ASSIGNMENT ON

5 FORECASTING
COMPANIES
 PECLERS PARIS

Peclers is a trend consulting agency founded in 1970. With over 40 years of industry
experience, Peclers consults with multiple brands and creative individuals in trend analysis,
consumer reports, and brand strategies. The creative team at Peclers creates seasonal trend
books that set the building blocks for businesses in the fashion and home industries. From
trend forecast to styling intelligence, Peclers covers a variety of industry divisions in retail,
beauty and cosmetics, electronics and consumer goods.

In 2003, Peclers joined WPP plc, a multinational advertising and public relations company
based in London. Peclers has a broad international presence with its offices located
in Paris, New York City, Shanghai, and a network of business partners across the world in
30 countries.

(Founder of Peclers Paris, Dominique Peclers)

48 YEARS OF TREND FORECASTING AND STYLE CONSULTING
Founded in 1970 by Dominique Peclers and led by Eric Duchamp since 2007, Peclers
Paris joined the WPP Group in 2003, the number one marketing communications group
worldwide.
In the 1970’s and 80’s, Peclers Paris successfully developed its business with the fashion,
textile and home products industries in France and worldwide, with one consistent
mission: to forecast trends, decipher future consumer aesthetic preferences and help design
the most desirable products thanks to actionable style recommendations.

Thanks to its trend books and a unique consulting offer (trend analysis, brand strategy,
style consulting), Peclers Paris has contributed, over the years, to many successful business
endeavors and has become a major partner of the fashion and home industries.
DIVERSIFICATION
Since the 1990’s, Peclers Paris has been working extensively with other industry
sectors: retail, beauty & cosmetics, consumer goods and electronics. Thanks to our
unique future insights, semiotics and trend forecasting expertise, Peclers Paris is able to
articulate "a vision for the future", easy to translate into visionary ideas, new products, new
services... a major contribution to innovative projects.
FASHION IS MORE THAN FASHION
Peclers Paris’ culture and methodologies, profoundly influenced and impacted by the
fashion world and its creative cycles, are today key assets to advise all the businesses who
have understood that fashion on a broad level has a significant impact on their consumers.

The timeline of Peclers Paris is as follows:

 1970: Founded by Dominique Peclers in Paris, France

 2001: Opened its first office in New York
 2003: Joined WPP plc, a multinational advertising and public relations company in
London, England
 2007: Eric Duchamp joins as president of Peclers Paris
 2010: Opened its second office in Shanghai
Peclers Paris specializes in:

 Trend books
 Brand strategies
 Creative innovation
 Trend analysis
 Style consulting.
TRE NDB OOKS
From Fut ur(s), P eclers P aris 's m ost forward looking and uni que m acro
t rend research in t he m arket, t o Colors wi th it s excl usive "hom e -m ade"
col ors, t o Inspi rations, a m ust -have resource t o st art your creati ve
process, down t o a wi de range of product -focused publi cations for new
produ ct devel opm ent , P ecl ers P ari s offers a com prehensive port fol io to
i ns pi re and gui de your i nnovati on and product desi gn process.

TRE ND C ONSULTING
Wi th t he obj ecti ve to gi ve brands a deeper and m ore vi si onary out l ook on
t hei r m arket and consum ers, P ecl ers P a ri s develops toget her wi th it s
cl i ents forward t hi nki ng anal ysi s that is both l ocal and global, m arket
s peci fi c, product categoriz ed or t argeti ng a speci fi c consumer segm ent.

B RA ND & S TYLE STRA TE GY

P eclers P ari s confronts exi st ing brand pl at form s wi th forw ard thinki ng
anal ysi s, and then transl at es t hem into new, defined and coherent st yl e
s t rat egi es and posi ti onings. B y com bi ning future insight , creat ive
i nt ui ti on and m arket st rat egy ex perti se, P ecl ers P ari s ' mi ssion is t o
reconci l e brand and st yl e st rat egy .

