Culture After Covid: Guide Us
Edge Definition
Young people are searching for guidance in uncertain times and there’s a growing industry to help them do it. Millennials are hiring life coaches their own age who they feel can better relate to their issues. Astrology and personality tests are now modern markers of belonging and identity. And the self-help industry is getting younger and predicted to hit $13bn by 2022. This generation is in a hurry to get their lives “right.” Brands can provide direction, reflection, or the space to be young and carefree.
What will Guide Us look like post-pandemic?
Pre-COVID, the search for guidance was personal.
Tarot readings and personality tests answered our search for identity. While the growing self-help industry promised to resolve our individual issues.
Then the pandemic put our problems into perspective, pushing us to move beyond introspection.
Next, we’ll look to sources that Guide Us to understand our impact. We’ll measure our personal improvement according to how we improve the people and places around us. We’ll look to brands to make us better citizens of the world. And we’ll find belonging in new communities that teach us how to make a difference.
Progress starts with embracing our interconnectedness over our individuality.
“So far we have learned that we are completely interconnected and interdependent — and that without solidarity, we all will lose.”
What if…
01\ Personal Impact Reports helped us understand the consequences of our consumption?
02\ Being an influencer was less about selling products, and more about promoting ethical living?
03\ School curriculums were built around solving society’s biggest problems?
04\ Banks cared about your carbon footprint as much as they care about your credit score?
05\ Tech platforms held us accountable for living according to our values?
06\ Competitors embraced their interconnectivity? Committing to common objectives that benefit the entire globe.
07\ Food brands made it easy for consumers to repurpose their waste?