008 Preface 013 Ten Trend Keywords 025 Me and Myselves : Multi-persona 049 Immediate Satisfaction : Last Fit Economy 069 Goodness and Fairness : Fair Player 091 Here and Now : the ‘Streaming Life’ 113 Technology for Hyper-personalization 137 You’re with Us, ‘Fansumer’ 159 Make or Break, Specialize or Die 177 Iridescent Opal : the New 5060 Generation 199 Convenium : Convenience as a Premium 221 Elevate Yourself : Birth of Self-upgraders 244 Notes

For years, I have been asked by English-speaking executives of multinational companies in Korea and foreign journalists to translate Trend Korea into English. Over the years, I also came to believe the possibility of the keywords in the book could help designers, developers, marketers, and managers working in many countries with a global market to better understand the changes in their customers and the market. Thus, I decide to have this book translated into English, starting this year. Instead of being translated word-for-word, the English translation has tried to include content more universally applicable to the various markets in the world by modifying and complementing the original content. - Preface People today are good at “mode switching.” Who people are at work is different from who they are once they return home. Who people are at home is different from who they are outside. Who people are on an ordinary day is different from who they are while traveling. It is also not unusual to find an otherwise soft-spoken person turn into a passionate warrior when talking politics, and an ordinary housewife to turn into an “ARMY” with her sparkling eyes when talking about BTS. One of the biggest tendencies exhibited by current trends is that the distinction between the “real me” and the “different me” becomes clearer, and consuming behavior that fits the identity of the situation becomes more important because different consuming contexts end up segmenting the identity of each consumer according to that context. Given that millennials are good at mode switching and that their way of life is becoming more segmented depending on the multiplicity of situations they find themselves in, what does it mean that the “real me” is becoming multifaceted? -27P Not just in the way people listen to music, but the way of life itself is changing from downloading to streaming. Streaming technology plays audio or video through a network, and it has the advantage of allowing people to experience content without having to download and own it. Having grown accustomed to streaming, consumers now want to apply this technology to every aspect of life. First, they stream their living space, realizing their dreams and designing their lifestyles comprehensively. That is, they experience a wide variety of lifestyles by staying in different conceptual spaces in a neighborhood they want to live in for a period of time they want. Second, they also stream hobbies or leisure activities by subscribing to expert recommendations. People receive style recommendations that suit their tastes, and they subscribe to cosmetics services that suit their skin type and have the products delivered on a regular basis. Lastly, people stream by borrowing. Instead of applying mental effort to select one item, they rent all the options and try them all out. People can rent anything including their dream cars, luxury handbags, and furniture items. - 91P Consumers do not find it satisfactory simply by purchasing one option from a list of alternatives. They now have a desire to personally participate in the investment and manufacturing process of developing products, brands, and stars. This new type of consumer who takes part in the entire life cycle of a product, and who actively supports and purchases a product with the pride of “having raised it personally,” while at the same time meddling in and exercising their control over it, is termed a “fansumer.” These fansumers believe that big and small changes are driven by themselves, and this can be called the “by-me” syndrome. - 137P Generation OPAL has left their old jobs but is taking up the challenge of working in new jobs. They also enjoy dynamic leisure activities, knowing that every moment counts ever more as they get older. Furthermore, they form new consumer trends while following the tastes and brands of younger generations, and they purchase their own content products, consequently bringing the winds of change to various industries. The OPAL generation is actually a very diverse and picky consumer group. Simply offering larger fonts and easy-to-use features cannot appeal to the OPAL generation. Companies need to approach the generation with detailed consideration of segmented lifestyles. Who calls them stubborn old folks? No more stereotype image of elders. The OPAL generation, who vigorously uses YouTube and new technologies as freely as younger people, is playing a key role in society and will provide fresh energy to the stagnant market. - 178P