Global Futures Forum 2018
Critical Horizons

When you think of the future of your brand, what do you see? There isn’t just one future available to you, but many paths and strategies to take.

Choose your futures

Future of brand purpose

As consumers we claim to desire brands that have a purpose, but what does purpose really mean in the age of reckless innovation?

Track 1

Future of gender

While identities are becoming more fluid, our infrastructures and social norms remain static. How can we create meaningful change when we still cannot come to an agreed perspective on gender?

Track 2

Future of wellbeing

Economic growth, the hallmark of progress, is not serving to improve the welfare of society at large. Will new metrics of success ensure our collective wellbeing?

Track 3

Future of youth

With the most populous generation on record coming of age, how will their attitudes reshape the global landscape?

Track 4
Future of brand purpose
Track 1
There was a time when businesses were simply corporate entities, with no personality and a single goal: to make money. But as they evolved into lifestyle brands, our relationship and expectations of them have changed – it has become personal.

Now brands need to navigate a world of profit or purpose, trying to achieve a balance between their new-found civic responsibility and the reality of today’s short-term economics.
Explore
As we reach a period of moral reckoning, brands will be forced to re-assess their business models and products to ensure they benefit society at large.
ANIMA II by Nick Verstand
The Altar by Levi van Veluw, 2017
Moonman in a Tesla
Future brands will be answering to a collective morality rather than their bottom line. Here’s how.
Digital practices will be embedded with an ethical code of conduct, and brands will use new design cues to understand intangible entities such as AI.
Web Spaces by Jip de Beer
Web Spaces by Jip de Beer
The ungoverned Wild West of the internet will be regarded as a space that works for society as a whole.
Welcome to the Feminist Internet by University of Arts London
We will design new codes of conduct on how to express emotion in the digital world and embed empathy into online interactions.
Digital Ethology by Corinne van Grevenbroek
Beyond the internet, businesses will increasingly have a role to play in public civic life. As government buckle under the weight of bureaucracy, brands will take on the role of city-makers.
You are Entering a Brand-operated Area warning label designed by Nikita Iziev for The Future Laboratory
It is a future of many possibilities. Brands could transform cities into ‘urban innovation platforms’ that enable communities to collectively vote on infrastructure and policy.
Inferstudio for The Future Laboratory
In the future, residents of a district could select which branded applications they want to use to help them interact with their city.
Unleash a More Powerful You campaign by Apple
But what happens if brands’ control over the city veers into a dictatorial rather than a symbiotic relationship with its citizens?
The Smog Project by Znera Space
The Smog Project by Znera Space
The branded city could become even more divided along socio-economic lines than those we inhabit today, where brands determine who can access public spaces and at what cost.
Inferstudio for The Future Laboratory
Future of gender
Track 2
Why are we still talking about gender? We have been on a steady path towards progress, with more enlightened laws and mores around sexuality and gender. Yet both men and women are still reckoning with issues of inequality, stereotyping and being judged on the basis of their gender identity.

Both femininity and masculinity need to be redefined in order to achieve true equality for all.
Explore
At the end of 2018, gender equality remains a distant dream. While feminism has entered the mainstream, very little concrete change has come with it.
Elise By Olsen for Folch Studio Insight by Alva Skog
In 2019, brands will have to work harder to empower women to make their voices heard and shape a better future rather than using feminism as a marketing tool.
McDonald’s International Women’s Day campaign
One area in which assumptions must be challenged is the healthcare industry, where gender bias in clinical trials and the questioning of female pain are still routine.
Painful Sex, Body Language series, BBC Three
Body positivity will no longer simply be about size acceptance, but will focus on ending the stigma around the female body, from acne to body hair.
Project Body Hair by Billie, US
Acne Appreciation editorial by Teen Vogue. Photography by Rebekah Campbell
Project Body Hair by Billie, US
Our cities, governments and businesses, now built from a male point of view, will need to be reframed with women’s needs in mind.
Silvertown Plug-in by Grace Quah
Silvertown Plug-in by Grace Quah
Silvertown Plug-in by Grace Quah
As female power is celebrated, what it means to be a man is also changing. Post-#metoo, men are increasingly unsure how to express, explore and embrace their masculinity.
Cassius cover, January 2018
There is a demand for media and brands to provide illustrations of manhood that go beyond restrictive and outdated stereotypes.
ASOS Go Play campaign
A new generation of men want to become physically and mentally strong without adopting a #ripped macho mindset.
The Future of Skincare is Here by Augustinus Bader
Strength To Be campaign by lululemon
New pharmaceutical brands are launching online platforms that help to destigmatise men’s health problems.
Roman, US
A more delicate way to be a man is gaining prominence in East Asia and in the West, as the notion that brawn equals beauty loses sway.
Boys of Hong Kong by Alexandra Leese
NINE BRITISH MEN DEBATE THE CHANGING FACE OF MASCULINITY IN THIS INSIGHTFUL FILM COLLABORATION BETWEEN IGGYLDN AND THE FUTURE LABORATORY       WATCH THE FULL FILM HERE
NINE BRITISH MEN DEBATE THE CHANGING FACE OF MASCULINITY IN THIS INSIGHTFUL FILM COLLABORATION BETWEEN IGGYLDN AND THE FUTURE LABORATORY       WATCH THE FULL FILM HERE
The Composers campaign by Kenzo. Photography by Scandebergs
Future of wellbeing
Track 3
With our economies and environment in crisis, we are reaching a collective realisation that our current model of growth is not fit for the future. Measures such as GDP do not reflect the wellbeing of society and we must move away from the idea of happiness as an individual pursuit.

