What are coolhunters?
There are many running definitions for trend spotting / coolhunting. Obviously you can check out the Wikipedia page to get the current public perception, but here’s a bona fide textbook definition:
“Trend spotters are professional researchers hired by advertisers to identify trends that may affect consumer behavior. Cool hunters are trend spotters who specialize in identifying trendy fads that appeal to young people. They usually work with panels of young people in key trendsetting locations, such as New York, California, urban streets, and Japan. Loic Bizel, for example, hunts Japanese super trendy fads as a consultant for many Western companies and designers. Though his Web site (http://www.fashioninjapan.com), you can get a taste of those cool ideas and fashion in Japan’s streets and life, such as studded high tops and spray-on stockings.” (148)
For a more succinct definition, we can turn to Coolhunting: chasing down the next big thing:
“Coolhunting is about finding trends and trendsetters, and the trends we associate with cool make the world a better place.” (7-8)
The authors further elaborate:
“Coolhunting extends into all domains of business life. Coolhunting principles can be applied by venture capitalists to discover new investment opportunities, by sales executives to create better sales forecasts, by project managers to enhance how software development goes, by financial analysts to identify market trends, and by marketing managers to predict consumer trends and trendsetters.” (12)
As you can see, coolhunting/trend spotting can take place pretty much anywhere. You’ve just got to be voraciously curious!
What do coolhunters do for a living?
An Overview
Coolhunters (trend spotters) work in many different professions. Anyone can be a coolhunter. In fact, all successful people are trend spotters, as they are able to identify important new developments and manipulate change to their advantage.
Nevertheless, those who dedicate the majority of their time studying trends (instead of engineering or coaching soccer, for example) can be found in more specific groupings of professions- mainly those having to do with publishing or market research.
Above is a visual breakdown of these different fields. The publications I’m thinking of mostly consist of magazines- both in print and online. They range from very focused publications to more trend-oriented ones, and eventually blur into the consulting field in the form of annual and seasonal reports or editorial content published by trend spotting firms.
Trend spotting firms offer a wide range of services in addition to their exclusive trend-related content, including seminars, trend tours, reports, specialized research, and consulting. Some individuals have founded their own trend spotting companies, which they have subsequently expanded or continue to run independently. These coolhunters start to blur into the writer/blogger/futurist sphere.
Writers, bloggers, and futurists are typically individuals who, in some way or another, have an undying fascination with new and exciting concepts and trends. Some individuals go on to create their own publications; others go straight into design and business formation.
The sphere that encompasses designers, professionals, entrepreneurs, and innovators includes every imaginable professional field not already listed. As I said earlier, all successful people are coolhunters. Most just happen to spend more time focusing on their core business activity. In some cases, businesses employ or consult publications, writers, or agencies instead of doing their own trend spotting, so that they might specialize entirely in their fields of expertise. It’s a shame that these particular companies must forego the joy of coolhunting, nevertheless organizations like these happen to provide a great proportion of the funds that make trend spotters’ careers possible!
Company Examples
Perhaps you would like some examples.
Below I have given some examples of publications, agencies, and individuals that specialize in trend spotting.
(click to see a larger image)
These are obviously just a few examples out of hundreds (I mean honestly, can one even fathom the number of coolhunting bloggers out there? And nearly EVERY magazine in existence banks on new trends), but my aim is to provide you with some good examples of the larger players (or at least the ones that seem most obvious to me!).
In the future, I hope to do profiles on some of these companies and individuals- and perhaps interview some directly. If you have some additional publications, agencies, and indivudals to recommend, let me know! It’s fun to learn about the field.
Major Coolhunting Cities
Based on the office locations of coolhunting and trend research firms, as well as references to different cities on behalf of said firms and individuals, I’ve made a simple map of the most popular cities for trend spotting.
(Click on the image to view a larger version)
This map is hardly exhaustive- trends kick off everywhere, all the time, and one doesn’t have to venture far to see some really exciting innovation and cultural change. Nevertheless, it does appear that some cities (especially places like New York, Tokyo, London, Beijing, etc…) are extra innovative.
Interestingly, this map corresponds closely with this one from td-architects.eu of the world’s top 50 quality of life cities.
[image from from td-architects.eu]
It makes sense. Where there is high quality of life, there is innovation! So… road trip, anyone?
