Simone Pallotto

2010 Master Thesis by Simone Pallotto

Aalto University

School of Art and Design

Department of Design

Industrial and Strategic Design

In cooperation with Tupperware

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Types of change 2

2.1. Trends 2

2.2. Why trends? The importance of trends 3

2.3. From where to gather trends 4

2.4. Trends´ classification 6

2.5. Other concepts related to trends 9

2.6. Business categorization in relation to trends 12

2.7. Trends’ evolution 14

3. Working with trends 15

3.1. Future Concept Lab 17

3.1.1. Insights on Future Concept Lab 20

3.2. Nokia’s influence from fashion 21

3.2.1. Insights on the Nokia Case 31

3.3. Whirlpool focus on contemporary behaviors 33

3.3.1. Insights on the Whirlpool Case 37

3.4. Philips Design’s corporate approach to trends 38

3.4.1. Insights on Philips Design 41

3.5. Learning from the company cases 41

4. Tupperware case study 45

4.1. What Tupperware is 45

4.2. The glorious past 47

4.3. Responding to socio-cultural trends 48

4.4. Tupperware’s inconsistencies 51

4.5. The company’s characteristics 54

4.6. Why still on track? 55

5. Suggestions for enhancing innovation 58

5.1. Tupperware trends network 58

5.2. Trends group 59

5.3. Trends portal and trends playing cards 60

5.4. The ‘trends day’ workshop 65

6. Proposals built on trends 70

6.1. Shaping the Tupperware brand essence 74

6.2. New concepts supporting the revised brand vision 77

6.2.1. Tupperware Web Portal 79

6.2.2. Tupperware Lounge 81

6.2.3. Tupperware Life Coach System 83

6.3. Conclusions 84

6.4. Acknowledgements 87

7. References 88

8. Appendices 91

8.1. Trend forecasting links 91

8.2. Trends collection / Trends cards 92

8.3. Impact scheme interpretation 93

8.4. The new Tupperware brand persona 94

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1. Introduction In saturated markets, today more than ever, profit-oriented companies have difficulties selling

products to customers more attentive of and informed about what they buy. Tupperware, the

company of the famous plastic boxes, as many still identify it, is also experiencing difficulties to

successfully reach its potential customers. Through continuously updating and enlarging the

product portfolio, combined with completely new trendy color palettes, the company retains its

market leadership, but this is becoming increasingly difficult. Tupperware financed this thesis

project in order to explore other ways through which they could facilitate strategic decisions to

ensure better sales performances.

Innovation, understood primarily as technological research and technology application,

marketing approaches or corporate strategies or even design, seems to be the target towards

which companies are redirecting their agendas in order to improve or change their current

market share. In this period of heavy changes, such professional figures such as futurologists or

trend specialists have become more popular. The term trend is nowadays very much used (and

misused) by professionals and not professional alike. Although mostly related to the field of

fashion when it comes to colors or styles, the concept of trend is commonly used in the

financial world. In product development, trends were first adopted by the fashion industry as a

synonym of tendencies of colors and styles. This thesis looks at how the concept of trend can be

associated to other fields like society, culture, technology and aesthetics. It represents a valid

way to snapshot a situation in time and is potentially very useful for strategic decision taking.

Forecasting and collecting trends seem to be well utilized and understood, considering that

companies are buying constantly trend data made by forecasting companies and that even

specific books on trends are best sellers. Nevertheless, no detailed and clear information was

available when commencing this thesis related to how trends are used in the creative industry

for product development and communications purposes. This represents the specific gap in the

design-related literature that this thesis wants to investigate and contribute to.

The primary purpose of this thesis is to illustrate and illuminate via in-depth case analyses the

utility value of trends in design and business planning processes and practices. Moreover, the

research findings are applied specifically to the company Tupperware for the construction of a

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practical tool needed to facilitate and guide strategic decisions in product development based

on trend forecasting. The ultimate focus is to help Tupperware to be more competitive and

successful. A test run of this tool was simulated in order to provide the client with workable

examples of ideas, concepts and directions.

In focusing on the processes of identification, utilization and market validation of trends for

developing products and services, this thesis also aims to clarify the general concept and use of

trends in design and designing artifacts. Moreover, it seeks to go further into categorizing the

different types of trends and establishing a draft for a systematic process that aims to enhance

innovation in product development.

2. Types of change

2.1. Trends Tendency can be a more helpful term for conveying and describing a trend. For instance, typical

tendencies of colors or styles in the fashion world are trends around which much of the fashion

industry utilizes in creating the seasonal collections. At the in-house presentation of the Future

Laboratory held in London in June 2007, an intriguing sentence from William Gibson was cited:

“The future is already here, it’s just not very evenly distributed” (Gibson 2007, Future Laboratory

presentation). In his view, the world can be seen as a mosaic and trends are a tool for helping us

distributing today’s ‘pieces’ in order to build the mosaic of the future. A similar consideration

comes from trend analyst Virpi Vaittinen, who was asked the reason why trends were important.

She simply replied: “Because the research is intended to support the design of products that will

hit the market in the future; without trends consideration those products may be outdated”

(Vaittinen 2007, interview). Ezio Manzini puts it in this way: “To design the future does not

mean to invent the future but to re-orient and re-conceptualize some existing drivers of

changes” (Manzini 2005: 26), where drivers of changes could also incorporate trends.

Before continuing further and to avoid confusion it is necessary to set a consensus about the

meaning of ‘trend’ for this thesis. Of all the collected definitions from different fields, it was

chosen to slightly simplify one definition mentioned during the PSFK conference 2007 in

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London, because of its information level. Throughout this thesis, trends are operationalised as

“significant patterns of recent human behaviors”. Consequently, everything coming from more

recent human behaviors that are possible to see in patterns and that are significant, constitutes

a trend. By the word recent, the author considers a timeframe of a few months to a few

decades. Doing so, the definition includes all the categories of trends, explained in the next

chapter.

Following is an example of a contemporary demographic trend, including two possible

considerations it may generate within a possible strategic phase. ‘Ageing population’ is a typical

example of a contemporary trend that is affecting almost every area of the developed world. In

product development, with such patterns at hand, it is more inspiring and easier to eventually

generate consideration for future strategic development. This fact could lead to multiple

strategic choices, especially when in combination with other factors. ‘Ageing population’ means

there will be more active senior citizens, ready to consume. One, therefore, could focus on

developing products for seniors like mobile phones with bigger buttons. However, ageing could

also be interpreted as a growing number of grandparents ready to spoil their grandchildren. This

situation could be translated into huge opportunities in sectors such as child furniture (where

IKEA was a pioneer a few years ago), clothing (famous and expensive brands are nowadays

selling premium pieces of clothes for children) and other industries, too. It emerges that trends

do not necessarily lead to right or wrong decisions/answers but they are useful to trigger

thinking and speculation of the present situation for future actions. Moreover, following trends

is safer than following some other sources. In an era where people look after easiness,

companies like Philips have a step ahead of its competition from the moment its philosophy is

to bring sense and simplicity to people’s life. It does that by focusing on people and not on

technology itself. This thought is fully integrated into its products making them as intuitive as

possible. Philips products are transforming from being technology-driven to people and

function-driven.

2.2. Why trends? The importance of trends In the past years, also due to the digital revolution, consumers have been remarkably quick to

adopt trends. This is why it is now critical to keep track of what is happening in the macro

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environment of an organization, so that strategic changes can be crafted and managed.

According to Marseille and Roos (2005) using trend data in product development gives

companies the possibility to work more productively, because they are less surprised when rapid

changes in consumer preferences take place. Trend analysis will help avoid out-of the budget

costs and crisis management will not have to deal with last minute stress caused by reacting to

competitors’ moves.

Music publishing and photo printing are two good examples of industries that did not

acknowledge the new habits of consumers and they are now facing extinction if contemporary

trends are not incorporated into their strategies. Trends could be meaningful and valuable in

multiple areas such as business planning, marketing and design and product or service

development.

2.3. From where to gather trends Trends come from everywhere; one has just to be receptive to them with open eyes. Trend guru

and consultant Robyn Waters also suggests that trend forecasting involves going out from the

office in fact he stated: “I do believe it's important to get out in the real world and experience

new things, try new products, go new places, discover new restaurants, go to new events. We

spend too much of our time in front of a screen” (Waters 2006: 1).

Specifically, trends often found in innovative human expressions including art, fashion, interior

and automotive design, architecture, cinema, pop, music and food. It is in those areas where

truly new things happen. Subcultures are the place where trends originate (Shupp 2003). From

an interview published by Nokia, Senior Design Manager Lisa Puolakka went with her team

observing and interviewing people in the streets to find trends for the Nokia L’Amour Collection. She explains that the process involved other sources like browsing different types of media and

observing cutting-edge works in various creative industries from movies, fine arts to graphic

designs and attending furniture and fashion fairs (Fisher & Puolakka 2005). In another published

interview, Puolakka said: “What’s important is sensitivity to what’s going on, observational

skills” (Sinclair 2006: 1). In fact, people are exposed to the same events, but only some people

are more capable of picking them up before others and then utilize them.

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Attending a commercial trend presentation made by a trend forecasting company is a way to

gather current trends in a short time. Trend forecasting companies continuously gather

information about practically everything (such as new products, services, ways of dressing,

behaviors, etc.) on a global scale. These companies find links and patterns in order to organize

them in an understandable format to present to clients. Trend forecasting agencies show clients

what is recent that represents practically where markets are heading at that moment. Then

companies need to observe those markets and understand how their brands could address them.

“Let’s think about Kodak, Polaroid, and Leica; then let’s shift to mobile phones and consider how

a product designed for voice communications now owns 60% of the digital imaging market and

has almost brought the great names of photography to their knees” (Gibson 2007, Future

Laboratory presentation). Nowadays people still want and still take pictures, but the way this is

done has changed dramatically.

Journals and articles concerning trends are mostly purchasable products as well. For instance,

the Journal of Futures Studies provides updated reports regarding general and international

perspectives on possible futures, which are prepared by professional future scanners and

researchers. It is also possible to access free of charge to global scenarios that have been

developed and published by Shell or the CIA and the World Business Council for Sustainable

Development.

Science fiction is another place where to find many futuristic hints that may become reality. An

example would be the special display that Chief agent John Anderton, represented by Tom

Cruise, uses in the movie Minority Report. The conceptual product has become indeed a reality

in Microsoft’s laboratories by developing the interactive Surface display.

As far as technology is concerned, technology foresight, technology roadmaps, technology

studies, scientific or popular publications, patents, organizations’ internal and latent knowledge

are excellent sources to look at, but not always easy to find.

The futurologist Shupp explains the way trends are finding their way from the early signs to

governmental awareness. At the beginning, people start noticing while experts start speaking

about new things. Subsequently, experts talk, then research reports and alternative magazines

publish related articles. Awareness peaks when mass media, internet and news speak about

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those matters. From here, it goes to the power structure, represented by governments (Shupp

2003).

Internet is undoubtedly a good source for trends research, since the newest thing is uploaded

quickly. Certain websites are even specialized in consumers’ trends. In Appendix 8.1 a list of the

most common links useful for trend forecasting is available.

2.4. Trends´ classification Trends can appear easy to work with, but because of the multiple facets they could embody,

they represent, in fact, a complex subject, theoretically speaking. For this reason, a framework

where trends can be organized would help the identification, understanding and utilization of a

trend.

First, trends generate and quickly or eventually fade off therefore they are characterized of a

lifespan. Second, trends are related to a certain space, in the sense that a trend can happen and

grow in a specific region of the world but not necessarily spread to another. Moreover, trends

have different levels of existence in fact a trend can belong to a specific area of our life, that

being, for instance, society or technology, or even to more than one area at the same time. In

order to simplify this trend mapping, the author makes use of the P.E.S.T.E. (Political, Economic,

Socio-cultural, Technological and Ecological) analysis factors as the main framework to which

associate the different trends. Therefore, trends will belong to the macro areas of politics,

economics, society and culture, technology and environment. Those would represent the main

area/s of association for a trend, but this is not enough. In fact, trends are specifically belonging

also to one or more specific area/s, or sub-areas. In this framework, trends like ‘Baby boomers’

or the ‘Sixty plus generation’ would be categorized into the socio-cultural main area and into

the sub-areas of lifestyle and demographics. Figure 1 illustrates the above-mentioned

characteristics of a trend.

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Figure 1: Trend framework.

At the Nokia Mobility conference in Monaco, 2004, Hannu Niemenen (then Vice President User

Experience at Nokia) gave a clear overview of the different types of trends the company was

currently using. This classification is mostly based on the lifetime aspect of a trend. Because it is

easy to understand, it has been taken as the primary reference for this thesis, explained and

integrated with other sources. Figure 2 shows the Nokia trend classification framework.

Figure 2: Trends categorization.

(Adapted from Nokia’s trends map by Hannu Nieminen, Nokia Mobility Conference in Monaco, November 2004)

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John Naisbitt is the man behind the definition of the term ‘megatrend’, which appeared for the

first time in 1982 when his book Megatrends was published. “Trends are shifts in society, in

business or in the geopolitical arena.” (Naisbitt 2006: 56). “Megatrends are trends that have the

potential to exert powerful influences on consumers’ lives across many different industries,

social classes and age groups” (Hiebing Consulting 2006: 1). They affect most of us whether

directly or indirectly. Just by considering the ‘globalization’ trend, one of the most tangible

megatrends of our time, we can understand how megatrends can affect our lives. Megatrends

have a lifespan of decades and impact large areas of the world. Moreover, those trends are

characterized of having multiple levels of existence and not just a specific one.

