Haircare is likely to be one of the most innovative areas of beauty in 2017, with traditional shampoos making way for next-generation cleansers, and nutrient-packed masks and supplements borrowing concepts from skincare. Customised haircare continues to wow consumers, while root touch-ups and vibrant colour provide instantaneous results. Salons are changing rapidly too, from stylist renting their own spaces to increasing specialisation, the convergence of home and salon with on demand services.

Here is a selection  of some of the innovators shaking up the world of hair:

Drybar

Drybar’s motto is “No cuts. No color. Just blowouts.” The California-based chain of 69 salons that solely provide hair styling service. … Alli Webb and her brother Michael talk about how they got started.

eSalon

Mix. Match. Love … customised hair color for “the ultimate at-home salon experience – without the hefty price tag” … Colorist formulated hair color personalized just for you, and shipped direct to your door.

Function of Beauty

Developing personalised shampoo and conditioner formulations based on your unique hair type and hair goals. You select your formula colors, fragrance and even the name you want printed on the bottle.

Glamsquad

Glamsquad is an app-based on-demand beauty service delivering professional and affordable beauty services to the home or office – blowouts, manicures and makeup when you need it. Founder Alexandra Wilkis Wilson explains more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQh4ZySNb_g

Kérastase Hair Coach

The smart brush features Withings’ advanced sensors and seamless product design plus L’Oréal’s signal analysis algorithms to score the quality of hair and monitor the effects of different routines.

Les Bar des Coloristes

Hair stylists, nail bars, but most of them offer standard colours to choose from. Instead you can start with a colour specialist, customised just for your skin, your hair, and your aspiration.

Madison Reed

Dye your hair at home, like a professional … Explore what inspired us to create Madison Reed, a company that is revolutionizing the hair color industry through “high-tech and high-touch”

Pravane Blond Wand

The hair colour has launched  The Blonde Wand. Like a magic wand for colorists, this unique thermal tool allows one to fully process foil highlights in seconds with less damage than traditional lightening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWf9WwKxRKc

Treatwell

Founder Lopo Champalimaud, previously of travel innovator Lastminute, talks about his new brand, for finding and securing the right hair stylist for you, whenever you need it.

More from Peter Fisk:

 

 

Global connectivity, smart machines, and new media are just some of the drivers reshaping how we think about work, what constitutes work, and how we learn and develop the skills to work in the future. The concept of a “100 year life” becoming the norm, and the majority of that spent studying and working, means that learning will be a lot more important, and different, for the next generations. Most people will have at least 6 different careers, requiring fundamental reeducating, whilst the relentless speed of innovation will constantly demand new skills and knowledge to keep pace, let alone an edge.

I recently delivered a keynote on “Changing the Game of Education” … a vision for the future of education, from schools to lifelong learning … how it will evolve, the drivers, inspirations and what will matter most.

Educationalists debate the many ways in which the content of education – at all levels – and the process of learning, will need to change over the years ahead. Disruptive innovation guru Clay Christiansen, for example, points to the dramatic unbundling of education from its current forms so that it can be personalised, repackaging, peer to peer and continuous. Whether it is classroom or workplace, online or offline, structured or unstructured, taught or learnt, standardised or not, certificated or not, then learning is likely to break free from our old mindsets in the coming years.

“Education 4.0” is my vision for the future of education, which

  • responds to the needs of “industry 4.0” or the fourth industrial revolution, where man and machine align to enable new possibilities
  • harnesses the potential of digital technologies, personalised data, open sourced content, and the new humanity of this globally-connected, technology-fueled world
  • establishes a blueprint for the future of learning – lifelong learning – from childhood schooling, to continuous learning  in the workplace, to learning to play a better role in society.

Slide4

“Changing the game” is all about redefining the way an activity works. In general, its about

  • who are the companies right now who are reshaping their industries, challenging the old rules and creating new ones, new ways of working, new ways of winning
  • in my Gamechangers book I explored 100 of them – they are audacious, harnessing the power of ideas and networks to be intelligent, collaborative, and enabling people to achieve more.
  • taking the principles of how these companies change the game – how can we apply that to the world of education?

Slide5

“The future of education” is therefore a new vision for learning, starting right now

  • more important to know why you need something, a knowledge or skill, and then where to find it – rather than cramming your head full … don’t try to learn everything!
  • built around each individual, their personal choice of where and how to learn, and tracking of performance through data-based customisation … whatever sits you
  • learning together and from each other – peer to peer learning will dominate, teachers more as facilitators, of communities built around shared learning and aspiration.

