Ghost weddings, foreverrism, and GemÖks
February 28, 2025
Welcome to this 149th issue of our newsletter “Weak Signals and other Trends”.
Each week, I personally sift through hundreds of sources of inspiration to track where we’re heading. If you are a new subscriber to this newsletter, take the time to send me a note and introduce yourself, I love to understand who is reading.
You can subscribe to this (roughly) bi-weekly newsletter here to get it directly by mail.
I have prepared this newsletter this week from Montreal, Canada. This is what I noticed these past couple of weeks, thank you for sharing with those who look into the future.
Estelle.
Competitive Intelligence
Kompyte is a competitive intelligence tool that automatically pulls competitor updates into a single, easy-to-monitor dashboard. Similarweb helps you dig deep into your competitor’s content and where their traffic comes from. VisualPing is a competitor monitoring tool that helps brands track changes to competing websites. The deep research problem.
Strategic blindspots and business models
Looking at the familiar with “alien eyes” allows you to unlock new business model opportunities while avoiding risks stemming from strategic blindspots. This section also is about the risks we miss.
Netflix Bites' Las Vegas Restaurant. A radical new business model that could save international aid. Costco Expands Reach Across Japan with the Support of Mini Resale Shops. Dorsia, a members app that lets people book hard-to-get tables in exchange for agreeing to a minimum spend. Foreca$ter assigns dollar value to snow. Your car may become a new advertising portal.
Our future
Even amid a social fitness crisis, solitude is becoming aspirational. GemÖk, when citizens share their revenues. Battle of the benefits. Biohacked bunnies. Introducing the
Foresight Timeline. The decentralized workforce. A pivotal year for procurement. This Top Home Design Trend of 2025 Will Ensure You Can Live in Your House Forever. 2025 Manufacturing Industry Outlook.
We keep you updated on those trends and more on Twitter and Bluesky.
Weak signals
Weak signals are indicators of a change, a trend or an emerging risk that might become significant for the future. They allow us to run hypothesis, expand our thinking, and challenge assumptions. How will you interpret those in your industry or field of expertise?
China ‘ghost marriages’: discover the dark secrets of love in the afterlife. Line-standing services increased 18% on TaskRabbit last November and December. Old Prisons Are Being Converted Into Stylish Apartments. Crayola Is Bringing Back Retired Colors — Including One With a Cult Following. New Startup Allows Users to Hire a Rent-a-Goon to Follow Them Around With a Gun. Birkenstock sandals are not art.
A good technique to spot weak signals: Taking an Internet walk.
Some of you have asked me to provide my interpretation for signals. Here is an example: You’ve come across something at work that doesn’t seem legit. In today’s context where employees worry about whistleblowing protection, where there is a new trend for denunciations at work. This article signals lower trust in the workforce, and a different posture to confidential information. Contrary to Secrets which was meant to have employees divulge confidential information, this seems more like a version of Archives for the corporate world.
Book a speaking engagement about weak signals and emerging trends.
Down the rabbit hole
This section highlights a subject that led me to many useful threads, or a single site, that opened many doors: “A rabbit hole is not a distraction. A rabbit hole is your brain trying to tell you to pay attention to something you’re curious about. Ignore algorithmic rabbit holes” ( by are.na):
This week, I explored The Anthropic Economic Index, analysis based on millions of anonymized conversations on Claude.ai, revealing the clearest picture yet of how AI is being incorporated into tasks across the economy.
Unpacking AI
This is a new section. Clients have asked me to dig into the impact of AI for their organization, industry, or their own work. I will add in this sections tools, or angles of interpretation that I find relevant to our community of curious minds:
New AI Travel Tool Helps You Book Trips Based on the Vibes You Want . Using ChatGPT as a focus group.
Hodgepodge discovery
Articles for curious minds and the polymaths.
Future of Water Awareness Game. Growing Up Murdoch, a succession story. The Paradox of Choice. The hardest working font. The creativity phases, by the author of White Lotus. Why Netflix looks like that. Generation beta. 86 Stories Of Progress From 2024.
I like new words. This week, I learned about foreverism.
Numbers
26.67- Tesla had the highest accident rate of any automotive brand in the US in 2024
2350- The oldest recorded marriage occurred in Mesopotamia around 2350 BCE.
50%- 50% of employees share secret company information
Feeling good
The gulf of something. Relax while you sculpt some digital pottery. The Peppermills of Jens Quistgaard. The Art of Traveling, and my favorite advice:
If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to take you to visit their mother. They will ordinarily jump at the chance. They fulfill their filial duty and you will get easy entry into a local’s home, and a very high chance to taste some home cooking. Mother, driver, and you leave happy. This trick rarely fails.
Share your favorite issues of the newsletter, or send friends - or random strangers…
And do not miss the next issue:
Thanks for reading Weak signals and other trends! Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.
Contact me at Competia with your feedback or ideas. Thank you for reading.