Content marketing agency Edge has partnered with TrendWatching in Australia to deliver innovative design thinking to Australian brands.

TrendWatching specialise in tracking consumer trends globally and then providing insights for companies wanting to innovate. The partnership sees Edge providing training using TrendWatching’s innovation framework and launching a series of workshops for clients and brands.

Fergus Stoddart from Edge said, “Agencies have a big role to play in driving customer experience innovation for clients. We’ve been driving positive brand experiences  with content for a while but have recognised but we need to move beyond that and couple content with technology make a bigger impact. We need to use trend watching to help clients see the future and start to deliver on their customers new expectations.  After learning the TrendWatching data and frameworks at the recent conference  in Australia and knowing the appetite amongst brands to drive innovation we think our combined expertise will be very valuable for the Australian market.”

The TrendWatching workshops and framework will form part of Edge’s Co.Lab brand innovation offering, which launched with a recently with a hackathon for Optus.

Henry Mason, CEO of TrendWatching said, “Trends are new expressions of something that has serviced an existing consumer need, desire or want. Tracking these trends across the world provides insights that brands can tap into and create new value amongst their customers. The trick is to find a way to take these insights and find an actionable way to bring ideas to life.”

Stoddart added, “Globally companies struggle to extract themselves from business as usual to reflect on how consumers are evolving in local markets, let alone keep abreast of global movements. The best way businesses can anticipate the future needs of customers is by looking at the changing behaviours around the world today and create action off those trendns. That’s what we will be delivering with Trendwatching: client specific and industry specific inspiration to innovate.”