 

Slide6

Among the many discussions, innovations and general shifts in the world of learning – from school children to business executive – there are 9 trends that stand out:

  1. Diverse time and place.
    Students will have more opportunities to learn at different times in different places. eLearning tools facilitate opportunities for remote, self-paced learning. Classrooms will be flipped, which means the theoretical part is learned outside the classroom, whereas the practical part shall be taught face to face, interactively.
  2. Personalized learning.
    Students will learn with study tools that adapt to the capabilities of a student. This means above average students shall be challenged with harder tasks and questions when a certain level is achieved. Students who experience difficulties with a subject will get the opportunity to practice more until they reach the required level. Students will be positively reinforced during their individual learning processes. This can result in to positive learning experiences and will diminish the amount of students losing confidence about their academic abilities. Furthermore, teachers will be able to see clearly which students need help in which areas.
  3. Free choice.
    Though every subject that is taught aims for the same destination, the road leading towards that destination can vary per student. Similarly to the personalized learning experience, students will be able to modify their learning process with tools they feel are necessary for them. Students will learn with different devices, different programs and techniques based on their own preference. Blended learning, flipped classrooms and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) form important terminology within this change.
  4. Project based.
    As careers are adapting to the future freelance economy, students of today will adapt to project based learning and working. This means they have to learn how to apply their skills in shorter terms to a variety of situations. Students should already get acquainted with project based learning in high school. This is when organizational, collaborative, and time management skills can be taught as basics that every student can use in their further academic careers.
  5. Field experience.
    Because technology can facilitate more efficiency in certain domains, curricula will make room for skills that solely require human knowledge and face-to-face interaction. Thus, experience in ‘the field’ will be emphasized within courses. Schools will provide more opportunities for students to obtain real-world skills that are representative to their jobs. This means curricula will create more room for students to fulfill internships, mentoring projects and collaboration projects (e.g.).
  6. Data interpretation.
    Though mathematics is considered one of three literacies, it is without a doubt that the manual part of this literacy will become irrelevant in the near future. Computers will soon take care of every statistical analysis, and describe and analyse data and predict future trends. Therefore, the human interpretation of these data will become a much more important part of the future curricula. Applying the theoretical knowledge to numbers, and using human reasoning to infer logic and trends from these data will become a fundamental new aspect of this literacy.
  7. Exams will change completely.
    As courseware platforms will assess students capabilities at each step, measuring their competencies through Q&A might become irrelevant, or might not suffice. Many argue that exams are now designed in such a way, that students cram their materials, and forget the next day. Educators worry that exams might not validly measure what students should be capable of when they enter their first job. As the factual knowledge of a student can be measured during their learning process, the application of their knowledge is best tested when they work on projects in the field.
  8. Student ownership.
    Students will become more and more involved in forming their curricula. Maintaining a curriculum that is contemporary, up-to-date and useful is only realistic when professionals as well as ‘youngsters’ are involved. Critical input from students on the content and durability of their courses is a must for an all-embracing study program.
  9. Mentoring will become more important.
    In 20 years, students will incorporate so much independence in to their learning process, that mentoring will become fundamental to student success. Teachers will form a central point in the jungle of information that our students will be paving their way through. Though the future of education seems remote, the teacher and educational institution are vital to academic performance.

These are exciting, provocative and potentially far-reaching challenges. For individuals and society, new educational tools and resources hold the promise of empowering individuals to develop a fuller array of competencies, skills and knowledge and of unleashing their creative potential.

Indeed, many of the changes underway call to mind the evocative words of Irish poet William Butler Yeats that, “Education is not about filling a bucket but lighting a fire.”

Technology has become integrated into virtually every aspect of work. And because we spend so much time working, work really is the place where we most directly feel the impact of developing technologies. From collaboration to productivity; from new ways of approaching workspace design to the increasing ability to work from virtually anywhere; and from hiring and recruitment to new skill sets—it is a time of experimentation for companies and organizations as trends in technology converge to change what it means to work.

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I’ve been working with Turkish companies for the last 12 years. Over the last decade I have chaired the MCT Marketing and HR Summits with around 2500 people almost every year, and have worked as an expert consultant to the business leaders of many Turkish companies including Arcelik, Eczacibasi, Pinar, Turkcell and Yapi Kredi Bankasi.  Projects have included new business strategies, portfolio analysis, marketing programs, innovation processes, retail design and new product development – as well as executive development and CEO coaching.

During that time I have seen huge change in the Turkish consumer, and economy, but also the ambition and mindset of business people. In the past Turkish companies only saw the home market as their ambition, to be slightly different or better. They lacked creative skills such as design and innovation, and so licensed products from international brands. Now these brands are here competing against them. But Turkish business has acquired the skills to compete on a global stage. What they need now is the ambition to think globally. Look at the recent acquisitions by Yildiz Group of Godiva and United Biscuits for example. This gives Turkey a new platform to think bigger, think smarter, and to accelerate growth.

Examples of Turkish companies who are “changing the game” include

– ISKO, the Sanko company has become the world’s largest denim manufacturer – but its focus is on innovative, technology-enabled fabrics that add value to the world’s premium brands. As a result ISKO wants to become a leading “ingredient brand” like Intel or Lycra. Shopping in Santa Monica I found ISKO brand tags on some of the coolest jeans in the world!

