2021 was quite the year. In some ways it feels like a year of 24 months, both due to the number and speed of events within 2021 but also this strange merging of 2020 and 2021 happenings so much so that many people cannot quite remember what exactly happened in which year. Such is the effect on our memories when we play with time and space in the way those who govern us did, over the course of these years.
Nevertheless, life goes on (albeit it in alien, strange ways) and for Futuremade it was a busy year. It started with several projects, most notably a presentation event for INVNT called Challenge Everything, which took on the post normal, post pandemic world from the perspective of marketing. It was there that Tracey coined the idea of Multi-Reality Marketing to reprise some of the ideas she’d presented at Cannes in 2020, foreshadowing the emergence of the metaverse as a marketing platform. She visited this again at Marketing Week’s Festival of Marketing in the Spring.
Tracey spoke at a huge number of events throughout the year, both promoting the book, The Future of You (about identity in a digital world) and on trends over the next ten years. Most notably she delivered the closing keynote speech at FTLive Tech, and joined Chris Best (co-founder, Substack) and Paul Davison (co-founder, Clubhouse) for a fascinating discussion on decentralisation as the dawn of a new era for the internet. She also spoke at Nobel Visions in Moscow, the Russian government’s biggest science and technology event, and debated creativity in a post-Covid world at Cannes Lions Festival.
The Future of You book spawned a new website, a flurry of articles about digital identity and saw Tracey participating in panel discussions alongside Microsoft, DCMS and Lord Holmes of Richmond to analyse the future of digital identity. She debated whether we are headed towards a Social Credit System in the West at The Battle of Big Ideas run by the Academy of Ideas, and she also spoke there on the ethics of using personal data in medical research. She appeared on GB News, Talk Radio, LBC, Times Radio and even wrote and delivered a bespoke episode on BBC Radio 4’s FourThought programme. She was lucky enough to be invited as a guest to some phenomenal podcasts. Thanks to all who invited us to discuss and debate.
And last but not least, so many interesting projects were embarked upon with key clients, most notably but not exclusively, very special clients Cossette, CogX and The Effectiveness Partnership. Futuremade has helped and supported pitch teams, planning teams, worked with clients directly on futures project offshoots and even delivered Introduction to Strategic Foresight courses. We’ve covered the future of play, travel and hospitality, consumer technology, marketing communications, AI and ethics, food and drink, banking, fashion, retail big and small - and so much more.
And to cap off the year, Tracey was accepted into the World Academy of Art and Science as an Associate Fellow, an enormous honour.
There’s so much more to come with two big content programmes coming in the New Year. Watch this space.
Thanks to all our clients and to all our partners, consumer respondents, and everyone who bought or shared the book or invited us be part of their project work, discussion or event curation - thanks to all who gave us a voice on Futures and Foresight throughout the year. Onwards all…