LaFutura 2014


On the 7th of November, the fifth edition of LaFutura took place in the creative atmosphere of the phygital Hello bank! pop-up in Brussels.

This year our agency had the honour to host LaFutura, an annual gathering of futurists, innovators and trendspotters from all over the world, who exchange their insights with the aim of developing the trend and future industry. Topnotch speakers, from the biggest trend agencies all over the world, gave a preview of their trend reports of 2015. We would also like to thank Hello bank!, Lavazza, Barry Callebaut and Palm Breweries for supporting our Belgium Culture Breaks. At LaFutura there was also room for interaction and discussion. During workshops, the impact of different trends were explored and implemented. 

This edition of LaFutura gave a sneak peek into the future and highlighted the multidisciplinary nature of the trendwatching industry. Herman Konings (Pocket Marketing/nXt) for example has a background in psychology. In ‘I’ve seen the future … but my dog ate it’, he emphasized the importance of generation thinking and demographics as a ‘crystal ball’.

Olivier Schmid (Politur Berlin) described the ‘Profound’ trend from Politur’s upcoming trend report. Profounds gives a counterweight to the virtual world and describes the increased longing for authentic and tangible experiences. Consumers need products that combine traditions of craftsmanship with modern technology and innovative processes and that help them to ground themselves. Hilde Roothart (Trendslator Amsterdam) also stressed the importance of craftsmanship and gave insights in the society of makers. Triggered by different global evolutions, we move to a collaborative and circular economy where the creativity of everyone is used to solve certain problems.

Both Tom Palmaerts and Brian Tiong (b-side Consulting) are specialized in the study of youth trends. Brian Tiong gave interesting insights in the Asian youth. Asia is transforming from workhorse to creator, this ‘Asia in Beta’ is exciting but complex & chaotic: with different cultures, different languages, different stages of development, each country has its own political, economic & climate challenges. The transformation of Asia is being translated into the changing mindset of youngsters. Young people want to experience, they want to move forward and be successful. 

Brian Tiong also gave insights on The Asian Rebel. Asian youngsters are the conflicted generation and they have an internal conflict between progress and traditions. The rebel inside European youngsters was highlighted by Tom Palmaerts (Trendwolves) who gave an anthology on the European Youth Trend Report ‘Bright Underground’. Tom Palmaerts described the trend ‘Bad Style’, where youngsters exploit the connotation of the word ‘bad’ to its fullest. The new generation is well aware that abiding to the rules isn’t beneficial when it comes to achieving goals. In result, the bad boys and girls are exceedingly reigning supreme, as they break with the status quo to create their own tenets.

By describing the Nasty Sexy Girls trend, Orkide Ergrün (Orkidee Berlin), translated rebellion in the beauty industry. Nasty Sexy Girls move away from super women and celebrate provocations and contradictions. A wave of neo-feminism, where girls embrace their inner bitchiness, expose taboos and protest in high heels. One of the heroes of new-feminism is Lena Dunham, who encourages women to embrace their imperfections. Last but not least, Piers Fawkes and Scott Lachut (PSFK) focused on the retail sector and gave a sneak preview of their upcoming trend report ‘the future of retail (2015)’.

See you next year in Vienna!