– Ininal, the pre-payment credit card addresses the huge market of people who don’t have bank accounts or payment cards, but want to transact in a digital world. In many aspects of digital technologies, mobile phones and banking tech, Turkey has become a creative lab to experiment and develop new ideas because of its youthful and highly techno-literate market.

– Trendyol, the fashion retail that delivers to your home, going beyond the typical e-tailer to really understand the needs of local and individual consumers, and to tailor a premium service to people locally. Trendyol recognises that it has global competitors – people can buy anything from anywhere, and so have to make their local presence more meaningful in a digital world

– Yeni Raki, even classic “old” brands can change the game. When Mey took Yeni Raki to international audiences, they recognised that there was a whole Turkish culture around drinking raki, and that this could be a truly distinctive experience on which to build the brand, rather than just placing it as a funky bottle next to every other brand of alcohol

Gamechangers Awards are about finding, ranking and celebrating the most disruptive innovators of local markets. They are either simply for the business that is mostly effectively “changed the game” in the local market, or in some awards, there are more detailed categories. These are based around the 10 big ideas from the Gamechangers book – for the best strategy, the best innovation, the best marketing.

So here are 10 of the contenders for next year’s awards, companies who are shaking up markets in and beyond Turkey:

Adel … the creativity of stationary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkH6azZML7U

Do&Co ... food on the go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJfldgJYm78

Insider … predictive algorithms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JM6ojwTcsE

Isko … the ingredient brand of jeans

Iyzico … easy payments

KapGel … home delivery

LC Waikiki … fashion retail

Trendyol … online fashion retailer

With over 400 sessions on the official programme, covering everything from the rise of populism to the global economic outlook, you’d be forgiven for feeling confused by what just happened in Davos. While it would be impossible to condense it all into one article, here are some of the biggest stories. Before the meeting even started, China was already making headlines: not only was Xi Jinping the first Chinese president to come to Davos, but he was joined by the largest delegation the Asian giant has ever sent.

The main sense throughout the meeting was that we’re living through a geopolitical shift not seen since the end of the Cold War – from a unipolar world, with one superpower, to a multipolar one. “We are moving into a world in which you have many great powers,” economist Nouriel Robin claimed. “These great powers either work together, or there will be increasing frictions and conflicts on trade and currency, on economics and finance.”

Xi Jinping … globalisation is good

In the first speech China’s President Xi Jinping presented himself as a champion of economic globalisation, saying that despite a Western backlash, it still had the power to change people’s lives for the better. “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” he reflected. He defended globalization in direct opposition to about to about-to-be-President Trump’s recent criticism on the issue. The Chinese leader even prodded the current president-elect without using his name. Jinping’s major quote: “Pursuing protectionism is just like locking one’s self in a dark room. Wind and rain may be kept outside, but so are light and air. No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war.” On globalisation, he concluded “Honey melons hang from bitter vines; sweet dates grow in thistles and thorns.”

Sergey Brin … revolution in deep nets

Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google said he did not foresee the artificial intelligence revolution that has transformed the tech industry.  “I didn’t pay attention to it at all, to be perfectly honest. People tried it, they tried neural nets and none of it worked.” Fast-forward a few years and Google Brain, the company’s AI research project, has advanced so much that it now, as Brin put it, “touches every single one of our main projects, ranging from search to photos to ads … to everything we do. The revolution in deep nets has been very profound, it definitely surprised me, even though I was sitting right there.”

Al Gore … race against climate change 

92% of people worldwide live in places where air pollution levels exceed suggested safety limits, at least 1.8 billion people still lack reliable access to safe drinking water, and 2016 was the warmest year on record, 1.2% warmer than pre-industrial levels. Climate change guru Al Gore, admonished his future president Trump for his irresponsibility saying “Our efforts to solve the climate crisis are in a race against time, because we are still using the Earth’s atmosphere as an open sewer, adding 110 million tons of man-made global warming pollution each day, and we are moving closer to several potential thresholds of unrecoverable damage. However, businesses and investors – alongside governments – are making significant progress on solutions. Markets are recognizing that fossil fuels are a bad bet; governments are acting to reduce their national emissions; and people are demanding action.”

Joi Ito … collaborate to solve big problems

Joichi Ito, the Japanese entrepreneur, activist and director of the MIT Media Lab said that governments and technology firms are not going to be able to solve many of the imminent problems that the world faces on their own; they are going to have to work together. He pointed out that this will require groups with fundamentally different world views to collaborate. “Typically the people who are focussed on computer science and AI don’t like the messiness of the real world,” said Ito. “Most engineers don’t understand the law; most engineers don’t understand why governments exist.” MIT even has a Charm School that tries to equip students with the skills to become future tech leaders and better deal with the real world of non-geniuses.

