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Trendspotting: Think Forward, Get Ahead, Cash in on the Future
 
 
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Trendspotting: Think Forward, Get Ahead, Cash in on the Future [Paperback]

Richard Laermer (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 5, 2002
This is the book that will show anyone how to discern true signs of change. Here are the hottest tips on what to expect from the economy and technology, arts and entertainment, politics and society at large. Written by a public relations expert, this new insider's guide goes beyond other books on forecasting by revealing the hows and whys of "trendSpotting," offering hundreds of compelling predictions, and revealing how these ideas will impact your life. With TrendSpotting, the future's in your hands.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Laermer, who worked as a reporter in the '80s and made money promoting dotcoms in the '90s, reads the media, adapts nimbly to cultural change and has knocked off an unoriginal if funny little tome on what to expect in the coming years. Although his previous books (Native's Guide to New York; Bargain Hunting in Greater New York) were relatively slight research projects, this work is more ambitious and comprehensive. Its thesis is not novel: the beginning of the 2000s will become a decade of increasingly rapid technological advances that branch into all areas of life (frequently for commercial gain) and intensifying convenience-driven social isolation. He covers technology (predicting remote-controlled everything), spirituality ("traditions are going to change and fast"), the workplace ("entrepreneurs will have to learn what a good business model really is") and the environment ("environmentally friendly products will be more and more ubiquitous"), ending with the cover-story-formula, titled "Ten Ways to be a trendSpotter." Laermer includes predictions from heavy hitters like Kurt Andersen and Jeffrey Zucker, who muse about media saturation, Internet porn and more, and wrings sound-bite pronouncements from their East Coast-circuit lips (e.g., Zucker's take on media saturation: "quality, at the end of the day, really cuts through"). His anecdotal tangents display an appealing enthusiasm and wit. But despite Laermer's undeniable charm and childlike sweetness, the future his experienced Manhattanite eyes see is eerily dark in its cynicism. (Mar. 5)Forecast: Laermer's amusing (though not groundbreaking) book should sell like hotcakes, which, according to him, are Gotham's hippest dish today.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Richard Laermer, the founder and CEO of RLM Public Relations, has written for The New York Times, Daily News, USA Today, Us Weekly, Interview, Newsday, and other publications. He is also the author of five books including the Native Guide to New York series, and appears on public radio as the "Guerilla Consumer."

Product Details

  • Paperback: 239 pages
  • Publisher: Perigee Trade; 1st edition (March 5, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0399527494
  • ISBN-13: 978-0399527494
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,419,818 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a well-known authority (read big mouth) on media and the author of the brand new book "2011: Trendspotting" plus coauthor of "Punk Marketing" and author of "Full Frontal PR." I'm pretty regularly quoted in papers, magazines, TV and the online society about the strange goings-on in the so-called fourth estate--and future trends. A former magazine and newspaper journalist, I have lots of other books, too. But...

My day job is as veteran CEO of the independent public relations firm RLM PR (RLMpr.com)

I am also the host of the new radio show Unspun and the co-manager of BadPitchBlog (badrelease.com).

RLM PR is the aggressive and particularly creative group that represents some of the top mid-tech (online/wireless/software), entertainment, healthcare, entrepreneurial, publishing, and 'uniquely positioned' businesses. Founded way back in 1990. Seems like a long time ago.

You can sign up for the RLM trendSpotting Report at www.RLMpr.com. It's monthly and you won't want your 15 minutes back.

Other books: trendSpotting, published in 2002 from Plume, has become the single most fun trend reference guide for the new millennium. And I'm proud to say the series Native's Guide to New York series is in fifth edition from WW Norton.

I have a single goal: to ensure marketing in its old style glory will never be the same and show people how to make money by spotting trends and diving into them.

Have a wealth of experience on many-many-sides of the media, as a well versed media junkie and sometime guru. Worked as a reporter beginning in 1980, and columns, reporting, and reviews have been published in The New York Times, the New York Daily News, Reuters, USA Today, People, Saturday Review, US, Interview, The New York Post, and Rolling Stone, Editor & Publisher, Crains, among others.

