It’s official – there’s a new “it” crowd in town. For the first time ever, more people are searching online for “Gen Alpha” – the fresh-faced, iPad-raised generation – than “millennials”. A plea from this millennial author to brands: please don’t forget about us, we have (some) money now.
Scroll down to read about Yorkshire hills, Diwali Barbie, and football-mad monks.
Stats to power your week
🗳️ Election Day in the US is less than a month away, though some voters are already casting their ballots. Want a reminder of what’s climbed highest up the agenda since the last vote? Americans’ growing concerns include artificial intelligence (+152%), immigration levels (+47%), and tensions with foreign countries (+30%). GWI USA
🌨️ As Florida assesses the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, one outcome seems likely: attitudes toward climate change in the state may not change that much. In a 2022 study, we found half of Floridians were concerned about climate change’s influence on extreme weather – but this was actually below the global average (56%). GWI Zeitgeist
🌬️ But in some ways, climate change is driving a number of consumer trends. In China, for example, a series of heatwaves has helped increase the number buying air conditioning units by 23% since 2021. Good job they’re building all that renewable energy capacity. GWI Core
🚘 Tesla made a splash with its announcement of new self-driving vehicles during its We, Robot event last week. Self-driving is a technology that’s been “just around the corner” for much of the last decade, but what do consumers in the real, messy world think about it? 17% would want self-driving features in their next car – rising to 35% among Tesla owners, but dropping to 3% in Yorkshire. There are some reet tricky hills there, to be fair. GWI Automotive
🌲 Marketers in the UK are over 3 times more likely to buy Patagonia products than the average Brit. Something to keep in mind next time you see it deployed as a brand purpose case study – it’s a company our industry thinks about a lot more about than the average person. GWI Core
What’s on our radar
Don’t adjust your calendar: there are some interesting Barbie trends unfolding in 2024. Mattel has launched its first ever “Diwali Barbie”, though we’re unlikely to see a Virginia Woolf doll any time soon.
Mattel also used AI to streamline the design for its Signature 2024 Holiday Doll, while Adobe is launching a new tool that allows artists to opt their work out of AI training.
AI is getting faster, cheaper, and better at imitating your voice (you might want to set up a verbal password), though a director’s ambition to stop using the tech following earlier backlash shows wider adoption is harder to predict.
K-Pop is still booming, according to Spotify – and Germany has launched its first radio show dedicated to the genre.
Spoiler alert: our chart of the week (below) covers declining birth ratesin many countries around the world. In South Korea (which has one of the world’s lowest birth rates), the market for dog companionship is growing.
In recent years there’s been a trend combating one of society’s long-standing taboos – digestive health, and all that ent(r)ails. A new campaign aimed at demystifying constipation in Portugal is a good sign of where we’re at.
Chart of the week
One of the most powerful global trends, happening in many countries around the world, is a decline in birth rates. So what impact could this have? For starters, fewer babies means fewer future consumers. And if you’re in the business of selling things like diapers, baby formula, and strollers, it’s particularly bad news.
China is a very interesting case – the country is facing the same problem, even after relaxing its longstanding one-child policy (families are now allowed to have three). So there’s this counterintuitive situation where fewer people start families, but the ones that do, have bigger ones. Fewer babies, but more siblings.
What to make of all this? We might see more brands marketing the durability of their kidswear, knowing there are younger siblings ready for the hand-me-downs. Or perhaps supermarkets will put more emphasis on bulk purchases. In any case, it’ll be fascinating to see what happens with this generational shift in family units.
Local lowdown
Bend it like Bangkok
In which country are you most likely to find someone interested in Chelsea, Liverpool, or Manchester United football clubs? Believe it or not, the answer’s Thailand.
Helped by the expansion of satellite TV in the 1990s, the profile of top players from that time, and a steady supply of pre-season tours, English football is incredibly popular in Thailand. So much so that a 1997 travel guide describes boy monks watching a game in the vestry of a temple. But this is true of quite a few countries – so why does Thailand in particular stand out?
As ever, it’s difficult to say with complete confidence. But Rama VI, the sixth king of Siam (as the country was then called) may have had a role. He was educated at Sandhurst and Oxford, likely instilling him with an appreciation of the game and its ability to bring people together. It may have taken some more time for Thai people to be able to watch live games, but the connection between the country and English sport was always in the background.
