Havas PR Predicts 17 Trends That Will Shape 2017

[ This is a post from our 2017 Renaissance Awards event sponsor Havas PR. ]

The team at Havas PR has a history of observing, spotting and predicting trends. In 2014, we predicted the value of authenticity over mass production. In 2015, we focused on the rise of the “self” (self-portrait, self-parody, self-ie) and in 2016 we called out the rise of unease about our totally chaotic world. What’s going on in 2017? We’ve predicted 17 trends that will shape 2017, all centered on the theme, “Blowback.”

As the affluent, the comfortable and the successful have had a ball throwing around, and profiting from, terms like “innovation” and “sharing economy,” a massive percentage of the world’s population has felt left out and passed over. These same people are starting to suspect that all this fabulous change is coming at their expense. And they’re ready to show the people, fixtures and forces they blame what “disruption” is all about. That’s why “blowback” is the trend that pierces all others in Havas PR’s newly released forecast for next year, “Blowback to the Future: The Trends That Will Shape 2017.”

Some blowback will be personal (think: relationships, lifestyle), but a lot will be on a much bigger scale, and it may not always be pretty: People are more energized to act against what they don’t want than for what they do want, and that can be seen in our agency’s 17 global trends that cover everything from how we’ll eat, dress and decorate our homes to how we’ll feel about gender, politics and our life and times.

Here are just a few of the trends you need to know in 2017:

• Boiling Points: The predicted blowback may not always be pretty: People are more energized to act against what they don’t want (whether it be Airbnb or Donald Trump) than for what they do want.

• Cell Phone Health Scare: With the number of smartphone users worldwide currently over two billion and growing, there’s a massive market shaping up to investigate and treat the ailments that will certainly emerge.

• Dressed for Zuckerberg Success: The more billionaires and tech stars wear T-shirts and jeans, the more a vest and open-collar dress shirt look like last-century throwbacks.

• Sugar Showdown: The public’s burgeoning interest in “clean” food has left even less room in our diets for “dirty” sugar.

• Life Hacks: For marketers, tracking life hack searches has to be one of the smartest new product hacks available.

Click here to download the full list of “The Trends That Will Shape 2017.”

Havas PR (@havasprus) is the North American earned-media and buzz agency within French holding company Havas. Havas PR lives and thrives in New York City and three promising P’s – Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Providence – proving through their successes that “Local is the new global” (our trend spotted many years ago) has truly come to life. They’re newscrafters and buzz builders who launch and nurture brands that people admire, adore and emulate.