The Non-Obvious Trend Report Archive
The third edition became an Amazon bestseller, topping the Marketing Research category for nearly three months, with more than 250,000 views of the online edition. It covered the future of print publishing, the rise of women in business, human banking, hyper-local commerce and learning beyond degrees.
The Story Of The 2013 Report
In the third year of the trend report, the level of detail expanded to more than 100 pages as the report featured more real-life examples and broader analysis. This edition of the Non-Obvious Trend Report did not originally use the five categories introduced later for alignment with future years, so I retroactively applied them and created the icons. This was also the first year that I produced a companion ebook, which was sold online and included tips on how to put the trends into action. Thanks to the audience built from the first two editions, this was an instant No. 1 business best seller online. Trends that resonated most from this report included Precious Print, on the importance of physical printed objects; Rise of Women, on growth of female leaders in the workplace; Backstorytelling, on why people trust organizations that tell better stories; and Shoptimization, on the growing focus in retail experiences on making it easier and faster for customers to buy. Many of the ideas and themes introduced this year continued to resonate and affect later years of trend predictions. They even provided early inspiration for some megatrends introduced in this book. Optimistic Aging Human Banking Mefunding Branded Inspiration Backstorytelling Healthy Content Degree-Free Learning Precious Print Partnership Publishing Microinnovation Social Visualization Heroic Design Hyper Local Commerce Powered by Women Shoptimization
Trend Longevity Ratings measure how well each prediction held up. Graded in 2026.
15 trends
Trend 01 · 2013
Audio content delivered via innovative technology helps brands generate deeper consumer engagement.
Trend 02 · 2013
Organizations discover that taking people behind the scenes of their brand and history is one of the most powerful ways to inspire loyalty and drive purchase.
As earning trust continues to be a challenge, the impact of using stories to offer a reason to believe in a brand's mission and share it with others continues to be effective and necessary.
Trend 03 · 2013
Brands create awe-inspiring moments, innovative ideas, and dramatic stunts to capture attention and sometimes demonstrate their values to the world.
While this trend was about using big moments for inspiration, we continue to see a reliance on stunts to attract attention, an idea also reflected in our Strategic Spectacle trend from 2019.
Trend 04 · 2013
Thanks to developments in e-learning content, more students look for alternatives to traditional university programs online.
Lifelong learners and those starting their careers continue to seek direct ways to learn new skills, solve problems, and get smarter without the necessity for a degree attached to that knowledge.
Trend 05 · 2013
As more travelers share reviews from their travel experiences online, a modern travel guidebook is generated on the Internet.
Trend 06 · 2013
Health care organizations feel pressure to create more useful and substantial health content to satisfy increasingly empowered patients who are skeptical of messages delivered in other ways.
The wealth of content about health online has exploded, as has the volume of credible and authoritative health care organizations publishing and sharing this content in multiple formats online.
Trend 07 · 2013
Design takes a leading role in the invention and adoption of new products, ideas, and campaigns to help change the world.
The growth of design thinking and a continued global need for audacious solutions to problems facing humankind have made this a trend we see renewed examples of every year.
Trend 08 · 2013
Aiming to change years of growing distrust, banks finally uncover their human side by taking a more authentic approach to services and developing real relationships with customers.
Recurring financial crises and immoral activities underscore the importance of this trend, but growing inequality and continued distrust of banks remain hard to overcome.
Trend 09 · 2013
New services and technology make it easier for anyone to invest in local businesses and buy from local merchants.
While local commerce continues to matter, threats from turnkey online competitors and the ability to have anything delivered make this a trend that has diminished in importance.
Trend 10 · 2013
Crowdfunding gets personal as individuals use it to seek financial support for everything from taking a life-changing trip to paying for college.
Although many sites featured as part of this trend remain available for donations, the widespread use of tools to raise personal funding has not accelerated the way we initially anticipated.
Trend 11 · 2013
Companies create “on-the-side” consulting models to help others duplicate their successes.
Trend 12 · 2013
Thinking small becomes popular as seemingly insignificant adjustments to features or benefits create significant added value.
The focus on making incremental changes to products in ways that can deliver ongoing value continues to drive many companies to innovate in small, sometimes hard-to-notice but still measurable ways.
Trend 13 · 2013
A wealth of online content and new social networks inspires people of all ages to feel more optimistic about getting older.
This sense of optimism about the future remains intact but is increasingly tempered by rising fears about the long-term security of the environment, divisive politics, and a global economy in flux.
Trend 14 · 2013
Aspiring authors, lacking a platform, and seasoned publishing professionals, in need of partners and content, team up to create a new "do-it-together" model of publishing.
This trend inspired my wife and I to start Ideapress Publishing in 2014 and still drives a shift in publishing but has led many entrants of questionable ethics and quality into the industry.
Trend 15 · 2013
Business leaders, pop culture, and ground-breaking new research intersect to prove that our ideal future will be led by strong and innovative women working on the front lines.
As women take increasingly prominent roles in business and culture, this trend remains a powerful force. It was the precursor to a popular 2017 trend, Fierce Femininity.
Trend 16 · 2013
Thanks to our digital-everything culture, the few objects and moments we choose to interact with in print become more valuable.
The fact that we place even more value on the things that are printed because they are more valuable and rarer has continued unabated, leading us to bring this trend back in 2017.
Trend 17 · 2013
The proliferation of smart phones, new mobile apps, and startups lets consumers optimize and enhance the process of shopping for anything online and off.
Shopping experiences are optimized as retailers in all categories develop better mobile-enabled interfaces, smarter kiosks, easy-to-use apps, and a faster one-button checkout process.
Trend 18 · 2013
To make data more accessible, new tools and technologies allow people to visualize content as part of their social profiles and online conversations.
Tools for visualizing data continue to be commonplace and popular. This is one of those trends that were emerging when first written but seem obvious and still accurate.
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