ST YLE CONSULT ING

M ore t han giving brands a t heoreti c perspect ive, P ecl ers P ari s t rend
anal ysi s provi des act ionabl e, creati ve and inspi ri ng di recti ons. Taki ng
i nt o consi derat ion upcoming t rends and brand st rat egi es, Pecl ers P aris
 offers uni que t ai l or -made creat i ve recom m endat ions t o devel op t he m ost
desi rabl e coll ect ions and products.

About Peclers paris, as stated on their website www.peclersplus.com :

“We bring value to our clients not only by decrypting and anticipating socio-cultural,
fashion and lifestyle trends, but also by translating them into creative insights and
recommendations to develop better designed and more desirable products.

Founded in 1970, Peclers Paris is an international agency head-quartered in Paris with

offices in New York and Shanghai. We are proud to work with our network of exclusive
Business Partners located in 30 countries in the world.”

Their prospective is:

 A forward-looking approach to markets: fashion, beauty, design, consumer goods

 Deciphering socio-cultural trends and future
 Consumption attitudes
 Identifying new ways to create desirability

Their tagline is “OUR EXP ER TIS E: ANTIC IP ATE, INNOVATE , INS P IR E &
C REATE ”.

They also offer a subdivision of Peclers Paris, known as Peclers (+), which they term as
“Another way to experience Peclers”.

Peclers(+) is described as a new digital service that will allow you to:

 Navigate your Peclers Trend Books online

 Access your Trend Books on all your devices
 Create mood boards using any images, sketches, silhouettes, color chips,
color ways from your Peclers Trend Books
 Export all this Peclers content to your computer

They currently offer the following trend books:

 FUTUR(s) 17 (future)
  Beaute (beauty)
 Environments and design
 Mode homme (men)
 Mode femme (women)
 Mode produits (products)
 Couleurs (colors)
 Casual life women
 Fashion key items
 Flash mode homme
 Flash mode femme
 Kids
 Beauty and wellness, etc.

(a still from their “Couleurs” trend book)

Their clientele mentions names like Swarovski, Woolmark, Reebok, Akzo Nobel,
Samsung, Microsoft, Amadeus, Bouygues Immobilier, Fiat, L’Oréal, Nestlé Waters,
P&G, etc.
 Peclers Paris is the indisputable partner to decipher and anticipate trends, define
differentiating brand and style strategies and create the most successful collections of
products.

Peclers Paris offers a complete range of consulting services including:

 Personalized trend forecasting and analysis (sociocultural, fashion, lifestyle, design,

colors…)
 Brand positioning
 Style positioning
 Style chart
 Style signature
 Product offer strategy
 Seasonal style consulting
 Buying guides
 Training for creative teams
 FASHION SNOOPS (FS)

Fashion Snoops (FS) is an innovative technology-based trend forecasting service and

consulting agency that inspires clients to create with confidence. For over 18 years
the company’s team of 50 experts and 100 international analysts helps Fortune 500
brands and companies identify and act on the trends and cultural movements.

Fashion snoops is a global trend forecasting agency. They service brands, retailers
and manufacturers in fashion, accessories, home décor, beauty, media, marketing and
other consumer facing industries, empowering them to act on future trends.

Fashion Snoops is a trend forecasting service and consulting company that

empowers leading companies around the world by providing them with inspiring
content, irrefutable research, on-trend forecasts and strategic guidance. Fashion
Snoops inspires creativity powered by cutting edge internet technology making it
your space to create.

Fashion Snoops is an online forecasting service and consulting company that

empowers leading companies around the world by providing them with inspiring
content, irrefutable research, on-trend forecasts and strategic guidance. As your
partner in style, Fashion Snoops delivers timely and comprehensive information from
an international team of over 50 fashion researchers, designers and trend experts, all
in a mission to provide a comprehensive and on trend service. Fashion snoops inspires
creativity powered by cutting edge internet technology making it your space to create.

