The scouts work in diverse creative fields including filmmaking, music, design and fashion, but they are united by a hunger to discover emerging trends in consumer behaviour, marketing and media.  We interpret their discoveries to create actionable communications opportunities for clients.  Scout reports cover topics such urban sports, music scenes, fashion, body image and ethics.

For more information on the Scout Network please contact Jo Peters in London or Achara Masoodi in Bangkok.

Read a summary from a recent report on Communities below:

Communities

"Web 2.0 has fostered the shift to communities of interest, enabling people to build their own networks. For example, creative networks range from Honeyee.com (Tokyo) for graffiti artists, through 02 (Barcelona), which aggregates designers using sustainable materials, to Transmediale (Berlin), the community for laptop video artists.

Idea sharing is becoming democratised. One physical example is the Pecha Kucha events where presenters from the creative industries are invited to share their ideas but are allowed 20 seconds for each of their 20 slides.

Self-expression

The new communities above all empower self-expression. All our scouts have pages on social networking sites like myspace or mixi, where URLs are swapped instead of phone numbers. Young people love to take their online personalities into the real world: Cosplay (literally costume play), originating in Japan and now extremely popular in the US and Brazil, is where the young dress up as fantasy figures or live out their Second Life avatars.

Communities are the new media owners

DIY communities are the new media owners and the consumers are their editors. By better understanding them, MindShare can offer brands customers, data, insights and innovation. Successful management of these relationships is vital for any brand if it is to become or remain credible."

Related links:

• Asia Scout Network Blog