Inspiration: Trendspotting #2 2026 | Scotland

Name: Inspiration: Trendspotting #2 2026 | Scotland
Start: 2026-10-07T14:30:00+0000
Location: University of Edinburgh Business School

Scotland

2:30pm to 5:30pm BST // 7 October 2026

Trendspotting brings The Marketing Society’s community together to explore the forces shaping marketing today. In a landscape where strategy and creativity are no longer separate conversations, this event examines how the two combine to drive stronger thinking and more effective work.

Through insightful talks and honest discussion, speakers will unpack the cultural, commercial and creative tensions facing brands, and how marketers can respond with clarity, courage and optimism.

Designed to spark fresh perspectives and practical takeaways, Trendspotting equips marketers with the insight they need to stay ahead, make better decisions and deliver work that truly resonates.

Members - you can book a spot now for free as part of your membership.

Kerrin Lumsden

Kerrin has worked for over 20 years in the drinks industry with Coca‑Cola, Diageo and Moët Hennessy, and recently set up as an innovation &...

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Catherine Happer

Catherine Happer is Professor of Media Sociology, Head of the Media, Culture and Society Subject Group in the School of Social and Political Sciences at...

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Gabriella Mascia

PRWeek 30 Under 30 and Young Lions finalist, Gabs brings eight years’ experience spanning trendspotting & creative strategy. Previously leading content strategy for Specsavers agen...

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The Speakers

Quentin Boyes

Quentin is the founder of Humbug, an insight business with a simple gripe: marketers have spent too long lumping Baby Boomers into a convenient 55+...

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Ian Duncan

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Venue

The University of Edinburgh Business School
29 Buccleuch Place
Edinburgh EH8 9JS

Date

7 October 2026

Time

2:30pm - 5:30pm

Dress Code

Casual

THE SESSIONS

Innovation is easy (getting it to land is the hard part)

Creating something new is the easy bit. Getting it through a business, then having the patience to back it in market, is where most good ideas stall. Kerrin Lumsden shares what really goes on client side: why decisions get made, why odd things launch and why good products vanish without a trace. Then Ian Duncan looks at AI search, why most of what brands publish is invisible to it, and why the winners will be the ones with something to say rather than the most to say.

Boomers and Gen Alpha: too old for the brief, too young for the feed

Two generations marketers get wrong in opposite ways. Quentin Boyes asks who we actually mean when a brief says 55+, a group that now spans 30 years of adult life, and how a sharper view of Baby Boomers changes the work. Gabriella Mascia looks at where Gen Alpha culture goes as their access to social media changes, and how brands can follow. Same fundamentals at both ends, or something genuinely new?

Who do you believe? Media and trust

Drawing on her book, The construction of public opinion in a digital age, Professor Catherine Happer will look at how opinion is shaped today, why trust in mainstream media is slipping, and what that means for anyone trying to reach and persuade an audience.