3 Ways The Most Successful Brands Take A Peek Into The Future

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” – Alan Kay

Of course it’s true that no one can predict the future. But the best brands have some tricks up their sleeve when it comes to anticipating trends. In this piece from Fast Company,author and lecturer Mark McNeilly, who wrote Sun Tzu and the Art of Business: Six Principles for Managers, shares three  ways to take advantage of the trends happening NOW.

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Greater IBM, what would you add to this list? How can you apply this in your work?

A Quick Fad or a Lasting Trend? Steampunk Inspires IBM’s Trend Tracking

Steampunk-inspired fashions

As steampunk evolved from a Victorian-era-inspired sci-fi subculture to a much more mainstream fashion concept — with mechanical touches appearing in both Macy’s 2011 Christmas window display and Prada‘s fall/winter 2012 menswear collection — IBM was tracking the transformation online.

Today, Big Blue says that other brands can use its steampunk example to learn how a long-lasting trend develops – and how companies can try to foster a trend that will resonate in the marketplace. Learn more in this piece by Kate Kaye in AdAge Digital.

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Is steampunk big in your part of the world? Are you a fan?

Birth of a Trend: What’s More Important than What’s Trending?

In this piece, Trevor Davis, a leading consumer products expert and consultant with IBM Global Business Services, talks about how our society is well-attuned to what’s trending at any moment, thanks to the rise of social media plus analytical tools.

But these trends are only fleeting, and because of their very nature, have limited value. How, then, do we extract the real value from all the noise, and figure out the long-term, meaningful trends with staying power? Read here.