Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes |  | Authors: Mark Penn, E. Kinney Zalesne
Publisher: Twelve
List Price: $25.99
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Seller: vana11
Rating:  76 reviews
Sales Rank: 577454
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 448
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.6
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.4973
ASIN: B0029LHX4O
Publication Date: September 5, 2007
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Product Description
"The ideas in his book will help you see the world in a new way."-Bill Clinton
"Mark Penn has a keen mind and a fascinating sense of what makes America tick, and you see it on every page of Microtrends."
-Bill Gates
In 1982, readers discovered Megatrends.
In 2000, The Tipping Point entered the lexicon.
Now, in Microtrends, one of the most respected and sought-after analysts in the world articulates a new way of understanding how we live.
Mark Penn, the man who identified "Soccer Moms" as a crucial constituency in President Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign, is known for his ability to detect relatively small patterns of behavior in our culture-microtrends that are wielding great influence on business, politics, and our personal lives. Only one percent of the public, or three million people, is enough to launch a business or social movement.
Relying on some of the best data available, Penn identifies more than 70 microtrends in religion, leisure, politics, and family life that are changing the way we live. Among them:
- People are retiring but continuing to work.
- Teens are turning to knitting.
- Geeks are becoming the most sociable people around.
- Women are driving technology.
- Dads are older than ever and spending more time with their kids than in the past.
You have to look at and interpret data to know what's going on, and that conventional wisdom is almost always wrong and outdated. The nation is no longer a melting pot. We are a collection of communities with many individual tastes and lifestyles. Those who recognize these emerging groups will prosper.
Penn shows readers how to identify the microtrends that can transform a business enterprise, tip an election, spark a movement, or change your life. In today's world, small groups can have the biggest impact.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 76
 These trends can turn into business and investment oppurtunities August 14, 2009
Mariusz Skonieczny (ClassicValueInvestors.blogspot.com)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I picked up this book because as a professional investor, I am constantly looking for investment opportunities to place money. If I can identify future trends, it helps me increase the probability of generating good returns on investments.
I absolutely loved this book because it is filled with all kinds of trends that create investment and even business opportunities. For example, there is a trend toward do-it-yourself (DIY) doctors. This is about people who are researching their own symptoms, diagnosing their own illnesses, and administering their own treatments. How can someone make investment or business decisions based on this information? One can start an Internet website that caters to these people by helping them gather information about symptoms and illnesses. The more people that visit a website like this, the more valuable the website becomes because other businesses will pay money to advertise there. This is just one example and, as I said before, this book is just filled with trends that can turn into ideas.
- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market
 Doesn't deliver on its promise August 13, 2009
G. Perera (Perth, Australia)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A huge disappointment.
This book touts itself as "an invaluable tool in the quest to better understand our world" and "a remarkable portrait of the twenty-first century". Hardly! It's so U.S.-centric that it's almost laughable. It may or may not help you understand something in the USA, but it's certainly not even CLOSE to helping anybody better understand the world.
Even the token "International" chapter at the end of the book features trivial trends (such as art appreciation in China), while ignoring far more significant world-wide trends in China, India and other important nations of the 21st century.
Ironically, in one section Penn and Zalesne take a dig at New Yorkers for not recognising anything outside their tiny little world. And then they go ahead and makes exactly the same mistake.
Study of emerging social trends July 29, 2009
Rolf Dobelli (Switzerland)
This book is useful, entertaining and, at times, a little strange. These qualities all arise from its core premise. Mark. J. Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne set out to reveal dozens of "microtrends" they say are reshaping U.S. and global society. They group these contained trends by topical clusters (work, health, etc.), and argue that Americans' freedom of choice is allowing social fragmentation into more distinct niches. The result is snapshot after snapshot of 70 or more niche groups. The book provides just a few pages on each one. If you're familiar with a trend or, conversely, find it too quirky ("Young Knitters"), these few pages may seem long. If you haven't encountered some of these trends, the entries will seem tantalizingly short. No matter what your niche, Penn and Zalesne will surprise you at some point, and their explanations of the forces shaping society are detailed and often quite original. As a result, getAbstract recommends their book to all marketers, especially those seeking niche audiences, and to everyone whose business requires planning for social change.
 If you are looking for something to "WOW" you, well, look elsewhere. June 23, 2009
D. Rich (Atlanta, GA USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I don't know what exactly I dislike so much about this book, but I think it is the heady arrogance and self-aggrandizing writing style used by Penn. Penn suggests that his ability to spot and single out the growing number of "Soccer Moms" in America as a targeted demographic allowed Bill Clinton to win the Presidential election in 1996. I think that this example typifies this book as a whole- only a small fraction of the causes of a phenomenon are presented, and used to suggest that they alone are responsible for the result. In reality, Bill Clinton was popular among many demographics, and probably appealed to the Soccer Mom demographic for more reasons than proposed education reforms for their children. Anyway, I digress.
This book discusses a number of growing trends in society, and presents certain statistics (albeit vague and incomplete) to back them up. Along the way proposals are made for emerging markets within these trends. Penn seems really obsessed with being viewed as a visionary, but falls short because most of the markets he proposes are either impossibly vague, or impractical. If you want a thought-provoking book to read, this is not it. There is very little Earth-shattering data presented, and nothing that is not already widely known. If Penn truly is a visionary who had an appreciable effect on the Clinton administration, I urge him to stop pretending he is Steve Jobs, and instead write an autobiographical work that explains his work, the decisions he made (in a complete sense, without trying to create an artificial "WOW" factor that is so apparent throughout this book), and their ramifications.
Even keeled, analytical and insightful. May 31, 2009
Justin S. Dickinson (Lancaster, PA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I like patterns. No, let me say that again. I REALLY like patterns. The problem with trending macro views of social changes and cultural shifts is that you tend to be drawn to the obvious and overlook the small stuff. And when it comes to people there is no small stuff.
Microtrends points out, with great detail, over 25 trends that are growing in and outside the US. I have to say I did read this book with some apprehension given that it was written prior to the economic downturn, but I also approached it with the mindset of let's see what I can spot that still holds true. I am now curious as to how the economy will affect some of the emerging trends detailed in this book or possibly not affect them at all. I have my hunches but only time will tell. Hopefully Mark Penn will tell us about the impact the economy had on existing micro trends in a before and after comparison and possible trends the down economy spawned.
This was a surprisingly outstanding book and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about our changing society. I don't think I will watch a TV car ad or walk into a BestBuy without the thinking of what I learned in this book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 76
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