“Black swan events” can disrupt markets. Can we do anything about it?
Global Event Influence
Many factors can influence marketing trends. One of them is social change caused by global events, such as war.
Did you know that Russia’s war against Ukraine in February 2022 changed marketing trends by shifting the focus from “entertainment and sales” to social responsibility, fast adaptation, and context-aware communication? IKEA stopped operating in Russia. Many big brands, such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, stopped advertising in the country and posted messages in support of Ukrainians on social media. Brands that ignored the situation risked serious damage to their reputation. When marketers were making their plans, they did not know this would happen. They had to adapt very quickly, and some companies suffered huge losses. For example, McDonald’s temporarily closed all its restaurants in Russia (about 850 locations). The value of this business was estimated at around 1.3 billion US dollars, which the company wrote off in its financial reports.
Who Could Have Predicted This?
There is an idea that anyone can learn to predict events if they develop certain skills. Have you ever heard of Controlled Remote Viewing (CRV)? The practitioners claim that it is possible to see past events and predict future ones. This has already been done. They already predicted markets’ downturns and world conflicts long before they happened.
Declassified military experiments with remote viewers show they were able to describe previously unknown underground tunnels, top-secret military objects such as weapons, or hostage locations, which were later confirmed to be true.
For a long time, these programs were secret, but in 1995 some information became public, and people were able to see the exact remote viewing protocols developed and used by the military.
Modern Practice and Training
Today, there are books, classes, and even remote viewing apps that allow people to train on their own. This is significant because originally this practice could only be done with a partner, or even two people, due to a strict double-blind protocol designed to eliminate guessing. No one involved could know the target in advance, so they could not influence the viewer. The person giving the task and the person performing it did not know the location, which the viewer had to describe.
After laboratory test results became public, it was reported that the descriptions were often so accurate that they could not be explained by chance alone.
More Factors That Influence Marketing Trends You Can Predict
Apart from global events such as wars, pandemics, economic crises, and natural disasters, there are other factors that also strongly influence marketing trends — and some of them can be partially anticipated using remote viewing. Let’s take a look.
- Economic conditions such as inflation, unemployment, and changes in consumer spending power that affect demand and pricing strategies.
- Technology development like new platforms, AI tools, data analytics, and changes in media consumption shape.
- Consumer behavior and psychology influence buying decisions and brand loyalty.
- Regulations and laws. Advertising rules, data protection laws, new tariffs, and government restrictions.
- Media and platform changes like Google algorithm updates, new social networks, and declining reach on old platforms that affect visibility and strategy.
- Competition and market saturation push brands to change positioning and messaging.
- Crisis and reputational risks. Public scandals, political sensitivity, and ethical issues can force brands to react or change direction.
- Environmental and sustainability concerns influence consumer expectations and brand responsibilities.
- Cultural trends and movements in music, fashion, memes, and subcultures often shape marketing language and visual style.
- Data availability and analytics change how trends are identified and predicted.
- Innovation in marketing formats — short videos, interactive ads, gamification — affects how people engage with your brands.
All such shifts are usually tied to a specific object, sector, or market. The key is recognizing where attention is forming before it becomes visible.
One example is the growing community of independent remote viewers who attempt to identify emerging trends in the cryptocurrency market. This is not financial advice, but some of their publicly documented forecasts have proven accurate, making the phenomenon worth observing rather than dismissing.
For those learning remote viewing, following experienced practitioners can offer valuable perspective. Many of them have spent decades refining their methods and documenting results across different domains.
Remote viewing occasionally produces insights that challenge existing assumptions. When such paradigm shifts occur, they can trigger sudden changes in market behavior — and, by extension, in marketing strategy.
We are already familiar with the idea of “black swan” events: rare, unexpected developments with outsized impact. If you are curious, remote viewing represents one possible way to anticipate them before they enter public awareness.
Whether or not one accepts the underlying premise, the discipline’s growing visibility makes it a useful signal to monitor.