‘Macrotrends’ are what Nokia classifies as societal trends, that are defined as “change drivers of

values and attitudes” (Levanto 2004, lecture). They have a duration that ranges between 5 to

about 10 years. According to trend analyst Justien Marseille and brand strategy consultant Ilan

Roos macrotrends are easy to see. However it is difficult to estimate their long-term effect and

impact; often they come, other than from sociological changes, from technology innovation

(Marseille & Roos 2005). Moreover, “When tracking global macrotrends, you can watch them

evolve year after year. The speed of change depends on many influencers such as key political or

economic events”. (Fisher & Puolakka 2005: 2). An example of a societal trend is the ‘growing

equality and acceptance’, towards females working in high positions, traditionally assigned to

only men. Macrotrends are shorter trends than megatrends but still with big impacts on the

socio-cultural aspects of our lives.

In Nokia ‘Mesotrends’ relates to the consumer and lifestyle trends, that are defined as “change

drivers of consumer needs” (Levanto 2004, lecture), with a lifespan of about 1 to 5 years. Often

mesotrends are influenced by economic climate and changes in social beliefs and niche markets.

Moreover, they are specifically related to consumer lifestyles compared to the previously

mentioned trends. An example can be the increasing consumption of healthy food that started

some years ago. McDonald was not proactive in this, in fat it started serving, along with

traditional hamburgers, a healthy range of food only when the trend started to become mature,

not when the trend was at its starting point.

‘Microtrends’ are translated in Nokia as ‘design trends’ and colors and materials trends, with a

variable but short lifespan that goes from a few months to 1 year. Lifestyles can be related to

microtrends, because typically linked to the seasonal fashion trends. Shupp (2003) defines

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microtrends as the driving force that often defines the attitudes and behavior of a subculture.

Also Nokia trend analyst Liisa Puolakka points out that “short-term trends [microtrends] have

the potential to cross into the mainstream of society, where they become much more

influential” (Sinclair 2006: 1). Therefore, before going mainstream megatrends build themselves

up as microtrends. On a similar note Justien Marseille and Ilan Roos suggest that a microtrend

could be even an interesting indicator of a future mass-market concept (Marseille & Roos 2005).

In this category, the traditional color or material (fashion) trends are of course included and

normally they are programmed to last for just a season. Microtrends represent the most specific

type of trends we could have. The example of a microtrend could be Lance Amstrong’s

‘Livestrong armband’, very successful but ephemeral product in the year 2005, suggesting that

the society is evidently tending toward a more altruistic attitude.

The saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is valid, other than for life, also for trends.

Virtually every trend has its counter trend. Along with the globalization, for example, a renewed

interest in local cultures and products can be seen nowadays and it is a fast growing

phenomena.

2.5. Other concepts related to trends In this section are grouped other concepts that do not fall into the prior definition of trends and

must, therefore, be distinguished and described.

‘Cyclical changes’ are cycles and patterns repeating over time. Economics for example is ruled by

a cyclical pattern, where the stock market, but not only, has a typical up and down trend.

Cyclical changes are therefore highly predictable, but characterized by slight changes (Shupp

2003).

‘Wild cards’ are sudden important happenings that provoke immediate changes in the society.

Hiltunen explains that wild cards are events with two main characteristics of being surprising

(difficult to anticipate when and where they would happen) and of significant consequence

(Hiltunen 2006). According to this definition, the terrorist attacks on the twin towers in New

York of September 11, 2001 can be described as a typical wild card. Other historical examples

can be the ones provided by Rockefellow such as the transitions from horse to car or from pen

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to typewriter or from typewriter to computer (Rockefellow 1994) thanks to sudden technology

breakthroughs, that can also be seen as wild cards.

‘Weak signals’ are contemporary small, sometimes pointless, something (events, products, pieces

of art, behaviors, and so on) that can help us anticipate changes in the future. They are also

referred to as early warning signals (or signs) or sometimes emerging issues. In future studies,

weak signals represent a tool to foresee potential changes and react to them in time, while not

being totally taken by surprise (Hiltunen 2006). If a small, local and practically unknown

company starts producing and selling ice creams for dogs, this fact cannot be considered as a

trend because it is a single small thing that could fade out in a short time. At this stage,

however, it can be seen as a weak signal because it could suddenly disappear or it could evolve

into a mass-market phenomenon as well. Another example of weak signals is the download of

music some years ago. The music publishing industry did not consider this fact as significant.

While downloading illegally music is a form of kleptomania, it is considered by many as a

comfortable way to acquire new music. The same weak signals were the ones Apple noticed and

considered for the creation of iTunes music store that led to the iPod and its big success.

Figure 3 illustrates Hiltunen’s reaction timeframe, used to investigate how the process of

reaction to changes takes place. Hiltunen relates weak signals to a possible wild card, where the

time to react to changes starts when the weak signals of the wild card become strong signals.

That is the moment when an average person starts perceiving the wild card happening (Hiltunen

2006).

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Figure 3: Wild Cards and Weak Signals in a Time Frame.

(Hiltunen 2006: 65).

Related to the wild cards it becomes clear that the timing issue is an important factor, which

includes the speed of changes and the time to react to them. To summarize, wild cards are not

yet or may never become trends; they are essentially speculation and conjecture, but can lead to

significant change and innovation.

‘Gradual changes’ are contrary to wild cards because by ‘gradual’ they indicate they could have

been anticipated well in advance. Sometimes they are so gradual that do not necessarily notice

them. Therefore, when this something big arrives, we consider it as a wild card while in reality it

is not. This blindness relates to Ansoff’s theory of mental models and filters (Ansoff 1984)

shown in Figure 4.

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Figure 4: Reactions steps to environmental changes including Ansoff’s filters.

(Hiltunen 2006: 68)

According to Ansoff, signals have to pass three filters before actions are taken: surveillance

filter (myopia of observation), mentality filter (attachment to current mental model) and power

filter (against change in the power structure) to be able to affect on decision making and taking

(Ansoff 1984). Weak signals are more difficult to use in anticipating wild cards, because of their

sudden manifestation, than in the case for anticipating trends. Nevertheless, Ansoff’s filters

explain why we are unable to recognize weak signals even for trends.

This theory of weak signals is presented to bring a more complete picture regarding the trends’

formation and forecasting processes. However they are considered a too niche subject to be

considered further in the following chapters of the thesis.

2.6. Business categorization in relation to trends Nowadays terms like ‘trendsetter’ are frequent and easy to capture on the street, in magazines,

on TV and so on. What follows is a discussion of the types of companies including their relation

and attitudes towards trends. A company can be a trendsetter when it creates the trend other

companies will eventually follow. Apple, for instance, is often associated with the idea of

coolness, that is ‘I buy Apple products because they are cool’, among other possible reasons.

Those companies are the ones with strong and easy-to-understand brand identity. In Simon

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Sinek’s words “they are simple, they are affecting change, they have an incredibly sense of their

cause and believe and probably they ignore trends data” (Sinek 2007: Conference PSFK). In the

author’s opinion, trendsetter companies do not ignore trends but they are able to spot the right

early signals and bring them into their development strategies. As an example, some years ago

when an increasing number of people had access to high speed internet, a growing group

started downloading music illegally via the internet. Those early signs were most probably

processed by Apple and translated into the iTunes music library, making downloading a simpler,

better and legal activity.

Trends followers (or adopters) are the ones who follow trends once they are accessible to

everybody. Early adopters, like Microsoft, typically do not make a move before others have

proven the success of a new technology.

In relation to the two terms above, Tupperware can be considered a trendsetter in its industry

for the fact that it is the first and only company to give lifetime warranty for its products and

the first and only company, which first adopted and then successfully improved the direct

selling channels (in its industry). It is likely that those are the reasons why Tupperware is still

active and known in this highly competitive business. Each year Tupperware develops a few

completely new products, like the Cheese Smart, and many other products that can be also

considered as unique in the sense that they represent a better version of what is already

available in the market.

In some cases, new concepts do not fit into an existing brand identity. Before Nike bought

Converse, the latter was an old school sneaker loved by artists, designers and creative people: a

group of opinion leaders that Nike could not reach. The strategic choice of Nike was then to buy

that company (Marseille & Roos 2005). The reason behind such as acquisition must have been

the fact that this consumer group was comprised of potent opinion leaders therefore influencers

of trends. Consequently it was extremely important to reach this category by a big corporation

such as Nike and being a better trendsetter.

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2.7. Trends’ evolution Now that a general overview of the various types of trends has been given, this chapter

discusses the connection between different types of trends. Figure 5 shows the representation

of how the author sees the evolution of trends, categorized in micro-, meso-, macro- and

megatrends. First, initial changes are emerging (microtrends); some of them fade out in a short

period and some of them evolve from weak to stronger trends (mesotrends). Among them, some

trends fade out while others survive longer and evolve to the upper category (macrotrends). The

same happens to megatrends. Megatrends last for many years and influence (dotted lines) the

generation of new trends. The process restarts. Wild cards happen anytime and they have

significant consequence. Although people argue that signals were available to foresee them, the

fact is that wild cards have been happening more frequently during the last decade (for instance

the twin tower terrorist attack and the flood disaster in New Orleans). Therefore, the author

differentiates them from trends by using the symbol of a storm. Influences are also happening

among the other categories of trends.

Megatrends and macrotrends are mainstream, very wide and global. Moreover, they are

connected to cultures and are normally characterized by slow changes. This is why they

represent the best opportunity to build strategies on them (Shupp 2003). The downside is that

they are easily visible, therefore everybody is aware of them and can make use of them. Shupp

has evidently a theory of evolution, by saying that microtrends are worth watching because they

can turn into macrotrends.

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Figure 5: Trends evolution scheme.

3. Working with trends Trends can be disentangled into two main areas:

• Trend forecasting, that represents the business area of the trend forecasting companies

and the internal trend departments of companies

• Trend implementation, which typically belongs to the design activity.

The first can be broken down into its processes: collection of material and pattern identification,

verification, conceptualization or distillation and final communication of trends, like

verbalization and visualization. This is a quite public domain, especially in relation to the fashion

world, if we just consider that popular commercial lifestyle magazines (such as Cosmopolitan),

or even free of charge magazines published by giants companies like H&M, fill articles about

microtrend forecast. The industry case Future Concept Lab (Chapter 3.1.) will present related

examples of practices in this field.

The second area, that refers to what to do with trends is a secret in fact, there is noticeable

unwillingness to speak openly about how they are used in practice, at least at the moment of

writing this thesis. Especially those who seem to have a systematic working method are quite

reserved in conveying their methodology. A general, but simple and concise, explanation about

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how trends are utilized in the industry emerged during an interview (August 2007) with

Hiltunen. She gave the example of the trend of ‘being more and more stressed’ in today’s fast-

paced world, which rose a few years ago. This situation led to an increasing interest towards

spiritual and eastern philosophies. Yoga classes, consequently, saw a growing number of

participants. Nike spotted in advance a signal of change and started designing a new line of

clothing and footwear specific for yoga. To be the first business entering the yoga business

meant a great advantage over the competition. Figure 6 illustrates this process.

Figure 6: Visual simplification of a trend implementation.

Another example comes from a bold move of Siemens. Those mobile phones shown in Figure 7

are most probably not well known to the majority.

Figure 7: Siemens Xelibri phones.

(<http://www.mobileburn.com>, accessed on 06 December 2006)

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These mobiles were not very successful. Siemens Xelibri mobile phones series was the first

family of fashion mobile phones introduced in the year 2003. However, something went wrong

and their popularity remained very low. Perhaps this is because while developing an interest

towards a more fashionable mobile phone, people were not ready yet for those evidently too

weird-looking phones with advanced but not so user-friendly interfaces. It could have also been

because company’s prices and/or style and/or technology’s strategies were not well aligned with

people’s expectations.

Trends could be used for many types of decision processes, from the more strategic ones (such

as to which business we should step into the future), to more product design driven (such as

which color and finishes should be used for the next generation of products). Trends could be

used as inspirational material in brainstorming sessions to generate product ideas, or for

building multiple scenarios, or helping shape the brand image, or other aims.

The next chapters introduce the industry cases, starting with the Italian Trend agency

specialized in trend forecasting. Then the Nokia case discusses how the company forecasted and

then implemented trends concerning the L’Amour Collection phones. The Whirlpool case follows

presenting other examples of trend implementation results. The final case is Philips’, which

presents a structured approach to trend forecasting and implementation activities with insights

to processes and end results.

3.1. Future Concept Lab The company is strictly focused on the trend forecasting activity (although it occasionally

facilitates trends distillation projects) by using a multi methodological and multi disciplinary

approach that has been developed during more than twenty years of work with important

clients such as Philips, Nokia and Whirlpool. The in-depth interview with Paolo Ferrarini,

researcher at Future Concept Lab, clearly made the author aware of the difficulty of the subject.

He states that a standard step-by-step process for distilling trends does not exist for every

project because each one typically requires a different approach.

Generally, their work is based on the collection of material, through the trend-hunting phase.

