SQLI UK & Middle East

And here's Part two of my predictions for 2025: 5. Authenticity and reality will increase in value. For customers looking for quality we will see brands increasingly focus on human led craft - whether that is editorial content credited to writers, where the author adds authenticity - or creators drawing, designing and lensing work that shows their hand, their training and their creative decisions. The rise of Normal Posting points to a refocus on unpolished raw content and personalities anchored in reality (and not generated by AI). Spots, scuffs, creases and wrinkles will have currency in an increasingly homogenised world. 6. Two creative concepts will become the order of the day as the world continues to become more volatile, dangerous and polarised. The first, escapism, will run the gamut from dreamlike utopias and nostalgia for a simpler and ‘safer’ time, through to delusional conspiracy theorism. The prevalence of the latter is likely to make it difficult to land alternative and holistic messages with credibility - that being said you really must try Moringa tea. The second concept is stability. The value of a safe port in a storm will soar as people look for clarity, honesty and rationalism in a noisy, chaotic and shouty world. Safe, secure, even cosy will comfort us all like a big creative blanket. Perhaps one of the reasons next year's Pantone colour of the year is the rather sedate Mocha Mousse. Tradition will get a boost from a desire for stability of course, which could be stifling for progressives everywhere. 7. Fitness, fitness, fitness. As the price of food and drink soars, training, working out and walking together will continue to become a dominant way for people to socialise and meet others. A happy trend as long as it doesn’t lead to body transformation obsession. This will mean the hospitality industry has to work so much harder to create experiences that get people to ‘go out’ and will have a pronounced effect on wardrobes and what people choose to spend their money on. 8. Strategy will be everything. Years of relentless social media, live news updates, notification culture, and always-on digital product thinking have made working a never-ending task of just keeping up. Reaction has become a state of being with only today, or if you're lucky that next sprint, getting any thought. 2025 will belong to those that can rise above it all, think about the macro rather than the micro and forge a plan. That might start with screen free thinking time. With that I wish you the happiest of New Years. Enjoy 2025. iD : Normal Posting https://lnkd.in/eQG7UPfn CNN : Mocha Mousse https://lnkd.in/eAF-_6CG Strava : Year In Sport https://lnkd.in/exQyeFBt Time : Attention Spans https://lnkd.in/eZV-Hmv8

Greetings from Paris, before I wrap up at work for the year I thought I'd share some predictions for 2025. Here's Part 1. 1. 2025 will be the year of niche. Brands and individuals that are specialised in their field and are genuinely distinctive will be rewarded with growth and increasing customer interest. See the article below on BoF for more on niche sports in particular. On the other hand it will also become tougher for multi-category brands, and companies that run groups of brands, to maintain credibility and differentiation as niche competition soars and outpaces them. It won’t be enough to simply run a stable of brands anymore and this will likely lead to a few casualties. 2. Luxury will reset after years of decline. Recent moves will see the grand French houses shift expectations - see the appointment of Matthieu Blazy to refresh Chanel and Jonathan Anderson rumoured to be about to become CD for Dior, which could benefit from a brand re-imagination. This points to a general refocus on craft and cultural nuance, something that has served Prada well of late, and a shift away from showy, brash eventing and obvious celebrity ambassadors. 3. Social media will continue to stratify, making the digital multi-channel world trickier to create relevant content for, and making it even harder to identify your customer, and in-fact real humans. TikTok has a reckoning coming up in the US in January, and with the decline of X it will be even more important to be available where your customer is - eg. Bluesky. Changing laws and hardening parental attitudes may increase the age at which people start out on traditional social media which seems to be seen as a good thing. This will strengthen gaming led networks, as a Roblox generation grows up. I think this new social reality will also lead to brands wanting to have more content in their own channels where they can manage viewer and brand safety, and create a central focus. 4. AI will continue its march and will be deployed to radically reduce content production time and cost, and to reduce human customer service . This may of course lead to a worse customer experience when the happy path gives way, but I expect many value-led brands will hope to balance reputation and price point (driven by cost to serve) - a tricky task. At the other end of the market I think the digitisation of in-person service will continue with Clientelling Apps, once the preserve of luxury becoming more common in more physical places. Part 2 follows in a separate post. Business of Fashion: Niche https://lnkd.in/ehe_2eHW The Guardian: Chanel https://lnkd.in/eN_2Qf9h BBC: Tik Tok https://lnkd.in/eMWW8Khp Forbes: AI https://lnkd.in/egARqQiA