The Next Big Thing

Industry insider Clint Albin has found a new home for his regular column, The Next Big Thing, at Open Register and Garden Center Magazine.

For those of you new to my column, I would like to take a moment to help you better understand what the column is and how I select the things I choose.

I think all trends are local. These are based on merchandising and advertising that reflects a store’s buying strategy, which leads to local consumers buying the products and therefore launching a trend. One element to the local trend is national and global consumer patterns in fashion, food, luxury, housing and health. I select 15 to 20 items a month that I believe will play a role in determining The Next Big Thing!

Here are The Next Big Things for January 2008:

1. LED lighting moves from the Christmas tree to the landscape.
2. GKI/Bethlehem Lighting’s outdoor decorative line of flower shapes.
3. YouBars -- make your own protein bar based on individual body chemistry.
4. The new Apple store in NYC.
5. VW's Phaeton automobile assembly plant and showroom combination in Dresden, Germany.
6. Self-contained Christmas tree kits that include ornaments and lights for all sized trees.
7. The un-conical Christmas tree -- The new and improved Charlie Brown tree.
8. Committee Caller technology used in political action campaigns.
9. SimplifyMedia -- changing technology for satellite radio.
10. Even free music downloads on the Internet have to be great quality -- RadioHead learned the hard way.
11. Disney as a religion.
12. The Church of Stop Shopping.
13. “The Dangerous Book for Boys.”
14. Emotion-sensitive dresses.
15. Without agriculture -- without horticulture -- there is no culture.

See you next time. If you have something that you think will be an element of The Next Big Thing, send me an e-mail.

-- Clint Albin