Nouveau Niche & IDividualism

Trendwatching have just released a great newsletter featuring their analysis on Noveau Niche. Similar to PSFK’s take on IDividualism, TW suggests that consumers are more individualized than ever, expecting every good, service and experience to be addressing their unique and oh so important selves. Gone are the traditional demographic segments, the distinct consumer classes. Consumers are also more experienced than ever. They expertly cut through the crap, ignore advertising, and know which quality and price levels are fair.

Retailers Serving This Trend:
The White Company (UK)
Rice to Riches (US)
Oil and Vinegar (US)
(Any others, PSFKers??)

PSFK believes that one of the interesting themes TW pick up on is "New Producers":

For all the talk of new opportunities for established niche producers and marketers, the most interesting next development for Nouveau Niche may be driven by ordinary consumers, doubling as producers. Equipped with professional hardware, software, skills and their own showrooms/shops at amateur prices, they’re already producing an avalanche of new content: books, articles, songs, photographs, videos; thereby adding billions of new products and items to pickings that are already immense. Just consider how hundreds of thousands of bloggers have already exposed many mass media outlets for the boring, predictable and bland one-for-all content factories that they are. Next next? Crafts, Technology, DIY!

PSFK suggests that we’re already witnessing this in audio media. Podcasting is changing the way we listen to music, information and the spoken word. Audio listeners will align themselves with New Producer content providers by interest and lifestyle, as they’ve done on the Web. Tom Hespos in his Media Post column calls this ‘Democratizing Radio’ and even asks the following:

What happens when portable audio devices and satellite converge? I think this is when podcasting will get much bigger and the playing field for audio could be leveled in much the same way as the Web leveled the playing field for the written word.

Trendwatching Newsletter
Media Post Article On Democratizing Radio

Related PSFK Posts
2005 Trends : IDividualism
Podcasting
Sirius: Jobs Says No Radio iPod