Iconowatch

by Josh Kimball

Last weekend, I, along with a cadre of colleagues, headed to Los Angeles for Iconosphere, Iconoculture’s annual cultural trend conference. In addition to the recession-proof and copiously flowing booze, what’s on everyone’s lips this year is our current economic crisis.

Of course, for attendees of last October’s Iconosphere, the monumental happenings of these last two months are hardly surprising. At that confab, my colleague Chris Keating’s “Economic Meltdown” presentation (the name speaks for itself) sounded a tad depressing, but it ended up, unfortunately, being right on the money.

So, having months ago come to grips with a grave new economic environment, we turn at this year’s Iconosphere again toward what’s next, and toward what it all means. Even as historic events continue to unfold — an unprecedented bailout, wildly fluctuating world markets, consumers beginning to truss up their pocketbook out of fear and necessity — we’re out to understand how the new economic infrastructure and the cultural environment it engenders will reshuffle the values of consumers. Uncertainty may be the buzzword du jour, but with changing conditions modifying our motivations, one thing is very clear: the companies that weather the storm — and maybe even come out on top — won’t be the ones reading yesterday’s news.