This is done on a continuous basis through a global network of ‘cool hunters’, ‘cult searcher’ and

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‘cult selectors’ of forty cities around the world. This material is analyzed in order to identify,

conceptualize and visualize trends that are essential elements of the various tools that the

company has created and that it uses with its clients.

Cool hunters. Sensible and intuitive young professionals usually aged between 25 and 35 years

old, who look for the freshest, latest and more superficial things, such as how people dress,

happenings in the city where they permanently live and, therefore, know extensively and

intimately.

Cult searcher and cult selectors. Researchers who apply more sophisticated and systematic

methods when looking at three main aspects of the society where they live, such as:

• objects, public places from shops to discotheques, art galleries and cult events;

• music, literature, fashion, free time, movies and

• works of the most creative individuals whom they are in contact with.

Moreover, they are the ones who select and interpret the collected material.

Different clients entail different projects. Depending on the client’s briefing, one or more

activities (among the four the company has created) are initiated and therefore supported by

specific trend hunting phases.

The four activities are:

MindStyles program, which is a methodology for defining the DNA of a brand based on the

selection of specific styles of reasoning and styles of thinking in line with the brand character.

This step of company identity analysis is usually conducted in every project. Figure 8, on the left,

is the overview of the sixteen Mindstyles identified up to the date of the interview. They form a

labyrinth that is a visualization of how the actual society is seen. That is a big chaos with its

own inner logic. Mindstyles are characterized by stability and a lifespan of 15-20 years. A

synonymous of Mindstyle is value. Those are closely connected to big expectations, big changes

and global behaviors. An example mentioned during the interview was the one of the Mindstyle

of ‘simplicity’. This is strongly seen in the explosion in Europe of factory outlets, because they

have simplified people’s lives because they are cheap and provide free parking to clients. This

example is the referencing tool that is used with clients for the implementation of trends to

19

create new products, services, or strategies. The referencing tool (shown in the right side of

Figure 8) can be seen as an operative tool from the moment it brings to the client tangible

examples of how a specific style was implemented.

Figure 8: The MindStyles book in use at the Future concept Lab office.

The Happiness program is essentially a qualitative research conducted by making people fill

special personal diaries. The results cannot be considered as trends, but they are valuable

emphatic insights for the conceptualization of trends.

The Genius Loci program represents the analysis of market evolution in twenty countries around

the world. The aim of this research is to map local consumption trends.

The Street Signals program is the pure anthropologic observation, which consists in the

collection of street signals such as photographs of current hairstyles or nail designs.

20

The implementation of trends is not a service directly offered by the agency but the office acts

as a facilitator in supporting workshops with the clients’ designer team. Unfortunately, no

specific information on this specific activity was presented to the author due to confidentiality.

3.1.1. Insights on Future Concept Lab

Future Concept Lab shows a well-defined approach for forecasting trends. Its main area of

expertise is in fact trend forecasting, which is here the ‘cool hunting’ activity. The interview

highlighted the importance of the multidisciplinary approach. Such approach is essential to

obtain a better overview of the various aspect of everyday life.

Trends are forecasted by applying different tools that the studio has built along the 20 years of

experience working with smaller and bigger companies. Each tool is identified with a specific

name, and it corresponds to a specific research methodology. The starting point of each project

is the assessment of the client’s brand DNA. This is done by applying the so-called MindStyles

program, which gives a labyrinthine overview of the society through a complete collection of

existing megatrends. The Happiness program, where they make use of cultural probes to get

emphatic insights from people, is another tool. Consumption trends are mapped into the Genius

Loci program, so that the markets’ evolution is tracked, while anthropologic observations are

carried out by the Street Signals program. Trends are used as inspirational tool or as guidance

for the client projects.

Synergy is a prevalent element among those tools, in fact, the Mind Style program needs a trend

forecast activity that is continuous and that concerns multiple aspects of our life. This is

because trends, as discussed in Chapter 2.7., have a cycle of their own; they are born, they

change and eventually die. Even though this represents the principal tool the company uses for

its activities with clients, depending on the specificity of the projects, the agency makes use of

other tools to complement its resulting work. For instance, projects related to fashion require

inputs from activities like the Street Signals program.

21

3.2. Nokia’s influence from fashion Trends are only one part of the product development activities in Nokia, illustrated in the

following Figure 9. Moreover, the multidisciplinarity aspect is, also for Nokia, of big importance

so that it is placed at the centre of all the strategies and activities.

Figure 9: Overview of the product development processes in Nokia.

(<http://www.slideshare.net/whatidiscover/nokia-brand-design-priorities>, accessed on 05 October 2008)

Consumer research mainly supports and simplifies trend gathering and trend implementation for

each Nokia products. After studying usage patterns and needs of thousands of its users, Nokia

segmented its consumer world in order to cater more closely to the requirements of each group.

Once those profiles are made, trends specific for each profile becomes easier to identify and

more surely implemented.

According to the company’s Vice President (VP) of sales and marketing in Europe, Phil Brown,

Nokia’s consumers fall within four quadrants (Figure 10), based on their involvement levels on

22

mobile communication and whether a mobile phone purchase for them is a rational or an

aspirational decision (Brown 2007). This segmentation differs from the more traditional

marketing segmentation of price and age, no longer used by the company.

Figure 10: Nokia Consumer main categories.

(Adapted from <http://www.netvision.de/uk/dispatching/?event_id=1c020e42f99ae19031e1b7899d6598e7&portal

_id=369401748e8249f142a700d8098a3473>, accessed on 06 September 2008)

The quadrants are also populated by 12 distinct consumer categories based on what people

generally do in life and, more specifically, how they use mobile technology. A busy traveler

23

businessperson uses her phone in a different way than a grandfather, spending most of his time

with his grandchildren. Moreover, the businessperson looks for specific characteristics in a

phone, differently than the grandfather would do. Following is the scheme with the identified

consumer segments (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Nokia consumer segments.

(Adapted from <http://www.netvision.de/uk/dispatching/?event_id=1c020e42f99ae19031e1

b7899d6598e7&portal_id=369401748e8249f142a700d8098a3473>, accessed on 06 September 2008)

24

With those consumer categories in place, it is easier to develop products and services that

respond aesthetically, functionally, and therefore emotionally, to each consumers’ needs and in

turn products result more user friendly. Furthermore, the planning of advertising campaigns is

benefiting from this because the choice of channels and the actual content becomes more

straightforward and direct for each market. The ‘explore’ quadrant becomes the field of

multimedia and entertainment devices, all-in-one headsets with computer functionalities with

attention to the technological stylistic details. Those products (N-series phones) create such a

strong emotional response that it feels almost magical.

‘Live’ is the quadrant where high importance to aesthetics is given. Therefore, the more fashion-

driven headsets are in this category. Given its focus on fashion, L’Amour Collection project must have been made for the ‘Image Seekers’ segment. Nokia team must have noticed that this group

was growing, therefore they anticipated their unmet aesthetical needs in mobile phones.

The ‘connect’ segments use entry-level devices with the most basic functionalities and with a

simpler aesthetic language.

The ‘achieve’ quadrant is populated by the E-series phones, typically oriented to the business

people.

Nokia has also establish the ‘Flow, Wow, Show’ product philosophy, which is a strategic clear

tool to shape its product offerings. They are represented in Figure 12 with vertical colored bars,

assigned in group of three bars to each quadrant. ‘Flow’ (green) bars stand for what the product

is supposed to do, without the need to be bothered on the underlying technology. ’Wow’ (blue)

bars are about the user wanting the product because it is simply irresistible. ‘Show’ (orange)

bars are creating a perfect match between the product and the image that the user wants to

portray to the outside world. By leveraging those three elements, Nokia development team has a

clearer vision when designing new products and services. The author has intuitively set those

three values for the ‘explore’, ‘live’ and ‘achieve’ categories shown in the following scheme.

25

Figure 12: Nokia Product Offerings in relation to its consumer segmentation.

(Adapted from <http://www.netvision.de/uk/dispatching/?event_id

=1c020e42f99ae19031e1b7899d6598e7&portal_id=369401748e8249f142a700d8098a3473>, accessed on 15 September 2008)

Considering this distinction, the ‘live’ quadrant is where trendy materials and colors

(microtrends) are of a critical importance to create a catch towards the consumers more

oriented to the fashionable aspects of a phone. The phone is valued more for its stylistic

characteristics than for its entertainment functionalities. Different is the ‘explore’ quadrant,

where phones are seen more as entertainment and communication personal devices that you

cannot live without them. The ‘Nseries’ phones have to have a cool look, more minimalistic than

fashionable though. In this category meso- and macrotrends are, therefore, more critical where

the challenge is to bring to a new type of consumer the right set of applications, services and

functions that can be engaging. Figure 12 shows part of the latest product offering (at the

moment of the writing of this thesis) for each of the four quadrants of identified markets. At the

beginning of the millennium, anyway Nokia’s portfolio was not so technologically advanced

neither extended like today.

26

Liisa Puolakka, Head of Brand Visual and Experiences in Nokia, explains in a published interview

that: “Consumer trend research indicated the emergence of a group of discerning fashion

connoisseurs who admired art and intellect, and lived in an economy that rewarded their

particular skills. This trend indicated a shift in fashion towards a new concept of luxury, shaping

a connoisseur-like approach to consumption with high expectations for multi-sensorial

experiences … In the '90s, fashion had not been very decorative but now quite suddenly, jewelry

design is everywhere and designers are experimenting and challenging the concept of

accessorizing and decorating body and objects. In this context, decorating a mobile phone, for

example, seemed like a fresh and an appealing idea.” (Fisher & Puolakka 2005: 3). Trend analyst

of the L’Amour Collection (later in Figure 15) phones, Puolakka is a fashion designer graduate from the University of Art and Design of Helsinki with minor studies in International Design

Business Management. Through an in-depth interview, she described how Nokia uses trends for

its product development. Her group identified a spot in the market with potential customers

that would have their wishes unmet with the offering of products then available. In addition,

that spot was the ‘Live’ quadrant, where fashion seekers are found. Figure 13 illustrates where

L’Amour Collection would be associated to.

27

Figure 13: L’Amour Collection and their market spot

During the interview, she presented the way Nokia works with trends for the new coming

phones. She explains that a typical product design project starts usually two years before its

actual market release. A target consumer group is selected at the start of the project. The work

is conducted in multi-disciplinary teams that change along the process. In fact, for the trend

collection and selection phases the team consists mostly of trend researchers from multiple

backgrounds such as design, anthropology, fashion. For the more practical design work they

team consists of key product designers, some details designers specialized in forms, colors and

materials that are more suitable for the tasks and are therefore invited at the meetings. The

development teams consider both long lasting societal and short lasting detail trends. Data

must be considered holistically; therefore, it should be given good attention at the relation

between different elements. The last important remark is that trends represent only one input

for the product development; in fact, other inputs are presented normally to the design team

(like the use of scenarios, technologies overviews, usability studies, etc) for developing new

products.

28

The schematic overview of the Nokia’s process is presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Nokia overall workflow of trend’s forecast and implementation.

1. Collecting trends

• A team of people look specifically at important major trends

• Internal ethnographic studies are made

• Trends material is coming also from trend forecasting agencies; selection is done between proposals from trends companies

2. Looking holistically at trends • Translation phase into what is interesting for Nokia

3. Selecting the most important for the brand

• The ones more related to Nokia’s philosophy are kept; the others are not wiped out completely, but in the back of the team’s minds

• There are not more than ten trends ongoing at this time of the process 4. Brainstorming & workshops

• The critical point is to think of what those selected trends mean for products, marketing and branding

• The aim is to develop a specific theme for the particularly collection of products is going to be designed

• Going deeper specifying details: shapes, colors, materials, and graphics 5. Documenting workshop’s results in a Power Point presentation

• A common theme is named o A story around the theme is created. In L’ Amour Collection it was a modern

combination of ethnicity and handcraft and modern technologies

• Brief description of the theme o What it means for shapes, what type of colors and material or graphics

• Sources of inspiration (trends) are included o The traceability of sources is a way to convince management of the direction

taken 6. Examples of new materials are given to the design teams by materials specialists 7. The design teams start working on their focus area using the documentation as inspiration

tool

• The product design team starts designing

• The graphic design team develops specific graphics around it and gives input on packaging and other elements.

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The first three points concern the trend-forecasting phase, where many visuals are generated

and exchanged. The third point is the very subjective activity of the trend selection that

generates much discussion among the team.

Workshops (phases four and five) are used in Nokia for the conceptualization phase of trends,

which is a more verbal approach.

The design teams own the actual trend interpretation phase (the last sixth and seventh points)

that brings the visual and verbal work until then done together into a more detailed

representation of the ideas generated.

It emerges from the above that Nokia’s internal process of working with trends is quite

complicated involving both intuition and analytical skills and neither short in duration,

considering the multiple steps listed above.

Knowing how Nokia works with trends, the author tried remaking the analytical process of the

creation of the L’Amour Collection, focusing on the more practical decisions that have been taken for the aesthetics of those fashionable phones. Through this tryout, the intention was to

discover, first, the reason why this new phone product family was closely related to the Art

Nouveau style and, second, to what extent the inspiration from the fashion industry was visible

in the final product design. At the turn of the millennium Nokia trend researchers were mostly

fashion designers, so it was assumed that looking back at fashion shows of the year 2002, which

is two years preceding the launch of the L’Amour Collection, would have been an excellent starting point. Fashion trends mean microtrends because in the short-run new trends are

replacing the previous ones. With striking surprise, the trend distillation seems to have been

quite straightforward. If we look at the collage that was prepared based on photos available at

<http://www.style.com> concerning the fashion shows of that period, we clearly see that Art

Nouveau was a hot issue, therefore golden, metallic colors, geometric, sinuous and floral shapes

were visible on many clothes, accessories and shoes. The collage is shown in Figure 14.