Each market and fashion department that they cover has a separate, dedicated team of
experts lead by a senior designer – whether it is ladies, men, contemporary, junior,
kids or infant and toddler. Within each market they break the general trends into
specific guidance for specialty markets like denim, loungewear, sleepwear,
accessories, eveningwear, active wear and more. This single-mindedness is reflected
in the design of our site. You can trust that the information you get is focused and
relevant, allowing you to immerse yourself into the material at hand, without having
to sift through unrelated information.

When they say that their coverage is comprehensive, they truly mean it. They make
sure that the coverage is complete from end to end. You will find all the facts, figures
and photos from around the world that you need and want among their coverage pages,
including lifestyle trends, runway, retail, street, vintage, trade shows, happenings,
market intelligence, news and editorials are covered. And when time is short, they
provide you with highlights for quick and easy references. they also provide an easy-
to-use search tools that allow you to quickly sift through millions of images and site
pages.

Fashion snoops has 18 years of successful forecasting, 15 HQ in New York plus global
representation in 15 countries, 50 thousands of members in 50 countries, 150 editors
and global contributors and analysis of 9 key creative markets.

Comprehensive coverage can only come to life with intelligent forecasting and
analysis; this is their specialty. they start with the lifestyle trends that are forecasted
to affect fashion, and reach out to long and short range guidance, constantly validating
previously forecasted trends. Additionally, they have served every angle of the
business of fashion: brands and private label, manufacturers and retailers, licensors
and licensees, and media companies are all on our expansive client list. Years of
experience on different sides of the business have brought them the depth and vision
that we translate into focused, on-trend, accurate, invaluable reports, that include such
topics as emerging trends, design and color direction, key bodies, graphics, and
fabrics.

As stated on their website, www.fashionsnoops.com,

“we research macro trends and cultural shifts. We look wider, start earlier and track
continuously to spot and track the shifts that will shape consumer decisions .

We connect the dots from culture to product, By providing a clear understanding of why
a trend will be important, we inform actual product direction from start to finish. We
bring transparency to trend forecasting by allowing you full visibility into our
conclusion making process.

We deliver clear and actionable trend forecasts, Facing information overload, today's
creatives are looking for more than open-ended options. We give you real
recommendations with enough options, data, and analysis to evaluate.

We offer a personalized experience, With personalized notes from our editors, we

supplement reports with detailed insights and analysis from industry experts.”

Fashion Snoops caters to different markets as follows:

 Apparel + Textile
Tailored guidance for Womenswear (Contemporary & Junior markets), Menswear,
Youth, Childrens wear (tween, toddler and infant), Denim, Active, Intimates &
Swim.

 Footwear + Accessories
Complete and detailed guidance for all accessory classifications - including jewelry,
bags, belts, footwear, scarves, hats and more.
  Home Décor
Dedicated trends that shape the future of design in soft and hard goods, décor,
tabletop, lighting and packaging.

 Beauty
A focused view of key products and emerging trends that shape the future of the
beauty industry.

 Consumer Products
An inter-disciplinary view of cultural, lifestyle and design trends that inspire the
creation of the next generation of products - from toys and cars to food and beyond.

 Youth
A visually stimulating coverage of Youth encapsulates the lifestyle trends that affect
the fashion choices of Millennials.

Their coverage strategy as mentioned on their website states:

Each market in our creative platform is a world of its own, and we give it the focus
it deserves. Women, men, youth, girls, boys, denim, accessories, home, and beauty -
these are well-defined markets in which we can confidently and reliably forecast
trends. The market-focused navigation structure allows you to be immersed in one
curated area where all your needs will be addressed.

Companies that neglect to look beyond the borders of their market, risk being
blindsided by trends that develop and mature in other markets or sub -cultures. In
our culture decoding process, we visit many different sources and destinations. At
the end of this journey we always clarify the projected influences bo th on business
in general and the specific markets we cover.

