企业都关注的六大发展趋势

GWEN IFILL: We're bombarded with advertising every day on TV, online, or just walking around the neighborhood. That's no accident.

The ad business spends over $160 billion a year on it. But even before the ad reaches your smartphone or whatever, manufacturers and other businesses are busy spotting trends before they take shape.

Economics correspondent Paul Solman went to California to take a peek at that for our weekly segment Making Sense, which airs every Thursday on the NewsHour.

DEEDEE GORDON, Sterling Brands: When we talk about trends, we're capturing what's happening in the culture. We're talking about what is happening with consumer behavior.

PAUL SOLMAN: And what companies need to know what to prepare what is next, says trend maven DeeDee Gordon, who advises many of America's largest corporations on brand building and new product development.

DEEDEE GORDON: We look for opportunity and for white space, an opening here for us to create something.

PAUL SOLMAN: OK. The first significant cultural transformation in Gordon's latest guide to the cutting edge:

DEEDEE GORDON: Gender-untethered. A lot of people are talking about gender right now because of Caitlyn Jenner, because of Laverne Cox and “Orange Is the New Black.”

The next big movement is this idea of being able to move in and out of gender. There is this woman who's actually an actress on “Orange Is the New Black,” and her name is Ruby Rose, and she identifies as being gender-fluid. She has some videos that she has posted online where she transforms from being a woman into a man.

PAUL SOLMAN: And institutional America is beginning to respond to the gender untethered trend.

DEEDEE GORDON: Fifteen hundred universities now that have gender-neutral housing, gender-neutral bathrooms. Even when you think about corporate America and H.R., they're having to learn and understand a new vernacular, like, what do you call a person who is a he one day and a she the next?

PAUL SOLMAN: As Gordon points out in her report, products marketed explicitly by gender can put up to half of potential sales at risk. But what might a gender-untethered product look like?

DEEDEE GORDON: I wanted to create a physical product that allowed you to be fluid. This doll allows you to change the gender as you like. This is just our way of kind of pushing an idea out there and getting people to think about it differently.

PAUL SOLMAN: Bulk?

DEEDEE GORDON: Lash, bulklash.

PAUL SOLMAN: I see, so bulklash against buying in bulk.

DEEDEE GORDON: Correct.

If you're a single person and you're living in a small apartment with not a lot of storage, not a lot of capacity, like, you want to be able to buy just for you.

PAUL SOLMAN: And come to think of it, with baby boomers downsizing as well, this could be a trend for young and old alike.

This is economics correspondent Paul Solman reporting for the PBS NewsHour from Los Angeles, California, where I actually was.