Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes

From Strand Bookstore

Mark Penn, the man who identified "Soccer Moms" as a crucial constituency in President Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign, is one of the most respected and sought-after analysts in the world. In "Microtrends," he explores the small patterns of behavior in our culture that are wielding great influence on business, politics, and our personal lives. Relying on some of the best data available, Penn shows readers how to identify the microtrends that can transform a business enterprise, tip an election, spark a movement, or change your life. Conventional wisdom is almost always wrong and outdated, those who recognize this will have the biggest impact.

From the Publisher

A high-ranking pollster surveys the power of microtrends, identifying seventy-five forces that are influencing America and the global community, from religion and politics to food and entertainment.

More about the book

Mark Penn sweats the small stuff--or at least he notices it: the many niches of everyday life that reveal lifestyle trends of interest to marketers, the media, government and just about all of us. In this serious but entertaining study, Penn identifies over 70 new types that comprise the many facets of the way we live now, among them "thirty winkers," who get little sleep, through "Old New Dads" (Mick Jigger is one), "second home buyers," "powerful petites" ("little women are big business"), "Impressionable Elites" (who have money to spend), "America's home schooled", "Vietnamese Entrepreneurs", and "educated terrorists" (the small stuff we should sweat). Penn organizes these groups into larger cluster categories such as love, work, race and religion, health and wellness, etc., and for each micro trend type provides several pages of succinct analysis telling who they are, their interests, and why they are important. Penn sees a great individualism at play here, and a change in American society from what he calls a "Ford economy" to a "Starbucks economy." It's a fun read, and readers will probably identify with more than one of the micro trends, which the author says are "the seeds of unexpected change." MICROTRENDS includes a generous list of sources for further study.

Synopses

Pollster Mark Penn argues that the biggest trends in America are microtrends, the smaller trends that go unnoticed or ignored. One million people can create new market for a business, spark a social movement, or effect political change. In 1996, a microtrend identified by Penn ("soccer moms") helped re-elect Clinton. Now, Penn identifies the new microtrends sweeping the world, from Extreme Commuters and Working Retired to Old New Dads, from Bourgeois And Bankrupt to Uptown Tattooed. Highlighting everything from religion to politics, from leisure pursuits to relationships, this book will take the reader deep into the worlds of polling, targeting, and psychographic analysis.--From publisher description.