Books have been reviewed and featured on CNN, The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, MSNBC, National Public Radio, New York One News, and Bloomberg radio/TV, as well as dozens of other local TV, radio, and online venues. I am recognized as the bubbly guy on Public Radio's Marketplace program, also known as The PR Professional, doling out stories depicting how the media works for and with PR every day.

Founded RLM when I recognized companies' increasing need for effective media representation. Saw clearly how publicists were not grasping the intricacies of their clients' businesses. With many years' experience as a journalist, I finally saw how crucial it was to deliver results for clients while respecting the demands placed on overburdened reporters. Over the past decade, RLM PR has gotten results for its clients by capitalizing on current and emerging trends.

In 2003, I shocked a few friends and acquaintances on both coasts by moving to CA to open RLM's office there. I'm not there that much anymore and have become particularly bicoastal. I still spend half my time looking at airline seatbacks, however, where I travel on behalf of clients and am featured at speaking engagements worldwide (which I love).

For more see Laermer.com and PunkMarketing.com.

Please write me. I'd like to know what is up. I'll get back quickly. [BlackBerry junkie.]

richard@laermer.com

 

Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
5 star:
 (11)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Useful, Fun, Futures!, March 15, 2002
By 
Ian Browde (Santa Cruz, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Trendspotting: Think Forward, Get Ahead, Cash in on the Future (Paperback)
Richard Laermer's Trendspotting is exactly what the author claims it to be -- Cliff Notes for future business trends "without the guilt." In an easy to read, light style (I read it in a few hours on the plane) Laermer conveys what makes the time we live in so filled with possibility. From SMS messaging and integrative medicine to spirituality and wireless infrastructure, he lets the people who are doing it talk about it; and then throws in some of his own spice for good measure.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Much more a "what" book than a "how" one, January 28, 2005
This review is from: Trendspotting: Think Forward, Get Ahead, Cash in on the Future (Paperback)
I expect this book to tell me "how" to spot the trend. Instead, it keeps on telling me "what" (10 chapters out of 11) experts predicted on or before 2002. Today is 29th Jan 2005 and well it's natural for me to comment that it is quite outdated and irrelevant.

In short, not recommended.

p.s. To justify my rating of the book, below please find the ten ways (taglines) to be a better trendspotter from the last and only relevant chapter for your reference.

1. Faddy Trends
2. Note + Phone + Mail
3. Books for the lover
4. This web I am tangled in (websites)
5. News or lose (newsletter)
6. Grassroots trendspotting from our packed files (talk to experts who would be moved by your enthusiasm)
7. Trade Ya! (trade and non-mainstream magazines)
8. Pay attention to little guys (Alan Greenspan would track something as seemingly insignificant as the production and sale of packing paper)
9. Information, please. (newspapers)
10. Anything rhyme with Google?
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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Does not deliver on it's promise., November 30, 2003
This review is from: Trendspotting: Think Forward, Get Ahead, Cash in on the Future (Paperback)
I have read a number of trendspotting books over the years, and this one does not deserve a place in this genre.

There are three major shortfallings:

1. Laermer makes the crucial error of letting his liberal/progressive political bias affect his interpretation of culture. I agree with his politics to a great extent, but introducing it into his research affects his perceptions and make his findings shallow. This is most obvious where he discusses "The Family" and "Spirituality" where he is clearly an outsider.

2. Unlike genuine trendspotting books by Rushkoff, Naisbitt, Toffler and Popcorn, this book does not offer any new thesis in decoding culture. Why is there only one chapter on the "how" of trendspotting?

The book should really be titled "My Trendspotting".

3. The back cover claims "original insights" from various industry insiders. Don't be misled, these guys don't get much input in the book, and they are also hampered by their own interests or bias.

I suggest you use the Amazon browse feature and read a few pages before you make your purchasing decision, and compare it with serious trend spotting books by the authors mentioned above.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
suddenly we are not only paying for HBO's current seven channels, but also ordering from seven thousand available channels from the HBO library. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Jeffrey Zucker, San Francisco, Green Party, United States, Bruce Sterling, Curtis Gans, Jared Headley, The Sopranos, America Online, Gloria Feldt, James Fallows, Love Lucy, Marc Gobe, Robert Reccord, Robert Thurman, Sam Smith, Dan Pelson, David Brancaccio, David Wolfe, Duke University, Farley Blackman, Gary Arlen, John Suler, New Economy
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