Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"The ideas in his book will help you see the world in a new way." -Bill Clinton "Mark Penn has a keen mind and a fascinating sense of what makes America tick, and you see it on every page of Microtrends ." -Bill Gates In 1982, readers discovered Megatrends . In 2000, The Tipping Point entered the lexicon. Now, in Microtrends , one of the most respected and sought-after analysts in the world articulates a new way of understanding how we live. Mark Penn, the man who identified "Soccer Moms" as a crucial constituency in President Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign, is known for his ability to detect relatively small patterns of behavior in our culture-microtrends that are wielding great influence on business, politics, and our personal lives. Only one percent of the public, or three million people, is enough to launch a business or social movement. Relying on some of the best data available, Penn identifies more than 70 microtrends in religion, leisure, politics, and family life that are changing the way we live. Among them: People are retiring but continuing to work. Teens are turning to knitting. Geeks are becoming the most sociable people around. Women are driving technology. Dads are older than ever and spending more time with their kids than in the past. You have to look at and interpret data to know what's going on, and that conventional wisdom is almost always wrong and outdated. The nation is no longer a melting pot. We are a collection of communities with many individual tastes and lifestyles. Those who recognize these emerging groups will prosper. Penn shows readers how to identify the microtrends that can transform a business enterprise, tip an election, spark a movement, or change your life. In today's world, small groups can have the biggest impact.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

A former pollster for President Clinton and a public relations CEO (Burson-Marsteller), Penn depicts a fracturing world in which people use the Internet to follow their interests and desires and find others like them. If a fraction of one percent of a population has a common interest, then identifying that interest can mean capturing millions of customers or voters, a la the "soccer moms" Penn detected and labeled in his work for Clinton. Having done extensive research in polls and statistical sources (all of it meticulously cited in endnotes), Penn, with former White House fellow Zalesne, presents 75 niche markets in all areas of modern life and describes service needs and marketing opportunities for each group (e.g., "single women by choice"). Many essays contain an "International Picture" sidebar explaining the relevance of a trend beyond the United States. Penn is at his best basing arguments on the numbers he adores and less convincing when his proof consists of anecdotal evidence and examples from popular culture. Sometimes he contradicts himself, which is to be expected in a book presenting the United States as a hundred Americas. Recommended for public libraries.-Heidi Senior, Univ. of Portland Lib., OR (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

From "Soccer Moms," the legendary swing voters of the mid-1990s, to "Late-Breaking Gays" such as former Gov. Games McGreevey (out at age 47), Burson-Marsteller CEO (and campaign adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton) Penn delves into the ever-splintering societal subsets with which Americans are increasingly identifying, and what they mean. For instance, because of "Extreme Commuters," people who travel more than 90 minutes each way to work, carmakers must come up with ever more luxury seat features, and "fast food restaurants are coming out with whole meals that fit in cup holders." In a chapter titled "Archery Moms?", Penn reports on the "Niching of Sports": much to the consternation of Major League Baseball, "we don?t like sports less, we just like little sports more." The net result of all this "niching" is "greater individual satisfaction"; as Penn notes, "not one of the fastest-growing sports in America... depends substantially on teamwork." Penn draws similar lessons in areas of business, culture, technology, diet, politics and education (among other areas), reporting on 70 groups ("Impressionable Elites," "Caffeine Crazies," "Neglected Dads," "Unisexuals," "America?s Home-Schooled") while remaining energetic and entertaining throughout. Culture buffs, retailers and especially businesspeople for whom "small is the new big" will value this exercise in nano-sociology. (Sept.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

CHOICE Review

Microtrends looks at 75 groups in America that, through their daily activities, behaviors, and purchasing habits, are changing the character of the nation. Among the groups profiled by Penn (well-known political pollster; CEO, Burson-Marsteller) are Internet marrieds, extreme commuters, sun-haters, do-it-yourself doctors (DIYs), unisexuals, the uptown tattooed, social geeks, and Protestant Hispanics. As Penn points out, each of these groups is creating a demand for goods and services that cater to their specific needs and interests. The DIY doctors, for instance, want to be able to access medical information on the Internet rather than just rely on what a doctor tells them. Social geeks like to be connected via the latest technology and have the coolest personal computers and cell phones. Extreme commuters need to maximize their time and make their long drives as comfortable and productive as possible with take-out food that fits in cup-holders, luxury seats, and hands-free phones and GPS devices. In essence, America is becoming a nation of tiny "niches" that marketers must sift through carefully to find the ones that will be most profitable for them. See related, Chris Anderson's The Long Tail (CH, Jan'07, 44-2783). Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division and graduate marketing students, faculty, and practitioners. P. G. Kishel Cypress College

Booklist Review

According to trend-spotter Penn (who trumpets his relationships with Bill Clinton and Bill Gates a little too enthusiastically), a microtrend is an intense identity group whose needs are not yet being met by marketers, politicians, and others. Microtrends are generated by small, under-the-radar forces, he tells us. Take extreme commuters, for example, people who travel at least 90 minutes to and from work each day. Only about 3.4 million people do this, but they are all interested in the same things: gas prices, comfortable vehicles, ease of taking in food while on the road, satellite navigation systems, and so on. Extreme commuters, Penn suggests, could be targeted by politicians and advertisers for their votes and dollars. It's an addictively interesting book, with dozens of curious microtrend groups (such as male porn addicts, aspiring snipers, and shy millionaires), but readers might find that it's a little superficial: Penn spends most of his time describing each intense identity group and not enough time explaining the significance of these groups and of microtrends in general.--Pitt, David Copyright 2007 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

One of America's most influential pollsters carves the present into bite-sized pieces in an attempt to reveal future trends. Penn gained fame as an advisor to Bill Clinton during his 1996 campaign by identifying blocks of constituents like "Soccer Moms" as potential voters. Here, he and co-author Zalesne expand their trend-spotting to identify 75 burgeoning patterns that they argue are both reflecting and changing our modern world. Each chapter examines a discrete subdivision with themes ranging among politics, lifestyle, religion, money, education, etc. These easily digestible nuggets of scrutiny are fairly straightforward and primarily serve as a kind of pie chart of the human race, dividing Earth's citizens (primarily Americans, although a single chapter is devoted to international issues) into the cliques and tribes to which they subscribe. Among the emerging classes, the authors find "Cougars" (women who pursue younger men), "New Luddites" (technophobes) and "Car-Buying Soccer Moms," among dozens of other sub-surface dwellers. The book's generalizations are sound and cleverly written, despite their brevity, and will undoubtedly appeal to marketing analysts and armchair sociologists, as well as fans of Megatrends and Malcolm Gladwell. Yet the book stands on an unbalanced argument. "Microtrends reflects the human drive toward individuality, while conventional wisdom often seeks to drive society towards the lowest common denominator," Penn writes in a conclusion, explaining why such movements are important. But by dividing and isolating people into popcorn-sized kernels of experience, their innate individuality is lost in many little crowds instead of one big one. Another troubling factor is that few of the book's observations feel new. How often have superficial features about stay-at-home workers, caffeine addicts or shy millionaires been recycled on the evening news, let alone the Internet and other mediums? Penn tries to spin the gravity of these ripples. "Movements get started by small groups of dedicated, intensely interested people," he says. But his observation could apply to anything from the Third Reich to MySpace. More cynical readers may feel like a number. A think piece about personal choices that unearths more round holes for square pegs. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.