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Figure 14: Collage of clothes from the year 2002.

The entry Web page of the L’Amour Collection, in which the three phones are shown, is presented in Figure 15.

Figure 15: L’Amour Collection home page.

(<http://www.nokia.com>, accessed on 15 May 2006)

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It emerges that there is a ‘collection’ (typical term used in the fashion industry) of phones and

not a ‘product family’, a ‘set’ or a ‘range’ (terms mostly used in the consumer products industry)

based on one unifying theme that is definitely the Art Nouveau style. Colors and graphic

elements, both of the products and the advertising background, are of the same kind of the one

of the collage of clothes that was presented above. Concerning materials, it is noticeable that a

metallic look is combined with inserts of leather, most probably to stress the fact that the

phones are intended to be more luxurious fashion accessories than just plain phones. Golden

details are also used.

Definitely there is a clear link between the fashion trends and the core physical elements of

those fashionable Nokia phones. L’Amour Collection trend implementation phase seems to have been apparently very simple and quite obvious; once pictures of the latest clothes collections

are taken and collected in mood boards or collages, their graphics, colors and inspirational

sources have been transferred to the new category of phones.

On another occasion, Puolakka, stressing out the fact that when working with trends it is the

personal ability that makes the difference, said that “What’s important is a sensitivity to what’s

going on, observational skills, and the creativity to distill those observations into stories, themes

and product possibilities.” (Sinclair 2006: 1).

3.2.1. Insights on the Nokia Case

The most obvious finding of the Nokia case is the direct and straightforward way the

development team has implemented microtrends coming from the fashion world into the style

of the L’Amour Collection phones. This is true even if the products have been in the market far beyond the period the fashion trends lasted. Nokia definitely used a better strategy than

Siemens, as the latter was not able to catch the market with its previously introduced fashion

phones Xelibri (Figure 7). By doing an elementary comparison, the main differences between the

two phones families were timing (Siemens was the first to sell fashion phones), technology

(color screens only for Nokia), aspect and materials (very well thought through in Nokia). Using

trends in ‘the right way’ is surely important but this should be supported with other ‘right’

32

strategic decisions. Most probably also Siemens anticipated a trend of fashion consciousness,

but it failed in integrating it with the rest of its strategies. People were excited about the idea

of fashion phones but a black and white screen was probably a too negative detail affecting

their purchasing decision, especially considering the high price tags. It was in fact underlined

that when the trend forecasting phase is taking place, an essential aspect should be considered

for following up decisions, which would be the company’s brand and philosophy. Without this, it

would be difficult to make the ‘right choices’ about product development. In Nokia, trend

implementation is the phase where designers are the main actors, because it is about a process

of converting words and pictures into concepts with details. At the end, personal ability, instinct

and talent can make the difference in a project.

This case also explains how consumer studies interact with trends. Each product belongs to a

specific consumer segment with multiple profiles of consumers identified through research.

After having a well-defined target, the company looks with a magnifying lens into each profile’s

specific trends for a more tailored implementation of what it is expected in a product that is

going to belong to that type of customer. Producing multiple different phones can be affordably

done thanks to the use of a design platform approach. In this way, same components are shared

across different phone models.

To notice also is the approach of packing the forecasting phase around a unique theme. This

represents the link for all the products developed for the market. With such a clear message,

marketing can make a strong story around the products. Once again, we see the interference

between trends and other activities of product development. “Trends represent only one driver

of product development”, states Liisa Puolakka in an interview with the author. Figure 9 shows

this aspect. Trends help design teams to foster their ideas, to take decisions, to initiate

constructive discussions and to establish a more common language. Nonetheless, they are not

alone sufficient for supporting product development activities. It is also important to mention

that multidisciplinary teams are used for trend forecast and they are of a variable nature in the

sense that at each workshop different specialists are called in. Along the process of working

with trends, different types of tasks call for different types of abilities. Industrial designers, for

example, are excellent in trend implementation, while ethnographers might be a better asset for

consumer trend research. Therefore, the presence of certain specialists in the team makes work

more efficient.

33

A final consideration should be done concerning the amount of data collected by the company

within all product development activities. The management of all this available data is rather

difficult considering access to information, its use and storing for future use. A smart system

would be able to allow sharing of information between different internal workers. No

information on such a system or set of tools was anyway found in company related articles or

publications neither at the interview. The use of Power Point was the only way the

multidisciplinary teams exchange data and information between one each other. An important

aspect of having examples of the traceable trends available is that they are useful to convince

the management of the direction to take.

3.3. Whirlpool focus on contemporary behaviors “Over the past few years Whirlpool Global Consumer Design (GCD) group has changed its

approach to foresight activities. It has shifted its emphasis from focusing on the design of

products themselves to focusing more on the way consumers use them” says Jan-Christoph

Zoels & Silvia Gabrielli (2002: 123) from Whirlpool. The GCD at Whirlpool periodically develops

strategic projects of which some become real products offered to the markets, while others

remain in the conceptual phase. The Whirlpool case study

investigates the development process that brought Prêt a porter into Harrods’ prestigious shelves, and the one that led the Living Cube to become a contemporary desirable table

concept and the Bio Logic to become an ecologic futuristic

washing machine icon.

A night out in smoky places; traveling many hours for work

or leisure; a rainy day without an umbrella at hand are

common and contemporary situations (Figure 16) that give

hard times to our clothes making them smelly, wet, or

creased, but not necessarily dirty. After a drink in smoky

places, clothes usually smell bad to the point that that we

should wash them even if they have been washed just

before going out. During traveling, many wrinkles appear. In Figure 16: Contemporary situations

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addition, when the rain falls and we are unprepared, our clothes need to be gently dried.

Whirlpool proposed a truly innovative product when it introduced Prêt a porter: a special steaming device that looks like a trolley case when closed. This device (Figure 17, left side)

boosts several different functions: it removes smells (body odors, cooking, smoke and so on

without washing or cleaning), it refreshes and revitalizes clothes and it removes travel and

usage wrinkles. In addition, given the importance that today’s consumers convey to fashionable

and luxury products, the company developed a stylish limited version designed by Antonio

Berardi, available only from the expensive Harrods department store (Figure 17, right side).

Figure 17: Whirlpool Prêt a porter. (<http://www.whirlpool.co.uk/en_GB/whr/pages/home/index.html>, accessed on 15 May 2006)

The In.home project was the incubator of Living Cube, made in collaboration with the context

Design consultancy Syneo. Living Cube (Figure 18) is one of the various prototypes made and is

a new concept of the living room coffee table. Today’s living rooms are not just for the five

o’clock tea parties anymore. They are actually used for different activities that require special

priorities. For example, players involved in video game tournaments need easy access to

caffeinated soft drinks, or sports fans watching the big game on TV prefer to have cold beer at

hand more than finding a nice place where to put tea cookies. More often, we use our sofa with

laptops on knees for work or study and it might be very desirable for many to have comfortably

a warm snack while continuing work. Contemporary usage patterns have been identified and

converted into a special table that fulfills the new needs. The concept features advanced

35

technology specially designed to heat and cool food. The leather cover makes this new item able

to be used as an extra sitting space, in the case more friends come over and they cannot fit all

on the same couch.

Figure 18: Whirlpool Living Cube concept.

(<www.experientia.com/blog/whirlpools-inhome-project>, accessed on 23 March 2007)

The following part of this chapter contains material revised from two sources: The biological

laundry (Keinonen 2006) combined with Creating imaginable futures: using design strategy as a

Foresight Tool (Zoels & Gabrielli 2002). ‘Project F’ (Figure 19) is the strategic exercise made in

the year 2002 and the ‘Bio Logic’ washing machine was the one prototype that received the

most publicity among the other developed concepts. For the company, Project F aimed to

increase knowledge and understanding of domestic appliances.

Figure 19: The Project F washing concept.

(<www.project-f.whirlpool.co.uk>, accessed on 15 May 2007)

36

The project’s process is shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Whirlpool workflow related to trend forecasting and implementation.

1. Setting the budget, timeline and deliverables of the project 2. Information acquisition stage

• Quantitative survey of two thousands households in six European countries (run by an external company) about the concept of domesticity

• Market research

• Trend collection about emerging technologies

• Qualitative in-home study in three EU countries with observations, in-depth interviews and visual self-documentation by users, all focusing on the clothing care routines (the team was composed of cultural anthropologist, a usability expert and assistants)

• Focus groups 3. Combination of data and analysis

• Researchers created useful models and frameworks that illuminate relevant aspects of user experience and behavior, which is a technique called ‘experience modeling’

• Trend analysis concerning emerging technologies 4. Project launch meeting (distribution of results and familiarization among the teams) 5. First creative workshop with designers (the GCD worked jointly with three external design

groups)

• Visualizing of research findings and mapping of them to show the relationships between them

• Processing of ideas for alternative washing methods based in particular on the users’ experiences

• Discussion about the various scenarios for projects

• Framing of five themes around which to develop the concept products 6. Concept design (separate work for one month) 7. Presentation workshop

• Drafts, animations, storyboards and mock-ups were presented among the teams

• Selection and further development (teams together selected the most interesting proposals that become prototypes)

8. Refining of the strongest ideas and conclusions

37

Some prototypes combined existing technologies, while others were more futuristic. All the

prototypes were presented to the media and at the Salone del Mobile fair in Milan and

generated a good response. Several months of research preceded the design phase, which lasted

three months in total. The goal of Project F was to create research-based designs to engage

discussions among different departments, internal and external consultants and to engage

decision-making. It comes that the project was not intended to bring products into the market

(not with a short term approach at least). Other benefits received from such project included

giving Whirlpool teams the chance to stretch their imagination and to challenge their skills;

experimenting with new talents and ways of working and having external visibility that

contributes to brand strengthening.

3.3.1. Insights on the Whirlpool Case

The envisioning project of the Bio Logic washing machine involved considerable efforts in terms

of timing, around one year, resources, both internal and external professionals from different

disciplines, and costs.

It was particularly interesting to see that the long and articulate futuristic projects were not

necessarily carried out for commercial purpose, but for having ideas on alternative washing

methods. The aim was to create research based design and engage decision making. Moreover

internal teams would benefit of the opportunity to stretch the imagination and challenge their

skills. Working with new talents is experimented and new ways of working, too. Finally,

futuristic projects bring a quite important external visibility to the company, strengthening its

brand.

The company believed that in order to have good ideas they needed to understand the

contemporary user’s experiences and find solutions that could utilize the latest and coming

technologies. Moreover, the research was conducted on different levels. Quantitative data was

supported by qualitative insights from focus groups and emphatic design research; technology

trends were considered, too.

Together with the other two projects, the Whirlpool case shows three different examples of how

to utilize trends. In fact, Bio Logic pushes the view very ahead of time, while the Living Cube is

38

closer to today’s realities but not ready to be implemented in a commercial product, while the

Prêt a porter is an available item in shops. The use of trends helps the planning of design roadmaps, important for strategic considerations, because they visualize within a timeframe the

portfolio of concepts, by showing which and when would start to be developed. Moreover it is

underlined the fact that the creation of a theme would facilitate the concept phase, because it

focuses the energies of the group.

An important consideration to make regards the link between trends studies and the type of

products the Whirlpool case presents. All three products look and seem very strange and even

weird, as they are extremely special and unique compared to those people are used to see and

buy. Innovation can mean believing in products that could not appeal yet to people. Whirlpool is

a mass-market multinational company, nonetheless with Prêt a porter it brings a surely new product in the traditional and saturated white appliances market, and even it is a niche product

with no high sales. The company embedded in this product the design platform thinking, so that

two versions of it are available in the market for very different consumers, both the young

minded city citizen and the fashion-driven partygoer. Both of them target a consumer attentive

to intelligent devices that help urban life but respectful of the environment because Prêt a porter can remove odors using a small amount of water.

3.4. Philips Design’s corporate approach to trends According to its official website and publications, at Philips Design the focus is on the creation

of designs that best fulfill people’s current and future values and needs. The company has

established a series of three processes, continuously applied, with the aim to make a complete

picture of the society by looking at trends, namely People Research, Visual Trend Analysis and

Socio-Cultural Trend.

People Research use methodologies like in-depth interviewing, observations and co-research to

generate insights form people. Normally, the result is a detailed written report that requires to

be translated into a friendlier format. For this aim, Philips Design develops tools, such as the

Personas that are fictional characters built on the base of the research done. This tool is much

39

more emphatic and straightforward than the arid large text often used for conveying

appropriately the research’s findings and consequently for the implementation work.

What the world will look like in two to three years time in terms of aesthetic trends is the area

of the Visual Trend Analysts, who are specialists able to recognize and develop ways to

implement trends, mostly from an industrial and a graphic design background. Visiting trade

fairs and exhibitions of different themes, such as interior, furniture and fashion design or cars

and boats; browsing through many types of magazines; taking part in workshops with

likeminded professionals and watching a lot of movies are the activities analysts do to catch

current visual trends. Typical deliverables are design or color strategies, or recommendations

about marketing communication material.