The various education facilities they offer for the public are:

 The fully commercial version of their site without any limitations or time delays
 Support of IP-based authentication allowing an unlimited numbers of users to
log-on simultaneously to the site without the need to administer or change user
IDs
 Remote access through campus proxy servers
 A Scrapbook system enabling each student and faculty members to extract
images from the site and develop their own collections separately from other
users - This area is self-administered and each student is free to set their personal
ID to enter their area
 Training sessions and technical support during business hours
 Periodic usage tracking reports
 Promotional materials to raise awareness for internships at our NYC
headquarters office

In line with the trend of personalization, their technology is completely tailored to

meet your needs. You can create personalized views, define keyword and free text
searches, create and share scrapbooks and mood boards, post comments and
questions, and more. More importantly, their site is easy to use, entirely intuitive,
and very efficient (saving you time and money). This intelligent, user -friendly
platform bears one goal in mind being the simplest and most collaborative space for
you to make your creations come to life.
 TRENDSTOP

Trendstop is a vertical consumer research, fashion trend analysis, creative concept &
product development agency. They help customers increase sales and ROI through clear
consumer understanding and effective product development support. Over the past decade,
Trendstop has tracked thousands of fashion and lifestyle trends with proven commercial
value, giving the world’s best companies invaluable confidence in their trend decision
making, and fashion trend forecasting.

Their Trend HQ is in London with 150 trend specialists around the world visiting 1,500
stores and events each month. They receive 1,000’s images from their researches daily,
which their 30 in-house trend curators filter and analyse using their methodology. They
carry additional desk research and analyse various market reports to get a holistic overview
of the most valuable trend opportunities out there.

(Jaana Jaytri, founder of Trendstop)

As well as help brands be more focused and relevant, they are passionate about helping
companies reduce waste in the fashion industry. They want to make the industry more
sustainable – while at the same time saving money, time and resources through more
effective planning that delivers less but better products. For them it’s a no-brainer: a win-
win-win for the customer, their business and the planet.

Their founder Jaana Jätyri is passionate about helping fashion & lifestyle brands be current
& relevant so they can reach and impact more people. Jaana is a Scandinavian, a Londoner
and a Central St Martins Graduate of the 1990’s, she is an innovator, a disruptor and an
outstanding trend forecaster hailed by Harper’s Bazaar as the digital generation Li
Edelkoort.

They have 150 global specialists and 30 in-house curators including consumer insight
specialists, brand managers, material specialists, trend strategists, design managers, social
media specialists, kidswear specialists, merchandisers, marketeers, visual merchandisers,
trade show reports, womenswear director, menswear specialists, retail sales strategists,
jersey specialists, online behavior analysts, trend researchers, footwear expects, catwalk
analysts, youth market designers, creative directors, artwork designers, street style experts,
knitwear designers, denim specialists, retail reporters, etc.
Trendstop.com is an online fashion and trend forecasting agency based in London that is
internationally renowned for its directional trend analysis and forecasts.
The agency was founded in 2002 by ex-Central St. Martins graduate Jaana Jatyri, and is
respected within the global fashion scene.

The company employs trend specialists from a diverse range of backgrounds with
extensive track records in fashion and trend forecasting. Disciplines include fashion trend
analysis, color analysis, apparel, accessories & footwear design, graphic & print
development, and textile & embellishment development.

Discover the earliest, emerging and breaking trend forecasts alongside key commercially
relevant, major seasonal trend intelligence at Trendstop.com.
Their website, www.trendstop.com, states their USP as:
“We love brands who want to have a positive impact in the world and excite their
customers with less but better products. If that’s you, contact us and let’s chat
how we can help you elevate your range and get your message out there.”

A few of their clientele mentioned on their website includes names like:

 PVH
 BOSS
 Ralph Lauren
 H&M
 Forever 21
 Next
 L’oreal
 Ghd
 MTv
 Timberland
 Geox
 Evisu
 Aldi
 Target
 Walmart
 Diageo
 Miele
 Chrysler, etc.