Jack Ma … spending money better

Jack Ma, the billionaire chairman of Alibaba made waves when he criticized the U.S. for spending $14.2 trillion in the past 30 years on 13 overseas wars instead of putting part of those funds into America’s own infrastructure. “You’re supposed to spend money on your own people, right? We should spend money on those people who are not good at schooling. The US hasn’t distributed the profits earned from globalization “in a proper way.”  Ma was also critical of the role of Wall Street in bringing about the world financial crisis in 2008” he said.

Wang Jianlin … you’ll never make money from football

Founder of Dalian Wanda Group, Wang Jianlin is a former People’s Liberation Army soldier and now the wealthiest person in China, with interests in real estate, sport and entertainment. Wanda is the world’s largest movie theatre operator. China has the largest number of screens in the world, and 15,000 more were added last year, mostly in shopping malls, with a 30% year-on-year growth. It is also involved in producing films, especially the trend of co-productions between foreign and Chinese films, such as The Great Wall, starring Matt Damon, which has already made $200 million in China. Wang sees his investments in entertainment and sports as a key addition to his real estate portfolio: “Entertainment makes you happy, sport makes you healthy.” Last March, he bought a 20% stake in the Spanish football club Atlético Madrid, which will train young Chinese footballers. “We all know football clubs don’t make money, they burn money,” he said, but every business is about more than profit.

Beyond Davos … next stop Odense

So that was Davos … I’m now looking forward to “the Davos of business thinking” in Odense, Denmark for the Thinkers50 European Business Forum on 9-10 May this year. Bringing together the world’s #1 business thinker Michael Porter, #1 business leader Lars Rebein Sorensen, and #1 business coach Marshall Goldsmith – and many more top thinkers and business leaders from across the world.

Tickets are limited, and available now from europe.thinkers50.com

Consumers increasingly view brands and companies as if they are human – they judge them by their purpose and personalities, ethics and behaviours – as much, if not more than minimal expectations for product quality, timeliness and good service. At the same time, consumer loyalties can change with the click of a mouse or the tap of an app – not necessarily because a brand is untrusted, but more because it is just not as relevant, or sometimes as trustworthy, as friends and other people like them.

Deloitte has just released results from its Impact Project survey that highlights emerging forces now shaping today’s brands in a values-driven marketplace. The survey included 150 brands in 28 countries and revealed a common desire to drive change and build loyalty in an era of constant disruption and rising expectations.

The report highlights four emerging segments:

  • Y-Prophets. Brand evangelists committed to a higher-order purpose; passionate believers in their defined mission. Example: Siggi’s Dairy rejected an offer to distribute at Whole Foods, favoring a “slow selling” growth strategy.
  • Free Radicals. Outliers that break the rules of a category or business wherever they can; challenging virtually everything from employment to company culture to competition. Example: Maple uses urban analytics to shape new food delivery algorithm.
  • Tiny Titans. Staying small and intimate despite fast growth. Example: General Assembly prioritizes its people to protect its long-term autonomy and purpose.
  • Re-Starts. Renovating established Fortune 500 brands for the 21st Example: General Mills stays agile with a venture arm that nurtures food startups.

Looking at the four segments, Deloitte found six common principles that guide their growth and strategies for brand leadership.

  • The inside is the outside: Transparency as a cultural imperative. Traditionally, brand leadership was fixated on a company’s external reputation, trying to project an image that was often inconsistent with their inner (company) reality. Impact brands start with their culture and build outward, resulting in better products, services and a more authentic reputation.
  • Think value and values: Each brand is an agent of social change. Impact brands follow the belief that what they do is more important than what they say––profits follow principles. To build meaning and loyalty, they hardwire social change into their business models.
  • AI meets EQ: Humanizing the digital revolution. Impact brands embrace technology, but what makes them different is their focus on the human connection. Technology enables them to operate at the intersection of real emotional needs and seamless transactions, creating a brand experience that is simultaneously human, intimate, and useful.
  • Be the best at getting better: Keep the ethos of a student. Impact brands embrace agility and humility because it allows them to continuously improve, while abstaining from the need for surface level perfectionism. These brands push their own boundaries, challenge their own status quo, and adapt to the emerging needs of consumers and employees.
  • The inversion of credibility: Brand credibility gets personal. Previously, being the biggest corporation was an automatic seal of trust; today, this is not necessarily the case. Impact brands encourage their leaders, employees and stakeholders to build their own personal brands of authority, recognizing it’s a sum of their people’s personal credibility that builds their own.
  • Flexible mentality: Tactics are strategies. Impact brands find new advantages in the market by defying convention, re-writing the rules, and going beta. Their agility comes through a culture that rewards experimentation and thinking outside the box—often through strategic small bets to find new sources of growth.

