It’s not exactly a new thing for politicians to keep themselves in the public eye with a quick stint on a reality show, although there have certainly been more examples of late. But are they missing a trick? As former Congressman George Santos is currently showing, all you really need to do is set up a Cameo account.
Scroll down to read about soft seltzers, Barbz, and a short biography of QR codes.
Stats to power your week
📱 In the post-GDPR era, social apps like Meta or TikTok are testing ad-free subscription tiers, despite question marks about their pricing. And with only 25% of consumers feeling they own their online data, is privacy the new luxury? GWI Core
🍹 In the build-up to Dry January, more alcohol substitutes are in the pipeline, especially Gen Z-friendly “soft seltzers”. Gen Z really are as sober-curious as you’ve heard, being 33% less likely than the average consumer to drink alcohol at least weekly. Why? Health reasons take the top spot. Get ready for your grocery aisle to be awash with health-boosting sips in the new year. GWI Core & GWI Alcohol
✅ From India to the US (and probably the UK, among others), 2024 is going to be a busy year for elections. And where you live can make a real difference in how you behave at the ballot box. In India, voters are 58% more likely to choose a candidate if their friends and family like them, while in the US they’re 89% more likely to choose a candidate who reflects their views on reproductive rights. GWI Zeitgeist
🎞️ Kids really missed the cinema during lockdown. Pixar's putting 3 films from its pandemic streaming roster back on the big screen, a move that’s sure to go down well with audiences. The number of kids who say their favorite way to watch movies is in cinemas has grown by 73% since 2021, while preferring to watch them on TV is down by 34%. GWI Kids
🏸 Thanks to breathtaking rallies on TikTok (as well as some more puzzling videos), badminton is making inroads in more markets, with Pinterest even highlighting it as a trend for 2024. Perhaps surprisingly, it’s actually the most popular sport to play in the world, with a huge fanbase in Asia helping it edge ahead of soccer/football. GWI Sports
What’s on our radar
2023 might be almost over, but the rush of new AI tools feels like it’s only just beginning. A new Google generative AI, Gemini, (try saying that fast three times) is coming online soon, while Meta has harnessed its substantial database of social media pictures to power a new image generator.
On that very topic, image generation at scale might mean big changes for fandoms and user-generated content – just look at how many Barbz (that’s Nicki Minaj fans) have imagined their own versions of the rapper’s utopian Gag City.
But don’t let AI distract you from some important developments in the metaverse, which hasn’t gone away. Fortnite is moving to become more of an experiences hub with the launch of Lego Fortnite and the Fortnite Festival, while over in Roblox, both Olivia Rodrigo and Cher are plugging their new albums with branded experiences.
Good news for fans of the folding stuff: cash is back, at least in the UK. Payments with notes and coins have risen for the first time in a decade, and Britain’s market regulator is asking banks to safeguard access to physical currency. We’ve also seen an 11% increase in people in the UK preferring to pay with cash since 2020.
If subreddit size is any indication, then K-Pop is now bigger than music itself. As an interesting aside, the single biggest music genre trend we’re seeing in any country is the growth of K-Pop listeners in Ireland.
Packaging can be the poor relation of retail, but that doesn’t mean it’s not in the news – whether it’s the designer status of luxury brands’ paper bags, Shein ziplocks’ second life as chic carriers, or the failure of recycling schemes in the US and Australia.
Finally, trip-hop legends and climate activists Massive Attack are planning a one-day music festival which they say will be the first entirely powered by 100% renewable energy.
Chart of the week
Sometimes the best way to understand an upcoming trend is to look back at an old one. Building on our 14 years of harmonized data collection, we’re able to analyze some trends retrospectively.
In the early 2010s QR codes were highly hyped in marketing circles (the metaverse or generative AI of their day, you might say), culminating in Calvin Klein placing giant versions on billboards around the world.
A couple of years on and QR codes may have looked like a bit of a spent force. But they’ve continued to quietly grow in importance, peaking during Covid when they became a useful tool in social distancing contexts. That was followed by a brief plateau, but today they’re more popular than they’ve ever been.
Comparing trends always requires nuance, but QR codes offer some useful lessons in understanding the future. For one, growth is often powered by mundane use cases, which sometimes start in unexpected places. And what might look like a permanent decline can prove to be a temporary blip.
Local lowdown
Snapchatting Norwegian grandmas
Traveling in 2023 isn’t just about making sure you’ve packed the right clothes or that your guidebook is up-to-date. These days it’s just as important to have downloaded the right app so you can make the most of your destination country.
In Norway, the app du jour is Snapchat, so much so that the country takes the global lead for using it. Even among 55-64 year olds, over half use it. You might associate Snapchat with a particular demographic, but trust us, Norwegian grandmothers are big on there too. Redditors in Norway who talk about quitting social media admit they need to stay on it just to keep in touch with people.
Why exactly Snapchat has taken off in the Nordics is hard to fully explain – sometimes these things develop randomly over time. But whatever the reason, the bond between Norway and Snapchat remains strong, with Norwegian superstar DJ Kygo entering a partnership with the social app earlier this year.
