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Report Title
LifeTrends (PDF version here) — Accenture Song
Published
October 16th, 2024
Most Useful For
C-Suite and innovation leaders, particularly foresight and strategic opportunity analysts
Data Sources and Methods
In March-April of 2024 they started by engaging their global network of sociologists, anthropologists, designers, creatives and technologists for localized signals and trends in their home communities and countries. Then they ran a series of trend workshops in 50 studios across the world, culminating in a pitching competition for the five key themes of the year. Additional supporting interviews with thought leaders, futurists and academics rounded out the qualitative part of the research.
Finally, the report themes and data were validated by 50+ video interviews across eight countries. Accenture Song also ran an online survey across 22 markets and 25,000 respondents, which provided a more precise handle on the magnitude of each of the identified trends.
Key Findings
The overall thrust of this year’s report reflects the complex feedback loops between people and the fast-moving technology they interact with. Perhaps the underlying question being asked is why, where, and when will consumers put their trust in you and your products. It’s not a downbeat report, but rather a cautionary one that empathizes with consumers as they aim to re-balance their lives, finding pleasure in technology and great pleasure outside of tech as well.
Trend 1: Cost of Hesitations
This focuses on the surge in online scams and deepfakes that are eroding trust in digital platforms, giving consumers a “hesitation reflex” which affects many brands, but especially news media and eCommerce. One key quote on this trend: “For years, organizations have been asking people to prove who they are. Now brands are on the hook to do the same.”
Cited Signals:
- 53 percent of people have seen fake news
- 38.8 percent have seen fraudulent product reviews
- 52 percent have experienced deepfake scams.
Recommendations:
- Start moderating your customer support sites and other comms channels
- Create trusted entry points for consumers; innovate authentication and sign-in
- Talk to your insurance provider partners about deepfake liability coverage.
Trend 2: The Parent Trap
Parents find themselves balancing the need to protect their children from harmful content, while allowing them to participate in the fruits of technology. The spike in mental health issues, cyberbullying, and exposure to harmful content are driving parental demand for governments and companies to respond, and to reading books like Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation.
Cited Signals:
- The FBI reported over 12,600 boys were coerced to share explicit photos for money
- Anxiety in kids 18-25 yrs old tripled since 2010
- 56.5 percent of the same cohort agree social impacts how they think about their identity.
Recommendations:
- Prepare now for smartphone use to be banned for under 14’s
- Start workshopping non-digital touchpoints for parents and kids
- Begin designing parent-friendly value propositions meeting their concerns.
Trend 3: Impatience Economy
The theme song here could be “Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac. Frustrated with traditional systems, whether with their bankers and investment advisor, or their health professionals or career guidance counselors, people are “life hacking”; i.e., curating their own solutions to their problems.
Cited Signals:
- 55 percent prefer quick solutions over traditional methods
- 30 percent of online betting involves 18-34 year-olds
- 46 percent of people with VPNs use them to circumvent streaming walls
- 68 percent would engage more with a brand that educates through video and blogs.
Recommendations:
- Create channels that connect your consumers with resources that solve their pressing needs
- Leverage your social media analytics insights to support customers trying to be proactive
- Deeply personal consumer experiences with a human touch matter.
Trend 4: Dignity of Work
Business pressures, technological advancements, and shifting employee expectations are challenging the dignity of work. The rise of employee surveillance, feelings of dehumanization, and concerns about AI’s impact on jobs are contributing to a decline in workplace morale and energy. A key quote on this trend: “By using generative AI and becoming more efficient, I am concerned about using it, as people at work comment how quick I am. As a result, it’s actually increased the work I have to do.”
Cited Signals:
- 60 percent of employers are surveilling their staff’s activity
- 53 percent chose not to attend their end-of-year party in 2023
- Only 29 percent of employees believe their leaders have their best interests at heart.
Recommendations:
- Re-energize your workforce with authentic human connections; reinvent meetings!
- Stop personifying AI — it blurs the lines between people and machines
- Think about what it means to hold people accountable for work they had their bot/agent do.
Trend 5: Social ReWilding
As a response to digital fatigue, people are seeking deeper authentic experiences in the real world, reconnecting with nature, reviving hobbies, and prioritizing in-person social interactions. Brands can start to engage customers through offline experiences, tactile products and social well being.
Cited Signals:
- Under 30s are discovering older products, like music LPs and 90s-era Mazda Miatas
- 48 percent spending more time in nature and outdoors
- 30 percent reading physical books or magazines.
Recommendations:
- Brands must define non-digital channels and experiences and scale them
- Figure out how to ‘go local’ but don’t stoop to stereotypes.
- Re-imagine your value propositions by how well they get people outdoors.
One Great Chart
Questions to Discuss with Your Team
- If trust in digital platforms further erodes, what if the future of customer interaction isn’t online at all?
- How can we turn the “impatience economy” into an opportunity and how might we eliminate wait altogether?
- What if our digital products helped kids take their experience with us outside?
- What if our brand became synonymous with restoring balance for both individuals and the planet?
- What if we became a trusted guide for people to take control of their health, finances, and well-being?
- What if we borrowed ideas from purpose-led decentralized organizational structures?