They offer trend servicesthat include:

 Trend forecasts
 Material & textures
 Catwalks analysis
  Essential accessories
 Global street style
 Global retail trends
 Mens trends
 Sport & athleisure
 Color prediction
 Print & graphics
 Beauty trends
 Footwear focus
 Trade shows
 Womens trends
 Kids trends
 Home & interiors

They cater to varied sizes that include:

 Preteen
 Large plus
 Young mens
 Petites
 Missy
 Junior
 Boy
 Girl
 Toddler, etc.

They offer various price ranges for various strata of the society with the likes of designer, bridge,
better, moderate and budget.
A UNIQUE CONSUMER FOCUSED PROCESS
Their trend analysis is focused on what innovators, influencers and early adopters are already
buying and wearing, and how that translates down to fast fashion and the mainstream.

Over the past 16 years they’ve become leading experts at identifying how trend concepts translate
to commercially viable products, and their methodology doesn’t miss a thing.

360° APPROACH
A key reason why Trendstop gives such strong and reliable validation is that we don’t publish
anything as a Key Item until we’ve seen the look 5-10 times among influencers and innovators.
So its not just based on one thing on Instagram. But when we publish it’s still way early so there’s
plenty of time to plan for when the trend hits big.

PROVEN ACROSS MARKETS

Our methodology is the most consistent in the industry, and you can rely on everything we present
to manifest as a major trend. Or customers constantly tell us that with our information they always
get the best sellers right.

The Trendstop Method has successfully produced consistently positive results in markets ranging
from fast fashion, premium fashion, luxury, supermarkets, activewear, beauty, small appliances
and homeware.

TRACKING THE TREND LIFECYCLE

They track the trend lifecycle two years ahead of mainstream – from innovators, influencers and
early adopters through to European fast fashion and mainstream retail.

SOCIAL TREND VALIDAT ION

they include valuable social media validation to show how emerging trends are developing
social media.

TRENDS BY MARKET LEVELS

They categorize trends at multiple market levels to give you clear direction on what is the right
trend application and timing for you.
 PSFK

PSFK is an American media company located in New York, New York. The company
follows and reports on trends.

PSFK is a media company that report trends in technology and other sectors. It is
headquartered in New York, United States. The name PSFK was originally from the mixed
up initials of the founding writers, Piers Fawkes and Simon King
(Piers Simon Fawkes King).

PSFK examines trends in major corporations. The company does research for corporate
clients to determine trends and consumer behaviors. PSFK has tracked consumer data
through smartphones and other mobile devices for clients. It was founded by Piers Fawkes
in 2004. The name is from the mixed initials of Piers Fawkes and co-founder Simon
King. Fawkes ran his own website with a blog. He relocated from London to New York
and started covering technology and other trends on his blog, which formed the basis for
PSFK. He worked as a dog walker and other odd-jobs until he started his startup. His first
client was Anheuser-Busch. They had seven employees as of 2011. Clients include Coca-
Cola, Target Corporation, BMW and Procter & Gamble.

In 2009, PSFK created a list of the top 10 most "inspirational brands," which
included Google, Apple, Zipcar, and other major consumer companies. They gathered the
list by reviewing the blogs that PSFK had written over a period of time and then had a
panel of specialists review the subjects to create the list. They publish The Future of
Retail annually, which covers trends and documentation about retail sales. Trends they
have reported on include cyborgs, which they believe will become a commonality in
technology by 2017.

In 2011, PSFK partnered with former Vice President Al Gore's Climate Reality Project to
host a competition seeking video games that could help combat climate change. The results
of the partnership were announced at a "Gaming for Good" salon in New York City. The
idea grew out of a PSFK report on "The Future of Gaming."

The majority of their revenue comes from consulting, with the rest coming from
conferences, special events, and advertising. The company offices are located on Bond
Street in New York City. As of 2013, the company has 15 employees.

