The Future 100: 2024

Emotion and a sense of belonging are central to the experience of watching, enjoying and participating in sport. The intersection of these developments for brands embracing partnerships is compelling. Fans want moments of joy, goosebumps and jaw drops. The key question is, can brands deliver against this desire in a way that fits with ever heightened expectations of sporting tension, drama, and excitement?

Discover the latest sports trends!

Key Sports Trends

Prosocial effervescence

Collective effervescence describes the energy and harmony released by shared experience, like being part of a choir or a festival crowd. There is a growing opportunity for brands to engineer collective experiences that promote connection and community at scale with friends and strangers alike.

Why it's interesting

The biggest opportunity that brands have is getting people to connect with each other—how this brand can serve a community as a collective rather than the individual inside the community.

Fanspiration

Vocal fans and influencers are inspiring their favourite brands to innovate. This comes as the new social-media-driven R&D paradigm, where brands are parlaying fan hacks and viral influencer content into valuable new product development and innovation opportunities.

Why it's interesting

Brands can satisfy consumer craving for creative influence by tapping into fanspiration, rewarding, and delighting fans with real-life innovations based on viral hacks.

Spatial Tech

A new economy is forming around digital personas and for content creators and influencers, digital personas can offer unprecedented reach and scale. It seems inevitable that digital clones will become part of our everyday. For now, at least, flesh and blood humanity retains the advantage where artistry is concerned.

Why it's interesting
Digital personas offer cost-effective and flexible ways for brands to engage talent, though it’s worth noting that the human still carries a premium with audiences.