Socio-Cultural Trend is instead a type of user research that looks at lifestyles and people’s

experiences that is based on opinions from an extensive network of over 400 experts from

different disciplines, such as leading business thinkers, experts in environmental sustainability

and leading technologists and literature concerning issues on a society-wide level. For creating

short-term concepts, Philips Design established the Culture Scan program, with the aim of

marrying the current and potential trends with already developed technologies.

A strategic process is the Strategic Futures TM, used when design has to look further ahead than

mere a few years. Through this process, Socio-Cultural Trend insights are mapped and used to

create various hypotheses on global developments. Multidisciplinary teams are involved through

all the visionary processes. An important point is that once futuristic ideas are created, Philips

Design presents them to a panel of international experts, such as futurologists, sociologists,

trend analysts and opinion leaders for comments in order to do the filtering. Ideas are then

selected and further refined under the forms of working models or simulations. Afterward, the

results are shown to the public, through traveling exhibitions and media, for further feedback.

Doing so, the company is able to plant insights of possible futures into people’s minds, which

are then more effective in setting the direction of change. All those public feedbacks are

ultimately analyzed for strategic decisions about the feasibility of the concepts. The above

section of this chapter has been revised from the book Philips Design (2005).

A real case example comes from one of the latest far-future studies Philips Design is carrying on

in China and entitled “Off the grid. Sustainable habitat 2020”. Today’s trends of ‘global energy

40

crisis’, ‘clean water shortage’, ‘global warming’, ‘pollution’, ‘megalopolis’ and ‘wellbeing’ are

implemented in conceptual solutions for a sustainable urban future. The result is a dynamic

concept building with embedded ever-evolving eco systems. Advances in technology, nano and

bio-chemical most of all, support this futuristic vision. Figure 20 visualizes the concept’s

characteristics. The outer wall of the building becomes a sensitive functional skin that is

breathing and can harness energy. An integrated membrane is the mean of transportation,

collection and channeling of the elements of air, water and light in and out. With this system,

the living environment can generate the necessary energy by itself, so that the inhabitants will

be able to live off the traditional power suppliers. During the day, people can enjoy the natural

sunlight directly indoor. Wind is channeled thought the membrane and it is naturally cooled

down. The building reacts to the rain and moisture, collects and channels rainwater into the

habitat. Through purification, filtration and reuse, water will be used in a closed loop. Human

waste and other organic waste will be transformed into biogas energy. The biogas can be used

for heating and cooking as well as providing hot water for washing.

Figure 20: Renderings of Philips “Off the grid” future study.

(<http://www.design.philips.com/probes/projects/sustainable_habitat_2020/index.page>, accessed on 12 January 08)

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3.4.1. Insights on Philips Design

The approach to trends in Philips Design is the most systematic among the other examined

companies. In order to keep track of the evolution of the society, they look at multiple aspects

of everyday life as trend forecasting’s sources. In fact analysts spend time with like-minded

colleagues doing different things, including watching movies and reading several magazines. In

Philips Design, at the contrary of the other companies so far analyzed, analysts have mostly a

graphic or industrial design background because it is considered more suited to identify and

work with trends. It emerges that the company assigns the field related to trends to designers

but at the same time frequently bringing the multidisciplinarity aspect (constantly present in

the other case studies) by involving international experts and asking for direct feedback from

the public. In fact, in Philips Design the opinions of a panel of experts are looked at before,

during and after the phase of development.

Moreover, this company, like Whirlpool, makes and presents futuristic projects with similar

intents, which are helping to pave the way of acceptance of those concepts in people’s minds

and getting further feedback. It comes that opinions from multiple sources are necessary for the

visionary concept development. All the work analyzing the society is translated into futuristic

concepts that are shown to the public for receiving feedback and free advertising. For this

reason, the company must have a good and reactive patenting framework for protecting those

concepts. It also appears that Philips Design makes use of a good link between technological

research and design. One supports and inspires the other and vice versa. Finally, all the

research’s results are normally converted in friendlier formats than words like the visually rich

Persona representations of target users.

3.5. Learning from the company cases The different naming used for the same types of trends by different trend forecasting companies

and internal company departments causes a great deal of confusion. For instance, the

Mindstyles of the Future Concept Lab are very similar to the Megatrends of Nasbitt, even

though they are identified with different methodologies. Below are the main lessons learned,

divided by themes.

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Multidisciplinarity: Trends do not yet represent a clear and easy subject, surely characterized by

fuzziness. The cases show that companies are using a significant number of people from

different disciplines to forecast trends and prepare implementation methodologies. Trends data

must be considered holistically, involving analytical and intuitive skills.

Trend Forecasting: Raw data for identifying trends usually comes from a global network of

trained spotters who can be seen as receptive antennas, who are the trend/cool hunters. This

research of trend material is done continuously. In addition, feedback from experts, opinion

leaders but also from the general public represents an important element to consider when

dealing with trend forecasting and implementation for the future. It was noticed that the

various methodologies used to forecast trends are practically the same ones used in user-

centered design research. It is just a matter of how extensive the research has been carried out

both geographically (for example through a village, a city, a state or the entire world) and

numerically (how many people were researched). Moreover what timeframe was used (for a

week or a month or continuously) and how multidisciplinary was the working team that would

bring results whether or not they would be used for trends creation. In fact, both analytical and

intuitive skills are necessary when dealing with complex concepts such as trends. Thanks to the

increasing popularity of trend forecasting, many companies seem to be experts in this sector

and even trends email newsletters can be received regularly free of charge. However, most what

is easily available is just about what is new in the consumer world (for instance a new type of

business, or a new way of advertising). Becoming aware of new events happening in the

consumer world is not, therefore, a hard endeavor. The main issue concerns filtering the

collected material and integrating it together with other trends already found. The most

important aspect of trend forecast is to have an organized and up-to-date vision of the society

that could be in a form of a framework of short to long interconnected trends. Society is looked

at from different levels, both more superficial and more in depth aspects, as the Future concept

Lab explains. Consumer studies and trend forecasting are interconnected in the way that the

first usually supports and simplifies the latter. In fact, in Nokia a specific target consumer group

is the starting point of any project.

Feeling and Empathy: By starting with sources of information that could be similar (because

easily and widely available) among companies, it is a matter of creative ability coming up to

different results. Even thought huge resources could be spent in trend forecasting, the ones

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without the proper sensibility, ability and enough trust on their visions will not implement

trends in sophisticated way like the more successful companies seems to do. It is important to

underline that the creative process is involving more elements than mere trends. For instance,

understanding the brand identity can make a big difference when converting ideas into

successful products. Another aspect emerging from the case studies is that the examined

corporations are using external consultants for trend forecasting, but at the same time, they do

a lot of research activity with internal specialists. When doing direct observation, individuals

provide an eye opening perspective to common things, but this important piece of information

is difficult to transfer to teams that will do its implementation. Even making detailed reports of

those studies, teams are not properly briefed of the all aspects of the research. Designers and

other stakeholders closer to the project should be directly involved on those studies for the

empathy their participation could bring in. Other professionals support this line of reasoning, in

fact Keinonen (2006: 37) says “the concept development team cannot trust in and build on only

an organization’s existing knowledge or on secondary information sources, such as research

articles or commercially available trend forecast”. He points out the necessity of designers to

form empathy with the user’s community to learn about people’s needs and understand their

wishes in first person and in their real environment. Philips Design makes extensive use of the

Persona tool, by translating research’s findings into fictional characters that embed those

insights.

Trend implementation: Even thought multidisciplinarity is currently adopted, the cases show

that trend implementation, because more closely related to the design practice, is less

multidisciplinary than trend forecasting. Designers and materials specialists are mostly involved

in translating trends into concepts. From a strategic perspective, if the company’s competence is

related to what it might be done, its capabilities related to what it can be done and the

corporate wishes related to what it is wanted to be done; then trends could be seen as what

should be looked at and considered before final decisions. Trends are the manifestation of the

macro environment where the company is. Therefore, they can help in shaping decisions about

what should be done. Figure 21 illustrates this concept.

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Figure 21: Strategic consideration scheme.

This consideration is supported by Professor Peter Mc Grory, who sees trends as being essentially

about the mediation of risks and opportunities. In fact, trends are proven as tendencies

therefore they bring less risks and newer opportunities when following them. This would be

valid when bringing product to the market, but trends could be also used in another realm,

which is experimenting with the ‘new’. Whirlpool and Philips, in fact, show certain concepts,

shaped around trends, looking far in the future therefore not ready for commercialization. Those

experiments are fruitful for multiple reasons, like practicing research-based design,

materializing safely the future envisioning, stretching the imagination of the companies’

internal professionals and having external visibility for brand strengthening.

Finally, because the processes of forecasting and trend implementation are quite long in time

and involving different professionals, the need of a common framework for sharing insights,

data and, progressively, results is higher. Power Point presentations are still in use in the

companies analyzed. Especially when presenting to top management concepts made on the

basis of trends, it is recommended to eventually bring real examples of the used trends, and to

show the reasons behind the selected direction for the concepts.

D

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4. Tupperware case study This section is the specific case study of the collaboration with Tupperware. The aim is to

integrating all the knowledge created so far into the company’s product development process. In

this way, the theoretical side of this work is applied in a real working situation.

4.1. What Tupperware is Tupperware is a multinational company specializing in the development, manufacture and

supply of home consumer products mostly made out of plastic. Tupperware Brands Corporation

includes Tupperware and other seven brands of beauty and personal care products including

Avroy Shlain, BeautiControl, Fuller, NaturCare, Nutrimetics and Nuvo. It has headquarters in

Orlando, Florida and employs approximately about 14750 people with a total net turnover of

161.4 million dollars (year 2008). This thesis will focus on Tupperware only. With country-

specific exceptions, products are sold through direct selling by a workforce of independent

sellers. The company primarily operates in the Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and North

America.

Figure 22 presents an overview of the products, grouped under specific categories, and which

are sold in Germany, one of the biggest and most important markets for the company at the

time of the writing of this thesis.

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Figure 22: Tupperware products overview.

(Tupperware German catalogue 2007)

Most of the products are made entirely out of plastic, a material that Tupperware has extensive

expertise on. Certain products such as cutlery, cookware items are made out of metal, partly or

entirely. Special plastic as premium grade silicon is used for products that need specific

performances, such as resisting to baking temperatures. A product in wood is also present in the

catalogue, namely the knife dispenser. Some of the products are internally produced while

others are outsourced.

Those products are divided in the following categories:

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• Baby range

• Serving

• Kitchen preparation

• Storage

• Microwave cooking

• Oven cooking

• Baking and preparation

• Accessories organizers.

4.2. The glorious past At the beginning of its activities, Tupperware became famous for a combination of factors. In

the western world, the 1940s and the 1950s were characterized by a sense of positivism, due to

the post-war economic boom. Wars ended and there was a certain attitude that everything was

possible. Companies popped up like mushrooms. People had the tendency to buy a lot since that

they could afford it and consumerism had a big push. Women were, however, left quite isolated

from this society re-construction. It was difficult to see women having a job like their husbands.

In fact, they were mostly at home, taking care of the family. This was the period of the baby

boom and family members were growing. Leisure time was spent with the whole family

barbequing with friends, going to picnics, camping, etc. In the sphere of technology,

Polypropylene was invented and the idea of the watertight container came at the same time,

now that it was possible to realize. Patenting this revolutionary closing system (the Wonderlier

Bowl) gave the company a competitive advantage for 30 years; therefore, until the end of the

1970s Tupperware had practically no competition on airtight plastic containers.

All the mentioned events have been analyzed through the Product Opportunity Gap scheme

(Cagan & Vogel 2002: 9-15), which suggests that at the time there were conditions for

successful opportunities such as handier, more modern products for the kitchen and the party

selling system. Figure 23 presents the POG.

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Figure 23: SET Factors relation to POGs.

(Cagan & Vogel 2002: 9)

One side, there are those excellent products, ideal for the modern housewife and the modern

lifestyle. On the other, the possibility for women to take a more active role in the society, by

becoming independent Tupperware sellers even from home, without leaving completely their

regular housewife’s duties. The introduction of Tupperware parties was a spark that ignited and

made Tupperware a success.

4.3. Responding to socio-cultural trends By analyzing the glorious past focusing on societal developments and the introduction of the

various Tupperware products, an obvious cause-effect phenomena can be easily detected.

Figures 24, 25 and 26 show the changes in society (above the time bar) from the year 1946 until

the 1990s with the correspondent Tupperware products (below the time bar) introduced in the

market.

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Figure 24: Timeline (1940s and 1950s) of Tupperware products introduction and socio-cultural trends.

50

Figure 25: Timeline (1960s, 1970s and 1980s) of Tupperware products introduction and socio-cultural trends.

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Figure 26: Timeline (1990s) of Tupperware products introduction and socio-cultural trends.

Nowadays it is hard to keep this innovativeness due to increasing competition in the business

and also because most products have been already invented in this sector. Probably a certain

inability to react quickly to the fast-paced changes in the consumers’ world is another aspect to

consider.

4.4. Tupperware’s inconsistencies In a typical Tupperware party, products are demonstrated by the hostess, but they represent only

a small portion of the entire catalogue, which is the other mean used for placing the orders.

