How to Use the Dentsu Inc. Future Mandala: For Dialogue Toward the Future

The "Dentsu Future Mandala," launched by the domestic Dentsu Group in 2010, has seen its latest edition, "Dentsu Future Mandala 2025," released in February.

In this article, So Yamamoto of Dentsu Consulting Inc., co-editor-in-chief of Dentsu Future Mandala 2025, explains what the Future Mandala fundamentally is and how it can be effectively utilized.

<TABLE of Contents>
▼Pooling the Group's Wisdom!

▼The "Editorial Code" Emphasizing Boldness and Positivity

▼The Dentsu Future Mandala is Not "Just a Future Forecasting Tool"

▼How to Utilize the Future Mandala

▼Key Themes in "Future Mandala 2025"

Pooling the Group's Wisdom!

The 'Dentsu Inc. Future Mandala 2025' offers a comprehensive view of trends likely to emerge by 2035. The release article announcing its renewal includes this explanation:

It comprehensively categorizes all 72 trend themes across four categories—"Population & Households," "Society & Economy," "Science & Technology," and "Cities & Nature"—summarizing each theme's overview, data, related topics, and the changes and key perspectives they will bring to the future.

The 72 themes span a wide range. Even a general topic like "population decline" sparks discussions expanding in every direction—from its impact on social structures and urban planning to how it affects corporate service models. It also covers essential technology topics for future planning, such as AI evolution and next-generation mobile phones. Crucially, it truly encompasses a vast array of subjects, including lookism, pop culture, the future of a society with growing disparities, and how we confront death.

Supporting this breadth of vision is an editorial team drawn from six companies within the Dentsu Group (Dentsu, Dentsu Digital Inc., DENTSU SOKEN INC., Dentsu East Japan Inc., Dentsu Macromill Insight, Inc., and Dentsu Consulting Inc.). The Future Mandala team formed for this relaunch comprises over 30 members, making it the largest team to date.

The selection of Future Mandala themes begins with brainstorming among team members. Each member, possessing their own specialized field and overflowing with a desire to "convey their thoughts about the world," brings hypotheses like "What movements might occur by 2035? Are signs already emerging?" leading to heated discussions. Of course, "heated" doesn't mean the atmosphere becomes hostile. Discussions progress by building on each other's ideas, with comments like, "Maybe there's another way to look at this!" or "Then perhaps this direction is possible?"

The result of multiple brainstorming sessions was the 72 themes compiled in the Future Mandala (27 of the 72 themes in Future Mandala 2024 are new, and existing themes were significantly revised).

We then gathered more detailed data, proposed bold hypotheses like "Could this also be said?", and refined each theme one by one. The result of this process is the "Dentsu Inc. Future Mandala 2025".

"Editorial Code" Emphasizing Boldness! Positivity!

We mentioned "bold hypotheses," but this "boldness" holds a key secret of the Future Mandala.

When contemplating a future ten years ahead, fraught with uncertainty, the editorial team examined future prediction data and intriguing topics, letting their imagination run wild: "Could this kind of future actually happen?" "What might consumers be thinking then?"

While ensuring plausibility (i.e., what seems likely to happen) based on known information, we add interpretations about the future (i.e., how society might change if such events occur). This is the fundamental editorial process of the Future Mandala.

This approach is articulated in the Future Mandala's "Editorial Code." We formalized the tacit knowledge cultivated through our editing process this year, not only to ensure the entire editorial team remains mindful of the Future Mandala's philosophy, but also to share with our clients the spirit behind its creation.

The "Editorial Code" consists of the following five items. While all are important points, we particularly focus on "boldness" and "how to overcome negativity." Throughout the process until completion, we frequently discuss whether we are merely offering superficial interpretations or neglecting to seek angles that could improve society, even slightly.

Dentsu Inc. Future Mandala is not "just a future prediction tool"

We want to reiterate here: Is the Future Mandala a "future prediction tool"?

We often hear from clients who say, "We want to predict the future, so we want to use this tool."

Of course, the information contained in the Future Mandala is based on reliable data and does predict the trajectory for the next decade. However, strictly speaking, the future remains largely uncertain, and it is also true that the content presented cannot be considered a single, absolute prediction.

So, what is the purpose of the Future Mandala? We position the Future Mandala as a "co-creation hypothesis mass production tool."

This positioning is closely tied to how we provide the Future Mandala to our clients. In fact, the Future Mandala is not sold like a typical white paper or research report, priced at "X yen per copy." When utilizing the Future Mandala, we always include a process where the client and the Future Mandala team read the mandala together, engage in dialogue, and develop hypotheses about the future.

By examining each page's content and discussing ideas like "If this happens, the next future might look like this" or "This interpretation exists here, but I'd make a different prediction," hypotheses about the future emerge for our clients. These hypotheses contain seeds of previously unnoticed business opportunities, precisely because they were touched by the Future Mandala's comprehensive and boldly edited information.

This is the situation we aim to achieve by utilizing the Future Mandala. In actual projects, we conduct further research and verification based on the jointly developed hypotheses, then connect the findings to future business strategy planning and new business development.

How to Utilize the Future Mandala

While thinking about the future is valuable in various business contexts, the following themes are examples of projects utilizing the Future Mandala:

Specifically, we are implementing projects like these.

Example 1: Core Brand Renewal for a Food Manufacturer
Ahead of the brand's anniversary, we defined the direction for refreshing its value proposition and evolving the customer experience, then mapped out future actions into a roadmap. At the project's outset, we used the Future Mandala to discuss the next-generation vision for "food" and "distribution," clarifying key focus areas. Broad-ranging discussions suggested opportunities not just in "delicious taste" or "healthiness," but also in the brand's potential to connect people.

Example 2: Formulating a Long-Term Vision for an Entertainment Company
We depicted the values and specific scenarios that will be cherished in future leisure time, then defined what value the company would deliver in response. Focusing on the image of consumers enjoying future leisure, we deepened discussions on how technological evolution would impact this. Though this project occurred before generative AI became widely discussed, scenarios like "AI becoming a partner who listens to complaints"—often mentioned today—were already envisioned as possible future scenarios.

Key Themes in "Future Mandala 2025"

To conclude this article, we present several key themes from Future Mandala 2025.

● How Men Find Their "Authentic Role"
Increased paternity leave takers, the spread of hobbies beyond sports, yet nearly half feel "life is difficult".... What is the image of men in an era where a life dedicated solely to work is no longer necessarily the right path?

● Building a Japanese Version of Noblesse Oblige in the Face of a New "Class Society"
As inequality widens and more people lose faith in the idea that "hard work always pays off," what form of social contribution is needed in such times? And what kind of education is necessary to foster values that avoid falling into the trap of self-responsibility?

※ = Noblesse Oblige
French for "noblesse oblige," meaning that with high social status comes responsibility

●The Multi-Identity Era: "Our Multiplied Selves"
With the evolution of SNS, the expansion of the metaverse, and innovations in AI and ID technology, it's becoming commonplace for people to live with multiple identities simultaneously. If having a distinct persona for each community becomes the norm, might even the concept of a "real name" itself become unnecessary?

●Advancing Seasonal Duality: Expanding New Ways to Enjoy "Seasonality"
In recent years, summer has become excessively long in Japan, making it difficult to say "enjoying the four seasons is this country's charm." How does climate change impact society—in health management, dietary habits, and energy management?

These are just two of the 72 themes gathered in the Dentsu Future Mandala 2025. Why not join us in exploring these insights, packed with the Dentsu Group's knowledge, through dialogue? Together, let's consider what society will look like in ten years and the nature of business that will thrive there.