Why Trend Forecasting Is Dead

This week on Art of the Brand, Camille and Phillip unpack why traditional authority in branding is collapsing — from Pantone’s fading relevance to corporations losing control of culture in the age of AI. They explore how trends now emerge from crowds instead of experts, why brands like Lululemon lose identity as they scale, and how nostalgia, heritage, and emotional storytelling are outperforming innovation. The episode also breaks down AI’s growing role in commerce, the rise of fake content and outrage cycles, and what Christmas advertising still teaches us about meaning, memory, and human connection. This is a candid conversation about why brands that chase growth, safety, or automation without soul inevitably lose relevance — and what it now takes to earn trust in a hyper-accelerated world.