New Macrotrend
Work States Futures

Discover the five emerging mindsets transforming the future of work


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Macrotrends

Access the major shifts in consumer behaviour

Macrotrends reveal how consumers are responding to the global drivers of change and represent the value shifts defined according to emerging attitudes and behaviour among people globally. These shifts are supported by consumer-facing innovations, products, services, experiences and communications that address a need.

At The Future Laboratory we define macrotrends by using intuition, our experience and data. We use four stages of research to identify and qualify a macrotrend – inspiration, validation, interrogation and finally the strategic implications of the trend for businesses and brands.

Every year we publish over eight global macrotrends exclusively for members of our trends intelligence hub, LS:N Global.

Find out more about our macrotrend services below, or please click the link to book a meeting with our team.


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The Paralysis Paradox:

Shared solutions and radically disruptive innovation is emerging from science, technology and business organisations that are willing to challenge and transform the ongoing paralysis.

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Guilded Luxury:

As the world enters a period of economic downturn, luxury brands are seizing strategies to build long-lasting and enriching relationships with their clientele.

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Accredited Beauty:

As consumers seek proof points on product quality, efficacy and sustainability, scientific evidence will drive the healthification of the beauty industry.

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Hyperphysical Stores:

The nascent trends in physical retail, such as next-gen Hangout Hubs and youth-centric Play-tail, where retail spaces are being used to foster enjoyment and discovery.

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Neo-collectivism:

Unveils the consumer behaviours and trends shaping the future of care, commerce and community and reflect on how brands can genuinely create collectivism.

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The Zalpha Reckoning:

We have just emerged from the most online period in human history. But this means that media and technology brands must work harder than ever to maintain momentum.

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Redemptive Diets:

After Covid-19 turned convenience and access into a priority, the focus is shifting towards future-proofing brand operations through engagement with global communities.

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Synchronised Care:

Self-care as we know it is changing. Between calls to reject the wellness industrial complex and close the gap between widening health inequalities, a shift is under way.

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Eco-venience Retail:

2020 prompted retail Darwinism at its most impactful, yet brands have evolved at speed, adjusting to changing expectations of access and more conscious mindsets.

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Alternet Economies:

A technological counter-culture is decentralising capitalism, reforming the internet and powering new value frontiers for creators, consumers and brands.

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Elastic Brands:

Forget advertising campaigns and branded content. All eyes are on the inner workings of your business – and how seamlessly it can adapt.

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Equilibrium Cities:

Citizens are demanding a more receptive and equitable built environment that will allow future urban generations, nature and businesses to thrive.

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Enlightened States:

The experience economy is pivoting towards personal transformation as the public imagination looks inwards, favouring self-discovery over shared spectacle.

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Pleasure Revolution:

With every second of our free time colonised by the cult of busyness, future consumers will turn away from a life of relentless productivity and shift their focus from enhancement to enjoyment.

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Feedback Frontiers:

As communications with consumers become more circular and conversational, brands are treating every micro-interaction as a valuable opportunity to lean in, learn and improve their model.

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Home Eatertainment:

Changing dining dynamics have created a new convenience culture focused on elevating the experience and enjoyment of eating and drinking at home.

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Paradox Personas:

Unlike Millennials, Generation Z are swapping self-promotion for self-awareness, using the digital world to enrich but not define their offline selves.

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Bio-Positive Beauty:

Short, traceable supply chains and condensed routines are in high demand as the beauty and wellness industry moves from zero to positive impact.

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Post-purpose Brands:

Pushing back against purpose-washing and jumping on the bandwagon, brands will embrace imperfection and focus on betterment.

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New Macrotrend

Work States Futures

With CEOs conflicted about luring teams back to the office with socials, wellness hubs and hybrid fit-outs, early adopter businesses and organisations are now focusing on work state solutions, rather than work place ones.

This timely report has just the kind of insights, lessons and action-based to-do lists needed to future-proof our organisations, at a time when why we work, as well as where we work, need to be massively re-assessed.

The macrotrend report is now available to purchase here. Members of LS:N Global can access the report for free here.

 

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Trend Tracker

The Future Laboratory has been identifying and tracking macrotrends for two decades. As The Transformative Twenties begin, we have mapped out how all these trends have evolved.

Presenting the trends as a timeline from the year 2000 to 2030, users can learn how Experience, Brand and Consumer behaviours have changed – and what this means for the future.

Featuring trend summaries, expert quotes and links to full trends on LS:N Global, visitors can navigate through a visually driven and chronological view of industry shifts and evolving human behaviour. 

Use our bespoke Trend Tracker to discover 20 years of macrotrends.


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Our Clients

Our global clientele is made up of owners and employees from over 350 leading brands who use our macrotrends on a daily basis to future-proof their business. 

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Strategic Consultancy

Take our macrotrends one step further

For those of you wondering what macrotrends are going to have the biggest impact on your business over the coming years, our Strategy team are here to help.

The Future Laboratory’s Strategy department works directly with global brands and businesses to turn our LS:N Global foresight into a strategic decision-making tool that aligns clients’ current business objectives with these future scenarios. 

