Eighty things to watch in 2008

“These people, products, places, services and shifts will help to define 2008,” says Ann Mack, director of trendspotting at JWT. “By examining what will resonate with people or drive their thinking and behavior, we can identify larger patterns that will shape all of our lives in the years to come.

“Love it or hate it, technology continues to be a common thread on our list,” adds Mack. “It drives the serendipitous randomness that throws up chance connections, groundbreaking discoveries and great business ideas.”

JWT's list of 80 Things to Watch in 2008, in alphabetical order, are:

1. Africa (foreign investment and development in)
2. Antibiotic backlash
3. Assisted marriage
4. Beijing 2008
5. Blue replacing green as the environmental movement's color du jour
6. Brain exercises
7. British actress Keira Knightley
8. Carbon tax
9. Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang
10. Classical musician Gustavo Dudamel
11. Climate sightseeing
12. Continuation of comebacks (Indiana Jones, The Cure, etc.)
13. Cooperative consumption
14. Couch surfing
15. Country branding (Oman, Indonesia, etc.)
16. Designer Phillip Lim
17. De-teching
18. DJ Tiësto
19. DNA-based exercising
20. E-clutter (and e-clutter consultants)
21. Eco-fatigue
22. E-mail étiquette
23. Facebook suicides
24. Fashion label Vena Cava
25. Foreign government investment (e.g., China, UAE) in U.S. companies
26. French President Nicolas Sarkozy
27. Game 3.0 (gamer-generated global gaming)
28. Google's Android
29. Gossip Girl
30. Gphone
31. Green weddings
32. Higher education online
33. Hip-hop's Retro Kids
34. Humbling of the hedge fund manager (anti-excess post sub-prime)
35. Hybrid taxis
36. Indian actress Deepika Padukone
37. Intellectual luxury
38. Investigating ingredients
39. Japanese designs (Tsumori Chisato, Uniqlo, Muji, etc.)
40. Kitchen appliances as new power tools
41. Lifestyle curators
42. Lipstick trumping lip gloss
43. Manga-inspired clothes
44. Mobile technology explosion
45. Mobulimia
46. Music as awareness driver; concerts and other residuals as cash cow
47. Musicovery (music tailored to moods)
48. Myanmar
49. Nollywood (the rise of Nigerian cinema)
50. Outsourcing to Ukraine (and other Eastern European countries)
51. Pakistan's future
52. Pantone's 18-3943 (blue iris)
53. Pets in the office
54. Prius homes
55. Radical transparency
56. Radiohead repeats (name-your-own-price music)
57. Recycling into fashion (Nau, Gary Harvey, etc.)
58. Selfless as the new selfish
59. Sex and the City, the movie
60. Shiny Toy Guns (the band)
61. Skiing in novel spots (Kashmir, Japan, Greenland, Russia, Korea, etc.)
62. Single men saying no to sex
63. Skype sex
64. Smart Cars in American cities
65. SNS (social network service) brand communities
66. Spanish actor Javier Bardem
67. Staycations
68. Sturking
69. Tequila as the new wine
70. The N-11
71. Third screen (the mobile screen) rivaling the first screen (TV)
72. Trans-ertainment
73. U.S. gymnast Shawn Johnson
74. U.S. presidential election
75. Vicarious consumption
76. (Video) Gaming Olympics
77. Virtual gifting
78. Wannabe young Internet entrepreneurs (a.k.a. Mark Zuckerberg copycats)
79. Weak dollar/strong euro
80. Women juggling men

And, if you have no clue what some of these trends refer to or who some of these people are, your homework for this January is to find out! Start Googling...

In 1939, JWT pioneered the first national consumer research panel. In 1988, it created the first research study of consumer lifestyles, ‘Life Stages'. “We believe in being anthropologists first, advertising people second” reads a misson statement. For more: www.jwt.com.