Trendwatching

JANUARY 2005 | Expect plenty of GENERATION C thinking and spottings in 2005, as this mega-trend has only just begun to take off. TRENDWATCHING.COM continues to identify drivers behind the fast growing number of creative consumers, from affordable 'professional' hardware & software to society finally realizing the economic value of the Creative Class.

In this update we'd like to highlight two other major drivers:
• The increase in classes and courses aimed at improving GEN C's creative skills (after all, what are all those pro-am, prosumer tools and software programs worth if consumers don't know how to use them to their full potential).
• The proliferation of 'personal showrooms' helping GENERATION C to instantly display its creations to a global audience.

COURSES & COURSES
Educating GENERATION C on how to make best use of their creative urges is hot. What good would Apple's iLife software be without courses on how to benefit from GarageBand oriMovie? No wonder then, that one of the most popular offerings at Apple Stores across the US (and now in the UK as well) is The Theatre, where Apple fans can participate in one-hour workshops every day, free of charge. Workshops are divided into three categories: 'Introductory Presentations', designed to provide an introduction to the latest hardware and digital lifestyle applications; 'Workshops', which offer more in-depth information about Apple's applications; and 'Pro Workshops', aimed at professionals looking to get the most out of advanced creative tools like DVD Studio Pro 3, Final Cut Pro HD and Logic Pro 7. The extensive agendas for each Theatre are online: check out the one for the NY SoHo store. Observing dozens of GENERATION C members crowd the theatre on a Saturday afternoon will give you a taste of things to come.

Other hardware manufacturers and software developers are also rushing to GENERATION C's help (and selling more of their stuff in the process). Check out Sony 101, which offers free online courses to consumers on a variety of technology and industry topics, including digital photography, HDTV, wireless networking and how to protect their data.

Same drill for HP Online Courses; HP also runs aDigital Photography Center on eBay, helping students to take better pictures, which should then lead to higher sales for GENERATION C members with entrepreneurial aspirations. After all, who said all this creation was for creativity's sake only?

PERSONAL SHOWROOMS
This one was a long time in the making. From the day the web set in motion a virtual world without precedence, futurists, trend watchers, and everyone else obsessing with the dynamics of control, vanity and communications has predicted that individuals would all have their own website one day. After all, where better to show off personal creations and profiles than online, where a global audience is guaranteed. Sure, it took a new generation of OLDBIES, those raised online, to prove them right, but still.

Witness how millions of professionals and digerati occupy blogland, sharing their insights and creative achievements with an ever growing audience, while many younger members ofGENERATION C choose to open up their own showrooms on younger and funkier platforms like Cyworld. About the latter: this South Korean phenomenon now provides more than 10 million South Korean citizens (25% of the entire population) with their own cyber-outlet, where self made poems, stories, songs, photos, videos and what have you can be shown off to other GEN C members and producers, agents, talent scouts and employers alike. Pleasant Cyworld detail: as users can liven up their space with funky digital decorations, or spice things up with videos and music, bought with acorns, Cyworld's currency, this is bringing in about 150 million won (USD 160,000 / EUR 116,000) a day. Cyworld plans to conquer Japan, China, Taiwan, the United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan within the next six months.

Another sign these showrooms are going mass: Microsoft's newly launched MSN Spaces(blogs for the masses). It might not satisfy hardened bloggers, but this Show and Tell service has managed to attract more than 1.5 million GENERATION C-ers since its launch six weeks ago! MSN Spaces offers basic blogfare like online publishing, photo sharing, all kinds of access levels for one's space, postings, automatic updates to registered visitors when one's space has been updated, and so on. Users can update their sites via the web, through e-mail, or with a mobile phone. If they choose, they can publish a feed in the RSS 2.0 format, which will allow readers to view the content in an RSS aggregator. 'Spaces' is available in 14 languages and 26 markets worldwide.

OPPORTUNITIES
Professional hardware and software, skills, showrooms: understanding the GENERATION Ctrend and its many drivers will help you make sense of the many creative outpourings currently sweeping the world. It adds context to crazes-du-jour like podcasting (internet-based radio shows created by GEN C members with access to a microphone and a computer, from the comfort of their own home; for more, check out www.ipodder.org) or the tens of thousands of consumers who have now seen George Masters' do it yourself, 60-second animated iPod commercial.
Next step? YOUR company surprising and delighting consumers with the tools, the software, the skills, and the showrooms to unleash their creative passions. Step after that? TurningGEN C customers into co-creators, something we discussed recently in our CUSTOMER-MADE trend. Ah, so many opportunities and so little time ;-)