The project also details how impact brands are embracing new business models and success metrics:

  • Amazon’s sell-out hit Echo was the result of a culture at Amazon that embraces failure
  • Netflix built a culture of “chill” by letting employees manage themselves
  • Brands like Sephora are acting like VC firms and starting accelerator initiatives
  • Warby Parker leads a “thinking customer” revolution
  • Shinola became Detroit’s accidental luxury brand

The report concludes: “To be a brand leader, you must learn how to think like one. To create meaning in today’s marketplace requires leadership, innovation and solving social problems. It demands resiliency and trust. Marketing is no longer just selling; it’s about making connections and solving problems that improve people’s lives. The brands that will win tomorrow will build themselves into future-ready objects of desire—in their products, services, people, and soul.”

You can download the report here Brand Leadership Impact Report 2016

I end up doing lots of work with banks – big and small, digital and decidedly analog, niche and full service – innovators like First Direct and Moven, and also giants who want to reinvent themselves, like Deutsche  and Santander. Whilst there is much they can do in terms of rethinking brands and business models, strategy and social purpose, there is one thing they are obsessed about more than any other industry – customers.

ING Bank is probably doing more than most. The Dutch company has 52,000 staff in 40 countries, all constantly searching for an edge – new insights, new propositions, new experiences. It was therefore interesting to read the foreword to a new book Reinventing Customer Engagement by ING Group CEO, Ralph Hammers, who sets out why, exactly, it is of upmost importance for financial institutions to place customer engagement at the top of their list of priorities:

“It sounds strange, but the financial crisis which began in 2008 may have been a blessing in disguise for the banking industry. It forced banks to rethink their business models. Being big and global wasn’t necessarily beautiful anymore. It forced us to rethink how we could be more relevant to the customer.

It has been said that people don’t need banks, but they do need banking. Finance plays an important role in the economic and social development in every country. Financial services are at the heart of daily life for individuals and business. To operate effectively and to completely fulfil their full role in society, banks need trust to operate.

This is where customer engagement comes in.

Roger Peverelli and Reggy de Feniks argue in their new book Reinventing Customer Engagement that customer engagement, if implemented effectively, can help restore trust, lead to greater customer relevance and ultimately value for customers as well as financial institutions. The issue that lies at the heart of the book is how to define customer engagement? Is it putting customers at the heart of everything a business does, and what does that actually mean. The truth is that many companies differ in their understanding of customer engagement.

Trust and customer engagement can’t simply be won by continuously talking about it in advertisements or through a branch makeover. It has to be achieved through a sustained superior delivery of products and services, and by establishing a very real connection with customers. Engaging with customers is more than simply trying to please customers, it is about bringing value to customers in different ways by providing continuously tailored products and services built on a deep understanding of customers’ needs: pro-actively at the right time in the right place. The most successful businesses have been those that have been able to continually create value for their customers.

In addition to becoming more relevant to customers, the authors argue that effective customer engagement can help businesses differentiate themselves from competitors, lead to customers making multiple purchases and to generally help build brand advocacy and longer and stronger relationships.

But building customer engagement is easier said than done. In retail banking, contact with customers is increasingly done via digital channels. The issue is how you make these contacts engaging and personal in a highly commoditized digital field.

At ING, we have invested much time and resources in understanding customer behaviour better. This involved being in constant dialogue with customers and sharing knowledge and information in a two-way exchange. Understanding customers’ needs is easier to do when people have multiple products, but more difficult to do, when they don’t. This is why it is so important to establish primary relationships with customers.

At ING, we know from our own dialogue with customers that they want us to be clear and easy, to be available anytime and anywhere, to empower them to realize their aspirations and to continuously improve our products and services.

As banking moves further down the digital path and customers become increasingly discerning and wooed by new entrants, the challenge is on to find ways to engage and retain customers in a mutually beneficial relationship. Reinventing Customer Engagement is an excellent source of ideas and inspiration to this end. I thoroughly recommend it as a resource for anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of customer engagement.

The theme of the 2017 World Economic Forum for the world’s leaders of governments and businesses is “Responsive and Responsible Leadership.” Creating a customer-first (or for government’s citizen-first) mindset was argued by many as the fundamental starting point to being more responsive, as well as responsible.

At the event, a new trend report, The Uncompromising Customer was launched by Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG)to spark new thinking driven by changing attitudes and behaviours … and in particular to explore “the Paradoxes of the Age of I” as the report describes it. The study highlights the uncompromising nature of today’s customer, raising the bar as brands strive to deliver excellent experiences that satisfy often-contradictory needs.

The study identifies four paradoxes driving customer decisions, based on the fact that customers do not want “either/or” solutions but want the best of both worlds:

  • The paradox of separate but connected: Seeking a constant belonging with people, brands and places, while also seeking individuality and the desire to communicate uniqueness of self.
  • The paradox of abundant rarity: A desire for luxury to be both scarce and available, whiteout compromising the specialness of luxury concepts when they become more common.
  • The Paradox of a better me and a better we: Seeking personal self-improvement, while seeking public, civic or global improvement – such as luxury and sustainability.
  • Do it myself and do it for me, in my way: A desire to be in control while not being the controller Global brands must address these paradoxes through being locally relevant and personally differentiating.”

