1. Trends 2013
The Future Foundation
For more information please contact:
Karen Canty
Email: karenc@futurefoundation.net
Direct number: +44 (0) 20 3008 6107

2. Trends 2013: Key trends and narratives 2
2013 : 10 trends to watch
 Cheap Treats
 New Cult of The Home
 Ish!
 Society of Sobriety
 Native Marketing
 The Hyper Individual
 Gen Y4G
 De-Globalisation
 Graphene Nation
 Pension Half-Board

3. Trends 2013: Key trends and narratives 3
CHEAP TREATS
 Cheap Treats references the escapist
consumer’s response to austerity in
interaction with the ability of inexpensive
products to redefine themselves as agents
of reprieve and indulgence.
 While many of us might delay spend on
luxury items and major purchases, not all
quality-rich indulgences are rendered
unattainable in the current sober
economic climate. Pleasure can be found
and legitimated in the smallest of things.
Focus for 2013 : The demand for Cheap Treats will shape consumer shopper habits as
spending power remains weak - we expect there will be more trading across and within
categories rather than mere trading down. The creative re-positioning of products once
seemingly unexceptional will stimulate innovation and offer consumers ever more
opportunities to find day-to-day moments of fun and release from the burden of austere living.
Key facts : 6 in 10 agree “It's really important that I can treat myself when I want”.
40+% are buying cheaper groceries as a result of the downturn.
Source: nVision Research | Base: 1,000–5,000 online respondents aged 16+, GB, 2012

4. Trends 2013: Key trends and narratives 4
NEW CULT OF THE HOME
 The New Cult of the Home remains one
of the UK’s most epoch-defining trends.
The home continues to hold deep cultural,
social and psychological meaning for the
UK consumer : at once an investment,
leisure venue, familial cocoon, network
hub, a refuge from a fraught labour
market. Austerity reinforces the trend, as
doing things at home remains cheaper
than going to the cinema, dining in
restaurants, drinking in bars.
Focus for 2013 : Economic realities will seriously energise the New Cult of the Home in
many respects. The numbers of young people unable or unwilling to leave the family home at
a once conventional point is a significant social phenomenon now; teenage bedrooms are
morphing into adult pods. Meanwhile, the family becomes an ever more vital source of
financial solidarity as pensions weaken and tertiary education stays expensive.
Key facts : Today a first-time buyer can be asked for an advance 3.2 times their income.
Over 80% of ABs agree it is important they own their own home, cf 55% of DEs.
Source: nVision Research | Base: 1,000–5,000 online respondents aged 16+, GB, 2012 / Council of Mortgage Lenders 2012

5. Trends 2013: Key trends and narratives 5
ISH!
 In Ish! we focus on evolutions in human
relationships - identifying that these days
the lasting success of any intimate union
is much more performance-conditional.
 The trend explores the commercial
analogies of all this : how consumers are
becoming ever more promiscuous in an
age where there are fewer pressures /
obligations on us to stay with brands
which are no longer giving satisfaction or
with contracts that last forever.
Focus for 2013 : At heart, Ish! is a debate about the nature of contract, subscription and tariff
in modern UK - a debate which will intensify in 2013 and beyond. Just what will it actually
mean for a brand to have a “relationship” with a customer? Ish! invites all consumers to ask :
just what is my loyalty to my mobile supplier/insurance company/utility actually bringing me
and should I start to de-clutter my lifestyle and stay free of commercial entanglements?
Key facts : 3 in 10 claim to regularly switch between different financial products and
providers. 77% want to be switched automatically to the cheapest utility tariff.
Source: nVision Research | Base: 1,000–5,000 online respondents aged 16+, GB, 2012

6. Trends 2013: Key trends and narratives 6
SOCIETY OF SOBRIETY
 Under the Society of Sobriety trend we
examine the creeping preference for
moderate living among modern consumer
tribes.
 In the face of so much health information,
advice and regulation, can it be that
consumers are slowly self-disciplining
against excessive indulgence and bad
fun? Is sin-free living gaining a cultural
vibe? A number of related trends
converge to make it so.
Focus for 2013 : Austerity on its own stimulates sober lifestyles as consumers curb frivolous
spend. At the same time, we do not expect the momentum behind the promotion of healthier
lifestyles from Government to dissipate. It is these days barely realistic to claim that one does
not know how many calories are in a hamburger or how may alcohol units spell binge. Excess
is just not funny any more, not attractive, not conducive to social success.
Key facts : The banning of cigarette displays in all shops is to be complete by 2013.
A majority of people now agree it is responsible to limit Xmas gifts for kids.
Source: nVision Research | Base: 1,000–5,000 online respondents aged 16+, GB, 2012

7. Trends 2013: Key trends and narratives 7
NATIVE MARKETING
 Native Marketing examines how brands
are making psychologically rich journeys
for/with their customers, narrating their
presence into the heart of their social
spaces.
 Brands become lifestyle accessories,
engaging us with intelligent content and
creative distraction. In this world, there is
no vulgar discussion about price and
value-for-money; the brand is no longer a
product in any 20th century sense.
Focus for 2013 : The release of 4G networks across all major mobile networks in 2013 will
widen consumers’ access to high-level content on-the-go, leaving the platform for Native
Marketing wider and more accessible. One can expect too more brands setting out to DJ
culturally valuable experiences for all stakeholders - even those who are not (or not yet)
actual consumers of the branded product.
Key facts : Coca-Cola’s Facebook page has over 53 million likes.
As 2012 closes, ca 6 in 10 16-24s in GB follow a brand on a social network.
Source: nVision Research | Base: 1,000–5,000 online respondents aged 16+, GB, 2012

