Commercial: On trends

For those of you in the trendwatching business, two things that might be of interest:

1. Trendwatching has issued some of its tips towards successful trendwatching. The article is long and difficult to read on screen, but it is useful on the differences between trends and fads for example.

2. Economist.com has a report on some of the trends identified by Mark Penn. They're drawn from his book Microtrends and aim to bring to wider attention changes and developments that are going on in small niches across consumer sectors. You should pay attention because not only is Penn head of Burson-Marsteller, but also Hillary Clinton's chief strategist. The Economist recently profiled him.