Julian Bleecker of the Near Future Laboratory has developed a novel way to forecast: he constructs prototypes, products and artifacts from future scenarios. Then he designs the marketing material, including ad campaigns and brochures and catalogs, to interrogate the wider impact on consumer society and human behavior. These techniques are set forth in Julian’s book, The Manual of Design Fiction: A Practical Guide to Exploring The Near Future.  https://www.nearfuturelaboratory.com/

Advertising industry legend Rishad Tobaccowala shares his perspective on the future after 30+ years as head of strategy at globe-spanning agency Publicis. In the next phase of digital transformation, he envisions marketing and design encompassing every aspect of a business, from product to store to customer experience, because “everything else will be highly automated.” Check out this energetic dialog for insight about how organizations and markets will evolve.  You’ll also learn Rishad’s technique for forecasting long-term trends. Visit rishadtobaccowala.com , join his newsletter https://rishad.substack.com/ and follow him on Twitter @rishad.

In the digital domain, marketing is technology. Glenn White builds advertising systems for brand managers inside game worlds.  In this episode of The Futurists, Glenn explains the complex strategic decisions that govern how brand advertising will evolve in the Metaverse.