김난도 교수가 정리해주는 2027 트렌드! | 트렌드코리아 2027 요약

Trend Korea 2027

Professor Kim Nando presents ten consumer and business trends for 2027. AI is not a standalone keyword—not because it is unimportant, but because it has become a default capability. The focus is shifting to how organizations redesign work around AI and how businesses create value that AI alone cannot provide.

1. Boredom society

People can feel bored despite being busy and surrounded by stimulating content. This can also become a workplace problem, especially if AI concentrates work in a few roles or leaves employees with repetitive tasks.

• Organizational responses: Give employees room to try unfamiliar work, redesign roles to make work more meaningful, and invest in training as jobs change.
• The speaker cites Google’s 20% time practice—allowing employees to spend a portion of their time on work outside their usual responsibilities—as an example.
• Actionable takeaway: Treat quiet, unstructured time as potentially useful for reflection and creativity, rather than filling every moment with stimulation.

2. ROI

People increasingly evaluate choices in their personal lives through a return-on-investment lens. The speaker questions whether optimizing every decision for immediate efficiency can crowd out effort that produces larger, longer-term results.

• Business implication: Short-term ROI remains important, but leaders should be cautious about dismissing work whose benefits are indirect or delayed.
• Actionable takeaway: Consider whether a decision’s real return includes learning, relationships, capability-building, or future opportunity—not just immediate measurable gains.

3. Form factor shift

When products have similar functions and differentiation is difficult, changing their form can make them feel new and stimulate demand without fundamentally changing what they do.

Forms can shift through:

• Materials or physical properties: Solid shampoo, chewable toothpaste, or coin-shaped soup stock.
• Structure: Foldable or rollable devices, or products that combine functions.
• User behavior: Designs that change how people use a product, such as portable TVs or upside-down condiment containers.

Actionable takeaway: Look for opportunities to alter a product’s shape, format, or use experience to create new demand, particularly when feature-based differentiation is limited.

4. Haebom economy: act, then refine

The term describes a high-agency approach: start making or doing something, then improve it through action rather than waiting for a perfect plan.

• Examples: A former broadcast writer used AI to produce and distribute audio fairy tales largely on her own; a returning student created a shade-focused walking app that became popular.
• AI lowers the cost of carrying out work that once required multiple specialists, enabling individuals and small teams to test ideas.
• Actionable takeaway: Build a cycle of launch → learn → improve. In fast-changing markets, execution and iteration can matter more than prolonged preparation.

5. Storage humanity

People and organizations increasingly save photos, records, and other data by default. For companies, well-organized records can support personalization, customer service, and marketing based on a brand’s history or heritage.

• Business opportunity: Store customer information systematically and in context so it can support relevant services and communications.
• Risk: Stored data can expose sensitive information. The speaker uses location data from a jogging app as an example of how seemingly ordinary records can reveal sensitive locations.
• Actionable takeaway: Treat data retention as both a business asset and a privacy and security responsibility. Define what is collected, how it is used, and how it is protected.

6. Vibe working: redesign work around AI

Adding AI tools does not automatically improve organizational productivity. The speaker argues that many companies have applied AI to individual tasks—such as drafting emails or meeting minutes—without changing slow decision-making and approval processes.

The proposed playbook is:

1. Make work legible to AI: Provide detailed, structured information about tasks and company processes.
2. Connect AI agents to workflows: Assign agents executable tasks and enable them to work together.
3. Keep humans in the orchestration role: People decide what to delegate, coordinate the agents, and handle work that requires human judgment.

The speaker describes productivity gains from new technology as potentially following a J-curve: limited early improvement followed by faster gains once workflows and organizations adapt.

Actionable takeaway: Evaluate AI by whether it improves end-to-end workflow speed and outcomes—not by how many individual employees use it.

7. Retention strategy

As brand loyalty weakens and customers switch for offers, businesses are placing more emphasis on keeping existing customers rather than relying chiefly on new-customer acquisition.

• The speaker cites a distribution-platform estimate of ₩15,000–₩20,000 to acquire one customer. Some customers may take an offer and quickly move to another platform.
• Retention is framed as earning customers’ continued choice, rather than making it difficult for them to leave.
• Approaches include:
  • Superior performance: Offer convenience customers would not want to give up, such as very fast delivery.
  • Hospitality: Provide unusually thoughtful service. The Ritz-Carlton example is a hotel sending a customer amusing updates and photos after the customer’s child left a doll behind.
  • Customer memory and personalization: Use what the company has learned about customers to make continued service more relevant.
  • Benefits: Provide rewards that matter to long-term or high-value customers.
• Actionable takeaway: Focus on the relevance and perceived value of retention benefits, not simply on offering more of them.

8. Human Edge

In an AI-enabled market, human involvement can become a differentiator. The speaker argues that customers may value evidence of human effort, judgment, and craft—even when AI can produce an output quickly.

Four ways to express this “human edge” are:

• Flaws: Show distinctive human imperfections rather than concealing every irregularity.
• Process: Make the production journey visible, as luxury brands do when highlighting craftsmanship.
• Touch: Preserve tangible, human-friendly interactions, such as physical controls on devices.
• Time: Communicate the effort and time invested in making something.

Actionable takeaway: Make human contribution visible where it strengthens trust, meaning, or product quality.

9. Half Signal

“Half Signal” presents menopause as a midlife transition—particularly relevant to Generation X—and calls for more open discussion and organizational support.

• The speaker notes that menopause can overlap with parenting responsibilities and eldercare, making it a broader family and workplace issue.
• Organizational examples: IKEA has shared menopause guidance with employees; the speaker also cites leave or welfare provisions at Lloyds Banking Group and some Japanese financial groups.
• The speaker says more than 60% of people in Korea simply endure menopause symptoms, underscoring a perceived gap in support.
• Actionable takeaway: Consider workplace guidance, understanding among colleagues, and suitable leave or benefits rather than treating menopause as only an individual concern.

10. Discernment capital

As AI makes it easy to produce a large portion of a basic output, the ability to judge what is good, distinctive, or appropriate becomes more valuable. The speaker describes discernment as a form of capital, especially in social-media environments where people follow others’ choices.

Suggested practice for building discernment:

1. Seek exposure to good writing, film, art, and other work.
2. Take notes on what you value or do not understand, rather than relying only on photos.
3. Learn from expert interpretation and context.
4. Revisit the work and compare your later judgment with your original notes.

Business implication: Taste and judgment can differentiate products and services when technical execution becomes easier to replicate.

Key metrics and figures

• 20% time: Google example of allocating some employee time to new or non-routine work.
• ₩15,000–₩20,000: Cited cost of acquiring one customer on a distribution platform.
• More than 60%: Share of people in Korea said to endure menopause symptoms rather than receive adequate support.
• 80/20: The speaker’s illustration that AI can produce roughly 80% of an output, while human judgment may shape the remaining 20%.
• J-curve: A pattern in which productivity gains from technology may be modest at first and accelerate after organizational adaptation.

Sources and presenters mentioned

• Presenter: Professor Kim Nando.
• Source/brand: Trend Korea and the Trend Korea Consumer Trend Analysis Center.
• People and organizations cited in examples: Google, Eric Brynjolfsson, Facebook headquarters, Samsung Electronics, Apple, SK Telecom (SKT), KT, LG U+, Ritz-Carlton, IKEA, Lloyds Banking Group, KBS, and the creators of the audio fairy-tale project and “Geuneul-ro” app.