[BizTrends 2016] JWT's Future 100 trends for 2016

The Innovation Group, the trends forecasting consultancy of J. Walter Thompson Intelligence, recently released its 'The Future 100: Trends and Change to Watch in 2016' report.

Featuring original analysis and insights on the most dynamic trends in the year ahead, the report categorises 100 trends across 10 sectors, exploring everything from 'Post-hipster Visual Irony' and 'Sustainability Nagging'; to 'Cannabis Culture' and 'Holographic Healthcare'.

As trends and innovation continue to change rapidly, The Future 100 report helps brands preview emerging trends and understand the cultural shifts that have inspired them, providing context for why these changes are happening, and analysing what this means for brands who want to stay on the cutting edge of what engaged and informed global consumers care about.

Chef thought leaders

Food and drink have become central to many aspects of consumers' lives. Chefs are becoming thought leaders. Major innovation, design and technology conferences are zeroing in on food and how we will feed ourselves as the Earth's population balloons.

'Social good' travel

Experiences from travel to theatre remain a key focus for consumers seeking to enrich their lives. The interesting thread we've seen emerge in many sectors is social good being wrapped in to this - examples include visiting a developing nation and helping a charity or taking part in local volunteer work.

'Digital culture'

Technology continues to be the thread that ties emerging consumer trends together - even outside the technology sector, many trends are changing attitudes as people adapt to our increasingly digital culture.

We're increasingly comfortable with technology that knows us; that is cognitive, intuitive and adaptive to our needs. Vast data pools are creating highly nuanced, granular profiles of consumer behaviour. But alongside this comes a rising thread of consumer anxiety and irritation at highly targeted advertising, which we explore further in our brands and marketing section.

Trend highlights from each sector include:

1. CULTURE
Un-tabooing Womanhood: Menstruation, leg and underarm hair, underwear hygiene, and various other previously taboo aspects of femininity are being unearthed and brought to the forefront by fourth-wave feminism, new women's interest media, and a fresh string of outspoken heroes and blogs.

2. TECH AND INNOVATION
Silicon Valley's Next Frontier: Infrastructure - Public infrastructure is emerging as the latest grand utopian ambition for the tech elite, as Hyperloop Technologies advances its plans and Google builds new infrastructure for the wired city.

3. TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY
Cuba: Cuba's tourism market is set to take off - Travellers are rushing to see the last of the old Cuba, even as brands are competing to be the first in on the promise of Cuba.

4. BRANDS AND MARKETING
Neuromarketing: A buzzword for years now in the agency world, neuromarketing is finally moving into the realm of serious science and yielding actionable predictive insights for brands and forcing more traditional market researchers to take note.

5. FOOD AND DRINK
Inhalable Cocktails: This new exotic trend in cocktail culture is allowing drinkers to absorb alcohol via the eyes and respiratory system.

6. BEAUTY
Freckles: Part of fashion's general celebration of all things redheaded, freckles are a must-have and with new products consumers add freckles where they don't appear naturally; consumers are now celebrating individualism in all of its full-freckled glory.

7. RETAIL
Satellite Retail: Retailers are turning to data gathered from satellites to track traffic to stores in real time.

8. HEALTH
Stool Banking: Consumers are now storing samples of their personal bacterial ecosystems - also known as faecal matter - for future use in new medical treatments.

9. LIFESTYLE
Grow-with-You Toys: New toys enabled with artificial intelligence can respond to a child's vocabulary, interests and other traits, and evolve along with the child as they grow.

10. LUXURY
Extreme Dining: The latest dining experiences to entice luxury consumers are extreme and about accessing remote, rare and theatrical settings amid the wonders of nature.

To access the full report, including all 100 trends, visit the newly relaunched JWTIntelligence.com and download the 2016 trends report, 'The Future 100' for FREE.