The first step in the right direction will be the democratisation of the wellness industry to build a social structure rooted in health and wellbeing.
Explore
An acknowledgement that wellness should work for everyone, not just those who can afford it, is beginning to drive a more inclusive approach to wellbeing.
Health and Wellness Futures Forum campaign by The Future Laboratory. Photography by Louise Hagger
New urban and suburban communities will emerge that not only allow inhabitants to subsist, but also to actively augment their sense of wellbeing.
Let it Grow by Thomas Traum
Tree-ness House by Akihisa Hirata. Photography by Vincent Hecht, Japan
Liuzhou Forest City by Stefano Boeri Architetti, Italy
Consumers will also be able to own their medical data and use it as a source of value.
Health and Wellness Futures Forum campaign by The Future Laboratory. Photography by Louise Hagger
In the near future, consumers could manage their health data through digital platforms and select which information to exchange for exclusive product rewards.
This heightened focus on wellbeing is part of a wider search for new metrics to measure the success of society beyond its economic growth.
Things It Would Have Been Helpful To Know Before The Revolution by Father John Misty
As our fixation with growth and GDP proves to be unsustainable, social prosperity, emotional fulfilment and happiness will emerge as new markers of progress.
Postcards from Google Earth by Clement Valla for Materialising the Internet
We Are Energy by Asif Khan and Brian Eno, Astana, Kazakhstan
In Asia, the obsession with self-improvement and the pressures of a society dictated by the economic model of growth are inspiring a counter-movement.
Self-portrait by Izumi Miyazaki
Self-portrait by Izumi Miyazaki
Self-portrait by Izumi Miyazaki
Gudetama episode, Japan
Future scenarios promise that automation will free people to do work that at present is not incentivised by the market‚ and will lead to a mass search for purpose.
Live and Breathe, The Woolmark Company
Work will no longer be a curse, but a fulfilling act that defines character and affirms life.
Workbays Village by ECAL and Vitra, Switzerland
At the same time, autonomous machines could act as a source of decentralised capital that benefits all of society, earning profits that are distributed in society equally.
Aleksandra Szymanska for The Future Laboratory
Design duo Arvid&Marie created SAM, a Symbiotic Autonomous Machine, that earns profit by producing and selling a drink from water kefir grains.
SAM by Arvid&Marie, Eindhoven
The money made by SAM could be distributed in society equally, which means that, rather than the profits of automation remaining among Silicon Valley creators, these machines could sustain society financially.
Future of youth
Track 4
With Generation Z on the cusp of adulthood, we must not fall into the trap of typecasting today’s youth. They are not typical teenagers who act out against authority and established norms simply for the sake of rebellion. Although they are as angst-ridden as previous generations, they are actively harnessing this anxiety to create positive change.

In a change of expectations, this is a movement driven by youth in emerging markets, who are developing traditions while not dismissing their heritage.
Explore
Anxiety has become prevalent among today’s youth, leading to the rise of Generation Sensible, a group of teenagers that are more risk-averse than expected.
Doyenne summer 2018 collection. Photography by Serena Brown
In order to speak to this generation, brands will need to understand how to help them to better deal with pressure and worry.
Doyenne summer 2018 collection. Photography by Serena Brown
Online, brands are already stepping in and encouraging young people to reclaim negativity as a symbol of strength.
Diesel Hate Couture autumn/winter 2018
While gaming is often seen as negative, it can be a cure for social angst. Developers are using the immersive nature of the medium to encourage healthier wellbeing.
Selfcare Game by Tru Luv, Montreal
TRULUV’S #SELFCARE GAME ENABLES PLAYERS TO UNDERTAKE CALMING SELF-CARE TASKS SUCH AS TENDING TO A PLANT, READING TAROT CARDS OR SIMPLY STAYING IN BED ALL DAY.
TRULUV’S #SELFCARE GAME ENABLES PLAYERS TO UNDERTAKE CALMING SELF-CARE TASKS SUCH AS TENDING TO A PLANT, READING TAROT CARDS OR SIMPLY STAYING IN BED ALL DAY.
For this generation, drinking is not as cool as it used to be. Brands must offer products that promote mental and physical health rather than detracting from it.
Ugly Drinks
I Wanna #Liveyoung byAKQA for Evian
And yet young people in developing economies are more optimistic about social progress than their Western counterparts.
Drummies by Alice Mann
A Moment’s Encounter by Su Yang
In China, interests among the young may surprise some who are used to stereotyping this demographic. Football culture is booming, as young Chinese increasingly watch games as a solo activity and support international teams.
Football culture is booming, as young Chinese increasingly watch games as a solo activity and support international teams.
Dare to Become by Nike
The Love with which I Wash – Wales Bonner by Harley Weir, India
Living in a country in the midst of social change, India’s youth are driving a movement away from national chauvinism and towards more fluid gender identities.
Vans and Girls Skate India
Across the globe in Mexico, a nation vilified by Donald Trump, young Mexicans are filtering their anger into displays of national pride.
Imparables (Together Unstoppable) – Just Do It, PrettyBird production by Wieden + Kennedy for Nike
Traditions are also being questioned in Nigeria, where Generation Z are questioning the customs and tropes typically associated with being a Nigerian man.
Illegal by Daniel Obasi
Kilon Shele Gan Gan by Dafe Oboro
Kilon Shele Gan Gan by Dafe Oboro
About
The Global Futures Forum is The Future Laboratory’s annual Strategic Foresight symposium. Based upon research identified by our Trends Intelligence department, LS:N Global, it is designed to inspire, provoke and prompt action to create a better future for our clients.

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