A few of their clientele includes names like:

 Absolut

 Apple

 Espn

 Estee lauder

 Google

 Mini cooper

 Mattel

 Marriott international

 Johnson & Johnson

 Nike

 OMD

 P&G

 Samsung,

 SAP
  Target

 Urban outfitters

 Walmart

 Weiden + kennedy, etc.

They were founded by Piers Fawkes and Hedy Parsia, globally recognized trends and
innovation experts whom, since running PSFK, have provided advice to Apple, Coca-Cola,
Google, Marriott, Nike, Red Bull and Samsung. They are supported by a team of experts
and opinion leaders across our topics and verticals.

(piers fawkes and hedy parsia, founders of PSFK)

GET BESPOKE SERVICES: PSFK Members can dive deeper into any given topic by
requesting custom research, workshops, B2B and B2C event planning and execution,
content creation and much more…

They offer two types of memberships for their clients: professional and basic.
PSFK Professional Members get access to their research reports, knowledge newsletters,
webinars, and much more. This offering also includes instant access to their analysts in
the form of their ‘Chat A Researcher’ tool.

PSFK Basic Membership provides access to our newsletters and content on PSFK.com.
Members can also buy our research reports. Payment can be on a monthly or annual
basis.

Although it only has seven full-time employees and has been around less than a
decade, PSFK has a client list to rival even the most established corporate
consultancies: Coca-Cola (KO, -0.75%), Target (TGT, +0.93%), BMW,
Nike (NKE, +0.81%), Microsoft (MSFT, +1.08%), Procter & Gamble (PG,
+0.01%) and Intel (INTC, +1.69%), to name a few. Since 2005, leading companies
have been hiring PSFK to provide custom research and recommendat ions around
specific technology and innovation topics, such as retailers’ in -store use of smart
phones and tablets, or new ways that consumers are tracking their health via apps
for their mobile devices.

They offer two ways to connect with them:

1. Labs (custom research) and

2. Studios (B2B marketing content)

Their clients hire their labs team to develop strategic insight for the business. Labs offer:

1. Ideation workshops

2. Trend tours
 3. Research reports

They currently have reports to offer on topics like:

 Brand activation and immersion

 Shopper marketing and promotion

 Store experience and design

 Merchandising and curation

 Packaging and product engagement

 Transactions and payments

 Delivery and logistics

 Post purchase and service

 Loyalty and membership

Their industrial verticals include:

 Automotive

 Banking

 Beauty

 Fashion

 Food

 Home

 Health

 Retail

 Travel

 Wellness

They offer reports as old as of last 3 years.

 McKinsey & Company

McKinsey & Company is an American worldwide management consulting firm. It

conducts qualitative and quantitative analysis to evaluate management decisions across
public and private sectors. Widely considered the most prestigious management
consultancy, McKinsey’s clientele includes 80% of the world's largest corporations, and
an extensive list of governments and non-profit organisations. More current and
former Fortune 500 C.E.O.s are alumni of McKinsey than of any other company, a list
including Google C.E.O. Sundar Pichai, Facebook C.O.O. Sheryl Sandberg, Morgan
Stanley C.E.O. James P. Gorman, and many more. McKinsey publishes the McKinsey
Quarterly since 1964, funds the McKinsey Global Institute research organization,
publishes reports on management topics, and has authored many influential books on
management. Its practices of confidentiality, influence on business practices, and
corporate culture have experienced a polarizing reception.

(James O. McKinsey and Marvin Bower, founders of McKinsey & Company)

McKinsey was founded in 1926 by James O. McKinsey in order to apply accounting

principles to management. McKinsey died in 1937, and the firm was restructured several
times, with the modern-day McKinsey & Company emerging in 1939. Marvin Bower is
credited with establishing McKinsey's culture and practices in the 1930s based on the
principles he experienced as a lawyer. The firm developed an "up or out" policy, where
consultants who are not promoted are asked to leave. McKinsey was the first
management consultancy to hire recent college graduates, rather than experienced
managers.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the firm expanded internationally and established new practice
areas. It had 88 staff in 1951, 7,700 by the early 2000s and 27,000+ by 2018. McKinsey's
consulting has helped to establish many of the norms in business and contributed to many
of the major successes and failures in business in the modern era.

