THE NEXT MEGATRENDS : KEYS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD AND ITS CHALLENGES 3/3

The current health, social, political, environmental and civic context makes us question our priorities and our relationship to time and consumption. What will the future world be like?

Imagining sustainable, desirable strategies, sensing consumers’ expectations and going forward while respecting everyone’s aspirations are still the goals of many communicators, decision-makers and entrepreneurs for 2021.

NellyRodi’s study, “The Next MegaTrends: 2021 and Beyond” gives answers and insights to these questions with 10 key solutions. From easy-to-adapt inspiring examples to concrete situations, the study provides enough creative, intelligent business solutions to bring teams together or start new projects.

• What are the structuring and inspirational values to recognize?
• How can you measure the challenges of today and create the shape of the future?
• On which foundation should we base future successful strategies?
• What are the essential MegaTrends of 2021 and beyond?

There are 10 of them and they all begin with the letter S!

Do you want to know more? Get exclusive access to our study « The Next MegaTrends : 2021 and Beyond »

In recent articles we shared a MegaTrends excerpt about Sensitivity,  as well as a special preview peek at our second MegaTrend, Spirituality 

This week we conclude our discovery trilogy by giving you a first look at our new MegaTrend, Subversion.

Today, more than ever, consumers are questioning the status quo. The behavior of men and women in contemporary societies is increasingly driven by provocation. We’ve organized the diverse, distinct energies we’ve observed under the word “Subversion.”

I am free, therefore I am. The need to function outside the system is stronger than ever.

According to a July 2020 Next/Spotify study, 52% of Generation Z don’t trust the big financial institutions, and 74% of them are ready to recreate society from the bottom up.

What is this idea about? Inventing new codes and proposing new value systems! Another of our takeaways is that there are no negative elements in this new generation of subversion. The opposite is true – the movement involves energies for soft revolutions and for ambition. It’s a positive subversion, it’s contagious, it’s subversion for solutions.

The 2021 form of subversion has an entrepreneurial image that we’ve named “sub business.”

It goes off the beaten path to rediscover a creative force that unites values such as provocation and street smarts before taking on the possibility of success. These are micro-entrepreneurs, people with very diverse profiles who want to take revenge on society and want to succeed. They don’t come from privileged backgrounds; they aren’t among what we call “the elite,” and they want to change the way things work. Who’s the best example of this positive subversion? Léna Situations! The YouTube vlogger isn’t even 25 years old, she’s not part of an inner circle, and nobody’s pulling strings for her. But thanks to her millions of followers, she made it to the front row of the Dior Fashion show. What’s her secret? It’s sincerity and spontaneity that sent this ordinary teenager to Fashion Week. The integration of new values is taking the place of overrated marketing concepts that don’t fool consumers anymore. We’re witnessing a new way to be an entrepreneur, where consumers are won over by diversity and by a move against the established order. In the musical world, it’s worth noting Aya Nakamura’s remarkable success while the popularity of Nabilla Vergara from Dubai is shaking up TV programmers’ ideas.

In terms of subversive business, the re-enchantment process through making everything free is part of the strategy of businesses that start from nothing. This may seem contrary to business concepts, but it’s the business model for more and more high-performance projects. With Nickel, it’s now possible to open a bank account in five minutes in a newspaper shop. And what if everything became free? Did you know that the inventor of hydroalcoholic gel, a Swiss infectious diseases expert named Dr. Didier Pittet, doesn’t earn a penny for his invention? Even more recently, menstrual protection products are available for free in high schools to fight against period poverty.

Business that benefits everyone has a great future. But improving the quality of life through making goods available for humanist reasons carries with it a deep reflection about giving. Smicval, a recycling center near Bordeaux, gives vouchers in return for the trash people bring in. This generates energy for the new free movement and shows a vision of an altruistic, more philanthropic society built on bartering and trading. In summary, this subversive society is more positive, not alter-capitalist.

Also in tune with positive subversion, we’ve observed the emergence of psychotropic businesses; a new attitude about esthetic taste, whether it’s good or not; bodies and what we have the right to show;  speaking frankly; freedom and more. What if this is the end of bad taste?

(If these topics interest you, and you want to know more, you can explore our complete report on Subversion and the other MegaTrends by clicking here)