Most of the top five attributes associated with Tupperware products concern the physical aspect

of the products themselves. This is difficult to experience just by browsing the Tupperware

catalogue, which graphic quality, with the only exceptions of Japan and Australia, does not

convey the same sense of quality that Tupperware products bring.

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In the author’s opinion, simply holding a Tupperware product gives the feeling of sturdiness and

high quality the company works hard for. Even at the parties, you can experience only the range

of products the demonstrator has brought along with her. In case someone is interested in a

specific product that is not available at the party, she should base her decision only on the

picture from the locally designed and published catalogue and from the comments she may

receive from the Tupperware person, without having the possibility to experience it by herself.

At the supermarkets, people can see, smell and touch all the products available, even though

many of them might give a bad experience once in hands.

Moreover, it is problematic to approach new customers to make them feel Tupperware products

directly in their hands, also because

• the party’s atmosphere itself could make guests not completely comfortable to look

around the exposition table and try out the products in their hands. This is because the

table on which the products are usually shown becomes a sort of altar, so people seem

not comfortable to go in the middle of the scene and play with the products on show.

• People today shop in supermarkets, malls or increasingly in internet shops, so they do

not have the chance to discover Tupperware products during shopping time, because

they simply cannot find them on the shelves or on internet.

This inconsistence of Tupperware focusing on creating products intended for the mass market

and the fact that the party system is by invitation only, therefore not openly available to the

masses, is illustrated in Figure 27.

Figure 27: First Tupperware’s inconsistence

Tupperware= products for the mass market

Tupperware= niche market approach (Party only invitation system)

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Other than the traditional distribution method, Tupperware sells through other channels

including virtual Tupperware Parties via television (only in India), actual retail sales in stores (in

franchising shops in China and in Super Targets, the grocery division of the Target chain in US),

kiosks in malls and online shopping (only available in North America). Unfortunately those trials,

in some cases, created discontent among the sales force because they are not involved in the

selling process. The independent sales force is an incredibly important part of Tupperware’s sales

system, because they are the ones who invest a large part of their time and effort in

demonstrating products in parties.

Another inconsistency lies in the use of independent sellers who do not collect any information

about their potential customers. Tupperware is not directly linked to customers as only the army

of independent sellers has direct access to them. The sales force does not have to report to

Tupperware any information about their customers, neither general nor specific. Tupperware

demonstrators (independent consultants) are holding home parties. At the parties, consumers

place orders. The demonstrator places the order to his/her distributorship. They pay the delivery

to the distributor and collect the sales from customers. Distributors order the goods from the

warehouses and pay to the correspondent national marketing units such as Tupperware Belgium

NV or Tupperware France SA, which are obliged by contract to send their profits to Tupperware.

This break in the chain puts Tupperware in a problematic position to efficiently reach the end

customer. During Tupperware parties, anyone can notice that the professionalism of the

demonstrator can make a difference in shaping and sending the brand message to potential

end-customers. Even though lifetime warranty is one of the main characteristics of Tupperware

products, the party demonstrator could accidentally skip delivering this important information

to participants. This missing information could make Tupperware less special, when compared to

competitors. The author has been attending a traditional Tupperware party in Brussels (Belgium,

March 2007) where no statement of life warranty was given to guests. In fact, during a meeting

a manager explained that some categories are not well selling because the sale force is not

supporting enough those products. It is up to demonstrators to establish what and when to

present at their parties.

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4.5. The company’s characteristics This chapter discusses the main characteristics of Tupperware Corporation with an emphasis to

the Tupperware brand. Figure 28 unifies all the elements of this study.

Figure 28: Tupperware scheme of its brand’s characteristics

The three core generic elements are located in the center: direct selling, premium products and

changing lives (with emphasis to women) that are broken down into more detailed aspects.

Direct selling happens during the Tupperware parties. Story telling is necessary for products sold

at parties, because it motivates purchase. The sales force is independent and its job is very

valued by Tupperware.

Tupperware products are considered premium and innovative; they represent solutions for

everyday life’s needs. They are meant for the mass market globally, with the exception of typical

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local products, designed for those specific markets. Lifetime warranty comes along with (almost)

all Tupperware products and it represents a unique feature in the whole kitchenware plastic

industry.

Changing lives refers to the fact of giving people (mostly women) the opportunity to become

managers of themselves, by learning to sell Tupperware products and doing it organizing their

own time. Tupperware sellers are independent sellers and, in case of high volumes sales, they are

rewarded for their efforts with gifts given at the yearly jubilee ceremonies, in addition to their

profits on sales.

The Tupperware´s business is typically associated with kitchen tools and products where the

main characteristics are listed here:

• The product development process for a product of average complexity is commonly of

about one year

• Most of the products come with a lifetime warranty, so their life cycle is longer than

twenty years

• The core units of business are useful but not sexy (plastic bowls and kitchen utensils are

commonly perceived more useful than sexy objects)

• Tupperware is expert in producing high quality plastic products

• Own producing plants for certain products and moulds

• Tupperware carries out limited outsourcing (mainly not core products such as knives or

pans and pots)

• The final customer group is over 1930s

• Tupperware has a high mark-up system of earnings.

4.6. Why still on track? Even though plastic kitchenware can be easily found on supermarkets’ shelves at tremendously

low prices, some people are still choosing Tupperware products over the cheaper supermarket

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items or pricy stylish branded items. Apart from having life warranty, not all Tupperware

products look and feel extraordinary. Anyway studies say that a good part of Tupperware

customers is really in love with Tupperware, both products and the system of selling them.

To visualize the special attribute of Tupperware products, the Positioning Map mapping (Cagan

& Vogel 2002: 43-50) is used as reference. This tool categorizes products in base of their Style

and Technology impact. Style describes the aesthetic and human factors of a product, while

Technology represents the core function that drives the product, the resulting interaction with

components that are required to utilize the product and the methods and materials used to

produce the product. The upper right area is where products with an optimum combination of

technology and style are positioned and where the Value is found. Products that integrate well a

high level of lifestyle impact, ergonomics and features obtain the Value position. Products are

normally more expensive, because they cost normally more to design and produce than the ones

in the other quadrants; however, consumers are ready to spend more for a useful, usable and

desirable product.

Among the newest products, the author noticed that the Smart line containers (Cheese Smart

and Bread Smart) could be well positioned at the higher value quadrant (Figure 29). The high

sales volume and the high interest shown at parties are definitely in line with this personal

consideration. Even thought those products are more expensive than competitors, customers are

happy to spend more for the premium product. Such important products are identified internally

with the term blockbusters because of their big sales rates.

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Figure 29: An optimal combination of technology and style in Tupperware.

(Adapted from Cagan & Vogel (2002): 35)

To complete the analysis it is useful to make a comparison with competitors using Kim’s and

Maubourgne’s Strategic Chart model (2005). The key sectors where Tupperware and competitors

competes and invests in were mapped in the following chart (Figure 30). It shows Tupperware

ahead of the mainstream kitchenware competition, particularly in packaging and advertising,

but also in the product price and quality.

LOW

LOW

HIGH

HIGH

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Figure 30: Strategic Chart model by Kim & Maubourgne (2005) applied to Tupperware.

5. Suggestions for enhancing innovation Following are a series of suggestions to facilitate the internal process of finding new products

through trend forecasting and trend implementation, activities supervised by the ‘trends group’.

The ‘trends portal’ assists specifically trend forecasting (collecting, analyzing and managing the

trend material) while the ‘trends day’ is a series of guidelines for a workshop intended to guide

the implementation of trends.

5.1. Tupperware trends network The initial input for having a trends network in Tupperware comes from a personal discussion

with Professor Ilpo Koskinen, who asked himself: “If Nokia or other trend forecasting companies

take pictures all over the world for trends purposes, can‘t Tupperware do the same? It’s a global

company after all”.

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The research learning in Chapter 3.5. shows that all the companies analyzed have at least one

common characteristic. They possess a network of individuals trained to spot latest trends, make

an initial analysis and then report the findings back to headquarters for further analysis,

interpretation and distillation. In Philips, the results from the trend distillation phase are

presented to a panel of experts in order to gather additional suggestions for future planning. In

Tupperware a global virtual trends network is potentially in place. The only missing elements are

a dedicated interface and trained individuals who can function as a trend group. For security

reasons, the dedicated interface can be built within the company’s own servers, where various

observations and trends from all over the globe can be stored, collected and exchanged among

employees through the Web. The portal can be designed to systematically store information

about end-customers and competitors, which will lead to improvements and contribute to the

company’s product development. The existing Tupperware Global Database is an intranet portal

where various documents are stored and shared, but all the material is in the form of standalone

PowerPoint presentations, making the search of specific content troublesome and slow. In order

to be useful for product development, such a tool should be handy, visual and with a more

intuitive and versatile search engine. Moreover, the portal’s infrastructure could be linked to a

new public Web-based page to be used as a social platform where Tupperware customers or

enthusiasts could participate in discussions and forums. In fact, the company could also use this

interface for other purposes like introducing new products through real-time Web broadcasted

parties or personalized recipes database, and so on. Today e-learning is a common service

offered by universities. For example, international conferences can be attended in real time by

simply sitting on a chair in front of the computer kilometers away from the conference venue

without the need to be physically present at the conference. Using the Web this way can be a

simple and easily achieved advantage, but with huge potential and impacts.

5.2. Trends group Some years ago and for a couple of years, two members of the design and marketing teams

inside Tupperware were acting as a small internal trend group. Their task was to spot and collect

design trends. In the author’s opinion, their work did not continue for a series of reasons. First of

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all, trend collection was done as extra work. Moreover there was not a structured and organized

common interface where spotters could easily upload their insights.

According to Trendwatching “The Trend Group is not some multi-million dollar/euro/pound

affair. It does not have to employ a dozen staff (though that would be nice ;-). It is more a state

of mind. It can be low-cost…” (Trendwatching, 2007) and it gives the possibility to stay

informed about outside changes. The trend group will have the task of managing all the trend

material collected both internally and externally, supporting R&D activities with the trends

material when needed like organizing specific workshop such as ‘trends day’ (explained later in

Chapter 5.4.), and taking care of the internal distribution of material. Depending on how much

time can be dedicated to trend forecasting, the trend group could discuss trends in order to keep

better track of their evolution.

As mentioned previously, by doing this not only internal employees would be the ones

contributing to observing and following trends. With a dedicated website linked to the

Tupperware intranet portal, anyone, especially individuals from the sales force or enthusiasts

customers, could take part in the spotting process. To motivate spotters, trend forecasting

companies reward them with points that are exchanged with gifts. Tupperware sales business

model is also based on gifts (the more the Tupperware demonstrator sells, the more gifts are

received). Therefore, a similar rewarding system used by the forecasting companies can be put in

place in Tupperware for external trends spotters.

5.3. Trends portal and trends playing cards The trends portal has two main functions: collecting/storing and accessing trends material from

existing mega-, macro-, meso- and microtrends to insights of something new that is particularly

interesting.

In order to allow people to collect the needed material, the system must present an up-loader.

The uploading system should be designed in a way as to let different users input the material in

the same format. The material may include the framework criteria discussed in Chapter 2.4. with

few additions:

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• A title

• A short text describing the observation or trend

• Time and place of spotting

• Links to websites or contacts information

• Pictures and/or other media files (videos or sounds)

• The main P.E.S.T.E. area/s of belonging to such as politics, economics, society/culture,

technology or ecology

• The sub-area/s of belonging to such as fashion, competition, product, style

• A more detailed description of the observation or trend

• A set of keywords (useful for search purposes)

• Supporting quantitative data (when available).

To visualize the material, users can employ the internet browser. Moreover, users can conduct

searches to find specific trends. The search engine should allow to input any of the different

elements of the trend material. In the case users desire to use some content offline, the portal

should give the possibility to export it in various formats. The concept of the entry page of the

trend portal is presented in Figure 31. Once the user logs in, she can find on the upper right side

specific links such as the home page, the up-loader (to upload new material) and downloader

(to export the trend for printing or Power Point presentation), the user profile and the log off.

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Figure 31: Proposal for the Tupperware trends portal’s entry page.

A search can be done through the menu at the left side (by year and place of spotting, by

keywords or by the framework area and sub-area of origin). The center of the page is dominated

by a large rectangle made of two squares with rounded angles, which represent the trend visual

interface. The left square lists trends with a brief description, while on the right square runs a

slide show of pictures related to trends. Clicking on a picture will direct to the associated trend

page.

Figure 32 exemplifies a specific trend page. The page of the trend ‘Home Users’ is found by

selecting and choosing the following criteria: as the year and place of spotting (2007 and

Europe), key words (home, living room and friends), P.E.S.T.E. area (society), sub-area of origin

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(product). The results are then displayed in main formats such as written and photo or videos or

audio. Sometimes the section includes links to additional material like quantitative data.

Figure 32: Tupperware trends portal dedicated Trend page.

One practical finding of the underlying research is the reliance on Power Point show to present

trends. Moreover, during the analysis phase, trends are transferred on Post-it type papers. To

improve this process, the Power Point slide layout could be designed in a way that can be

converted in a printed trend playing card. This would allow for easier and quicker discussions

and analysis. For internal purposes, the trends portal should only show trends, without including

other material, unless the aim is to address early signals of a new trend. The trend group should

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filter and prepare, before working with the cards, the collected material. The availability of trend

cards at hand on someone’s desk can also provide inspiration for marketing, for designers or

engineers when thinking about new solutions for new products. A trend card is, therefore, a

handy representation of a trend and it also acts as a reminder. The layout could look like Figure

33: a double square that can be bended in the middle. Once the card is folded, the cover

displays the principal information, and the back displays more detailed information.

