Rob Walker in his New York Times Magazine column looks at the great service provided by Reinier Evers and his Trendwatching outfit he runs from Amsterdam. Rob says that it seems like the latest trend is spotting trend:
TrendWatching’s story is a good way to understand the trend boom. Evers, who is 36 and based in Amsterdam, worked at an advertising agency and took part in the dot-com trend as an entrepreneur. Looking around for the next big thing to get in on, he saw an opportunity to build a company that collects information about potential next big things “and then somehow sells it,” he says…
Like all trend watchers, Evers is careful to say what he’s not doing: predicting the future, issuing fashion-industry-like pronouncements about what “the new black” will be or cataloging “cool stuff.” Instead, he says, “what we’re trying to do is spot changes in consumer behavior and naming those changes.”
As some of you know – Trendwatching are ‘famous’ for coming up with names for the trends they spot. Rob also has a little fun at all the naming of trends:
Whatever these things are that make up the trend trend, they call out not for a rebuttal but for a catchy name. Let’s call them “Phads.” The raw stuff of the Phad can be ephemeral or eternal. The Phad is inherently synthetic and is less about observation than authorship: no Phad exists until it is named, and it persists only as long as its name does. It is the conversion of some consumer behavior into a form that can itself be consumed, largely by people who are trying to figure out the consumer. Like the trend boom, the Phad is a function not of supply (lots of confusing changes are happening) but demand (lots of companies are confused). It may turn out that “trends” are a fad. But Phads, surely, are a trend.
As a side note, look out for Reinier’s 2007 Trends Report. He’s promised to send us a copy as long as we promise not to publish anything in it. Bah Humbug! ;)
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