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[November 2003]
Ceramic Futures - Market Intelligence
Ceramic Industry Forum (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, England) has designed a market intelligence and forecasting project to allow all ceramic companies to access information on fashion trends, lifestyle changes, socio-economics factors and consumer aspirations. This should enable them to interpret and apply this information to their own design and marketing strategies for competitive advantage. The initial events programme for 2003/2004 comprises two key strands, 'Drivers' and 'Trends'.
The first Drivers event will be 'The Future is in Your Hands'. The identification of key social and economic drivers will be the source of predictions for the industry, helping companies anticipate change and understand the future context of their product development and business strategies.
As well as looking at economic drivers, the speaker will also consider consumer trends, infrastructure changes, demographics, time-usage patterns, technological advances and the impact of these changes on consumer purchasing patterns and the manufacturing companies.
The second event planned for Spring 2004 will look at 'Trend Forecasting for 2005/2006'. The forecasters will present their work in a seminar format helping companies to fully interpret the trends information whilst giving companies an opportunity to ask pertinent questions. The chosen forecasters will create a forecast that will concentrate on areas such as colour, shape and texture that can be interpreted directly by companies into creating new products.
This information will be targeted at designers and marketers and focuses on the short-term development of the design strategy of a company.
Gavin Pryke, the Design Advisor for Ceramic Industry Forum, said: "Both these events offer a unique opportunity to gain access to really valuable information that is expensive and often beyond our reach".
www.ceramicindustryforum.co.uk
ENDS