A couple of years ago, while still living in London, Richard Welch told all his clients that customization was key. One client, Nokia, promptly developed personalized face plates, allowing consumers to design their own phone covers. Huge success.
Welch, 30, is in the "cool" business. He now heads up Crystal, a consulting arm of advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather, trawling the globe for soon-to-be cultural trends and delivering the intelligence to clients like Sprite and American Express. A British expat and former DJ who once ran one of London's hottest night-clubs, Welch maintains a network of 140 stringers (stylists, photographers, artists, and other extremely hip people) in three dozen cities worldwide. You may spot them reporting fads to him in some VVIP room (a really cool place to be--at least this month).
5 Feb 04_11:47 a.m._BUENOS AIRES
"Right now I'm sitting in the Buenos Aires International Airport working on my laptop. I came down for an Ogilvy board meeting to present the latest leading-edge trends I've been tracking--like the infusion of gay lifestyle into the mainstream and the VIP culture (every club-goer aspires to be admitted to the VIP room or the VVIP room). I also met with my correspondents here and went to music stores, galleries, exhibitions, clubs, parks, and beaches, looking for new behaviors, activities, styles, language . . . Here I've noticed a lot of customization--people buying products and customizing them. They're reacting against globalization and the homogeneity of products to create individual garments, music, things like that."
10 Feb 04_5:29 p.m._LONDON
"I'm in Ogilvy's offices at Canary Wharf. I've got a floating desk here. Zoë Lazarus, my business partner, and I are working on our annual report for clients on trends we've been tracking over the last 12 months. It should be a fantastic-looking tome. We've got some great graphic designers working on it."
18 Feb 04_1:07 p.m._NEW YORK
"I'm in my office. I had a conference call with Hong Kong and London at an ungodly hour this morning for a research report on health and beauty issues in Asia. Trends and Pan Asia used to be a one-way street, with Japan soaking them up from the West. Now Japan, Seoul, and Taipei export trends. One of them is the 'kidult': People are staying younger longer and demanding adult toys. Another is that subcultural identity no longer relates to ideology. Before, you wouldn't have been a goth Monday through Wednesday, and then a raver on the weekend. Now people pick and mix. You can be whatever you want whenever you want."
20 Feb 04_4:37 p.m._MONTREAL
"I just finished presenting a report on Crystal's methodologies and trends to the Ogilvy office here in Montreal. Later this evening, I'll be meeting with some correspondents--just to have fun and hang out (they're often good friends of mine). You can't work all the time. You've got to have balance in life. We'll have supper and go out to a couple of clubs. We're meeting at the Mile End, a bar on St-Laurent. Who knows what will happen."
25 Feb 2004_11:17 a.m._CHICAGO
"I'm in my room at the Park Hyatt, catching up on e-mail. I'm about to lunch with a colleague who does the same thing at Ogilvy as I do, only locally. Afterward, I'll make a presentation to the Chicago office on some trends we've tracked, then fly out to L.A., where I've got another presentation on Thursday."
27 Feb 2004_12:36 p.m._LOS ANGELES
"You've caught me working out on the elliptical machine at the W Hotel gym. I'm going to lunch with a guy from CalArts who's interested in joining my network. Tonight, I'm being taken out (just for fun) by a friend who does PR, then tomorrow night is the Independent Spirit Awards. I'm really looking forward to it--it feels more debauched and relaxed than the Oscars. But I must apologize: There's no way I'm taking a picture of myself working out. I would certainly never let that be published. Would you?"
2 March 04_4:37 p.m._NEW YORK
"I'm back in the New York office. I never did go to the Independent Spirit Awards. Saturday night I went to the Miramax pre-Oscars party, then to Bob Shaye's (he produced Lord of the Rings). Miramax was like a trade convention--very unsexy--but Shaye's party was fantastic. I mean, it's not quite rock and roll--these affairs are fairly civilized. But I heard later that Paris Hilton crashed it and fell into a Japanese pond. Afterward, I went to dinner at Matsuhisa with producer Jane Rosenthal. Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake were there. Now it's back to work, big time. I've got a lot to do before I go on holiday next week."
