Ford (yes, that Ford) recently released their 2018 Trends Report.
Ford has been doing an annual trends report since 2013. Like prior years most of the reported trends are not new or surprising.
But Ford does a great job presenting and explaining the trends. And that, we think, makes the report well worth reading for anyone interested in trends.
We particularly liked the trend they call The End of Reason, which they describe this way:
Global upheaval is evident in everything from politics to pop culture, and people are responding to these changes in polarized fashion. As divisiveness grows, a sense of being overwhelmed intensifies. Consumers are hungry for inventive ways to cope and adapt.
As the report chart below shows (click to enlarge), one result of the end of reason is that most people are feeling overwhelmed.
Ford also nicely covers the shift away from marriage and children in the trend they call Singled Out. They describe this as:
Couples today – with more choices and longer life spans to consider – are rethinking commitment and fulfillment.
Ford used to include ads for their cars and trucks in their trend report and talk about how they linked back to the trends. This got a fair amount of criticism, with many claiming it was too commercial.
But we liked seeing the cars and how they linked back to the trends. And besides, does anyone not know Ford is in the business of selling cars?
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