1. “SHE’S COME
UNDONE,
& SHE’S NOT
COMING BACK”
Alisa Marie Beyer
The Benchmarking Company
5165 MacArthur Boulevard, Second Floor
Washington, DC 20016
202/249 -1500
alisa@benchmarkingco.com

2. TREND #1
Self-renovation
Fascination
Every minute of every day, we aren’t just
someone new, we are someone better.
Renovation is big. And in 2011, we will be renovating more than ever
before. But not in the sense of houses or homes, instead; we are in virtual
frenzy of renovating ourselves. Every minute of the day, we choose the
‘better me’ we want to be, and we are on the improvement train 24/7,
365. Self-help books, DVD’s, workout programs, vitamins and nutritional
supplements, beauty creams/serums/and procedures, carbon credits,
green lifestyle choices. All of this and more is at our beck and call to help
us constantly improve ourselves and our lives. The ability to micro-edit and
literally fine-tune our lives and ourselves for the better has only just begun
to hit its stride. Look for even more ingenious ways to improve life on a
daily, if not a moment to moment basis, in the very near future.
How is my brand helping her to be a ‘better her?’ How will my brand
be a part of her renovation?
Copyright ®2010 • The Benchmarking Company

3. TREND #2
Outsourcers-R-Us
It takes a lot of help to live our lives, and we
aren’t about to trade-down.
The economy may still be recovering, our 401k’s may have lost some
of their cushioning, our budgeting on food and entertainment may
have become more mainstream than not, but one place where we
aren’t going to budget? Our outsourcing. These days, most of us
have ‘people’. Someone to clean our houses, mow and maintain
our lawns, do our taxes, watch our kids, fix our cars, grow our
wealth, put us through our gym paces, and even keep us sane,
and we view them all as necessary, normal and needed extensions
of our daily lives. And while some may view this type of help as
extraneous, for the majority — it’s rapidly becoming a way of life,
and we won’t compromise on affording it, regardless of our financial
circumstances. We may be broke as a joke, but Merry Maids will be
at our house four times a month keeping our lives (and us!) in order.
How is my brand her expert peep?
Copyright ®2010 • The Benchmarking Company

4. TREND #3
Me-moments
She’s got an exit strategy, and she
doesn’t feel badly about it.
It used to be that Calgon was how women got away from it all, but
as I think we can all agree, that ship has sailed. Today, it’s about
me-moments — carving out ‘me-time’ that is more meaningful
than just a bubble bath (not that those aren’t meaningful in their
own way). Instead, women want moments to themselves that are
impactful and give us back a sense of peace, of purpose and of
passion. What would have been unheard of in the past is now a
trend for the present — exit-strategizing: women re-claiming time for
themselves at the expense of friends, family and even responsibility.
Separate vacations, book clubs or women’s groups, weekend days
that are dedicated ‘mommy-free zones’ are just a few of the ways
that women are mindfully (and thoughtfully) severing themselves
from their ever-growing list of responsibilities — even if only for 5
minutes — and reclaiming a sense of self and of ‘me’.
How is my brand supporting her desire for ‘special me time’?
Copyright ®2010 • The Benchmarking Company

5. TREND #4
Home Base
Even in the big city,
we are becoming local-yokels.
Just as the food world has embraced locavore eating, more
and more of us are starting to embrace locavore living. All local
resources, all of the time has become a key driver for not only
how we eat, but our lifestyle choices, as well — and it’s here to
stay. We are committed to shopping, buying and supporting our
local and regional shops, sellers, producers, growers and retailers
in ever-increasing numbers — even in the midst of huge cities
with vast purchasing opportunities at our fingertips. The allure
of buying local is more than just quaint; as we clean-up from the
economic turmoil of the past few years, the need to focus on local
resources has become a critical component in helping to rebuild
not only our local retail infrastructures, but our local communities,
as well.
How does my brand help her feel like she’s a local yokel? Like
she’s supporting local efforts?
Copyright ®2010 • The Benchmarking Company

6. TREND #5
Entitlement
Youth-on-demand.
(aka - young looking is my right.)
Let’s face it. Entitlement is powerful. It’s led us to aspire to cars, jobs,
homes and lifestyles with a single-mindedness second to none. Now,
the idea of entitlement has turned to youth, or more specifically,
looking younger. Where it used to be enough to encourage women
to wear sunscreen and try to delay the appearance of wrinkles,
today — immediately firmer, smoother, radiant, and more youthful
skin is no longer something we should have to work for — it’s
considered our right. From baby boomers all the way down to
wrinkle-free twenty-somethings, we all feel entitled to look younger,
better, prettier, faster. And, to have as few flaws as possible. It’s
not enough for beauty products to just promise results, they must
promise results that can be seen and felt within minutes if not
instantaneously. Which is a good thing because minutes are all most
women have, and all that they can spend, in their quest to find that
which will make them look younger.
How does my brand…really? Do I need to answer this one for you?
Copyright ®2010 • The Benchmarking Company

7. TREND #6
Rolling Holy
The rise of the new religion and
how it’s going to save us all
In the midst of rising scandals and religious turmoil, it would seem that
a general turning away from religion would be ascending, yet — in 2011,
the trend will be the opposite. Only, it won’t be religion as we are all
necessarily accustomed. We want faith, we want to feel part of a religious
community, but what we don’t want are the trappings of traditional beliefs:
guilt, penance, purgatory. As the lines between faith and philosophy
become ever more blurry, a new kind of religion has emerged that takes
the best of both, and melds them into a phenomenon that gives us the
aspiration we crave, without the guilt that we don’t. Today’s religious
leaders — many of whom aren’t necessarily preachers or priests —
such as Joel Osteen, Dr. Wayne Dyer, and Louise Hay, helm massive
congregations, write best-selling books and inspire millions of us to live
faith-full lives where personal responsibility, forgiveness, generosity,
gratitude, and love are the fulcrum of our beliefs, not guilt or dogmatic
parameters. Far from being a fad, this new evolution of religion is a here-
to-stay trend that has not only made people feel better about religion
overall, it has inspired and spurred thousands of us to re-think the way we
approach every facet of our daily lives.
How is my brand part of her ‘positive religious revelations’?
Does my brand make her feel good about her choices?
Copyright ®2010 • The Benchmarking Company