McKinsey & Company grew quickly in the 1940s and 50s, especially in Europe. It had 88
staff in 1951 and more than 200 by the 1960s, including 37 in London by 1966. In the same
year, McKinsey had six offices in major US cities like San Francisco, Cleveland, Los
Angeles and Washington D.C., as well as six abroad. These foreign offices were primarily
in Europe, such as in London, Paris, Amsterdam, as well as in Melbourne. By this time,
one third of the company's revenues originated from its European offices. Guy Crockett
stepped down as managing director in 1950, and Marvin Bower was elected in his
place. McKinsey's profit-sharing, executive and planning committees were formed in
1951. The organization's client base expanded especially among governments, defense
contractors, bluechip companies and military organizations in the post-World War II era.
After seven years of consideration, McKinsey became a private corporation with shares
owned exclusively by McKinsey employees in 1956.

fast forward, In 1994, Rajat Gupta became the first non-American-born partner to be
elected as the firm's managing director. By the end of his tenure, McKinsey had grown
from 2,900 to 7,700 staff and 58 to 84 locations. He opened new international offices in
cities such as Moscow, Beijing and Bangkok. Continuing the structure developed by prior
directors, Gupta also created 16 industry groups charged with understanding specific
markets and instituted a three-term limit for the managing director. McKinsey created
practice areas for manufacturing and business technology in the late 1990s.
recently, In February 2018, Kevin Sneader was elected as Managing Director. He will
serve a three-year term beginning on July 1, 2018.

McKinsey & Company provides strategy and management consulting services, such as
providing advice on an acquisition, developing a plan to restructure a sales force, creating
a new business strategy or providing advice on downsizing. Its consultants design and
implement studies to evaluate management decisions using data and interviews to
test hypotheses. Conclusions of the study are presented to senior management, typically in
a PowerPoint presentation and a booklet.

McKinsey & Company has traditionally charged approximately 25 percent more than
competing firms with an average project of one million dollars. Prices were reduced in the
economic slump following the dot-com bubble. According to The Globe and Mail,
McKinsey clients estimate that the firm's advice turns out to be poor in retrospect about 10
to 20 percent of the time.

A typical McKinsey engagement can last between two and twelve months and involves
three to six McKinsey consultants. An engagement is usually managed by a generalist that
covers the region the client's headquarters are located in and specialists that have either an
industry or functional expertise. Unlike some competing consulting firms, McKinsey does
not hold a policy against working for multiple competing companies (although individual
consultants are barred from doing so). This has sometimes led to accusations of sharing
confidential information or re-packaging a competitor's tactics as best practices.

McKinsey & Company consultants regularly publish books, research and articles about
business and management. The firm spends $50–$100 million a year on
research. McKinsey was one of the first organizations to fund management research, when
it founded the Foundation for Management Research in 1955. The firm began publishing
a business magazine, The McKinsey Quarterly, in 1964. It funds the McKinsey Global
Institute, which studies global economic trends and was founded in 1990.[19][45]Many
consultants are contributors to the Harvard Business Review. McKinsey consultants
published only two books from 1960-1980, then more than 50 from 1980 to McKinsey's
publications and research give the firm a "quasi-academic" image.
Their USP as stated on their website, www.mckinsey.com, is as follows:

“with offices in 120+ cities, 14K+ consultants worldwide, and 90+ years of experience in
management consulting, we are a global management consulting firm that serves a broad mix of
private, public and social sector institutions. We help our clients make significant and lasting
improvements to their performance and realize their most important goals. With nearly a century of
experience, we’ve built a firm uniquely equipped to this task.