Figure 33: Trends card layout proposal.

The cover presents the main title of the trend with a brief explanation and some visual

elements. On the left bar the framework criteria appear (the year of spotting, the place of

spotting, the P.E.S.T.E. and sub-areas of origin). When available, additional information is

displayed on the backside of the card. To enable a more straight forward and uniform analysis of

trend, an impact scheme could be included allowing the annotation of potential impacts of

influence the trend could have to elements such as the company’s brand/philosophy or to

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society. This hands-on activity part is located at the bottom of the second page of the card.

Considering that strategic decisions are usually made on basis of quantitative data, the card

displays a blank box that can be marked whenever there are quantitative studies supporting this

trend. In Appendix 8.2. is available the collection of all trends cards used for this case.

5.4. The ‘trends day’ workshop According to the interview with Liisa Puolakka, the most important aspect for getting insights

from trends is to initiate a discussion around them. The use of multidisciplinary teams is

recommended because the various subjects related to trends will be tackled from different

points of view; therefore, the discussion and results will be more complete. A workshop to

discuss about and interpret trends is a useful way to keep track of the evolving external

environment and to come up with innovative ideas for the future. Traditionally companies have

the tendency to look only at changes happening in their industry. Therefore, these types of

events can be both an inspirational and a crisis prevention tool.

Let us call this workshop the ‘trends day’. Considering today’s Tupperware full agenda, it is

advised to organize this type of meeting at least once a year. People from different departments

and ideally a representative of the top management could gather to play with trends. The trends

day can be used for different purposes; more generally to frame how the society is and where it

is evolving to and, more specifically to explore particular themes (as whirlpool did with Project

F, focusing on the theme cleaning) or to look at contemporary material and design trends.

The general rules for the workshop are:

• Curiosity

• Open mindedness

• Avoiding a “yes, but” attitude.

With a trends portal already activated and running, it will be easier to centralize trend material,

which consists of all the different types of observations coming from the spotters located in the

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various geographical areas. The trend group has the task to prepare the required material for the

workshop. All the material received should be ready available on a screen and possibly in a

physical and handy form to work with (for example the trends playing cards).

The workshop process has been built combining the various insights from the research phase. It

is intended to be a general approach to facilitate the work with trends. The scheme below

(Figure 34) shows the various phases:

Figure 34: Trends day process chart.

The set up phase precedes the trends day and it includes a series of three actions:

• The timeframe (long, middle or short) of the exercise is set

• The aim of the trends day is chosen (feasible solutions or visionary concepts or ideas,

products or services, a specific theme to focus on)

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• The trends material, being physical cards, booklets or digital packages, is collected and

distributed to all attendees to make them familiar with the matters to be discussed

during the workshop.

The trends day workshop starts by introducing the steps that will be followed; then the above-

mentioned elements are explained to the audience and teams are formed.

An initial analysis phase is then done to identify lasting trends. The trend material is qualitative

in nature, both complex and large. Approaching it with the affinity diagram method, also known

as the J-K method (by Jiro Kawakita) seems to be the best starting point. All the trends cards

can then be spread on a big table to cluster or group different trends together by finding

connections and associations without any a priori organization principles. Doing so, bigger,

more general trends may encompass smaller trends and new trends can be identified.

Working with too many elements can be problematic. A filtering phase is useful to reach the

optimal number of maximum ten trends suggested by Puolakka.

To each remaining trend, a level of impact can be assigned. Nokia’s approach is to identify

which trend has the biggest impact on the company brand and philosophy. Additional criteria

can be used for mapping the trends on a filtering scheme such the one in Figure 35. Here both

megatrends and other types of trends are mapped in relation to Tupperware (x-axis) and the

society (y-axis). By doing so, it is immediate to understand which trends have most influence on

Tupperware brand/philosophy and at the same time on shaping the society.

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Figure 35: Trends to be clustered in an impact scheme.

Because of the evolutionary aspect of trends discussed previously in Chapter 2.7., both timing

(some trends are surviving and become stronger while others are weakening and fading out) and

locality (if something is considered a trend in a place, it does not mean that it will be a trend all

over the world) aspect of trends must be analyzed and understood. During the interview,

Vaittinen suggested mapping trends adopting the Boston Consulting group scheme so that it is

easier to identify which trends could be better to invest in and which not to consider. In the

case where results of mapping should be closely related to the actual business model, trends

with the highest impact on the company are selected for the next step. Instead, if the aim is

more explorative where solutions related to a different business model than the actual one are

sought, then it is mandatory to decide which quadrants to look at in order to select trends for

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the next phase (see appendix 8.3. for further explanation of the scheme). Figure 36 shows the

clustering of trends mainly characterized by high impact to the society and Tupperware.

Figure 36: Trends mapped in the impact on society/Tupperware scheme.

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A first implementation stage can start when a few trends passed through the above mentioned

filtering stages. In this phase, trends are translated with both logic and imagination into what

Levanto (2004) identifies with implications (concrete ideas) taking into consideration the main

company’s elements. The results of this phase can include scenarios, directions or even product

ideas. As far as interpretation of trends is concerned, Elise Levanto shows a logical pattern

between specific mega-, societal and consumer trends and specific implications that have been

chosen for the referenced company (Nokia). An example is the link between the megatrend

‘globalization’ and the socio-cultural trends of ‘awareness about inequality’, which pushes for a

need for corporate trust and responsibility. Another example is the consideration of the

consumer trends of ‘new traditionalism’, ‘localized products’ and ‘ethical consumption’, which

factors could, as a consequence, push the company [implications] to focus on coming up with

solutions characterized by longevity and an evolutionary nature (Levanto 2004).

At this point, the initial focus could be refined accordingly to the knowledge created during the

previous phases. This new route can be, for example, a shift of the brand main focus or

concentrating on a new business opportunity.

The second implementation represents the final phase of the workshop, where specific strategic

action plans and feasible actions are taken, such as product/service ideas, concepts, or inputs to

be included in the next product briefs.

Finally, a brainstorming session can sum up all the work of the day by generating more tangible

results that can be well-visualized.

6. Proposals built on trends The aim of keeping track of trends and organize such workshops as trends day is to help the

strategic decisions where to focus in the future. Today, the starting point of the process can be

summarized with the representation on the left of Figure 35, where all the main elements of

today’s Tupperware are grouped in. These elements are:

• Focus on food (storing, preparation and cooking items)

• End customers group of females over 35 years

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• Plastic as main component

• Pricy, considering the average kitchen plastic item

• Party, referring to the direct selling channel, focusing on the important aspects of

product demonstrability and the fact that you need to contact a company seller in order

to buy products

• Everlasting, intended as lifetime warranty

• For everyday use

• Easiness.

Instead, the right side of Figure 37 below represents the unknown future, which should be

shaped with strategic choices.

Figure 37: Visual explanation of the trends day’s process.

Considering that Tupperware has its roots in direct selling, this aspect will be kept for the

future. By applying the previously explained process of trend forecasting, a series of ‘out of the

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box’ marketing, services and product concepts are generated and are presented in the following

chapters. The focus of this exercise is to explore new products belonging to other categories

than the ones Tupperware is currently mastering. The products should fit the Tupperware brand

and its business limitations.

From trends collection, trends filtering and first implementation phases a series of most

influencing trends are identified and clustered in the following groups:

• ‘Nanotechnology’ / ‘Miniaturization’ / ‘Humanized technology’

• ‘Aging population’ / ‘Few children’ / ‘Living longer’ / ‘Healthy living’

• ‘Design for the next billions’ / ‘Globalization’ / ‘Urban Millennium’

• ‘Everything in my pocket’ / ‘Always connected’

• ‘Eco and ethic’ / ‘Local’ / ‘Refilling customers’

• ‘Mass Desire’ / ‘Immersive retailing’

• ‘Community trust’ / ‘On-line sharing’

• ‘End of consumer culture’ / ‘Commoditization’ / ‘Free love’.

This clustering guides the creation of a scenario, with the intention of translating findings into

words. It consists of a briefly explanation of the different aspects of our society in relation to

the most influential trends. Given its general scope, the scenario is organized in the P.E.S.T.E.

structure:

Politics. Recessions in the USA and Japan; governments’ breakdown in Belgium and in Italy;

independency requests in Tibet and Kosovo; several victims in Iraq and Afghanistan. A general

crisis that make people unsafe, worried and massively reactive to injustices (for example

millions signed petition against China, country where human rights are still not respected, but

hosting the World Olympic Games).

Economics. In global saturated markets, people are more willing to have a unique product,

instead of another additional commodity, which lasts and would create a deeper attachment

feeling with the owner. Customers seek ‘cool’ looking, long lasting (both in terms of durability

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and of meaningfulness), ecologic and customized products and services, with a growing

attention to their ethical qualities.

Society-Culture. A growing number of people live in cities. Although becoming more nomadic,

people nowadays closely connected one each other through the Web, exchanging all sort of

information and using it for everyday’s activities (mainly shopping and communication), while at

the same time making such activities easier. Learn, know and improve are important aspects of

today’s life. Belonging to recreational groups, adventure traveling, frequent sport activities and

so on, are more and more common. The home became an entertaining hub where to invite

friends for cooking, dining, playing videogames or watching football matches together. Probably,

the unsafe feeling increased after 9/11 and it manifests itself through gathering with close

circles of friends in safe and domestic environments like homes.

Technology. The social Web (Web2.0) is extremely successful, linking together millions of people

every day. In relation to products, miniaturization allows to carry devices with multiple

functions. Nanotechnology is going to revolutionize the way people are used to see product, like

for example self-cleaning plastics or self-morphing objects. Moreover, technology becomes

‘humanized’ in the sense that it is finally used to make everyday’s activities simpler, like for

example Apple’s intuitive interface.

Environment. Green awareness is growing stronger to the point where consumers prefer to buy

products with a green label, considered a trademark of better quality because environmentally

responsible. Related to this is the awareness regarding what we eat, shifting the preference to

buy biologically grown food.

From the above scenario, certain key words are extrapolated:

• Ethical

• Meaningful (not commodity products)

• Uniqueness / personalization / customization

• Reaction

• Crisis

• Cool

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• Simplicity

• social Web / connected people

• Home as refuge

• Security

• Cities

• Bio

• Re-use.

At the same time, some suggestions on specific actions to be taken for future product

development are created as follow:

• Initiating design research applied to developing countries

• Enhancing health

• Considering products as ingredients that users use for preparing an experience

• Exploiting the digital social potential (Web 2.0)

• Creating evolutionary solutions

• Introducing services

• Linking physical products to the digital world.

At this stage a refinement of the focus (that was originally to look broadly at the society to get

inspired for new product categories that Tupperware could invest in) is done in order to create a

brand vision more in line with the most influential trends.

6.1. Shaping the Tupperware brand essence Given the straightforward capacity of the brand persona tool (Mueller 2004) to easily

communicate the essence of a brand, it is used in this thesis as a reference to describe the

revisited Tupperware brand image. A new Tupperware brand persona has been shaped taking

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into consideration those findings on the most influential trends as well as through the empathy

collected during a Tupperware party held in Brussels with a group of young professionals as

guests. Women between 35 to 55 years represent current Tupperware end customers, belonging

to the lower/middle and working classes and living in suburbs. Internally, this customer is known

as “Mrs. Average”. The company is mastering the direct selling channels to this type of customer

and reaching her efficiently. However, recent declining sales recorded by the most important

Tupperware markets coupled with new emerging tendencies suggest that some changes should

be done. In order to reach more customers, being guided by trends can help choosing the right

new customer group to start investing resources on it. Certain trends are influencing the whole

society, including Tupperware current and future consumers. They do so by shaping personal

desires, which could be seen, in the author’s opinion, as people’s coming needs. The successful

company will be able to provide solutions to those newborn, unfulfilled needs before

competitors will.

Two megatrends influences the birth of the Tupperware’s new brand persona, called hereafter

Johanna: the ‘Feminization’ and the ‘Urban millennium’ trends. The first addresses the growing

power of women in every sectors of the society, while the other represents a period in which

cities are getting bigger and bigger. These trends, together with the company’s strong expertise

in working with, mostly, female representatives and working for, mostly, female customers,

suggest it is appropriate to continue targeting to women. The Urban millennium trend

represents the second factor that orients the choice towards focusing on city dwellers. Facts

suggest that a massive shift from the rural areas to the cities is under way. Moreover, the new

color strategy of the company is helping making cooler contemporary kitchen products, an

aspect that is valuable considering the ‘Mass Desire’ trend. Additional information related to

these trends and those created during the trend collection phase are available in the Appendix

8.2. Johanna would represent the new Tupperware target end customer and her main

characteristics include being city dweller, youth age and trendiness. To create more empathy

with the new Tupperware persona the following scenario was created.

The typical after-work for Johanna could fit the following scenario. Once home after work, she

can relax in the living room, equipped with wireless media center that lets the possibility to

listen to the rock radio station from her home country, keeping track of her friends latest

pictures uploaded on Facebook and chat with her brother in South America, all at once on the

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huge TV in the living room. In the background, her favorite fashion channel is broadcasted, while

her iPod is uploading the new interior design podcasts she can listen to on her way to work.