“Technology has changed the way we behave in our daily lives,” said IHG CEO Richard Solomons. “This has had a direct, and fundamental, impact on business. Global brands need to address the complex, sometimes opposing needs of today’s customers in order to fulfill their expectations.”

IHG Rewards Club has 100 million members and is the largest hotel loyalty program in the industry. From its members and data-analysis, IHG’s report identities six best practices to better meet customers’ increasingly complex needs:

  • Aim for integration rather than balance.
  • Use needs-driven occasion-based segmentation for superior business management.
  • Communicate with conversation.
  • Manage the brand’s multi-dimensionality.
  • Develop ambidextrous brand-business teams.
  • Address the paradox of brand control.

This year’s IHG Trends Report marks the fifth in a series, sharing insights into the changing world for customers and those who serve them and providing best practices to help make brands fit for the future. The insights it contains are based on a series of related studies spanning a five-year period and involving nearly 40,000 interviews with travellers across the globe.

Building on futurist Tim Jones’ FutureAgenda research base, the series has examined developments including the transition from brand experiences to brand relationships in the hospitality sector; delivering global, local and personalised brand experiences; the growing importance for companies to build both brand and organizational trust; and how to make membership meaningful at a time when loyalty is becoming ever more important to many industries.

Having recently stayed in IHG’s recently launched Indigo boutique hotel concept, then I can see first hand how the group is implementing its own insights, hotels for “the Age of I”.

L’Oreal’s Kerastase luxury hair-care brand is unveiling a $189 digitally connected brush at CES, injecting tech into a seemingly unlikely age-old product.

The Kerastase Hair Coach Powered by Withings, which will be available to consumers later this year, is billed as the world’s first smart hairbrush, developed in collaboration with L’Oreal’s Research and Innovation Technology Incubator. It features advanced sensors and product design from Nokia’s Withings digital-health unit combined with patent-pending signal-analysis algorithms from L’Oreal to score the quality of hair and monitor the effects of various hair-care routines. An accompanying mobile app gives tips on how to brush hair and customized hair product recommendations.

“I’m not going to tell you that around $200 is not a high price for a brush,” said Guive Balooch, global VP of L’Oreal’s Research and Innovation Incubator. But he said hair brushes already on the market range up to $300 or $400 with no sensors or app, and even when the Hair Coach was tested by consumers without sensors, it performed well. “We didn’t want to make a connected brush that people wouldn’t love on its own,” he said.

But then there are the sensors and algorithms, which he said really do make a difference.

Research by L’Oreal scientists finds forceful hair brushing can cause damage, including breakage and split ends. The Hair Coach minimizes these risks using multiple sensors to provide information on the quality of hair and brushing patterns.

The tech includes a microphone that listens to the sound of hair brushing to identify patterns and provide insights on manageability, frizz, dryness, split ends and breakage. It also uses 3-axis load cells to measure force applied when brushing. An accelerometer and gyroscope further analyze brushing patterns and count strokes, providing feedback when brushing is too vigorous. Conductivity sensors on the splash-proof brush determine if the brush is being used on wet or dry hair to provide accurate measurement.

All these sensors feed data via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to the app, which takes into account such weather factors as humidity, temperature, UV radiation and wind. Factoring in how people brush and environmental factors, the app provides a “hair quality score,” data on the effectiveness of brushing habits, personalized tips and Karastase product recommendations.

Search for “Tesla crash” and you’ll see a real-life video taken from a Tesla speeding down a motorway. You can hear the bleep of the car’s autopilot applying the brakes as it predicts, correctly, that the car two ahead is going to crash. No human driver could have anticipated the accident. Other cars plough into the pile-up; the Tesla avoids it.

It’s the most powerful demonstration I’ve ever seen of the speed with which computers are overtaking people. It brings sharply to life the need to think about the implications for the way we organise society.

Humanity is, in the title of an influential book on the subject, running a “Race Against the Machine”, and losing. As a result, machines are doing more and more of the jobs previously done by people. You can see it in the supermarkets, where most of the checkouts have gone from being manned to unmanned in the past couple of years. Next year Amazon will be opening shops that have no checkouts at all, just sensors that can tell what you’ve taken from the shop and charge your Amazon account. The British Retail Consortium predicts that by 2025, a third of the three million jobs in the retail sector will have gone.

But surely, I hear you say, this has been happening ever since the Luddites went round smashing up textile machinery three centuries ago? Automation destroyed some jobs, but made others more productive, which increased prosperity, which increased demand, which created new jobs. Why should it be different now?