Our firm is designed to operate as one—a single global partnership united by a strong set
of values, including a deep commitment to diversity.

We take a consistent approach to recruiting and skills development regardless of where our
people are located, so that we can quickly deliver the right team, with the right experience and
expertise, to every client, anywhere in the world.

Our consultants include medical doctors, engineers, designers, data scientists, business
managers, civil servants, entrepreneurs, and research scientists. They join McKinsey for the
opportunity to apply their talents to complex, important challenges.

Our work is founded on a rigorous understanding of every client’s institutional context, sector
dynamics, and macroeconomic environment. For this reason, we invest more than $600
million of our firm’s resources annually in knowledge development, learning and capability
building. We study markets, trends, and emerging best practices, in every industry and region,
locally and globally. Our investment in knowledge also helps advance the practice of
management. We publish our findings extensively, and we engage with leading thinkers on
the most pressing issues facing our clients and society.
Our clients’ needs are constantly changing, so we continually seek new and better ways to
serve them. To do this, we are bringing new talent into the firm, acquiring new companies,
and developing new capabilities, for example, in design, analytics, and digital.

We serve clients at every level of their organization, whether as a trusted advisor to top
management or as a hands-on coach for front line employees. We partner with clients to put
recommendations into practice and work directly with them over the long-term, to help
develop workforce skills, drive operational improvement, and apply new working methods.
No matter the challenge, we focus on delivering practical and enduring results, and equipping
our clients to grow and lead.”
A McKinsey book, In Search of Excellence, was published in 1982. It featured eight
characteristics of successful businesses based on an analysis of 43 top performing
companies. It marked the beginning of McKinsey's shift from accounting to "softer"
aspects of management, like skills and culture. According to David Guest from King's
College, In Search of Excellence became popular among business managers because it was
easy to read, well-marketed and some of its core messages were valid. However, it was
disliked by academics because of flaws in its methodology. McKinsey consultants
published Creative Destruction in 2001. The book suggested that CEOs need to be willing
to change or rebuild a company, rather than protect what they have created. It found that
out of the first S&P 500 list from 1957, only 74 were still in business by 1998. The New
York Times said it "makes a cogent argument that in times of rampant, uncertain change ...
established companies are handcuffed by success." In 2009, McKinsey consultants
published The Alchemy of Growth, which established three "horizons" for growth: core
enhancements, new growth platforms and options.

Former Financial Times journalist Duff McDonald said McKinsey's confidentiality policy
often prevents the public from becoming informed about the firm's work, except after it is
exposed through lawsuits or investigations. 13,000 McKinsey documents were released as
part of a lawsuit against Allstate, which showed that McKinsey recommended the company
reduce payouts to insurance claimants by offering low settlements, delaying processing to
wear out claimants through attrition, and fighting customers that protest in court. Allstate's
profits doubled over ten years after adopting McKinsey's strategy, but it also led to lawsuits
alleging they were cheating claimants out of legitimate insurance claims.
 CONCLUSION
The main purpose of making this report on “5 forecasting companies” was to discover
various forecasting companies all around the globe, other than WGSN. While making this
report, I was able to learn about different companies, their working strategies, their
clientele, etc. It was an amazing learning experience to work on this report. It took me
through various modes of working of various forecasting companies, how they function,
how they started, what it takes to get to the top, and things like that. The heap of knowledge
available in the world out there, to be able to research about companies, go deep to their
roots and absorb all of it, made my time spent on this report totally worth it. Compiling this
report on these forecasting companies has truly widened my knowledge on trend
forecasting, and now I can really look at other trend reports from these companies and the
likes, rather than consulting just one forecasting company’s reports, WGSN. This report
has helped me re-realize the importance of having options, and cross analyzing, as trend
forecasting and using these reports for businesses is a huge risky area, that we should tread
very carefully into.