Topic
- Future of the Agency
ELEVATING HUMANITY & CONNECTION ARE KEY BRAND OPPORTUNITIES FOR 2024
VML launches the tenth edition of ‘The Future 100: 2024’ with the world’s first virtual futurist who can answer real-time questions about the trends set to shape consumer spending over the next year
PRESS RELEASE: 24 JAN 2024 10AM EST: In a post-COVID world that is being shaped by a bewildering amount of technology, people are craving authentic human connection more than ever before.
The insight, from VML’s highly anticipated ‘The Future 100: 2024’ lays out 100 trends set to shape consumer spending over the next year. The report finds that consumers are in their Slow Living era, known as ‘The Great Deceleration’ slowing down their lifestyles and opting for a mindful approach to the year ahead. As humanity undergoes a paradigm shift with identity at the heart, advances in technology are ushering in a new reality and prompting people to question what it means to be human.
In this new paradigm, the most successful and fastest growing brands are connected brands, as people seek emotional engagement with the brands they buy from. Data collected exclusively for ‘The Future 100: 2024’ reveals 79% of people believe ‘the role of a brand has changed over the past five years’, with the top three roles of brands to ‘make the world a better place’ (40%); ‘improve people’s health and wellbeing’ (38%); and ‘create a more positive and helpful future’ (32%).
Emma Chiu and Marie Stafford, Co-Authors and Global Intelligence Directors at VML said: “As 2024 unfolds, an intentional slowdown shifts the pace for people and businesses after years of rapid acceleration. Community and connection at scale are essential to 2024, with 67% of people agreeing that community is more important than one individual and 76% believe that technology helps bring people together. With most consumers looking for surprise, mystery, awe, and wonder in their lives, new experiences that engage a wide spectrum of emotions are in demand. A profound and enriching year awaits!”
This year marks the 10th year of the Future 100. To celebrate this milestone and bring the report to life, VML is set to launch F.L.I.C (Future. Learning. Interactive. Connected.), a fully interactive AI avatar that can answer real-time questions about the report. Using Epic Metahuman, VML created a photo-realistic face for F.L.I.C and chose longstanding technology partner Odyssey to stream this Unreal Engine 5 based-app to users. The proprietary technology, which is exclusive to Odyssey, creates virtual personifications to give a face to AI, and allows clients to access and interact with F.L.I.C directly through their web-browser. F.L.I.C will be live on 6 February 2024 to coincide with live Future 100: 2024 launch events in London and New York.
Naomi Troni, Global Chief Marketing Officer at VML commented: “The Future 100 is one of our most anticipated reports, and this year is no exception. With humans craving ‘passion and togetherness’ – particularly as we see AI becoming more and more mainstream – the time is right for brands to tap into this shift, and use technology to connect with humans on a deeper level as they opt for a more mindful approach for the year ahead.”
The Future 100 covers 10 sectors including Culture, Technology, Travel & Hospitality, Brands & Marketing, Food & Drink, Beauty, Retail, Luxury, Health, and Innovation. Also included for the 10th anniversary is original consumer data from surveys in nine different countries, and interviews with experts across various fields to give their takes on the past decade and what to look out for in 2024.
For more information, contact:
Credits:
Authors: Emma Chiu and Marie Stafford, Global Directors, VML Intelligence
Writers: Emily Safian Demers, John O’Sullivan, Nina Jones
Sub Editors: Hester Lacey, Katie Myers
Creative Director: Shazia Chaudhry
Cover: Peach Fuzz, Pantone Color of the Year 2024 – courtesy of The Development x Almost Studios
Fonts Used: Clone Rounded Latin; Dystopian; Snowflake Sans
About VML
VML is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brands to drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and award-winning work for blue chip client partners including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Intel, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy’s. The agency is recognized by the Forrester Wave™️ Reports, which name WPP as a “Leader” in Commerce Services, Global Digital Experience Services, Global Marketing Services and, most recently, Marketing Measurement & Optimization. In addition, VML’s specialist health network, VML Health, is one of the world’s largest and most awarded health agencies. VML’s global network is powered by 30,000 talented people across 60-plus markets, with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, Detroit, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney.
VML is a WPP agency (NYSE: WPP). For more information, please visit www.vml.com, and follow along on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. #WeAreVML
About The Future 100
The Future 100 is VML Intelligence’s annual forecast presents a snapshot of the year ahead and identifies the most compelling trends to keep on the radar. The report charts 100 trends across 10 sectors, spanning culture, technology, travel and hospitality, brands and marketing, food and drink, beauty, retail, luxurv, health, and innovation.
Methodology
Unless otherwise stated, all findings in this report were collected by VML with SONAR™️ in September 2023. The study fielded September 13-October 16, 2023, when we surveyed 9,000 adults across nine markets
1,000 participants per market) the markets covered in this research are Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, France, India, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Respondents are representative of their
respective market in regard to age, gender, and income. Upon analysis, the global data was weighted so that five regions were equally represented: LATAM (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico), EMEA (France and the United Kingdom), the United States, China, and India.