8. Trends 2013: Key trends and narratives 8
THE HYPER INDIVIDUAL
 The Hyper Individual is in control. Armed
with efficient, intelligent data-monitoring
services, 4G internet access and
programmed algorithms, there is a
modern consumer driven to run her life
ever more purposefully and with
relentlessly upgraded professionalism.
 We reference here the New Maximising :
a super-trend by which all tools of self-
reliance and household management are
sharpened in every direction.
Focus for 2013 : Saving money is a powerful agent for this story (in a time when inflation in
household bills is specially acute). Meanwhile, consumer empowerment naturally intensifies
as so much of living becomes efficient and automated under the wave of ever more portable/
versatile net-enabled products. Consumption, for some, starts to resemble an extreme sport.
Key facts : 4 in 10 GB consumers check and compare prices on a weekly basis.
Hukkster notifies its users when garments they want to purchase fall in price.
Source: nVision Research | Base: 1,000–5,000 online respondents aged 16+, GB, 2012

9. Trends 2013: Key trends and narratives 9
GENERATION Y4G
 Gen Y4G explains the shift to an ever
more entrepreneurial, do-not-wait-for-nice-
things-to-happen lifestyle among the
under-30s.
 An extremely techno-literate tribe, Gen
Y4G are tackling the unique challenges of
their times - more living-at-home, a still
vexed entry into career markets, much
delayed household formation and home
ownership, debt accumulation, pressured
incomes - with an equally unique tool-kit.
Focus for 2013 : 2013 will further accelerate change to Gen Y lifestyles and the under-30s
will be particularly spurred to utilise digital resources, personal initiative and peer- and family-
networks to win in an austere climate. The realisation that the State is a poor provider will
impel those that have them to exploit their degree-level skills to de-victimise their existence
and to apply business model thinking to how they run their lifestyles and their futures.
Key facts : 6 in 10 Gen Ys agree they are prepared to take risks to get what they want in life.
70% of over-30s say Gen Y faces more financial challenges than previous ones.
Source: nVision Research | Base: 1,000–5,000 online respondents aged 16+, GB, 2012

10. Trends 2013: Key trends and narratives 10
DE-GLOBALISATION
 Discontent with the UK’s membership of
the EU is such that a tabula rasa
referendum is proposed by some. Even
moderate voices express concern over the
scale of foreign ownership of much loved
UK brands and the encroachment of
corporate acquisition from overseas.
 Consumers continue to be moved to Buy
British/Scottish/Welsh as a device for
protecting local regional development and
endorsing superior indigenous quality.
Focus for 2013 : As discussions about fiscal and banking union swell in mainland EU, so the
UK - feeling relatively remote from the Eurozone Crisis - falls under pressure to declare its
long term membership objectives. This will colour public debate in the UK, reinforcing a sense
of national autarky and inviting a re-definition of our relationships with and responsibilities
towards the rest of the world. Will Buy British flourish beyond recession? Accordingly, yes.
Key facts : Only around 20% of Britons have a positive image of the EU. Around 50% agree
they are keener now to buy locally produced goods.
Source: nVision Research | Base: 1,000–5,000 online respondents aged 16+, GB, 2012 / Eurobarometer 2012

11. Trends 2013: Key trends and narratives 11
GRAPHENE NATION
 Objects and the processes which create
them are almost completely unstable now.
 The evolution captured by the term 3D
Printing is paving new forms of product
personalisation and customisation, while
providing fresh invitations to individual
creativity. Meanwhile, the revolutionary
nano-chemistry of graphene promises
radical improvements to touch screens
and liquid crystal displays - as well as
making everything bendable/foldable.
Focus for 2013 : So far, much of this story has been confined to geekish magazines and
futurology’s wider shores. But it will be increasingly vital to see Graphene Nation as a social
trend as much as a technological dream. This is a story about consumers effectively
designing and using their own products and indeed their own brands in ways which both
stretch their personal creativity and re-order relationships with companies.
Key facts : 70% of under-24s agree that it is important to be able to express personal
creativity. The developers of graphene are Nobel Prize winners.
Source: nVision Research | Base: 1,000–5,000 online respondents aged 16+, GB, 2012

12. Trends 2013: Key trends and narratives 12
PENSION HALF-BOARD
 As the pension-age population rises, so
the stock of pension finance declines : a
function of rigour in state spending,
dramatic reductions in final corporate
schemes, permanently weakened
annuities…
 Thus (as is increasingly understood) many
will be a) working beyond 70 b) depleting
legacy assets c) drawing finance from
younger family members. Society
becomes ageless in new, dramatic ways.
Focus for 2013 : In 2013, there will be topical debate about the special costs of living (eg
utility bills, withdrawal of allowances) for those on fixed incomes. HMG’s state pension
reforms (via the Hutton Report) will further stimulate the realisation that only dedicated lifelong
saving will protect late-age living standards. Slow-burn so far, the issue is now explosive as
those in their 20s are educated to save for their 70s while the whole notion of retirement dies.
Key facts : 1.4 million people are still in the labour market beyond state pension age. A
majority now expect to work longer to fund old age.
Source: nVision Research | Base: 1,000–5,000 online respondents aged 16+, GB, 2012 / ONS

13. Trends 2013
The Future Foundation
For more information please contact:
Karen Canty
Email: karenc@futurefoundation.net
Direct number: +44 (0) 20 3008 6107