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2022 Trends - Even the Terms Are Different!

Each year, Wunderman Thompson (the ‘old’ J. Walter Thompson organization) publishes a list of trends that will impact us for the year as well as for the foreseeable future.  This year’s list has a couple of new categories (there are always 10 categories with 10 trends in each) and terms that ‘don’t spell check’!  Here are the categories - and a couple of the trends that you might find of interest. 

 1.Culture

  • Unbounded optimism:  brands are projecting a progressive and positive outlook for 2022, encouraging playfulness and creativity.  (We really need this today!)
  • Renewed intimacy:  we are tired of being isolated . . . . . and venues are prepared to have you back! 

2.Tech & Innovation

  • Finite social networks:  social networks that cap either how many users there are OR how many life-time posts you can make.

3.Travel & Hospitality

  •  Microadventures:  tied to renewed intimacy (above), we are tired of being home.  Local  adventures are a short-term yet satisfying fix.  

4.Brands & Marketing

  • New company manifestos:  companies are updating their messaging to attract new       customers and/or employees.   

5.Food & Drink  

  • Foraged cocktails:  farm to table for food; why not expand the trend to cocktails?   
  • Haute veganism:  vegan dining is moving to fine dining (from earthy-crunchy). 

6.Beauty

  • New beauty labels:  mainline companies are being more transparent about their practices (especially environmentally). 

7.Retail & Commerce (the ‘& Commerce’ is new for 2022)  

  • Private domains:  chat-commerce (or c-commerce) is becoming the norm when interacting with retail websites. 
  • NFT marketplaces:  non-fungible tokens that can be used in the metaverse. 

8.Luxury (it’s back as a category in 2022!)

  • Long recovery spas:  it is no longer a spa day.  Spas are offering longer-term stays, especially when the guest is focused on recovery from long-COVID. 

9.Health

  • Prescription gaming:  doctors are prescribing (video) games and virtual reality to treat conditions including ADHD, depression and post-traumatic stress. 
  • Emotional health:  public spaces for mental healthy and emotional well-being are popping up.   

10.Work (the category is back - replacing Finance which was NEW for 2020 which replaced the Lifestyle category)

  • Chief impact officers:  a new ‘C-suite’ role designed to showcase a brand’s community and societal impact. 
  • The nomad economy:  businesses are popping up to support the growing number of remote workers who can be anywhere (globally). 

See https://www.wundermanthompson.com/insight/the-future-100-2022 to get the details. 

The employers linked to each of these categories are growing - and will continue to do so.  (We look forward to doing search work in one or more of these areas!)  

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