London consultancy SCB Partners predicts 15 trends for 2014 for food and drink, fashion and retail, art and entertainment and technology

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image001.jpgLeading London-based trends and marketing insights consultancy SCB Partners, part of Havas Media Group, has announced 15 trends for 2014 for food & drink, fashion & retail, art & entertainment, technology, and other social phenomena.

Food and Drink

 

1.      Food is the New Music: Hackney’s Ribstock was sold out this year…Heard of Grillstock? That’s Bristol’s answer to a BBQ and music festival. Jamie Oliver’s Big Feastival attracted over 20,000 visitors. Already pre-booking for 2014, expect to see a new brood of music foodivals in 2014, including young specialist ones like Daniel Young’s London Burger Bash, combining craft beer and new bands.

image003.jpg2.      Grape Wall of China: China is now officially on the wine map. Berry Brothers & Rudd is now officially stocking Chinese wine, with Chateau Changyu being the first to make the exclusive wine store’s list. Expect more – China now has over 500,000 hectares of vines (3x that of Australia) and ranks 6th in the world for wine production.

 

3.      Vegetable Tea: Veggie-spice-tea blends from Numi Organics promise to be a “garden in your teacup”. You might not get your vitamins from it, those who like warm broths are sure to enjoy this savoury drink.

 

Fashion and Retail

 

4.      Instant Fashion Help Apps: Fashion assistance is on the way! From Fashion Kaleidoscope, a Shazam of fashion (take a picture of something someone is wearing, and it will tell you what it is) to Pose, on which you take a picture of your outfit when in the store dressing room, and your friends can instantly vote on whether you should buy it.

5.      Online Designer Consignment: At Vaunte, Get your hands on gorgeous designer items that fashion stylists, socialites and the like want to unload – Rick Owens, Isabel Marant, Jil Sander, you name it. Walk in My Closet does something similar…

 

6.      Suited & Booted: While new fashion entrants in the menswear fold such as Whistles focus on casual men’s style, menswear will formalise again in celebration of Britain being back in business. Arsenal recently decided to re-establish the tradition of wearing tailored team suits (not tracksuits), to games on match days, and announced Lanvin as the club’s official tailor.

 

image005.jpg7.      Retail Lockers: Parcels, groceries and other items will be delivered to a locker near you. Expecting a package? Co-operative Food Stores, Amazon Locker provides you with a self-service delivery location to pick up your parcels within 3 days, located in tube stations.

Arts and Entertainment

 

8.      Return to Exclusivity: IMG, producer of New York Fashion Week, has declared that it officially become a ‘zoo’, and will be returning to its roots as an industry event for buyers, media and other fashion VIPs. What is image006.jpgLindsay Lohan doing at Art Basel Miami? Expect the art fairs, fashion weeks, key openings at museums to refine their guest lists and up the exclusivity factor in 2014.

 

9.      Branded Record Labels: Red Bull Records is a full-service independent record label creating long-term artist development opportunities, while W Hotels offers a DJ mix app with a range of commissioned extended mixes for your listening pleasure. While few consumers are buying music these days, expect lifestyle consumer image008.jpgbrands to pick up the slack and make their mark in music in 2014.

Places

 

10.   Soul-Cycle Takes On The World: Soul Cycle spinning classes may be the rage already in US cities, but brace yourself for its arrival in London in 2014. At an estimated £25 per class, try not to get too addicted…

 

11.   Detroit Fever: Detroit may be making headlines for its bankruptcy, but it’s quickly becoming a cultural Mecca. Low rents and large spaces are attracting artists and hipsters from around the world (much in the same way as Berlin or Brooklyn a few years back), and with the finest music credentials in techno and house, this city is attracting interest around the world.

 

12.   Eyes on Africa: Okay, fine. For some, it’s all about Brazil 2014. But for those looking longer range at business and investment, retail and entertainment, eyes are on Africa. With many finding that China, Russia and Brazil are essentially played out from a consumer standpoint, Africa is presenting opportunities for those wanting to reach luxury consumers to the new emerging consumer classes.

Technology 

13.   Social Media Ecosystem Evolution: We now know what’s what. WhatsApp is for you top

15 friends. Punt. Facebook is for old friends, friends we don’t talk to anymore, or friends of friends. Twitter is for building up your online persona, or getting some new ideas. Instagram is for embellishing and showing off your experiences to anyone who cares. Skype is for talking to your parents. Voila.

14.   Planalytics: From cafes to fashion to appliance retailers, store buying teams will be using data tools to will use online tools to identify and quantify how weather influences consumer demand (by region, by time period) for specific products and services, buying and marketing accordingly.

 

15.   Apple Fatigue: Trendsetters are moving on…phone-wise, Samsung and Nokia have sparked interest with their latest handsets and tablets.