Trendspotters vs. Trendsetters: Who really sets the trend?
I think about trendspotting often. My first exposure to this term was when I was in college at FIT in New York in the 90s. Come to think of it, it was probably was when the term was invented. (Gosh, that makes me feel old.) Back then, before I shifted my focus from Fashion to Advertising (a recommendation of one of my teachers…ouch) the context of that term for me was all about clothing, accessories, and beauty. Like wearing leg warmers, double socks in multi-colors, or fedoras… you get the gist. Now here is wherein lies the difference: God bless the people who wore it first…those are the unique, bold individuals that we can honestly call “trendsetters”. Most of the time these guys are not designers or magazine editors. They are club kids, risk-takers, creatives, and artists in their own right.
A small but powerful group
On the other hand, there is another small group that has the ability to immediately spot this unique idea and reproduce it, in a way forecasting its success. These are what we would call “trendspotters”. From there the trend will trickle up, up, up and back down again eventually landing itself on every street corner.
The business of creativity
Okay, as I mentioned this is not a new idea. In fashion you have color forecasters, in business you have analysts. But, let’s talk about my business, the business of creativity. I think a lot about trendspotting as I said earlier and now I will tell you why. I believe I have this trait. I am not bragging. I think the trendsetter has more of a right to do that. And I’m not saying I know what the world is about to want in terms of their visual identity. I’m talking about something else. Trendspotting is an invaluable tool in business in general, being small/agile and having this trait is even cooler because it means you can early adopt to keep your business relevant. But, I think for me it is most valuable tool in terms of how it relates to brand strategy.
So back to the original question: who sets the trend, really? Trendspotters is the answer I was looking for if you hadn’t figured that out. Trendspotters have an eye for design, but aren’t necessarily designers. Though, I’d argue that we too are artists in our own right. I know my husband would at least agree. Wink, Wink.
Why? Because trendspotters…identify what would make a good trend. Something uniquely wonderful, for one reason or the other. Trendspotters are curators… able to parse the really good from the pretty good.
Brandspotting: Likening trendspotting to creative strategy
If a trendspotter and strategist had a baby, they’d have me. Just kidding. BNR (but not really.) I do think that good creative strategy comes from an eye for what makes a brand (or a design) uniquely wonderful and putting that into practice for an organization. Every brand has to have “a thing” and I love helping guide people to toward their special thing.
If you are rebranding, or doing some brand soul searching I’ll leave you with a few brandspotting tips:
- Look & listen: keep your ears and eyes wide open.
- Patterns: Identify any patterns in the way you work and the way you think and talk about your work.
- Think Creatively: Think outside your business. Look for innovative ideas on the precipice of cool and apply them to your own.
- Investigate: Dig, dig, dig if you can’t identify what makes your organization or product different look further.
- Inspect: Comparing and contrasting ideas and thinking and talking about the merits and shortcomings of ideas are good ways to separate brilliant ideas from ideas.
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