Dentsu Creative has launched its 2023 Trends Report ‘A Tale Of New Cities’, exploring an age of volatility and hope. The report explores the modern dualities of progress and regression, optimism and anxiety, a shifting balance of old and new, technology and humanity, innovation and tradition.
Dentsu Creative identifies 12 trends that will drive and disrupt the industry in 2023. Packaged in six pairs, with both the challenge and opportunity for society examined for each, the agency unpacks what the best of times and the worst of times will mean for brands. Developed by strategists and futurists across the Dentsu Creative network, the report offers a rich diversity of perspective.
Cheuk Chiang, CEO, Dentsu Creative APAC, says, “We all know that 2023 will be another challenging year. A world with immense volatility, inflation, economic uncertainty, and social unrest. But despite what’s happening around us, it’s not all doom and gloom. Across APAC, we are seeing incredible innovation and creativity from people and communities who are shaping an exciting future. People are finding leadership, inspiration, and value in new sources, and with this, new patterns of influence are forming.”
Dentsu Creative trends report acknowledges this shift in balance: the serious realities people are living in; the challenges they will meet this year; but also their desire for inspiration and progress. Amongst this, the agency showcases platforms where imagined futures are already coming to life, and in tow, the opportunities and tools to shape them.
Pats McDonald, chief strategy officer, Dentsu Creative, said, “At the close of 2022, it was hard to escape the feeling that eras and empires were ending-or beginning. Around the world we saw immense volatility, as the cost of living spiralled, conservative policies challenged progressive social agendas and energy instability became all too real. As 2023 begins, we see both alarming steps backward as a society- with talk of power cuts, rationing and hyper-inflation- and green shoots of hope.”
“Perhaps most exciting is the sense that individuals and communities are writing their own narratives, rejecting a sense of top down, homogenous cultural influence. Our predictions for 2023 acknowledge the tensions, volatility and struggles facing society today and, on the flip side, the opportunities, tools and platforms that exist to enable communities to build the worlds they want to see,” added McDonald.
Fred Levron, global chief creative officer, Dentsu, said, “The new year is riddled with uncertainties. War, inflation, crisis upon crisis. As a society there are huge challenges coming our way. But there are also many certainties. Creativity wins. Emotion wins. Innovation and collaboration wins. Challenging times are no time for business as usual. Our Dentsu Creative trends report explores the challenges coming our way but also the opportunities for brands with the courage and imagination to embrace a new modern creative toolkit and create culture, imagine a better future and make it possible.”
Trends shaping 2023 include the end of monoculture, the quest of culture shock, rising mental health crisis, the joy imperative, meta diversity, toxicity in technology, the great opt-out, the great outdoors, AI-dentity, rebel without a filter, handbrakes on growth, and the imperative for good.