Advantage 2012: Make enemies, trendspotter tells travel agents……

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Travel agents were urged to make enemies, experiment more and ‘recycle their failures’ by a trendspotter speaking at this year’s Advantage conference.

Swede Magnus Lindkvist, founder of Europe’s first academic course in trendspotting, told delegates that if they wanted to make changes they would make enemies.

"Making enemies is the only sign you are doing something new," said Lindkvist, who started his working life selling cat litter in north Sweden "where no-one keeps cats inside".

The DNA of a successful business is experimentation, he said. "Don’t focus on what people are doing at the moment, the next best thing is in the future."

Don’t be afraid to recycle ideas, he added. "You might be a great idea, but the timing might be wrong." Lindkvist pointed out that singer songwriters Ednaswap had an international hit with the song "Torn" when it was covered by Natalie Imbruglia, four years after it flopped when originally recorded by Lis Sorensen.

He warned budding entrepreneurs that people might laugh at their ideas, but he pointed out that 10 years ago no-one would have believed that a video game which involved throwing birds at green pigs would be a success. Today Angry Birds has been downloaded 800m times, becoming a huge commercial success.

"People are naturally sceptical, they will laugh at you, but shouldn’t you be the first one on the dance floor?" he said.

Lindkvist ended his speech with a first for an Advantage conference – persuading every delegate to get up and dance.

By Linsey McNeill