This is a good time to take a look around and think about what the year may bring, knowing we’ll be completely wrong about it.
For journalists and pundits, the end of the year is a natural time to start wrapping things up and writing up the year-in-review-type pieces and the forward-looking ones as well, so we see a LOT of predictions coming out right now. Now that enough of these have floated down the feed, I thought I’d highlight a few I found compelling.
I don’t agree with everything here—at all—but I find the practice of trying to predict the year ahead interesting and worth a few minutes. I’m not reading people’s predictions of 2023 to actually find out what’s going to happen, I’m reading to find out what they’re thinking about, and how they think.
With that said, here you go:
The New Consumer’s Consumer Trends for 2023 report is pretty much essential reading for anyone in media, marketing and advertising. I think this is the second year I’ve read this and not only is it packed full of interesting insights, but it’s also written so concisely and coherently. It’s a joy, really.
If you are looking for a trend report for a specific industry go here. Sorry, I have no idea who compiled this Google Drive but it’s FULL of reports. I grabbed the link from someone in my network and put it in my notes, but just cannot remember. (I know this sounds spammy, so proceed at you’re own risk). A few of the dozen reports you’ll find include:
The Drizly 2023 BevAlc Trend Report
Booking.com 2023 Travel Predictions
2023 McKinsey China Consumer Report
Gartner 100 Data and Analytics Predictions through 2025
IBM 5 Trends for 2023
Fred Wilson What Will Happen in 2023. If you want to know how things will shape up in the year ahead, it’s always a good idea to look at the people who control large amounts of capital. The VC and committed blogger makes predictions each year, through the lens of his VC, and I always find them deeply interesting.
Scott Galloway 2023 Predictions. Always provocative. Always thought-provoking. Sometimes accurate. This is interesting stuff.
Nieman Journalism Lab 2023 Predictions. I flagged this in my last email but including again for good measure. Again, I don’t read this as actual soothsaying, but just a good way to peek into the minds of some smart industry people.
Now looking back.
A few places I’ve gone to for a review of great work in 2022:
WITI Wrapped edition. Just a deep trove of interesting links from interesting people here. I’ve been returning to this one to make my way through.
New York Times Best Songs of 2022. Every year this makes me feel older and more out of touch, but it’s also an easy way to reconnect with the popular music that I most definitely missed in the year prior.
Bloomberg Jealousy List 2022: All the articles Bloomberg editors and writers wished they’d written the year prior. Always a goldmine for great work, for example, this colorful history of the Haribo Gummy Bear, which I totally missed the first time around.
The Best Things I Bought in 2022: From the CEO at Gear Patrol (as expected a total gear-obsessed guy) this list is a nice deep trove of solid recommendations from someone who knows a thing or two about products that work well.