Planet 9 take at look at 15 of the trends you should look out for in the year, 2014. From the drinks industry to space, there's likely to be a lot going on this year.
Why not be one step ahead?
2. 1. Brands in space
Space travel has gone
commercial and brands
are queuing up to rocking
into this new frontier. A
ticket to space will
become the ultimate
prize, already offered by
brands including Axe. An
NBC space show, Space
Race, will see a space trip
offered as a prize.
3. 2. Cocktails on tap
We’ve seen wine moving
into taps and now
cocktails are being mixed
and stored in kegs. The
question “shaken or
stirred?” just got a bit
tricky.
4. 3. Gourmet meals to go
With consumers wanting
things faster than ever,
fast fresh food will be on
the rise this year. Some
examples to look out
include healthy snacks,
Graze boxes and
gourmet meals by US
brands, Blue Apron and
Plated.
5. 4. Digital grieving
With almost every aspect
of our life going digital, it
may not seem that
strange to know that
digital celebrations such
as funeral’s will be on the
rise. Think live streams and
lots of digital tears, over
mobile.
6. 5. Brands blurring
gender lines
With the phenomenon of
the cleverly-termed
“guyliner”, retailers are
waking up to the growing
male grooming industry.
The Marc Jacob’s “Boy
Tested, Girl Approved”
collection is aimed at
men who are not
ashamed of taking pride
in their appearance.
7. 7. Divorce parties
Given the rise in single
people and fading
stigma around divorce,
more people are
choosing to celebrate
their divorces with lavish
parties. Pinterest boards
have even featured cake
and party favor ideas.
8. 8. Edible packaging
Up until recently, it was
impossible to have your
cake and eat it. Thanks to
brands like LA ice cream,
Coolhaus, now you can
do all that and eat the
packaging too.
9. 9. Equal rights for men
With the rising
popularity in feminism
and female
empowerment, men
feel it has become
harder to be a man in
today’s society. Watch
out for a rise in malefocused support
systems and
advocacy groups.
10. 10. Haptic technology
A popular Huggies
campaign in Argentina
involved a haptic
waistband that allowed a
man to experience the
way his pregnant partner
could feel the baby
moving. Automakers are
applying haptic tech to
feedback to touchpads –
helping drivers to keep
focused.
11. 11. Hashtag overkill
Across Facebook feeds,
Twitter timelines. They’re
everywhere. Though
largely useful, hashtags
have become another
way to prove ones
cleverness, or add injury
to online insult, to the
annoyance of others #fail
12. 12. The rise of the
mini-moon
A miniature version of the
traditional honeymoon,
mini-moons are
becoming more common
as economic pressures
cause newlyweds to
compress their ideal
honeymoon. A rise in
local, short trips is one to
look out for.
13. 13. Techno paranoia
As advanced tech
continues to take it’s key
role in our daily routines, a
growing number of
people will become wary
of technology. This will
lead to paranoia around
Big-brother style intrusions
of privacy and hacker
mayhem.
14. 14. Needle-free vaccines
Several new
technologies look
set to all but
eliminate needles
from the
vaccination process.
Syringes like
PharmaJet’s Stratis
use a high velocity
“jet syringe” that
delivers liquid
through the skin.
15. 15. Survival of
the focused
Multitasking has
become the de facto
mode for today’s
always-on culture,
creating the phrase
“hypertasking”. Those
who can shut out the
noise and focus on
what’s important are
both healthier and
more successful.