Profile Archives
“Blue Is New Green, Says Future Watcher Marian Salzman,” Sky.com, April 7, 2008
Excerpt: “A one-stop oracle, it is her job to predict the social trends—and thus marketing opportunities for her clients—just around the corner.”
“I Want Your Job: Trendspotter,” The Independent, Aug. 30, 2007
Excerpt: “Q. What do you actually do?
Marian: My job requires me to identify a social trend, put a commercial spin on it, and help brands use it. It’s about recognizing cultural patterns. So in 2003, all the hoopla over metrosexuals started as a trend for men wanting to find their softer side, then brands used it to sell them light beer. There’s a trend toward wanting to be seen as environmentally aware, so I might say that the palette for next year’s fashion will be blue, because it represents clean air.… My job isn’t as purely intellectual as sociology, nor is it as straightforward as brand marketing. Most of my motivations are commercial. I need to find that 2 percent of the population who will drive a product.”
“Interview: Marian Salzman,” The Guardian, Jan. 8, 2007
Excerpt: “Salzman radiates enough energy, one suspects, to power a small town and looks as if she has just stepped off the set of Sex and the City. She speaks at firecracker speed as she discusses popular culture and the geopolitical issues of our age, sprinkling her conversation with…buzzwords and phrases like ‘fertility soup,’ ‘boomerang parents’ and ‘Millennial Moms.’ ”
“Trendspotters: The Crystal-Ball Gazers,” The Independent, Jan. 2, 2006
Excerpt: “Salzman wrote college essays on the threat of terrorism, was challenged on ‘wiggers’ (white kids who want to be black) by Oprah, and identified the Sex and the City generation back in 1989. Coming from marketing, she claims a ‘gift for identifying what’s next’ and finding the ‘tweak’ that makes a brand stand out. Recent interests have been metrosexual man (she co-authored a book, The Future of Men) and forty-fication.”
“She’s the Bee’s Knees,” The Observer, June 29, 2003
Excerpt: “Her name is mentioned in the same breath as futurists Faith Popcorn and Christopher Sanderson of Future Laboratory. And Salzman certainly has a brilliant knack for spotting trends before they go mainstream—one commentator dubbed her ‘an octane-fuelled, 100-ideas-a-minute bunny.’ ”
