01 March 2023

Hi folks,

As all wise wizards know, fresh Lord of the Rings content arrives precisely when it means to. Warner Bros has announced not one, but multiple upcoming films to join the previous saga. 

With 65% of the franchise’s fans enjoying media revivals, you can be sure Reddit will be abuzz as more news on production is released. 

Read on for more about celebrity hot sauce, electronic bandages, and shopping like a billionaire. 

Stats to power your week

☕ Gen Z and millennials’ interest in reality TV has declined 11% year-on-year, while their interest in celebrity news and gossip has fallen 12%. As viewing figures of Love Island’s latest series dropped to its lowest since 2015, we have to ask: are young people feeling mugged off by inauthentic content? (GWI Core)

🏈 It takes a lot to get sports fans to stop watching. Even as the cost of living bites, more consumers want a piece of the action – the number of sports fans in the US willing to pay for subscriptions has increased 16% year-on-year. (GWI Sports)

🧨 Burnout at work is adding fuel to the quiet quitting wildfire, and it’s Gen Z who are struggling most. 49% feel overwhelmed by work projects that need completing each week, and 55% are working longer than normal hours – the most of any generation. (GWI Zeitgeist)

👩🏻‍🍳 Of all potential cost-saving measures, consumers are most likely to say they’ll cook from home more in the future (44%). As many social media users look for inspiration online (#homerecipes on TikTok has 65.4M views), the market looks ripe for picking for easy-cook recipes and meal kit providers. Pass the pink sauce. (GWI Zeitgeist)

⏳ Revenge spending and the hot vax summer seem a distant memory. With stubbornly high inflation, consumer confidence in Europe is heading downwards, and is now at its lowest point since 2020 lockdown days. (GWI Core)

🤖 Who’s afraid of technology stealing their job? It may not be who you think. In the US the work sectors most worried about job loss are (drumroll please): military, PR, environment, and… fashion. Though if ChatGPT’s recent attempts at patterns are anything to go by, the crocheters don’t have much to worry about just yet. 

What’s on our radar

Your AI roundup for the week: AI tools have been used creatively by marketers to imagine London after an earthquake, and personalize cocktails, while a sci-fi magazine has been inundated with AI-generated submissions, and a viral photographer has admitted there’s more to his portraits than meets the eye. 

Cambridge University has published its findings on the 4 day working week trial held in the UK during 2022. Great news for employees: it’s a hit. 71% of employees reported lower levels of burnout, and 39% said they were less stressed compared to the start of the trial.

It’s lights out and away we go: testing for the new Formula 1 season got underway last week, with the newest season of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” released alongside. Interesting fact: more people got into F1 through films than documentaries. 

Put down your caramel latte, the barista’s arsenal just gained a new ingredient –  Starbucks is now betting on olive oil in its new Oleato line.

Thanks to new partnerships, you can now scroll TikTok in your Mercedes. “Sorry officer, I was watching TikToks, not my speedometer…” 

Fresh from its Super Bowl slot touting prices that let you “shop like a billionaire”, Temu has become the most downloaded shopping app in the US. 

Call of Duty will now be playable on Nintendo consoles after a ten-year absence.

Want to play a game? 🦑First there was Squid Game. Then the MrBeast version. Then the reality spin-off. Now it’s in the metaverse. 

We didn’t have “Ed Sheeran releases a new hot sauce” on our 2023 bingo card, but here we are. Why not pair it with an energy drink from the other Paul brother?

Electronic bandages are being tested as a new way to boost the healing speed of wounds, delivering electrotherapy and harmlessly dissolving once complete. 

The NFT frenzy stalled in 2022, but can Spotify’s new experiment with token-enabled music playlists breathe some life into the emerging technology?

Chart of the week

One of the main narratives in social media right now is TikTok and Instagram jostling to become the cultural leader, with the former making serious ground in the last two years.

But how is user behavior different on each platform? They’re remarkably similar for getting news, while Instagram holds a narrow lead on the commerce front. Instagram also encourages more personal sharing and messaging, while TikTok is the undisputed content king across all social media. 

Get more from GWI

Bits and bobs we thought you might like:

• Get the low down on improving marketing ROI in an economic downturn
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• We’ve got 7 killer ad campaigns driven by consumer insights