The aim: to equip clients with the cultural insights, strategic implications and solutions that enable them to navigate change, unlock opportunity and thrive in a world of continuous uncertainty.

Find out how you can use our Strategic Services to future-proof your business strategy.


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Presentations

Book one of our world-class speakers to deliver an in-house or virtual presentation or workshop for your business.

Discover each of our macrotrend presentations below – or book them together as a presentation collection

 

Work States Futures
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The past two years have spurred seismic transformation in the workplace as a newly empowered generation of workers question how, where and why they work.

This presentation investigates the emergence of a new state-focused future of work, explore the spaces – both physical and virtual – being built in response, and what this means for your business.

It’s time to better understand the paradigm shift that the pandemic era has had on the future of work and what this means for consumers, brands and businesses.


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The Paralysis Paradox
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Despite current doom-and-gloom scenarios we are about to be catapulted into a 20-year cycle of unrivalled innovation and new market opportunities. But people will be very wary, so it’s time for brands, businesses and Neo-collectivist communities to rebuild a society where the four 4Ls - legitimacy, leadership, longevity and legacy – matter.

This presentation explores how brands are stepping up to realise this future, counter-pushing doomsayers, short-termism, indifference and helplessness to re-establish common ground and embark on a journey of radical progression.


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Neo-collectivism
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As real-world uprisings rage on and our journey to the metaverse accelerates, global consumers are busy forming new types of alliance. Losing their sense of individualism, they are engaging in new forms of collective thinking, doing and consuming.

As our new macrotrend presentation reveals, brands will need to change from sellers to coordinators, blurring the boundaries between how we define a company, a community and a collective.

This presentation helps businesses tap into these community spaces, understand their massive potential and explore why we need to prepare for a neo-collectivist future.


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Alternet Economies
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Some 30 years after the internet was created, a revolution is upon us. A technological counter-culture is subverting digital capitalism and powering new value frontiers for creators, consumers and brands. A next-generation internet built on decentralised technologies not only promises better user control, but also more competition.
 

From direct-to-creator culture to platform cooperatives, the internet economy’s established value exchange is evolving to become more equitable and diverse. In this presentation, we present trends such as Post-social Creators, Cooperative Media and Direct-to-avatar.


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Elastic Brands
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Forget advertising campaigns and branded content. As the power dynamic shifts between brands and consumers, all eyes are on the inner workings of your business – and how seamlessly it can respond, recalibrate and adapt. Moving beyond reactionary thinking, this is a chance for brands to pilot a truly transformative future for business.

In this presentation, we examine how as the power dynamic shifts between brands and consumers, all eyes are on the inner workings of businesses, and how seamlessly they can respond and recalibrate. We also delve into the future of Chief Disaster Officers, Mortal Commerce and Dynamic Democracy.


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Equilibrium Cities
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The pandemic has sapped the energy of urban life. Revealing stark inequalities between global citizens, Covid-19 is exposing issues with urban safety, public services and access to green spaces in our cities. This demands new and urgent approaches to how our streets and spaces are used, alongside a reframing of who and what are the priorities of our future city. In the 2020s, we anticipate the rise of Equilibrium Cities.

As we move through The Transformative Twenties, data-first digital systems will enable people to shape and experience their cities remotely, possibly even in alternative realms.  This presentation explores trends such as Blended Cultural Realms, Salubrious Streets and Natural Foundations.


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Pleasure Revolution
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Facing a medley of expectations, consumers are realising that the self-actualising activities they have bought into are mentally and physically draining. We are now entering a period of reflection, selfishness and solitude in which intensified notions of achievement are proving counter-productive, and consumers are now pressing pause. 

From the celebration of Slacker Culture to the allure of the Homebody Economy, in this presentation we present key insights for brands in sectors such as wellness, leisure and the workplace. Discover why we must untangle guilt around free time, upend modern work rituals and champion the post-capitalist act of opting out.


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Enlightened States
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Consumers are tiring of photogenic pop-ups, immersive events and mass tourism as a form of social currency. In the next decade the focus will shift to places, processes and practices that cultivate quiet, intimacy and introspection, with consumers seeking to balance their emotional, physical and spiritual states.

From Psychonautic Therapy to Neuromedia, we looks at the shifts redefining entertainment and leisure, as well as health and wellness. Find out how the concept of experience as a form medicine will drive a new age of self-discovery and enlightenment.


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Post-purpose Brands
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Brands are on the brink of a post-purpose era as consumers challenge hypocrisies in messaging, product and brand behaviour. At the same time, a generation of entrepreneurial activists are becoming workers, shareholders and boardroom members, reshaping brands in their image by promoting a culture of continual regeneration.

We present the Sacrificial Brands setting strict environmental business goals, alongside the rise of Problem Evolving strategies that utilise insights to enhance and advance business operations. And as technology progresses, learn how 5G will allow brands to serve and support the public more intuitively.


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Experts

Get in touch with our specialists if you are interested in discussing the research or if you have a press enquiry. Speak to our experts



Martin Raymond (He/Him)
co-founder

Martin is editor-in-chief of Viewpoint magazine as well as LS:N Global, the online lifestyle news and consumer insight portal. Having written several books on trend forecasting, including The Trend Forecaster’s Handbook and The Tomorrow People, Martin contributes regularly as an expert on trends and business for the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV.

