Time to Get Dirty: Why the Ancient Wisdom of Microbes is the Future of Health

8 Exponential Trends That Will Shape Humanity

Spring 20137 of 8

“100 trillion good bacteria call the human body home.”

Source: Human Microbiome Project

We live in a time of great abundance and unparalleled possibilities fueled by

exponential growth from the impact of technology. Our job at sparks & honey is to

understand the accelerators, balancers and patterns that are driving exponential cultural

change in the near term and foreseeable future.  Our team of cultural strategists and

curators works with leading brands and thought leaders to apply these trends and use them

as a catalyst for disruptive innovation.

We eat culture for breakfast in order to understand the value of emerging fringe signals,

cultural shifts and explosive doubling patterns. While monitoring thousands of inputs

and mapping and scoring them, we have identified 8 rapidly accelerating trends that will

shape institutions, governments, businesses and everyday consumers.

We have consolidated these trends into short vignettes in order to share a curated snapshot

of what will create either great opportunities or unexpected challenges. We will cover

these trends over the next two months. This report covers Ancient Wisdom. We hope you

engage us in the debate and exploration of how these exponential trends will shape your

business and the World. 

Please enjoy and share this seventh of eight free reports. The discussion will also continue in

our core social channels - @sparksandhoney, www.bigthink/blogs/amped and

www.facebook.com/sparksandhoney.

info@sparksandhoney.com

Our blind spot comes from the fact that we have lived in a linear world.

But today’s changes are exponential. Exponential

Linear

1. Century of City States

2. Future of Education 4. 3D Printing3. Citizen Doctor

7. Ancient Wisdom 6. Conscious Brands

Ancient WisdomPart 7 in the Series: 8 Exponential Trends that will Shape Humanity

5. Quantified Everywhere 8. Cyborg Marketing

7. Ancient Wisdom

In the recent past, people were scared of microbes, slathering their hands with sanitizer to fight off an invisible menace. Times have changed. Recent research has shown the critical importance of the billions of microbes that inhabit our body. Everything from obesity to immune system deficiencies to depression and hypertension are being found to have a microbial component.

Learning to Love Our Microbes: While no one is claiming we should stop washing our hands, studies have shown how environments that are too sanitary actually harm our immune systems. Balancing, rather than killing our microbiome is the way of the future. As the human body contains ten times more bacterial cells than human cells, we need to learn how to better live with the microorganisms that call our body home.

ancient wisdom

Mapping Our Internal Ecosystem: In order to provide personalized microbial healthcare. Initiatives such as American Gut and Ubiome are looking to understand the trillions of bacteria that live on and in our bodies.

ancient wisdom

fecal/ear wax transplantsdesigning ecosystems

Bacterial Upgrade: While the benefits of probiotics are generally accepted, there is significant innovation taking place in the bacterial health field. In a number of successful trials, ear wax and fecal transplants have cured infections better than antibiotics by introducing healthy bacteria into the human body.

ancient wisdom

The Power of Probiotics: Bacteria found in classic fermented foods like yogurt and kimchi are being praised for their healthy properties, offering a host of benefits from digestive regulation to PH balancing.

ancient wisdom

Umami and the Future of Food: Microbes are not just about improving health; innovators in the food space are exploring ancient wisdom around the benefits (both for health and taste) of fermented foods.

ancient wisdom

Designing Microbial Ecosystems: Pioneers in the bio-architecture space are exploring how, in the future, we will custom design the bacterial ecosystem of interior spaces to engineer for health and happiness.

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ancient wisdom implications

Help Consumers Balance the Big and Small: The antimicrobial-microbiome debate is intensifying, and as our understanding of the healthy effects of microbes comes into focus, consumers will be looking for solutions to balance their microbial worlds and improve their health. Expect more conversations around the balancing the internal ecosystems.

Plan for the New Organic: Microbes are being harnessed to fortify food, protect crops and enhance flavor. It is likely that “with added microbes” is the next generation of the food labeling movement. What this means for marketers is that consumers will be more comfortable with the marriage of nature and science/technology. This trend also inspires new beauty and household products infused with “good bacteria.”

