Two markets. One radar. Signals sits where trend forecasting meets brand strategy, built for the UK and the GCC. Each quarter I map what I'm seeing on the ground, plus the major global forecasts, onto a small set of long-running macro trends. Then I ask the question most reports skip: so what? What's shifting, how fast, how differently it's landing in each market, and what a brand should actually do about it.
There are too many trend reports. Every agency, platform and forecaster publishes one, most of them say slightly different versions of the same thing, and almost none of them are written for the UK or the Gulf. So brands end up with a folder of PDFs and no clearer idea of what to actually do on Monday.
Signals sits in the gap. It's closer to now than futurism and more forward-looking than a brand plan. We collect what we see, check it against the published research, and only call something a trend when it's showing up in more than one place.
What makes it different:
Five words do most of the work here. If you only read one tab, read this one.
A single thing we've spotted, such as a launch, a post, a stat or a conversation. We log it and watch for more.
A burst of attention on one platform with no deeper cause behind it. Risky to build a strategy on.
A specific behaviour or aesthetic catching on in a community. Scent stacking is one.
A broad shift that crosses categories and markets. Micro trends sit inside macro trends, and most strategy work happens at this level.
The long-term force behind a trend, such as AI, loneliness, longevity, wealth moving or climate. It explains why the trend is happening.
The test we use: a trend is a change in behaviour, driven by a real need, showing up in several unconnected places at once. For example, one celebrity doing something is a signal. The same behaviour showing up across unrelated people and categories is a trend.
Read it from the outside in. Early signal (outer ring) means only a few people are doing it. Emerging, then Rising, then Mainstream at the centre, where it's widespread and the advantage comes from doing it well.
Big dots are macro trends, small dots are micro trends. Click any dot to open its card, which has the definition, why now, a UK read, a GCC read, the evidence, and what brands should do.
"3 of 7" means three of the seven big reports we've read name this shift.
For every trend we check the major published forecasts (Mintel, WGSN, Pinterest, BoF × McKinsey and others) and count how many of them describe the same shift, even if they call it something different. Mintel's "Affection Deficit", WGSN's missing third places and Eventbrite's "Fourth Spaces" are all the same thing underneath, so they all count towards The connection deficit.
The score measures how many reports agree, which is different from how important a trend is. A low score doesn't mean a weak trend. It often means it's early, or that it's a UK or Gulf story the global reports haven't noticed yet.
The 7 will grow. Each time we process another report, the denominator goes up and every score is recounted. The reports are listed in Method + Sources.
For brand and marketing teams. Filter the radar by your sector, then ask three questions of each trend:
For agencies and PR teams. Use the macro trends as the "why now" in pitches, and the consensus score as your evidence. Every claim links back to a named source.
For everyone. Start with the macro trends. Micro trends move faster and fade sooner, so use them as tactics within a macro trend.
These are the long-running shifts we think will shape UK and GCC brands for the next three to ten years. The micro trends we're tracking sit underneath the macro they belong to. The consensus column shows how many of the big reports agree. It's explained properly in .
Every trend on the radar as a file. Click one to open its full card.
Source: @byjessicavalentine × @social.mode, "2025 Social Predictions", Instagram, 27 Jan 2025. Verdicts checked October 2026.
What the 2025 reports agreed on, mapped into macro trends the same way as the live radar. The score is how many of the ten reports named the shift.
Most of the macro trends on the 2026 radar were already visible in the 2025 reports, under different names.
The two that didn't carry over: Recoding gender and Imagined worlds aren't on the 2026 radar yet. Both are worth watching. Gender especially, given how differently it's playing out in the UK and the GCC.
Data sources we watch: Google Trends (UK, UAE, KSA), TikTok Creative Center, Pinterest Trends, Reddit, regional press and events platforms. We don't scrape social platforms.
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