Brand Mix

Photo: 2010! by pfala (Flickr)

Enough of 2009 and the Naughties. Onward and upward with the new year and decade. Let's see what people are predicting for the year ahead.

1) Social Media Predictions for 2010: Scott Monty
Scott includes a list of predictions from Chris Brogan, Brian Solis and Pete Cashmore among others. One of his own predictions is that social media will become smaller and more local in 2010. He says the "collective cacophony is simply too much" and that people will start focusing on those who are close to them.

2) eMarketer weighs in on 2010 trends and 2010 Predictions Round-Up: eMarketer
Also on Scott's list are two sets of predictions from eMarketer. These include all the normal suspects: More convergence, more mobile commerce and ad spending, more video and video ads, including trend data.

3) American Consumption and the New Normal: Harvard Business Review
Nancy Koehn describes two trends that gives us a glimpse into the "new normal" of consumption. The first: "The flight to Wal-Mart (and other hard discounters) is over." She says that consumers are willing to open up their wallets but will favor brands that they can trust--brands (like Hyundai) that offer "clear, succinct brand promises" and then deliver "on these promises customer by customer, over and over again." The second: "Consumers are relying on the Internet to help them define value." She says that the Internet has made it possible for households to: "Research not only the price and attributes of product or service, but also in many cases the larger story behind it—where did the offering come from, what kind of company created it, how their are employees treated."

4) 2010 Predictions: 10 Marketing Winners and Losers: eyecube
Rick Liebling predicts the winners will be: New Business Models, creatives, the fleet of foot, optimists and (team) choreographers whereas the losers will be: The competent, the standalone solutionists, the owners and the anarchists, the freeconomists and the pretenders.

5) 2010: Year of the oh-so-sexy tablet: Thoughts Gadgets

That's it! Back soon with more stories from the world of brand strategy (and vaguely related areas). More thoughts and comments also available on Twitter (@martinjbishop).