[video] Ford Futurist: Consumers Seek a Better Balance with Technology in 2014

The video this transcript is based on appeared on December 31.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Ford Motor Company (F) futurist Sheryl Connelly discusses the top trends expected to take shape in 2014 and how they will affect what consumers will want to buy in the coming year and beyond.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Brittany Umar: What will be the biggest consumer trends in 2014? I'm here with Sheryl Connelly, Futurist for Ford Motor Company, and Sheryl, put simply, your job is to stay on top of these trends and analyze and predict what consumers will be wanting to buy next year. So what is it specifically that you look at to determine that?

Sheryl Connelly: Most people don't realize it takes three years to bring a vehicle to market. So even if we have the most innovative ideas today by the time the rubber hits the road it might be a little flat. So we look at social, technological, economic, environmental, and political arenas to try to understand was gonna shake consumer values.

Brittany Umar: So what have you found to be the top global trend for consumers in 2014?

Sheryl Connelly: One of the things we talk about in our publication for 2014 is a quiet riot of innovation. Well we've almost become immune to how advanced and rapid technology innovates and we have these dramatic disruptions that we're almost immune to. Consider for a moment that the iPad has been on the market for about four years and is already widespread throughout elementary schools. So these changes happen and they go unnoticed for the most part.

Brittany Umar: So how do you expect that to come into play and actually affect consumers' purchasing next year?

Sheryl Connelly: Well that's a double-edged sword because everyone's really excited about the new exciting thing that's out there, but we also know because innovation moves so quickly, prices drop correspondingly. So sometimes people get into a waiting game that's a 'I want that but I'm going to wait for price to drop." When the price is finally affordable, something new catches their eye and they say, "maybe I'll wait a little longer for that price to drop." And so there's this weighing of value versus innovation.

Brittany Umar: Thank you so much Sheryl Connelly. I'm Brittany Umar for TheStreet.

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Ford Futurist: Consumers Seek a Better Balance with Technology in 2014