As we count down to the new millennium, I thought the following material, taken from Future Dialogue, a weekly newsletter from the Brand Futures Group (BFG) of New York-based Young & Rubicam Inc., might be of interest to those looking for opinions on the trends that may shape our journey to the year 2000. According to Marian Salzman, director of the BFG and the company’s "chief futurist," and Ann O’Reilly, editor-in-chief of BFG, here are nine trends that will play out in the coming months.

Trend #1: "Teach Your Children Well"

Expect to see a growing movement of parents taking primary responsibility for their children’s education. This trend will encompass a rise in home schooling (and increasingly sophisticated products and services geared toward this market), more niche-focused edutainment software, and increased testing of toddlers and preschoolers to ensure they’re "on the right track."

"As we head into the uncertain world of the next millennium, parents are feeling increased pressure to prepare their children to succeed," says O’Reilly. "They’re taking the educational initiative by purchasing home computers, signing up their children for cultural and educational enrichment programs, and buying toys that have more to do with attaining developmental goals than with having fun. There’s even a CD-ROM available now, from SmarterKids.com, that analyzes the ’pre-academic’ and academic skills of children ages three to six."

Trend #2: "Just Right"

Mass merchandising has its place, but 1999 will be the year of customization. As new technologies allow for personalized marketing efforts, body scans to ensure an exact fashion fit, and opportunities to do it yourself (whether "it" be painting pottery, mixing scents, or customizing paint colors), consumers will grow increasingly impatient with products and services that don’t deliver precisely what they want. "It’s not just a question of demanding more," says Salzman. "It’s a question of expecting more. We’ll see this trend toward individualized products and services snowball as companies try to outdo each other in the rush to make every customer feel catered to."

Trend #3: "Morality Bites"

When it comes to social issues, we can forget moderation and compromise in 1999, says Salzman. She foresees a year in which people on either side of hot-button issues will become increasingly rigid in their views, more vocal - and even violent. "Perhaps because there’s a sense that we need to start the next millennium with a clean slate, many people are becoming obsessed with righting what they perceive as society’s wrongs - whether those ’wrongs’ be abortion, the abuse of animals, or homosexuality," says Salzman. "In 1999, voices of moderation and reason will be drowned out as extremists wrest control of social and political organizations."

Trend #4: "Big Brother.corn"

Now that the ease of the Internet has lured so many of us to move our businesses, communication, and shopping on-line, we’re beginning to feel increasingly uneasy about the potential for tampering and on-line snooping. "The message we’re hearing more and more these days is don’t trust anything that can be digitally altered," says Salzman. "Well that pretty much covers everything for those of us who spend much of our days on-line." Salzman predicts both an increase in efforts to secure digital communications and a renewed value placed on the printed word.

Trend #5: "Global Bucks"

1999 will mark not just the introduction of the euro, but also increased reliance on the now-ubiquitous dispenser of truly global money: the ATM. The opportunity for instant monetary exchanges and convenient purchasing (of such items as postage stamps, prepaid phone cards, and theater tickets) will extend consumers’ relationship with the ATM, making it an even more indispensable part of life. Look, too, for a move toward increased personalization of ATMs, enabling users to specify standard "preferences"
that permit them to bypass questions about such things as preferred language, preferred denominations, and whether a receipt is desired.

Trend #6: "Old News"

Forget ultramodern. Luxury lies in the homespun comfort of times past. From corporate retreats in ancient locales to vintage fashions, a return to the past signals the increased value we’re placing on bygone eras. "Early in this century, the hottest products and fashions were those that were most modern," O’Reilly notes. "As the century comes to an end, many consumers are reacting to premitlennial uncertainty by clinging to what they perceive as symbols of refinement and elitism that today seem to elude us. We’ll see this trend played out in a variety of ways, from a boom in 19th- and early 20th-century hand-crafted items to renewed interest in etiquette classes and ’finishing schools,’ to the creation of underground social clubs that mimic the clandestine men’s clubs of old."

Trend #7: "The New Me Generation"

Around the world, there’s a growing sense that we can rely on no one but ourselves. In much of Europe, benefits traditionally available under the cradle-to-grave welfare system are being rescinded; in Japan, one’s duty to live with and care for one’s parents is no longer considered mandatory; and in most of the world, the concept of lifelong corporate loyalty has taken a direct hit. The reality is that most of us can no longer afford to rely on our governments, our employers - or even our children or "life partners." The results will range from a continued rise in entrepreneurism to new insurance products and personal investment vehicles intended to guard us against the vagaries of the future.

Trend #8: "Think Small"

In the next millennium, it appears that being big in many cases will be regarded as more of a handicap than an asset. Whether one is talking about nations or companies, there’s a sense that the fight will go to the entity that is most streamlined and that has the agility to adapt to our changing times. In the world of e-commerce, we’ve seen upstart Amazon.com refuse to cede much ground to its behemoth competitor, Barnes & Noble.com. In the offline world of fiber-optic cable, Qwest Communications has leaped ahead of such megacompetitors as AT&T and MCI WorldCom by virtue of having no preexisting infrastructure around which to work. "The small-is-better trend is perhaps best showcased by the tremendous success of the Netherlands in recent years," notes Salzman. "Though it’s no bigger than the state of Rhode Island, the Netherlands has actually been ranked as the fourth-most competitive nation in the world by the International Institute for Management Development."

Trend #9: "Return to Valley of the Dolls - Again"

From Viagra to Prozac to "miracle" diet drugs, consumers are snapping up all manner of pills for what ails them. "It’s all a part of consumers’ growing impatience with anything but the quickest fixes," O’Reilly says. "In 1999, we can expect to see even greater growth in the areas of selfmedication and self-education on health-related issues. The notion that we should blindly follow the advice of our physicians has gone by the wayside in the age of AIDS. HIV-positive patients have demonstrated to all medical consumers how important it is to get second, third, even fourth opinions, to seek out ’alternative’ treatments, and to take responsibility for staying abreast of information and developments pertaining to one’s ailment."