In our first podcast episode of 2020, we share a unique brand strategy tool called the 100 Year Thought Experiment.

It will show you patterns and trends that are otherwise imperceptible: patterns and trends that can change the course of your strategy.

We use 100 Year Thought Experiments all of the time in our client work for Concept Bureau, and it helps us get out of the common thinking ruts that every strategist finds themselves in.

It starts with a simple premise. We’re used to looking at history in order to understand the present, but what happens when we look to the future instead? ⁣ ⁣If we force ourselves to see a very clear vision of the world in 100 years, what does that tell us about all of the current steps we need to take in order to get there?

In that answer lies an entire frontier of possibility for your brand moves. 

When you push yourself to really envision a 100 year timeline, you start to see new truths you can't see by looking into the past.

The 100 Year Thought Experiment is a mental device borrowed from the worlds of philosophy and science, and in this house episode we apply it to health and wellness, work and careers, environmentalism and food.⁣ ⁣

We discuss how maybe work isn't ethical and what that means for education, how today's alternative meat brands misunderstand our changing relationship to the act of eating, and how health has diffused into every category to become something nearly unrecognizable. 

“When the definition of something changes, the stigma around it changes, too.“

That's a powerful insight for those of us operating in problematic, emotion-driven categories that sometimes defy logic. ⁣It's also an insight that you start to see when you look into the years ahead, and something we explored in this podcast.

The episode is live now. I hope you are able to use this tool in your own work. I know it has been very valuable for us. 

You can also listen and subscribe on Google Play , Spotify and Stitcher.

Don't forget to rate and review!

Plant your flag.

Here's what we've been consuming.

Micronations (Quartz Daily Obsession): "After all, people aren’t born agreeing to be part of a nation. Why isn’t it their right not to recognize, say, the jurisdiction of their birthplace, and form another one—even as a country of one? Part utopia, part extreme libertarianism, and often works of art, micronations embody the ideal that the world could potentially be a federation of countries comprising one person, or just a few. It’s self-determination, but at the individual level. In this view, a fight with a neighbor becomes a war; a marriage an international treaty."

War once helped build nations, now it destroys them (Aeon): "The age of nation-building might be over. Let’s hope so. Nation-building involves, at bottom, the violence of internal repression and external conflict. Revolutionary-era France, Jacksonian America and Maoist China – three signature periods of nation-building in global history – are as notorious for their crimes as for their enduring accomplishments. While the end of the age of nation-building might be a boon to the world generally, it is little comfort to countries struggling to establish themselves."

Virtual Travel Could Change The World - If It Gets Off The Ground (Wall Street Journal):  "You strap on a slim, comfortable headset, pick up your controls and press a button. A drone takes off, whizzing down flooded city streets. Through the goggles, you see what the drone sees—a crisp, live, 360-degree view of battered houses and uprooted trees. When you look down, you see what’s below the drone. The full-color picture doesn’t seize up; there’s no latency. You are, essentially, digitally teleporting into the aftermath of a natural disaster."

A battle over gifted education is brewing in America (The Economist): The debate over whether gifted education segregates students on the basis of pre-existing privilege rather than cognitive ability is neither new nor uniquely American. The number of selective, state-run grammar schools in Britain reached a zenith in 1965. The three-tiered German education system has always been criticized for fostering social segregation. That the children of new Turkish migrants are now disproportionately sorted into lower-tier secondary schools instead of selective Gymnasiums adds a disquieting racial divide."

(Fly it proud.)

The Verdict Is In For These Millennial Phrases - Man Repeller via Instagram

The Baby Names That Defined The Decade - New York Times

Should We Still Be Building Single-Family Homes? - Curbed

Unlocking The Zeitgeist - Ana Andjelic via Medium

The Problem of Mindfulness - Aeon

In 2020, DTC brands will hit a revenue wall - Modern Retail

Predictions on the biggest trends in beauty in 2020 - Glossy

Malls are now targeting millionaires - CNN

What Markets and Models Expect In 2020 - The Economist

In the news.

Other places you can find us.

I wrote a predictions piece for Jumpstart Magazine where I reviewed the last 10 years in branding, and mapped out with the 10 years ahead of us might look like. "We’ve been searching for personal transformation these past ten years. We wanted experiences that changed us. Even the brands we hated to love (or loved to hate) like WeWork, Uber and Away tapped into this desire. No matter how many times we tore them down, we found others to build back up in the exact same way. They gave us a way to place ourselves in the world. Now with 2020 upon us, they signal what the next 10 years might look like." - 20 Going On 30

Our branding work for Skillshare was recently profiled in Creative Review: "The rebrand comes as Skillshare is poised to enter its second decade of operation, having grown a community of over eight million users. 'With the help of [brand strategist’s] Concept Bureau, Skillshare had already completed the research and insights needed to signal the desire for a brand evolution,' explains Perez-Cruz [...] At a time when digital rebrands are often accused of being bland, the team were conscious of the need to create an identity that would stand out." - Skillshare Launches New Identity

I was also on the Wavemakers podcast where I talked about my work and research on Cognitive Dissonance. The concept reveals our human nature by exposing both what we want to believe about ourselves⁣⁣ vs. how we actually behave. A good brand will make it easy for a consumer to narrow the gap between what they believe and what they do. But there are some brands that let you have your cake and eat it, too. They covertly allow you to maintain your current behaviors, but reap the rewards of lowered Cognitive Dissonance. - Using Cognitive Dissonance To Compete With Bigger Brands

Speaking & Workshops

We're currently booking speaking engagements and corporate workshops for 2020, and this year we have some excellent, needle-moving content to share with you and your team. 

If you're interested in collaborating or having us be a part of your growth in 2020, please email [email protected] for a list of topics and descriptions. 

Concept Bureau helped us to see our brand from a new perspective, ask hard questions about our work, and understand the value of owning a story in the market. We now have a shared language and understanding of what brand means and its value.

We've used the tools and concepts multiple times in the past few months to work through narratives and build stronger creative concepts. Our team found the workshop engaging, enlightening, and most importantly, challenging."

-Jami Oetting
Director, Brand & Editorial at HubSpot

Strategy Thought Of The Day

Jasmine Bina
Founder & CEO
Concept Bureau, Inc.