Trends

Tendencies & trends that affect the brand

A brand that ignores the broader cultural and market currents flowing around it will find its positioning and relevance eroding without any single obvious cause.

Trends affect brands from multiple directions at once: changes in consumer values, new technologies that reshape behavior, economic shifts that change what people can afford or care about, cultural movements that alter what is seen as desirable or problematic. Staying attentive to these currents is not about chasing every new thing; it is about knowing which ones are changing the ground your brand stands on and acting before the shift is complete.

The challenge with trend analysis is distinguishing the durable from the temporary. Fads produce a spike in attention and then recede. Shifts in underlying values or behavior tend to compound over years and are often visible in early adopter communities long before they reach the mainstream. Brands that invest in systematic trend observation tend to see structural changes earlier, which gives them more time to respond thoughtfully rather than reactively.

How strong brands handle it

The same building block, handled well. These are approaches and illustrations from how brands tend to work, not rules, and never a ranking of companies.

Separate signal from noise in trend monitoring

Brands like Levi's and IKEA have brand teams that track cultural signals across multiple dimensions: media, subcultures, design movements, demographic behavior, and economic indicators. The goal is not to predict the future but to be less surprised by it.

Let trends inform, not dictate

Strong brands use trend intelligence to make more considered decisions about where to move and where to hold. Brands like Hermès deliberately resist many fashion trends in order to protect the sense of timelessness that is central to their positioning, which is itself a kind of trend response.

Look at what early adopters in adjacent categories are doing

Consumer behavior changes tend to appear first in specific demographics or categories before spreading. Brands like Oatly and Beyond Meat tracked the growth of plant-based eating in urban food culture and adjacent wellness communities years before it became a mainstream supermarket category.

Questions to explore

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

Which trends in consumer behavior or values are currently most relevant to your brand and how quickly are they moving?
Which trends are you currently responding to, and which are you choosing to ignore, and why?
How does your brand's positioning hold up under the trends that are most likely to accelerate over the next three years?
What early signals in adjacent markets or demographic groups suggest where your category is heading?
Are the trends you are tracking because they are genuinely relevant to your brand, or because they are easy to see?

Things to notice

Chasing visible trends without asking whether they are genuinely relevant to the brand's audience and core positioning.
Confusing cultural visibility with commercial relevance: something can be widely talked about and still not matter to your specific customers.
Treating trend analysis as a one-time strategic exercise rather than a continuous practice embedded in how the brand team stays curious.