambrosetti

6. As the climate changes, power shifts, populations increase and economies lurch, the next 10 years are set to be the most • challenging • problematic • optimistic • imaginative • decade of our lifetimes Rendering of the solar-powered international airport planned for Kuwait by Foster & Partners

7. We’re heading into a time when everything – economic, corporate, governmental, geopolitical, environmental, social, technological and civic – everything acts like a teenager Hi Matic hotel, Paris, photography by Simon Bouisson

8. change

9. change =

10. change = challenge

11. change = challenge

12. change = challenge =

13. change = challenge = opportunity

14. ‘It’s never been easier to have a more direct relationship with your customers, but this requires earning their trust, getting stuck in, participating, listening, reacting, adapting, sharing and enabling. This is about brands being visible, useful and human’Neil Perkin, director of marketing and strategy at IPC Media

15. In the 10s, the widespread proliferation of social media networks means that consumers increasingly expect brand relationships to be based on conversation. Welcome to the age of Brandtocracy, where brands must be more democratic and human to gain consumer appeal A temporary workshop and photo studio for the Hermès Paris Mon Ami campaign helps customers capture themselves styling their own scarves, which they then upload to a website

16. The continuing dominance of social networks; the power of live commentary via Twitter, social networking and instant messaging; and the growing need among consumers to collaborate with brands on a daily basis are all refining our sense of what a brand is and how we engage with it Ridley’s pop-up market restaurant, London

17. Open mindsets • People are collaborating, developing new brands, products and services offline, using technologies/ techniques learned online that included: • being collaborative • being risk-friendly • being responsive • being experimental • being imaginative • being counter-intuitive Bivouac NYC, a convivial rooftop campsite

18. The participatory culture in which we live means we all feel socially connected, • and live much more public and creative lives Minibar for the Mind by The School of Life for Morgans Hotel Group

19. Brands are now expected to behave like people, migrating from a transactional model • to one that is all about the three Cs: conversation, collaboration and creation Every guest room at Ace Hotels in New York, Palm Springs, Portland and Seattle are now stocked with a refurbished, vintage Polaroid camera and limited-edition customised packs of Impossible x Ace Hotel instant black and white film

20. The big brand push is towards immediacy, spontaneity and the need to have a public voice that is : • conversational rather than corporate • inclusive rather than exclusive • about ‘we’ rather than ‘me’ • collaborative rather than cool • assuring rather than assuming • clear rather than clever Advent Table by Eyal Burnstein for the Andaz Liverpool Street. Each day, the hotel pastry chef left a new treat in one of the cups or saucers.

21. It’s all going mobile ...

22. ‘A phone is no longer just a phone, it’s your alter-ego. It’s fundamental to everything you do’ • Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google

23. Mobile media • Once media was fixed, but now it is mobile, smart and interactive. YouTube mobile, for instance, receives more than 100m playbacks a day. • More users will connect to the internet using mobile devices than desktop PCs by 2015 • Source: Mary Meeker, internet analyst, Morgan Stanley Maybourne Papers on an iPad at The Connaught, London

24. It’s all going local ...

25. Brands need to shift from a global sensibility to one that touches on local needs. • ‘You have to be global in reach, yet quintessentially local in terms of communications, image, service – everything’ • Sue Whiteley, CEO, Givenchy Couture The Waterhouse at South Bund, Shanghai

26. Mobile money and m-commerce • The shift to local will be enhanced by the growth in the mobile money market, in which money is transferred through smartphones. • In the US, the mobile money market is expected to grow to $8.6bn by 2014 • Source: ABI Research Square mobile payment app on the iPhone

27. Handsets will increasingly behave as wallets that allow on-the-spot payments, and card-scanning devices that enable small, independent retailers to accept credit card payments.UK consumers will spend £19.3bn through mobile devices within the next 10 yearsSource: Barclays Corporate

28. The push to live is set to increase the value of this market even further. The geo-location market is now worth $4.2bn. It will be worth more than $12bn by 2014. • Source: Juniper Research • ‘Any brand not looking at this technology is insane. It’s the equivalent of not being listed in the Yellow Pages 20 years ago’ • Hugh Garry, senior content producer, BBC 02 Priority Moments

29. Check-in culture • As people increasingly multiscreen, by watching tv as they update their Facebook accounts or send texts, and use geo-location apps to tell friends and networks where they are, a culture of checking in is emerging. • Foursquare has a check-in every second and 1.4m venues profiting from them. Location-based social media is the next big thing Louis Vuitton Amble app

30. It’s all going live ...

31. From entertainment to intertainment • At present, we go to entertainment. In future, it will come into our lives as ‘intertainment’ based on augmented reality (AR). • People will pay a premium for a new kind of film where you ‘live the experience’ Augmented City by Keiichi Matsuda

32. Augmented retail • AR will be the ultimate way to blend the virtual and real worlds, and hence to communicate with the digital generation Window Shop by Net-A-Porter

33. Augmented retailBy merging the virtual and the real, augmented reality (AR) places an interactive digital world over real-world retail spaces, allowing for AR product displays and experiences.AR mobile apps enable users to access hidden layers of information Tesco Homeplus subway virtual store, Seoul

35. ‘Companies must realise the importance of treating the brand as a total experience rather than just products and logos’ • Rita Clifton, chairman, Interbrand La FabriqueSonore installation created by Robin Meier and Ali Momeni in the cellars of Vranken Pommery Monopole Champagne, Reims, France

36. Talk to and engage with your fans and friends – your ambassadors – in a new tone of voice: one that is intimate, informal and from the people within your brand who really matter – the CEO, rather than your marketing, PR or comms teams. • This is about building: • relationships • ‘fanships’ • friendships • ambassador networks Lost and Found Hotel, Melbourne

37. Be live – always available, always on, always there and always listening – and be accessible in a way that most brands would have considered inconceivable less than a year ago KLM Surprise campaign

38. Think of the brand as a personality rather than a public or private entity. • Consider companies previously known for their corporatism rather than their conviviality, such as Dell, Ford, General Motors and Starbucks. They are now placing people at the front of the brand Reclamation Drive-Thru by Starbucks, Washington

39. Have a driving philosophy that embraces the notion of community in its widest sense. Brands must act within their communities and behave in a social, community-minded way BMW Guggenheim Lab, New York

40. Welcome, then, not just to the start of a new decade, but to the impact of being in a new century

41. Because, which century are you from?

42. Are you, your outlook and yourbusiness 20th century or 21st century?

43. Thank youchris@thefuturelaboratory.com