Preface

      People tend not to think about the future. In fact, I would wager that most of us have a pretty limited sense of what we’re likely to be doing any time after next Wednesday. The authors, on the other hand, do very little other than think about the future – in fact, they virtually live there.

      But, unlike so many ‘futurists’, this team of authors has a genuine capacity to generate knowledge about trends and social movements that business people can actually use. And, today, that’s one of the most valuable skills around. After all, nowadays just keeping up with life is a defensive proposition.

      Technology and information are moving at a breathtaking pace. We’ve created enough gadgets to keep us busy pretty much every waking hour. And that’s getting to be all twenty-four, since we can go online all night long – to check a stock market halfway around the world or buy anything from a paperback to a three-bedroom apartment.

      As consumers and corporations alike teeter on the brink of overload, who has time to think ahead? Or to try to understand the impact all this change will have on our world, our attitudes, everything? The present is overwhelming enough.

      Of course, there’s a huge opportunity in all this uncertainty. Marketers have always needed to understand consumers’ current concerns and experiences with their brands. But if they are to thrive in the years ahead, they must also anticipate where technology, social trends and a myriad of other change agents are leading, so that their new products and services will have a place in the consumer future.

      Ed Vick

      Chief Operating Officer, Young & Rubicam Inc.