Armida Ascano is the founder of Trend Hunter's Futurist team. She coaches the company's innovation speakers and develops frameworks on the future of innovation, technology, marketing, lifestyle and culture, while co-creating custom workshops for clients. With these tools in her arsenal, she has helped hundreds of brands innovate -- including Red Bull, TOMS, and Samsung -- and has spoken at conferences like Foresight and Trends, OmniShopper, Future Festival and Dreamforce.
As Trend Hunter's most-requested Futurist, Armida has a passion for trend forecasting with a specialized focus on generational segmentation. With 10 years of hunting trends under her belt, she has curated and studied over 50,000 trend case studies and one billion views of traffic, making her an expert in Internet culture and consumer behaviour in the digital age. She has been featured by Global News, the Globe and Mail, CTV, and more.
Generational behavior is shaped by shared experiences within age groups. Recent global, social, and environmental events have introduced a common shared experience, one that is set to permanently reshape generational identities. We examine it through a microsegmented lens to grasp the intricacies of life in an AI-driven world.
As AI Super Agents reshape how we live, work, and connect, we must consider how cultural values shift and transform alongside technology. Through a microsegmented cultural lens, this keynote explores how Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z shape a culture accepting of these tools. Uncover the cultural tensions, generational gaps, and emerging opportunities for brands to design AI-powered experiences that resonate deeply across generational lines.
The modern workplace faces an unprecedented transformation, driven in part by the rapid advancement of AI. While some employers are opting for full-time in-office work, others are embracing remote-first approaches or pursuing hybrid models. Navigating this shift while addressing diverse employee expectations poses a historic challenge. How can employers adapt their cultures to align with these evolving priorities and new technological advancements?
Through an exploration of each of the 9 Micro-Generations' formative years, impactful global events, media and pop culture, attendees will walk away with a thorough understanding of who each group is today, and the trends relevant to them over the next 3-5 years.
This presentation introduces Trend Hunter's Micro-Generations as a way to rethink traditional demographics through a more consumer-centric lens. Our first presentation exploring micro-generational study, this session uncovers new ways to think about modern consumers, what motivates them, and how to more accurately target them.
This session is based in Trend Hunter's own reusable Trend Hunting framework, the 6 Patterns of Opportunity, and our newly developed network of 18 evergreen consumer behavior-based trends. Each Megatrend will be briefly explained, with the most relevant explained more in-depth. These trends cross industries, and are illustrated through case studies from various categories.
In a post-pandemic world, consumers will be making up for lost time in ways that dramatically impact leisure and tourism. More importantly, the best way to learn what consumers really want is to understand what they do in their leisure time and why. This presentation explores the internal and external motivators behind what consumers define as fun today.
Learn about how opposing trends are competing to shape consumer psychology and behaviour. This presentation explores the concept of trend tensions; opposing trends born from a singular consumer desire or psychological need. Now that shifts in consumer desire happen faster and in a more polarizing way than ever, how is your brand plugging into major cultural shifts?
As content and culture becomes increasingly democratized, the lines between generations become blurred. What are the similarities and differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Boomers in the modern age?
The Millennial generation is the largest in North America, as well as the most widely discussed. This generation is associated with youthful traits and a fresh perspective on society; but what does this mean now that the generation is in adulthood? This presentation explores who the Millennial is today, and how their motivations and desires will impact various industries.
The upcoming youth generation is our new obsession; through our research, we've uncovered insight into how they view society, their inherent urge to create, and why they're often referred to as "Walking Ad Blockers." Our session on Generation Z is therefore heavily based in myth-busting. What do we think we know about the limitless generation, and what is the truth?
Though the term "foodie" was coined in the early 90s, it has increased in popularity in the face of social media. Many factors are at play within foodie culture, from elitism, to adventure, to the pursuit of an instagrammable lifestyle. How does this change what consumers expect of brands?
North American Society is more diverse -- racially, sexually, financially -- than ever before. Yet, the fact remains that big businesses from various industries are still targeting, employing, and empowering a fairly homogenous group. How can your brand break out of this pattern in a meaningful, authentic way? What does it mean to not just acknowledge diversity, but advocate for true inclusivity? This session will highlight tactical steps to accommodating the diversity of today's market.
This custom workshop is designed to help you productionize creativity by using the 6 Patterns of Opportunity as a brainstorming tool. The objective of the workshop and its key components are decided by you through collaboration with your Futurist.
This custom workshop begins with your key objectives; your Futurist will then curate the right set of tried-and-tested tools to help you and your team prototype ideas and solutions.
This custom workshop is intended to help your company more concisely and effectively speak to customers. Your Futurist will help identify the right path of action to help revisit your value proposition, better market your product or service, or even revamp internal language.
This custom workshop is designed to help you and your team anticipate upcoming threats to your business, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and become better acquainted with the next 3–5 years of your industry.
This custom workshop focuses on finding, and presenting your team with inspiration from all potential spaces. Your Futurist will employ filtration exercises, trend hunting activities, and future planning to encourage associative thinking.
This highly customized workshop is designed to give your team a full overhaul. It's ideal for those who are looking to impact the most amount of change in the most efficient way possible.
“Armida from Trend Hunter is an engaging presenter. She did a great job of balancing applicable trends with those that stretched our thinking”
“[The keynote] was very insightful and introduced people to a different way of thinking. We are always looking for ways to inspire the team, and that's what Armida did.”
Solutions for innovators working at the edge of change. We help transform emerging ideas into practical, durable solutions by combining strategic thinking, creative exploration, and hands-on execution.