While choosing the right recipes for dinner from her personalized on-line recipe book, she

realizes that bio vegetables are finished. She promised Ivan (her boyfriend) to have a seasonal,

vitamin B enriched soup, and consequently, she quickly orders the local online bio shop the

missing ingredients including specific types of seeds. She loves the fact that the shopping is

delivered by bike in the record time of 15 minutes! She enjoys the taste of fresh ingredients and,

at the same time, she is very attentive to have a well balanced dietary intake for her and her

boyfriend. More detailed information on the Tupperware brand persona (visualized in Figure 38)

can be found in the Appendix 8.4.

Figure 38: The new Tupperware brand persona.

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With the new brand persona identified, this thesis does seek not to change completely the

corporate strategy towards this new end-user. The aim is instead bringing awareness to the fact

that there would be less Mrs. Average buying Tupperware products. The suggested strategy

wants to study in more details Johanna and commence to address to her as a new final

customer with innovations, that being products, services or selling methods. In the long run this

new approach would bring Tupperware closer to Mrs. Urban Average, who would be the urban

correspondent of Mrs. Average. Figure 39 illustrates this strategy.

Figure 39: Shifting of the end customer profile.

6.2. New concepts supporting the revised brand vision The final implementation of trends is the sum of all the day findings practical solutions.

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Multiple ideas concerning new products, services or business opportunities were generated with

the aim to support the new vision of the Tupperware brand. Figure 40 illustrates all the ideas

that have been generated and assigned to specific quadrants. The x-axis represents the business

model (left side is the current Tupperware business model and the right side is a new model).

The y-axis identifies the product categories (the lowest area represents the actual Tupperware

categories while the top side is where new product categories are assigned). The following

chapters present a selection, made together with Design Director de Groote, of the most

promising concepts. The blue stars in the figure indicate the three selected ideas.

Figure 40: New products/services/business opportunities ideas mapping.

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6.2.1. Tupperware Web Portal

Considering that Johanna is always connected to the Web, she avails herself from its social

engaging features and benefits from the shopping possibilities it provides. A company wishing

to market to this type of client must have a solid, branded and user-friendly online presence.

Thanks to the direct selling system, Tupperware is strictly linked to personal social networks

(reference to Chapter 4.5.), but at this moment the potential of the virtual social networks that

the Web2.0 allows for has not yet been properly exploited. A centralized virtual space where

actual or potential clients or even curious people could interact in the Tupperware website does

not currently exist, even though these types of arenas where people meet and exchange

opinions are a success. It is enough to consider the big and quick success of Youtube or

Facebook that has reached more than 350 million active users. Figure 41 represents the multiple

forces, being trends and company’s characteristics, that support the idea of a Tupperware portal.

Figure 41: Trends (on the left) and company’s supporting elements to the Portal concept (on the right side).

The suggested public portal could be twofold: as a traditional website with content as well as a

platform, which people can use freely for their purposes. The company would therefore be able

to control the content for branding purposes and getting insights from users, through their

activities. With the content, Tupperware should focus on helping visitors to enjoy the brand

experience. This can be useful for both existing and potential customers. For the former category

the platform can provide supporting material for products they have acquired. For the second

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category it can underline the experience the products will bring to users thus creating

excitement and enthusiasm about the products in the catalogue.

A worldwide on-line shopping server would resolve the problem of products being available in

only certain markets. People would have the possibility to discover the “exotic” Tupperware

products (products from countries other than where they live in) and become able to buy them

through the local Tupperware seller.

Among the content, a recipe system should be provided for supporting the Tupperware food

related products. The recipe system could include a section free for everyone as well as a

restricted (V.I.P.) section accessible only to those who own Tupperware products or those who

use the service. Another element that can be included is a diet management tool, which each

user can personalize for her purposes.

The platform should support an active role of participants to become part of the brand in the

way they deem appropriate. The aim is to create an on-line community, where people can

interact. For instance, a demonstrator could broadcast her live party demonstration of the new

range of products to multiple audiences located in different parts of the globe. Users would also

be able to create content, like posting tips, recipes, product ideas or even the creation of related

products or services and commercialize them. Sub-communities will be created so that people

with similar interests can exchange tips and information. Young new mothers could be an

interesting group to start with as they might not be completely informed on the baby related

issues.

Finally, the Tupperware sales force should be able to use this platform for their professional

activities. Moreover, each purchase would have to be linked to an identifiable demonstrator so

that earnings could be tracked back to each of them. This can be obtained through a simple

password or code that identifies a certain demonstrator and that it should be typed at the

moment of placing the order. In this way the sales force would continue to have their

exclusivity for selling Tupperware products even through internet.

Physical Tupperware products and the digital Tupperware world should exist in symbiosis. This

could simply be implemented permitting V.I.P. access to the portal through codes (used as

passwords) found in the products themselves. Special content can also be added and available

to enjoy. For example cooking related product, ad-hoc recipes and tips or even insights into

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discovering the creation process of the product itself, showing all the steps from the idea

generation to the end product.

6.2.2. Tupperware Lounge

“The UN predicts that today’s urban population of three billion will rise to nearly five billion by

2030, when three out of five people will live in cities” (Brandy Vaughan, 2008). Therefore, cities

are the centers where more and more people are living. Johanna is an urban citizen as well.

Focusing on the younger generation more than on existing Tupperware customers and boldly

create awareness among them about the new Tupperware brand gave rise to the idea of the

‘Lounge’. By controlling those spaces, the company can better communicate its brand essence

and present its offer in the best way. Figure 42 shows the various factors supporting the

developing of the Tupperware Lounge.

Figure 42: Trends and company’s supporting elements to the Lounge concept.

Tupperware Lounge is going to be a brand temple in selected cities around the world. To

enhance the aspect of lifestyle and healthy living, those concept stores not only offer the

possibility to view presentations and try products on the spot, but also provide a mixture of

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services, ranging from special cooking classes to dining or catering. The Tupperware Lounge is a

catering service center, a café, a lounge, a restaurant, a cooking school and a brand-controlled

space where to demonstrate products. Therefore, the Tupperware lounge would become an

important support to the direct selling channel in cities. Figure 43 represents the multiple

activities customers could experience in such place.

Figure 43: Lounge concept.

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6.2.3. Tupperware Life Coach System

The ‘Aging baby boomers’, ‘Improve myself’ attitude, ‘The end of consumer culture’ trends and

the increasing popularity of ‘Nanotechnology’ suggest the necessity for a system made of

different and connected products focusing on helping users to have a healthy life style. ‘Life

Coach’ is the name given to such concept. Figure 44 illustrates the different forces that bring to

this concept.

Figure 44: Trends and company’s supporting elements to the LifeCoach System concept.

LifeCoach is an integrated system of different components that can interact one with another

with the scope to inform users about their daily intake and consumption of energy. The system

is very useful for weight watchers, but sport and or health-driven people will benefit from it.

The system is made of both lifestyle wearable accessories, personal care products and kitchen

accessories. A custom-made software processes the information received by the various wireless

items. The wearable accessories collect the daily calories consumption the user makes through

her movements, while the personal care products (used at home) get more specific information

on body mass, weight and health conditions. The kitchen accessories are companions in

understanding what the user is preparing and going to eat. The examples below (Figure 45)

show a cutting board with an integrated kitchen scale that tells the nutritious values of the

food on its surface, while it weights it. A special bracelet stores information about how many

calories are burned during daily activities. The last conceptual product is a weight scale that can

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measure both body fat and weight. All this information is then sent to the centralized software

that processes the data and creates personalized dietary suggestions or plans workout sessions.

Figure 45: LifeCoach System concept.

6.3. Conclusions This thesis is about trends in the field of design, focusing on how they can help companies to

think out-of-the-box of their usual processes. The intention is to uncover how trends are

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forecasted and implemented in product development and apply the insights on the Tupperware

specific case. Presenting this whole process in a master thesis project is contributing to fill the

apparent gap in the literature which does not explicitly address how trend forecasting links to

practical trend implementation. With a background and professional experience in industrial

design, the author made ‘Stepping out of the box’ focusing on how trends are used in design

and product development.

The work is divided into two parts, a theoretical and a practical one. First, a collection of

material that helped to develop a framework for trends and its visual representation is

presented. In order to develop idea concerning product development, this section delves into a

discussion and analysis of companies’ best practices both in identification/organization of

trends (forecasting) and in translation of trends (implementation). Nokia is the main case study,

focusing on the process that led to L’Amour Collection phones highlighting the important role trends played. The chapter on Whirlpool shows how trends can be used to support short,

medium and long-term projects. Trend forecasting is the main topic underlying the consulting

office ‘Future concept Lab’, while ‘Philips Design’ provides detailed insights on the internal

processes related to trends.

The second part of the thesis is business focused, where the knowledge gathered is used for the

creation of a series of strategic tools based on trends that would help specifically Tupperware’s

product development team in bringing new products into life. Throughout the chapters, some

preliminary conclusions have been outlined. In the following section the most important

conclusions, referring to the theoretical part and the business part are reported.

Concerning the theoretical part, big corporations have a well-defined approach for dealing with

trends. Even though looking ahead of time helps shaping the future as desired, not all

companies are implementing such strategy. Moreover, not all companies have enough financial

or human resources to dedicate to future visions based on trends. The proposals put forward in

this thesis are the combination of all the best practices presented in Chapter 3. that seek to be

feasible and achievable with minimal resources. Having such a systematic approach to look at

the future is definitely making it simpler. First because it is easier to understand it and to

communicate it to others and second because it is relatively quick to run. Product development

departments will have the possibility to implement strategic futuristic studies, more often than

before. By doing so companies become more aware of what is happening around them, allowing

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them to become easily reactive to eventual changes or even help them to shape their changes.

Finally, it has to be underlined that the outcomes of the trends forecast and implementation

activities are not directly related only to the process used but also, and quite importantly, to the

analytical and creative capacity of the different stakeholders involved in it. As far as trend

forecasting is concerned, difficulties have been found in assigning a trend to a specific trend’s

typology. Megatrends are enormous significant patterns noticeable everywhere that are,

therefore, of common knowledge while, for the other smaller trends, their identification and

classification is less straightforward.

As far as the Tupperware case study is concerned, social Web could be better exploited to obtain

information from the Tupperware sellers, both concerning trends happening in their countries

and for the possible information related to their customers. In fact, frequently, when a person

meets a Tupperware worker, and especially a designer, she has one or more than a product idea

to share. Unfortunately, an organized immediate system for collecting product ideas from the

public that might be very happy to share with the company, does not currently exist. Most of

the time an internal plan about product ideas might already be in place, and sometimes those

ideas have been already evaluated in the past. Nevertheless, from time to time a hint could lead

to an innovative product. Now Tupperware marketing intelligence does not seem to exploit this

close proximity with the Tupperware sellers to get direct information from the end customers.

Internet could help implementing a system that receives, analyzes and stores products ideas

(and other types of information) from the public, so that the product development teams would

have continuously at hand direct insights from the end customers. This additional data would

facilitate buying-in decisions, regarding specific new developed products, of Tupperware

markets representatives. The potential is huge because, thanks to more direct communication

with the very supportive public; old, current or new products would benefit of targeted

feedback. Such a system could be used as a co-creation design tool.

The trends portal together with the trends day workshop are meant to be a versatile building

block of an integrated system dedicated to futuristic studies based on trends. They both can be

fine-tuned considering the needs of the company that is going to use them. Additional tools can

be integrated into this initial framework for better support. Updating already forecasted trends

represents a closely related aspect to the function of the trend portal. This thesis does not

analyze this process. Assuming that forecasting activities are done on a continuous base, new

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insights, both related to new trends and to old (already forecasted) trends, would be found.

These insights cause the generation of new trends and eventually the modification of existing

ones. Such updating process should be implemented in an efficient trends portal.

6.4. Acknowledgements This thesis would not be realized without the support of Tupperware Design department,

directed by Jan-Hendrik de Groote, who acted as the company tutor. The author is also indebted

to the support of his academic tutor, namely Professor Peter Mc Grory (Aalto University of Art

and Design of Helsinki, Aalto). Other thanks go to Professor Ilpo Koskinen (Aalto) for his

preliminary support; to Elina Hiltunen (Weak Signals researcher at University of Technology of

Helsinki) and to Virpi Vaittinen (trend analyst at Future home Institute at Aalto) for their

information and hints that helped the author shaping the theoretical part; to Liisa Puolakka

(Nokia Head of Brand Visual and Experiences) for her insights on Nokia’s way of working and to

Paolo Corradini (from Future Concept Lab) for the explanation provided about the processes

used at the studio. Special thanks go to Kamleh Khatib (PhD) and the close ones, especially

Francesca, who morally supported the author in completing this work.

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8. Appendices

8.1. Trend forecasting links Concerning trend forecasting, some of the most useful internet links are the following:

www.trendwatching.com, www.trendcentral.com; www.psfk.com, www.jcreport.com,

www.agendainc.com, www.influxinsights.com, www.iconoculture.com; www.coolhunting.com;

www.japanesestreets.com and www.gothamist.com.

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8.2. Trends collection / Trends cards

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8.3. Impact scheme interpretation

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8.4. The new Tupperware brand persona