The Cassandra Report: The Future Issue

Three times a year The Intelligence Group publishes The Cassandra Report®, an in-depth look into the lives of 14-34 year old consumers. It’s a comprehensive understanding of emerging trends across a broad range of topics, including technology, entertainment, fashion, spending, marketing, attitudes and consumer products. In honor of their just-published January 2006 Report, this week at Utobia will be devoted to sharing some of their most recent findings with you.

They have redesigned The Cassandra Report® so that, throughout the year, it will be separated into three distinct issues. Although each will still include macro and micro trends, brand preferences, and ones to watch, each issue will have a different theme.

January: The Future Issue
This issue will focus on the ten themes they see being the most relevant to the coming year and beyond. Some are emerging trends, some are more longstanding, but each will affect consumers, brands, and how marketers will need to talk to people. In addition to the overarching themes, categories are divided into “NOW” and “NEXT” so that you can get a clear sense of trends in fashion, entertainment, lifestyle, media and many more areas.

MOTION PICTURE TRENDS: NEXT

INTERACTIVE THEATER VIEWING: In the future, going to the movies may become more like a theme park ride, as technology makes it possible for theaters to offer an experience that includes motion, vibrations, temperature changes, wind, scents, or strobe lighting. Ultimately, viewers will be able to really “feel” a movie in theaters, not just watch it – which could give the multiplex an edge over home entertainment. We could also see the return of audience participation. Screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, complete with live actors and props, still live on in some cities, and we think younger audience are looking for more of these participatory movie experiences. In the future, smart studios will tap into this trend, offering similar interactive experiences that buck the passive audience tradition.

MOVIE LIBRARIES: Downloading TV shows was hot in the press in 2005, but we think 2006 will see movie downloading start to become more commonplace. Just as CD collections have gone the way of MP3s, movie collections will also likely go into digital storage. When movie downloading services become more user-friendly, we expect to see a dramatic increase in personal movie collections, similar to the boom we’ve seen in music collections due to the digital revolution. Because access will be greater, people will generally be more well-versed about not only Hollywood movies, but indie and classic films, as well. Up next, downloadable movies formatted for portable media devices.