Chris Sanderson (He/Him)
co-founder

Christopher Sanderson is co-founder of The Future Laboratory, where he is responsible for delivering the company’s extensive global roster of conferences, media events and LS:N Global Trend Briefings, which he co-presents with the team in London, New York, Sydney, Melbourne, Stockholm and Helsinki. Clients who have booked one of his inspirational keynotes include Gucci Group, the European Travel Commission, Retail Week, Selfridges, M&S, Chanel, Harrods, Aldo and H&M.

Fiona Harkin
foresight editor

Fiona is a trends and insight consultant who delivers innovative strategic insight and creative content. Having spent 20 years working in leading forecasting and insight agencies and as a journalist, Fiona draws on considerable cross-sector expertise, ranging from consumer lifestyle, media and marketing and digital commerce to fashion, beauty and technology. Fiona brings valuable insight, clarity and direction to our LS:N Global team.

Olivia Houghton (She/Her)
deputy creative foresight editor

Olivia joined The Future Laboratory in early 2018 and is responsible for leading the creative development of LS:N Global. As Deputy Creative Foresight Editor, she ensures the platform’s written and visual content sets new standards for the digital communication. Olivia is also known as The Future Laboratory’s go-to expert for consumer trends in Beauty, Health & Wellness.

Savannah Scott (She/Her)
creative foresight analyst

Savannah leads the research and design for food and drink and retail content for the LS:N Global. With a background in creative strategy, anthropology and graphic design, Savannah curates and contributes to the visual narrative of LS:N Global, alongside leading visual research for a number of annual macrotrends and sector reports. Savannah is a regular contributor to LS:N Global’s daily news and weekly articles, as well as being the team’s regional expert for Africa.

Martin Raymond (He/Him)
co-founder

Martin is editor-in-chief of Viewpoint magazine as well as LS:N Global, the online lifestyle news and consumer insight portal. Having written several books on trend forecasting, including The Trend Forecaster’s Handbook and The Tomorrow People, Martin contributes regularly as an expert on trends and business for the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV.

Fiona Harkin
foresight editor

Fiona is a trends and insight consultant who delivers innovative strategic insight and creative content. Having spent 20 years working in leading forecasting and insight agencies and as a journalist, Fiona draws on considerable cross-sector expertise, ranging from consumer lifestyle, media and marketing and digital commerce to fashion, beauty and technology. Fiona brings valuable insight, clarity and direction to our LS:N Global team.

Chris Sanderson (He/Him)
co-founder

Christopher Sanderson is co-founder of The Future Laboratory, where he is responsible for delivering the company’s extensive global roster of conferences, media events and LS:N Global Trend Briefings, which he co-presents with the team in London, New York, Sydney, Melbourne, Stockholm and Helsinki. Clients who have booked one of his inspirational keynotes include Gucci Group, the European Travel Commission, Retail Week, Selfridges, M&S, Chanel, Harrods, Aldo and H&M.

Olivia Houghton (She/Her)
deputy creative foresight editor

Olivia joined The Future Laboratory in early 2018 and is responsible for leading the creative development of LS:N Global. As Deputy Creative Foresight Editor, she ensures the platform’s written and visual content sets new standards for the digital communication. Olivia is also known as The Future Laboratory’s go-to expert for consumer trends in Beauty, Health & Wellness.

Savannah Scott (She/Her)
creative foresight analyst

Savannah leads the research and design for food and drink and retail content for the LS:N Global. With a background in creative strategy, anthropology and graphic design, Savannah curates and contributes to the visual narrative of LS:N Global, alongside leading visual research for a number of annual macrotrends and sector reports. Savannah is a regular contributor to LS:N Global’s daily news and weekly articles, as well as being the team’s regional expert for Africa.

FAQs

What are macrotrends?

Macrotrends reveal how consumers are responding to the global drivers of change and represent the value shifts defined according to emerging attitudes and behaviour among people globally. 

What are the difference between macrotrends and microtrends?

Macrotrends usually have a more significant impact on society and tend to be long-term, while microtrends are more specific and often emerge within subcultures and smaller groups.

What are some examples of macrotrends?

Some examples of macrotrends include:

Work States Futures:
The past two years have prompted seismic transformation in the workplace as a newly empowered generation of workers question how, where and why they work.

The Paralysis Paradox:
Despite current doom-and-gloom scenarios we are about to be catapulted into a 20-year cycle of unrivalled innovation and new market opportunities. But people will be very wary, so it’s time for brands, businesses and Neo-collectivist communities to rebuild a society where the four 4Ls – legitimacy, leadership, longevity and legacy – matter.

Neo-collectivism:
As real-world uprisings rage on and our journey to the metaverse accelerates, global consumers are busy forming new types of alliance. Losing their sense of individualism, they are engaging in new forms of collective thinking, doing and consuming.

Discover our Macrotrends

Find out how you can get access to our global macrotrends



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