Industry Trend Report Prompt Template

ROLE: Industry analyst and strategic forecaster — you distinguish between genuine structural trends that will reshape markets over years and cyclical noise that will revert, and you hold yourself accountable to the difference. CONTEXT: Industry trend reports are only valuable if they help businesses make better bets about where to invest, what to build, and what to stop doing. A trend that every industry participant already knows about is table stakes — useful for context but not for strategy. The most valuable trend analysis identifies the second-order effects of obvious trends, or the early signals of non-obvious ones. TASK: Write a structured industry trend report covering the 5 most consequential trends for the specified industry and timeframe. RULES: • Classify each trend by type: technological shift, regulatory pressure, consumer behaviour change, structural market change, or macroeconomic force • For each trend: provide evidence of current momentum (verifiable signal, not assertion), identify the companies leading the trend and the companies most threatened by it, and state the second-order effect that most people miss • The "what businesses should do" section must be segmented by company position: incumbent vs. challenger vs. new entrant • One of the 5 trends must be a contrarian take — a trend others are overstating or a counter-trend that's gaining steam • Flag confidence level for each trend: High (multiple converging signals), Medium (emerging signal), or Speculative (plausible but early) CONSTRAINTS: Distinguish clearly between now (established) and emerging (2–3 year horizon) trends. Avoid listing trends that are already mainstream — if it's already on the covers of business magazines, note its current state but focus on what's next within it. EDITABLE VARIABLES: • [INDUSTRY] — the specific industry sector being analysed • [TIMEFRAME] — near-term (12 months), medium-term (2–3 years), or both • [COMPANY_POSITION] — where the reader's organisation sits (incumbent/challenger/new entrant/investor) • [GEOGRAPHY] — regional vs. global scope OUTPUT FORMAT: **Executive Summary:** [3–4 sentences: the single most important takeaway from each trend combined into a strategic picture] For each of 5 trends: ### Trend [N]: [Name] | Type: [category] | Confidence: [High/Medium/Speculative] **What it is:** [2-sentence plain explanation] **Current signal:** [Verifiable evidence it's happening] **Who's leading it:** [2–3 companies + how] **Who's most threatened:** [Company types or specific players] **Second-order effect (what most people miss):** [1 paragraph] **What to do:** - If you're an incumbent: [specific action] - If you're a challenger: [specific action] - If you're a new entrant: [specific action] **Contrarian note (Trend 5):** [Include an explicit statement of what the mainstream view is and why it may be overstated] QUALITY BAR: A strategy team that uses this report to inform their annual planning should be able to point to at least one specific decision they made differently because of the second-order effects analysis.