01/04/2007 09:51:00 PM 
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Not ordered by likelihood or anything in particular.
1. Hordes of "Borat" imitators over-run adland
2. Skaters and surfers adopt country club apparel as their signature looks are further co-opted by Hot Topic et al
3. Trans fat ban spreads from New York across the country, transforming the way Americans eat
4. Race returns to the forefront of the popular consciousness after several decades lurking in the shadows
5. Sports teams and leagues start to build and practice game strategies on Second Life
6. McDonalds comes out with McOrganic Meal
7. RyanAir partners with JetBlue
8. 24 hour fitness partners with wii
9. itunes launches a concert tour
10. YouTube starts charging the networks to place their content
11. A global ad agency joins forces with a media company to form a new content hot shop
12. Ask A Ninja signs a 3-year deal with Comedy Central
13. Bloggers will be legible for the Pulitzer Prize in 2008
14. XM and Sirius merge
15. The Gap partners with a leading French design house
16. Pitchfork launches a magazine
17. Companies test their advertising using internal prediction markets
18. Hollywood studio agrees to a $100 million budget for the 17-year old winner of their consumer-generated content competition
19. A Second Life avatar has a No1 hit
20. Home Depot joins forces with Whole Foods to create the first sustainable home improvement store
21. Flickr takes over New York's Central Park for the "People's Photo Show"
22. Best Buy launches an electronics store for kids
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It seems some of them are already coming true. So we are going to set up a Prediction Watch. Let us know if you see any of our predictions come true. So far a few already have:
#3 - Trans fat ban spreads. Starbucks has begun ridding their inventory of trans fat - most stand alone stores in major cities have already made the move. They started with their seasonal pumpkin muffins and gingerbread cookies.
#14 - XM and Sirius are about to merge. Fox covers the merger in this article.
We also wanted to give a shout out to those newletter subscribers that emailed us their predictions - here are a few of them:
Jinal from JinalShah.com said:
Several Things:
1) Mobile technology will pick up and gain traction in America.
2) Entrepreneurship will pick up steam and more young people will opt to do their own thing
3) Social networking will face a backlash of sorts/ counter attack.
Jonas from PLANNING.SE said:
Maybe planners (and others) around the world at last realize that brands don?t exist in a social and cultural vacuum and put their noses in the richness of consumer culture theory. And ideas like brand communities, co-authored brands and brand meaning finally replace obsolete conceptions like brand onions, pyramids, lovemarks and what not.
Clark said:
Consumer created advertising - i.e. contests getting consumers to create ads for their products, companies hiring young filmmakers to create content to promote their brands on you-tube, myspace, google videos, etc. I think this will be the tipping point for advertising on-line. -- More money will be spent on on-line advertising then any other form of media. (like converse ads)
(College) Brand Reps. - Red Bull got it. Put cool kids in charge of your brand, let them do whatever they want, and they will love your brand and tell everyone else to love it too. People who work for Red Bull love that company. I personally think starting a brand rep. program is the best thing a company could do and more and more companies will start to see this in 07.
Consumer created products - more and more customization i.e. buying your new skate shoes with your name on it., etc.
And my personal favorite - social responsibility - my generation is a generation that likes to have a lot of fun, but also cares alot about what is going on in the world (regardless of how we individually think problems should be addressed). We are more exposed to the shit show than any generation in the history of man kind - we have to care because we know what is going on..
I invest my money, time, and praise in companies that are doing good. -- and now doing good also means making money -- the triple bottom line, treat your employees with respect, make good products that serve their purpose and are cool, and do right by the environment, and your consumers and you're golden!
In 07 it is going to be even more cool to care.
Ben from Rocket Science Group wrote:
Re: What will be big in 2007.
Responsibilty.
David from Davidreport.com predicted:
Today advertising is a questionable effort both to build recognition and to build a brand. I think that companies will put more money into design and innovation and by that way build strong and trustful brands. By creating attractive products and services relevant and interesting enough the target group will source them by free will. One way to do this is to build in communicative elements and attributes based on humanistic and cultural values. Let the brand speak through the credible products and services, the true heart of a brand.
We loved reading all of your answers. Thanks for your participation.
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