Because the rate at which computers are getting cleverer has speeded up. The machines are accelerating away from the people. Computers don’t just drive cars, they do so better than people do. Computers don’t just make the tools that make workers productive, they eliminate people from the chain. It’s not just low-skilled jobs that are vulnerable: according to a Bank of England study, 15 million of the country’s 30 million jobs could be at risk from automation.

This is the beginning of the age of leisure, which Keynes predicted a century ago, when machines will supply our needs. But it poses a huge challenge, for our society is organised around work. Work is how we provide for our families. It is how we prove that we are full, productive members of society — the “hard-working families” that politicians speak of with approval, not the “scroungers” derided by the tabloids. It is how we acquire skills, gain status, make friends and find purpose in life.

If humanity is indeed losing the race against the machine, we need to start thinking about how to organise society a different way — about how to deliver the benefits of work to everybody in a world in which there isn’t enough of it to go round. That’s why the idea of a guaranteed minimum income is gaining currency. It’s a pretty simple notion: the state pays everybody a certain level of income. You don’t get it for being unemployed, or for looking for a job: you get it just for being alive. It’s not all that different from the dole, except that it isn’t conditional on trying to find work, and collecting it doesn’t carry the stigma of being a scrounger.

This sounds like a piece of crazy leftist Utopianism, but Charles Murray, high priest of the American right, has been promoting the idea. He reckons it offers the opportunity to sweep away the infinitely complex web of benefits that enmeshes people at the bottom of society, along with the bureaucracy that implements it. He maintains that America could save a trillion dollars a year by paying all its citizens $10,000 (£8,000) a year, no questions asked; others prefer a more generous version, which wouldn’t save money, but which people could live on. It would be taxed away from those who earned a decent whack, but at an initially low rate so as not to discourage people from working.

Part of the appeal to the right is that the system reduces the power of government, for the state will no longer chivvy people to find work. They will be free to make whatever they want of their lives. If they want material wealth, they can scurry around making lots of money. If they want other sorts of riches, they can study newts, write music, paint pictures or look after their elderly parents. If they want neither, they can sit on their sofas playing video games.

This is what’s really radical about the scheme: it decouples income from work and work from occupation. In a society that regards hard work as the principal source of moral worth, that sounds like a bad thing; but when full employment is no longer an option, it’s good. And it has a further virtue: by eroding the boundary between “hard-working people” (who make money) and “scroungers” (who take benefits), it will raise the status of the occupation that should be the most highly regarded of all, but on which our work-centred system places no value: looking after people we love.

People tend to react to the prospect of losing the race against the machine with terror. Sure, it poses a huge challenge, but the potential upside is also tremendous. Over to Keynes: “For the first time since his creation man will be faced with his real, his permanent problem — how to use his freedom from pressing economic cares, how to use the leisure, which science and compound interest have won for him, to live wisely and agreeably and well.”

Ava Winery founders Mardonn Chua and Alex Lee claim they can “turn water into wine” in just 15 minutes, without using grapes. The San Francisco startup aims to disrupt high-end wines by offering bottles of chemically identical wine cheaper and more sustainably (lab-grown wine uses 50 to 100 times less water than traditional).

Chua and his team used specialized techniques to analyze the chemical compositions of different wines, including Chardonnay, champagne, and Pinot Noir. These techniques, which included gas chromatography mass spectrometry, identified the amounts of amino acids, sugars, and flavor and odor compounds found within each drink, and allowed Chua to include them in his synthetic wine.

Lee argues that most of the compounds in wine have no perceptible impact on the flavor or aroma. Both, he says, are due to compounds that make up just 0.1% of the total — they include molecules that come from the wine grapes’ skins, which change as the wine ages. Meanwhile, the microbes that ferment the wine also create some of the compounds. Not all the compounds will significantly impact the flavor of the wine, but all of them contribute to its complexity.

Currently, Ava Winery’s website lists its replica of a 1992 Dom Pérignon Champagne for $50. A deal, considering the real thing sells for more than $150. However, wine lovers may turn their noses up at the fact that none of these replicas will have the word “wine” on their labels — a term that can only be used if grapes or other fruits are used in the fermenting process.

Other new “Gamechangers” who are rapidly rethinking, reinventing or reshaping markets range from companies harnessing quantum computing and machine learning, through to data analytics and new types of mobility, delivering aid to Africa and making dreams come true.  Here are the others:

Hyperloop One … suction-tube trains

From Elon Musk’s concept, Hyperloop One (H1) pounced on the opportunity for next-gen transit using vacuum tubes. H1’s first commercial project is a 99-mile system between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, aiming to reduce the two hour trip to a mere 12 minutes. Recently, a key investment from DP World Group, the world’s 3rd largest ports operator, points to high-speed cargo distribution, in addition to passenger transit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fze5spdN3nU

Zee.Aero … Google’s flying cars.

