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A decade ago, for the consumer looking to acquire the latest fashion label or product, the allure of the local shopping mall was irressitible. Today, however, the age of renting is upon us. Smart consumers are trading the value of ownership for the convenience of affordable multiusage arrangements, with the help of the World Wide Web.

The champions of renting include Renttherunway and Avelle (Bag Borrow or Steal Inc.) who have transformed the way women get their designer couture and accessories. These websites are called “Netflix for women”, because they allow consumers to rent high-end fashion, with easy, hassle-free delivery and easy return. If you doubt the popularity of dress rentals, head to the Facebook page of RenttheRunway, where happy customers proudly showcase themselves wearing the rented riches.

Nowadays consumers can rent entire wardrobes at websites like Renttherunway.com

Men can also rent luxury desirables, such as cars. In the UK, club Ecurie25, for a monthly membership fee, gives members access to exclusive motoring experiences, such as having a Ferrari 612 Scagliatti for the weekend. Ecurie25 claims that a high end car rental is a much more cost effective alternative to owning, as most of the exclusive car owners drive their treasures only on weekends.

And then there is the just “rent everything” website Zilok, which is the new eBay for rentals. Owners can offer any kind of goods for rent and Zilok shows listings in a given location along with conditions and available dates for rent.  The business model is simple: owners and renters create accounts for free and owners get charged commissions depending on the value of transaction (from 5% to 9%).

Renting is not a new thing, as not long ago we got rental offers everywhere: on the pages of weekend newspapers, mail catalogues and on TV-shopping channels. However, the online model of book-rent-return, along with transparent usage monitoring made possible by complementary apps (such as the app for ZipCar), make rentals today extremely appealing. In fact, renting is currently so prominent that now there are services where one can rent a friend (www.rentafriend.com) to hang out with.

Nevertheless, the trend of renting is widely pioneered by women. For example, Chegg, which offers textbook rentals on college campuses, says that 65% of renters are female. Chegg researchers explain that females are inclined to plan ahead and hence are much better in using online renting services.

Gilbert Parker had said,  “paying is part of the game of life: it is the joy of buying that we crave.”  With all due respect to Sir Parker, he didn’t face the current era of online rentals, which have enabled consumers to break free from the trip to the shopping mall.

As with the rest of the world, we at BBDO and Proximity are still taken aback by the recent series of tragic events in Japan. This morning, Chris Thomas (CEO of BBDO Asia) sent a note to our worldwide network letting us know that we would try to leverage the power of the Internet to send messages and donations of support via virtual origami cranes to affected families in Japan. We at Digital Lab would like to pass this message along to you (below) and request your assistance by asking you to visit www.1000cranes4japan.org and act during this time of need. Thank you.

Dear all:

As all of you are aware – the devastating earthquake and subsequent Pacific tsunami that struck Japan on March 11th, 2011 have left millions of people in need.

Our colleagues in Japan told us that more than anything at the moment they needed to hear words of support from their friends around the world – and the terrible situation in the North of Japan needs practical support.

To this end we have established a site to enable everyone – everywhere – to share their message of hope.

An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes (千羽鶴, Senbazuru) will be granted a wish by a crane, such as recovery from illness or injury.  We as the global community will take it on to fold not just 1000, but thousands upon thousands of cranes with individual messages of hope and solidarity with the Japanese people to know that we stand together with them in their hour of need.

To do this you need to visit:

www.1000cranes4japan.org

Please create your message – more than one.  Please share the site with friends, family and colleagues so they’ll do the same.  Please distribute the site to friends in other agencies and to clients.  Put it on your Facebook pages and Twitter feeds.

Together, our message of empathy and solidarity can provide our Japanese friends with the strength and optimism so greatly needed.  And of course if you want to do more than just send a wish and make a donation then the site provides a way to do that.

Please create your crane now at:

www.1000cranes4japan.org

With all of our best wishes to the people of Japan,

Chris

2010, the year that brought us the iPad, augmented reality ads, the attack of Groupon and the group buying clones and the rise of location-based social networks, has come to a close. Winners like Apple and Facebook may look upon last year fondly given their dominant respective business performances whereas much of the rest of America may just be breathing a sigh of relief because the fragile fed-fueled economic recovery did not collapse.

Looking ahead to 2011, the general consensus is that the recovery, both on a macroeconomic level and on the advertising industry level, will continue. Whew.

And on the digital front, prognosticators far and wide have made their predictions on what to expect in the year ahead. We’ve gathered up a few of our favorites from across the Web:

Flibboard becomes the breakout news reading app of 2011.

Brands will become more and more like media companies.

More and more people will stream their media from the cloud.

Local gets aggressive.

“Social deals” will go mainstream and be a standard part of the marketing mix.

Ecommerce will get more fun than ever.

Tablet mania will hit a fever pitch.

Microsoft Kinect (along with a growing number of Kinect hacks) will keep the Xbox a top gaming platform.

Mobile payment systems will continue to make in-roads in the U.S.

Advertising will embrace social even more.

Facebook will go after Google with an AdSense competitor.

And we will finish off by going out on a limb on our own to predict that:

• Between the rise of video, social and data targeting, a new era of innovation will kick off in display advertising, raising CPMs and, for the first time in a long time, the interest of your average web surfer.

• Lower bill of materials costs in the TV industry and Asian supplier evidence will come together to confirm that Apple is indeed planning to introduce a new age television set,  possibly as early as 2012.

• The first self-published e-book only millionaire author will arrive.

• By end of year, Facebook will announce its billionth active member. Yes, billion with a B.

So, what are your digital predictions for 2011?