What Trends Say About the World — and What Brands Should Do With Them
The trends that interest NellyRodi aren’t fleeting waves designed to feed Instagram or TikTok.
What our teams are truly focused on are deep cultural forces—with their own codes, images, values, and language—that shape our behaviors, aesthetics, and products, and reflect our collective aspirations.
At their core, they express a fundamental need: consumers’ desire to see the world change—a revolutionary break from the past.
By nature, trends are not made to last forever: they disrupt, transform, and then either fade away or become so embedded in culture that they turn into norms.
A trend never emerges by chance. It always appears at the intersection of three dynamics: aspiration, resonance, and inclusion.
Aspiration: A deep need shared by a group of consumers.
Consumers’ aspirations are often tied to their definition of happiness and success—purchasing power, self-esteem, social engagement, trust in the future.
Resonance: The trend’s ability to take root and live within the shared culture* of a group.
* A group’s culture includes the knowledge, beliefs, values, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, habits, institutions, technologies, and artifacts that are shared and recognized collectively. Culture is what connects us.
Inclusion: The trend’s capacity to bring people together and foster a sense of belonging.
So a trend = aspiration × resonance × inclusion.
It has purpose, meaning, and unifying power.
There are different levels of trends, nested within each other:
Megatrends:
Deep, long-term consumer aspirations.
They offer a foundational understanding of what motivates and drives consumers—and are the source of all trends.
Cultural Trends:
Emerging values, aesthetics, practices, and references.
They bring together a set of cultural elements (images, figures, ideas, institutions) that share a common meaning.
Aesthetic Trend / Vibe:
A cohesive set of visual, sensory, or emotional codes (for a vibe) stemming from a cultural trend.
Product Trend:
The concrete translation into consumer goods—style, color, materials, etc. It gains its relevance from the cultural and aesthetic layers behind it.
For brands, it’s far more powerful to understand what’s behind a trend than to simply follow it.
Want to dig deeper?
Check out our report: Beyond Trends: Gearing Up for Tomorrow.
