Back to the F**kture

Our Back to the F**kture series asks renowned thinkers to put foresight predictions under the hindsight spotlight. In episode 9, Martin Raymond speaks to sociologist, columnist and author, Ana Andjelic to discuss how we should look to prioritise solid cultural growth. Ana specialises in strategy and has worked for some of Fortune’s top 500 brands, she was recently appointed as chief brand officer at Banana Republic.  In this episode, she discusses why brands should function as communities rather than customer relationship entities; the role that culture, as well as commerce, plays in defining a brand’s ethos and how and why certain kinds of GMO (genetically modified) brands have become overgrown, monstrous and tasteless. Listen to episode 9 now.

Our Back to the F**kture series asks renowned thinkers to put foresight predictions under the hindsight spotlight. This month Martin Raymond speaks to Ozlem Tuskan, founder of the conscious female coaching and entrepreneur accelerator The Resilient.  She has launched her own academy and private business coaching programme to help brands tackle future challenges and create winning brand strategies. In this episode, Ozlem describes how she connects the hard skills of creating a future-fit brand value with the soft skills of conscious and resilient leadership to accelerate income and amplify impact. She also explains how resilience is about listening, learning and drawing your strength from the kinds of soft skills that many of us understand and appreciate – kindness, collaboration and creativity. Tune in to episode 8 now.

Our Back to the F**kture series asks renowned thinkers to put foresight predictions under the hindsight spotlight. This month Martin Raymond speaks to Ariane van de Ven, a French trend forecaster and cultural analyst. Ariane works with Fortune 500 companies, organisations and brands around the world to help them set up their first trends and forecasting departments and programmes. In this episode, Ariane explains how forecasting is all about ‘connecting people to culture, to drive insight, fuel empathy, and above all seed innovation’. She also explains how she hones her global vision on innovation and trends through travelling the world and meeting with ‘super-smart people’. Listen to this episode now.

Our Back to the F**kture series asks renowned thinkers to put foresight predictions under the hindsight spotlight. This month Martin Raymond speaks to Bas Van de Poel, ex-creative director and visionary behind Ikea’s famed Space10 design and innovation lab. Bas Van de Poel describes his new venture, Modem – co-founded with fellow designer and creative director Astin Le Clercq – as an office for design and innovation where the future is anticipated and imagined accordingly. But, as he tells Martin in this episode, it is also about inventing the future rather than predicting it. Or, as he puts it, ‘futures, plural, since any future solution involves multiple options and opportunities rather than a singular, binary approach’. Tune in and listen to this episode now.

Our Back to the F**kture series asks renowned thinkers to put foresight predictions under the hindsight spotlight. This month we speak to Cat Tully, the founder of the School of International Futures. Cat has extensive experience as a practitioner, helping governments, civil society and businesses to be more strategic, more effective, and better prepared for the future.  For Cat Tully, decoding the future is all about decoding and managing risk. Yes, she reflects, this does sound a bit dry, but when you’re dealing with governments, NGOs or the future of citizens themselves, she explains to The Future Laboratory co-founder Martin Raymond, then you really have to get things right. Tune in to their conversation now.

Our Back to the F**kture series asks renowned thinkers to put foresight predictions under the hindsight spotlight. This month Martin Raymond caught up with long-time forecaster and entrepreneur Henry Coutinho-Mason, who has just left his job as managing director of TrendWatching.com to become director of content strategy with Brent Hoberman and his team at Founders Forum, Europe’s answer to SXSW minus the oat milk tents and banjo yoga classes on the side. In this episode they talk about how Henry got into forecasting at TrendWatching, his move to Founders Forum and his next book The Future Normal, which looks at how humanity can thrive and what we need to do to make this happen. They also discuss where new and emerging trends are coming from, how you can better identify which innovators, disruptors or tech start-ups are most on-message in terms of the incoming zeitgeist, and consequently, which ones investors should be looking at and thinking about first. Listen to this episode now.

Our Back to the F**kture series asks renowned thinkers to put foresight predictions under the hindsight spotlight. This month Martin Raymond talks to Ryan Lanji a queer curator, dj, club organiser, archivist, influencer and all-round Instagram personality with his own show and a pretty massive following. In this episode, we talk about Hungama, a mad, queer, glittering, wholly over the top Bollywood-meets-hip-hop, Hoxton-style living catwalk rave; his fabled Nailphilia show; his recently kick-started NDYglobal, a queer health and wellness initiative, and a new members online platform - curated by Ryan - to provide a much-needed platform for marginalised and unheard voices from our world. Tune in to this episode now.

Our Back to the F**kture series asks renowned thinkers to put foresight predictions under the hindsight spotlight. This month Martin Raymond talks to Stefan Liske and Adrien Hobt from the PCH Innovations studio about Changing Matter, their recently launched transformation catalogue. PCH Innovations is a multi-disciplinary innovation strategy & technology development studio, translating radical insights & emerging phenomena into uniquely designed & engineered concepts, materials and high-fidelity prototypes.

In this episode, The Future Laboratory's co-founder Martin Raymond talks to world renowned academic Devon Powers about why so many forecasters failed to anticipate the global pandemic and what this means for the future of the industry. Devon Powers is the associate professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Temple University. She is the author of 3 books, the most recent of which is On Trend: The Business of Forecasting the Future. Her research explores branding, promotion, and how culture moves through the world. Powers' work has appeared in Journal of Consumer Culture, New Media & Society, Critical Studies in Media and Communication, and Popular Communication.