Living Matter Changes Storytelling: As consumers continue to ask questions about ingredients and manufacturing processes, when living matter is introduced into the equation a brand’s storyline becomes more complex and interesting. This begs the question: are humans the host serving the organisms or vice versa? Expect brands to differentiate on their “living additives” presenting brand benefits form the perspective of the organisms which comprise it.

Job of the Future?Microbial BalancerLike a Feng Shui consultant, the Microbial Balancer will work with you to create a more harmonious and beneficial microbial ecosystem within your home, office or body. Food, supplements, design changes and actual microbes will be the tools of the trade for this new age healer and interior designer.

p.

Ancient Wisdom Topic Clusters Content

NetworkTopic

Cluster Manifestation

image source

ANCIENT WISDOM

LIFE LOGIC

Red Meat Is Bad For Your Heart, But Possibly For A Previously

Unknown Reason

Human Food Project - Anthropology of Microbes

Jessica Green: We're covered in Germs. Let's Design for That

Dirty house? Clean it Up With this Trash-Powered Robot

The Unintended (and Deadly) Consequences of Living in the

Industrialized World

Bringing Microbiome Science to the Discovery

of Therapeutics

uBiome

A Year of Petri Dish Paintings

The Meat Industry Now Consumes Four-Fifths of All Antibiotics

Microbe Study of Our Home

Fecal Treatment Gains Favor for Some Illnesses

The Hologenome: A New View of Evolution

'Fermentation': When Food Goes Bad But Stays Good

David Chang's Harvard Talk on Momofuku's Scientific Pursuit of Umami

Designer Cheese Made Using Bacteria From The Human Body

Microbial Permaculture

American Gut

QUANTIFIEDSELF

Mapping the

Invisible World

HACKDESIGN

NatureHacking

RURBAN

RESTORATION

MicrobialFeng Shui

EvolvingTraditional

Cuisine

LIVING MATTER

Healing Through Microbes

At sparks & honey we track and analyze thousands of cultural data sources in real time, incorporating live data feeds from numerous APIs as well as hundreds of offline sources. Using a proprietary Culture Mapping Platform, we monitor cultural bursts, identify clusters of activity and trends, score their energy levels, project their lifespans and analyze their cultural resonance. This intelligence helps brands understand and connect with popular culture in order to make more strategically informed business decisions.

Our platform incorporates three different frameworks to structure and contextualize raw data:

CONTENT NETWORKS

ENERGY SCORE&

PREDICTION SCORE

DNA

A mapping system used to model dynamic, interconnected webs of cultural activity.

The Energy Score is rated on a scale of 1-5. It reflects the speed of reach and volume of buzz, and incorporates a ranking of influencer activity that includes reach, resonance and relevance.

A unique set of attributes that describes the core concepts of each trend.

compactshareablecradle to cradlefrictionlessinnovative

ENERGY PREDICTION

The Prediction Score is rated on a scale of 1-40. It reflects anticipated duration of a trend.

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Methodology

TOPIC CLUSTERSSignificant groupings of manifestations which signify cultural waves and trends.

MANIFESTATIONS Discrete data points that indicate change.

Digital Cities

Share Everything

Urban Farming

1. Century of City States

2. Future of Education 4. 3D Printing3. Citizen Doctor

6. Conscious Brands

5. Quantified Everywhere 8. Cyborg Marketing7. Ancient Wisdom

Stay tuned for “Cyborg Marketing,” the next installment in our “8 Exponential Trends That Will Shape Humanity” series.

Follow us @sparksandhoney to keep up to date with our latest free reports.

Some of the other trends that we are tracking:

Digital DetoxIncognitoLife Logic

New New HollywoodNanotechnology

SnackMediaNew Wave of Big Data

“This Omnicom-backed "newsroom"-oriented agency starts each morning with a cultural briefing for clients such as Hyatt, Jarden and Life is Good, for whom it developed six "culture-to-commerce" T-shirts. In 2013 it grew from two to 17 clients and quadrupled its staff to 20.”

