David Mattin
Customer expectations don’t shift gradually – they reset when a leading business makes a move that becomes the new standard. Most organisations track their own customers too closely and the forces reshaping those customers not closely enough. The arrival of AI has made the problem acute: more signals, faster change, and a greater penalty for placing bets on the wrong ones.
David Mattin helps strategy leaders tell the difference between durable shifts in customer expectations and technology hype, drawing on the framework he developed as Global Head of Trends and Insights at TrendWatching and co-author of Trend-Driven Innovation (Wiley).
Full Profile
Why organisations work with David Mattin
- Trend-Driven Innovation (Wiley) gives the organisations Mattin works with a named, repeatable method for identifying which emerging trends will reshape customer expectations – built on the counter-intuitive argument that the best signal is not in what customers say they want but in what leading businesses are already doing.
- His central argument – that human needs are fundamentally stable across decades even as technology accelerates – transforms trend analysis from a speculative exercise into a discipline with clear criteria, and gives leaders a reliable filter for deciding which AI-driven changes will actually matter.
- As Technology Lead at Global Macro Investor, his analysis of emerging technology is read and acted on by institutional investors including hedge funds, pension funds, and family offices – which subjects his commercial judgements about which technology shifts matter to a level of scrutiny that most trend and foresight work never encounters.
- The 30,000-subscriber New World Same Humans community – spanning business leaders, academics, and policymakers – means his frameworks are continuously tested against the exact professionals organisations are trying to anticipate and influence.
Biography highlights
- Co-author, Trend-Driven Innovation: Beat Accelerating Customer Expectations (Wiley) – a structured framework for turning emerging trends into innovation strategy
- Former Global Head of Trends and Insights, TrendWatching
- Member, World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Consumption
- Technology Lead, Global Macro Investor; co-founder of The Exponentialist research service with macro investor Raoul Pal
- Founder, New World Same Humans – weekly newsletter on trends and technology with 30,000+ subscribers across business, academia, and policy
- Opening keynote at the NEXT Conference (Accenture Song) on multiple occasions; over 150 keynotes across five continents and 40+ countries
- Writing published in The Times, Quartz, Wired, Fast Company, the Guardian, and Google Think Quarterly; documentary work for BBC Radio 4
- Graduate, University of Cambridge; began career at the features desk of The Times
Biography
Most organisations study their own customers closely. David Mattin’s core argument, developed during a decade leading trends intelligence at TrendWatching, is that the more useful signal lies elsewhere – in the moves leading businesses and disruptive startups are making to redefine what those customers consider normal. That argument found its fullest expression in Trend-Driven Innovation (Wiley), which made a counter-intuitive case: to anticipate what customers will want next, stop looking at customers and start tracking the businesses already reshaping their expectations.
The underlying framework rests on a philosophical claim that runs through all of his work: human needs are fundamentally stable across decades, even as technology accelerates. New trends emerge when a technology or business innovation unlocks a new way to serve a need that was always there. Track those needs, observe which innovations are serving them, and the expectation gaps that matter become visible before competitors act.
His current work extends that discipline into the era of AI. At Global Macro Investor, one of the world’s leading independent research services for institutional allocators, he serves as Technology Lead; he co-founded The Exponentialist alongside macro investor Raoul Pal. That institutional context means his analysis of emerging technology is regularly tested against the demands of hedge funds, pension funds, and family offices – not just conference audiences.
The NEXT Conference (Accenture Song) has invited him to open the event on multiple occasions; he has delivered over 150 keynotes across five continents for clients including Meta, McKinsey, Google, Mastercard, Unilever, and Audi. His writing has appeared in The Times, Quartz, Wired, and Google Think Quarterly, and he has produced documentary work for BBC Radio 4. He read at Cambridge and began his career at the features desk of The Times.
Key speaking topics
- AI and emerging technology strategy
- Consumer trends and expectation gap analysis
- Innovation strategy in a technology-driven market
- Scenario planning and strategic foresight
- Brand strategy and organisational culture in a transparent world
- The future of business and society in an era of exponential technology change
Ideal for
- Strategy and innovation leadership teams evaluating medium-to-long-term technology bets
- CMOs and heads of customer experience navigating AI-driven shifts in consumer behaviour
- Boards and senior executive teams requiring a disciplined framework for separating technology signal from noise
- Investment professionals and corporate allocators seeking technology intelligence with commercial rigour
Audience outcomes
- A named, replicable framework for identifying which emerging trends are likely to reshape customer expectations before competitors recognise them
- Clearer criteria for distinguishing technology-driven shifts that will prove durable from those that will not
- Industry-specific examples of how leading businesses have used expectation gap analysis to create competitive advantage
- A working understanding of how AI is changing the landscape of customer expectations – and which human needs remain stable enough to anchor innovation decisions
- A conceptual map of the technology convergences most likely to generate new commercial opportunities over the next five to ten years
Talks
An examination of generative AI’s implications for consumers, citizens, and innovators that moves beyond current excitement to offer principles for navigating a future shaped by machine intelligence.
Key takeaways:
- A clear-eyed assessment of which AI-driven changes in consumer behaviour are likely to prove durable, anchored in the argument that fundamental human needs remain stable
- Key principles for organisations seeking to innovate effectively as AI reshapes expectations across markets
- A reframing of the AI question – not primarily as a technology challenge but as a human one – that gives leadership teams a more productive starting point for strategy
An exploration of how radical transparency has made internal culture a public-facing brand asset, with a practical framework for building thriving teams and consumer trust in an environment where the walls have turned to glass.
Key takeaways:
- The commercial logic of treating internal culture as a strategic brand asset rather than a separate people-management concern
- Specific moves organisations can make to retain talent and build consumer trust in a radically transparent world
- A reframing of the culture-brand relationship that gives CHROs and marketing leaders a shared strategic language