The Trendmaster's Guide: Get a Jump on What Your Customer Wants Next by Robyn Waters

Author:Robyn Waters
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2005-06-01T18:30:00+00:00

When you’re stuck in a dark place void of ideas, lighten up! Have some fun. Do something crazy. Deep-six your standard procedures and try operating with a little humor.

M

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MAGIC BUTTON

A good trend tracker is always on the lookout for what pushes his or her “magic button.” Big or small, simple or complicated, a bargain or an extravagance, if it lights you up, chances are it will work the same magic for others.

A few years ago I was invited to speak at a conference in Dubai, which is situated along the Persian Gulf, south of Kuwait and east of Saudi Arabia. Unlike most other countries in the region, Dubai does not have vast oil reserves to count on for its continued prosperity. Yet it’s an amazing place that really pushed my magic button, and those of many other visitors.

Years ago, a very progressive sheik decided to turn the ancient sailing port into a world-class trading and financial center. He invited the captains of industry and trade to his country and created a modern high-rise city without rival. The port is duty free, and the airport is one of the most modern in the world. He also had the foresight to create a shopping paradise and leisure play-land for the wealthy by attracting world-famous golf, tennis, and Formula One racing stars to the region.

As expats from multinational companies flooded into Dubai, space ran short for living quarters. An enterprising developer created a man-made structure off the coast in the Persian Gulf by excavating thousands of tons of boulders from the interior desert and arranging them into the shape of a giant palm tree, called The Palm.

Other than the Great Wall of China, it’s the only man-made structure that can be seen from space with the naked eye. Retail shops and entertainment venues have been built along the trunk of the “tree,” and luxury homes were placed strategically along the “fronds.”

The project was sold out before the development was halfway completed, so the sheik commissioned a second, similar development farther up the coast. Only this time he added a unique touch to the project: on The Palm Jebel there is a poem in Arabic “written” in quarried limestone around the inner ring of the palm fronds. The sheik himself wrote the poem: “Beware the jockey. Not all who ride are knowledgeable.”

This project also sold out long before completion, with international celebrities like David Beckham first in line to buy. Just recently, the same developer has announced an even more extravagant project. The World is the third stage in the massive building project. Two hundred and sixty man-made islands in the shape of the countries of the world are being built, with luxury villas and palaces on each island that are reachable only by water. Sir Rod Stewart just purchased “Great Britain” for eighteen million British pounds sterling.

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