SPARKS & HONEY NAMED AS 1 OF 10 TOP AGENCIES TO WATCH IN 2014 BY ADAGE

1 Sa

Space in the Air

2 St

Shock & Transgress

3 Pl

Play

4 Mm

Memory Management

5 Ab

Absurdism

6 En

Enchanted

7 Rc

Refreshed Classics

8 Cx

Codex

9 Sm

Snack Media

10 Ax

Armchair Explorer

11 Nh

New New Hollywood

12 Bi

Binge

13 Rt

Radical Transparency

14 Ob

Open Brand

15 Pr

Premiumization

16 Le

Life as Entertainment

7 Cc

Convergence Culture

1 Uf

Unfat Generation

2 Nm

New Masculinity

3 Pw

Power Woman

4 Tg

Third Genger

5 Rr

Redefined Retirement

6 Hy

Hyper Culture

8 Ss

Second Skin

9 Si

Singletons

10 Mf

Modern Family

11 Sq

Squealing

12 Ex

Exponentials

13 Ft

Flattening

1 Rt

Real Thing

1 Dd

Data Divinity

2 Sc

Screen Culture

2 H

Hack Design

3 Gc

Geek Chic

4 Te

Ephemeral

5 Ki

Kidult

6 Sm

Small-scaling

Sm 7 Sp

Slow Perception

8 Ti

Tangible Intangible

15 Dc

Decay

9 De

De/re-materialization

D 10 Fh

First Hand Look

11 Ra

Raw

12 Lm

Living Matter

13 Wt

Warm Technology

14 Gl

Glitch

22 72

1972

16 Ne

Neo-psychedelic

17 Na

Nano World

18 Ma

Mashup

19 Hd

Hand Drawn

20 Ie

Immersive 360°

21 Fl

Flat Design

1 Ic

Icognito

2 In

Inwards

3 Ru

Rurban

3 Ru 4 Us

Made in the USA

5 Ec

Ecoboostering

6 On

Oneness

7 Lw

Living Without

Rs

Restoration

8 9 Ss

Startup Society

10 Mi

Moral Imperative

11 Rb

Rise of the Believer

R 12 Ll

Life Logic

13 Cq

Crowd IQ

14

Provenance

15 Se

Sharing Economy

16 St

Strangify

17 Io

Insumer/Outsumer

13 Mg

Mood Geisting

14 Fq

Focus Quotient

3 Sh

Super Human

4 Qs

Quantified Self

5 Sn

Sensor Network

6 Qe

Quantified Everywhere

7 Fl

Frictionless Life

8 Mg

Mind Gaming

9 Sf

Social Flares

10 We

Wearables

11 Mi

Micro Manufacturing

12 Cs

Cyborg Singularity

S&H CORE OFFERINGS

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INNOVATIONCULTURAL INTELLIGENCE CONTENT & AMPLIFICATION

• Macro Trend Identification & Quantification

• Projecting Segments into the Future (Consumers of the Future)

• Product, Service & Packaging Development

• Business Model Design & Reimagination

• Business Context Analysis

• Futurism

• Whitespace Identification

• Brand/Partner & Acquisition Recommendations

• Social & Cultural Listening

• Competitive Intelligence & War Gaming

• Segment Analysis & Tracking

• Topic Deep Dives

• Event Tracking

• Issue Monitoring

• Real-time Burst identification

• Channel Analysis

• Content & Influencer Strategy

• Editorial & Cultural Calendars

• Pre-Planned (70/30) Content Production - Online and Off Line

• Real-time Content Production

• Real-Time Commerce

• Social Media Content (short and long form) - posts, tweets, vines, videos, blog, etc.

• Community Management

• Influencer Outreach

• Channel Optimization & Fan Base Development

• Analytics & Measurement

• Real-Time Media Amplification

CULTURAL STRATEGY

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SYNCING BRANDS WITH CULTURE