Building a small, all-electric plane that can take off and land vertically. Unaffiliated with Google (but based right near the GooglePlex), the flying car project announced it had been personally financed by Larry Page since 2010, and currently employs nearly 150 people.

Magic Leap … bringing virtual reality to life.

Wired Magazine describes it as the world’s hottest (and most secretive) startup. Magic Leap’s mind-bending “mixed reality” technology uses photonic wafer chips to manipulate light. It superimposes 3D generated images over real world objects, by projecting a digital light field into the user’s eye. Founder Rony Abovitz says “the best way to describe it, is like dreaming”, has attracted $1.4bn funding from Alibaba and Google, and is currently signed up contracts with leading movie studios and game makers.

Nauto … capturing driving data 

Real-world data is essential to creating robust autonomous driving systems. Computer vision dash-cam Nauto collects anonymized safety data from its connected camera network. Its partnerships with big-name auto and insurance companies suggest a wide impact both in vehicle systems and liability reduction.

Dispatch … making delivery smart

Dispatch is creating a platform for local delivery powered by a fleet of wagon- sized autonomous robotic vehicles. Dispatch’s robots are designed for sidewalks and pedestrian spaces, taking on terrestrial drones space in last-mile delivery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APkLxTbADyA

Twist Bioscience … Synthesized DNA 

Twist could help pioneer DNA computing, which writes data into synthetic nucleotides. DNA can last 2000+ years without deterioration, and a single gram can store almost 1T gigabytes of data. Twist is partnered with Microsoft to develop this technology.

Cambridge Quantum Computing … superfast computing 

Building a quantum operating system and developing quantum algorithms, with specific focus on quantum cryptography for its secure currency platform. Quantum encryption techniques will be necessary as current encryption will be rendered useless (quantum computers will be powerful enough to brute-force break classical encryption methods).

Knu-Edge … brain chips

Founder Dan Goldin surprised the world by announcing $100M in angel funding for his 10-year-old stealth chip company. Knu-Edge plans to make chips inspired by human neural networks to power artificial intelligence.

Affectiva … reading emotions

The MIT Media Lab spinout focuses on emotion recognition, using deep learning to identify emotions in facial expressions.

Filament … blockchain payments

Filament is developing decentralized machine-to-machine (M2M) mesh networking technology. The blockchain- based system could advance M2M payments, allowing machines to pay one another for data usage via bitcoin, as well as tackling connectivity in industrial IoT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3j_SROVZnw

Veniam … turning vehicles into wifi hotspots

Develops vehicular mesh networks, turning buses and moving objects into Wi-Fi hot spots. The technology allows for wireless coverage in ports, airports, construction sites, and mines, but could eventually be a cost-effective alternative to cellular networks.

Kernal … superhuman intelligence

Braintree founder Bryan Johnson announced a $100M investment into his startup Kernel, which will focus on hardware and software to augment human intelligence. Kernel is first planning a device for alleviating Alzheimer’s and dementia. But future iterations will focus on a neuroprosthesis for using AI to augment human brainpower.

Enlitic … machine-learning doctors

Enlitic uses machine learning to provide the tools that allow physicians to fully utilize the vast stores of siloed medical data collected today, regardless of what form they are in — such as medical images, doctors’ notes, and structured lab tests.

Kindred … robotic exoskeletons

Founded by former co-founders and researchers of the quantum startup D- Wave, Kindred Systems is an AI-driven company working in human exoskeleton robotics. Kindred’s exo-suits supposedly allow one human worker to do the work of four.

Understory … changing the weather forecast

Understory is a weather data and analytics company providing real time, surface- level data generated by dense grids of weather stations. Understory provides real-time datasets and views of the movement and intensity of weather events.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqHg_Wqfqus

Droneport … getting medical supplies to remote places

British architect Norman Foster is creating a network of droneports to deliver medical supplies and other necessities to areas of Africa that are difficult to access due to a lack of roads or other infrastructure and the ambition is that every small town in Africa and in other emerging economies will have its own droneport by 2030. The pilot project launched in 2016 is based in Rwanda, and will enable the network to send supplies to 44 per cent of the country, with 40 drone ports planned across the nation in phase 2.

UN Iris Scan … high tech refugee support

The World Food Program has introduced iris scan payment technology in a supermarket at Jordan’s Zaatari refugee camp, allowing Syrian refugees to buy goods using their eyes instead of cash. The WFP is  operating this new iris-scanning technology to allow Syrian refugees to purchase food without coupons, cards, paperwork or cash. Iris scanners began operating here at the beginning of this month, but WFP plans to expand their use to the 85 supermarkets contracted with WFP across Jordan.

Many more …

Innovation Radar gives you regular updates of the latest “Gamechangers” who are shaking up markets, reinventing business models, and innovating every aspect of business and customers’ experiences. Keynotes and workshops to explore what it means for your business are also available.