An early candidate for the most refreshing insight of the year: Research into showers at a UK university not only found that high-pressure rinses might actually be better for the environment, but there are people spending over an hour at a time in there. The “everything shower” is real – we’ll just let that one soak in.
Scroll down to read about measles, bedtimes, and protein-packed pretzels.
Stats to power your week
🦠 Measles: The 2024 comeback story no one asked for. With outbreaks across Europe and North America, we ran a survey to get to understand how people feel about the MMR vaccine. One big finding: Concerns over the (baseless) link with autism are much less of a worry than potential side-effects in general. Addressing fears about natural reactions like rashes and fevers could be key in winning sceptics over. GWI Zeitgeist
🛒 If you haven’t heard of (or thought much about) discount online retailer Wish since the pandemic, there’s likely a good reason for that: The number who visit its app/website has dropped 59% since 2020. GWI Core
🏛️ You probably aren’t shocked to know most people don’t like politicians, but the sheer scale of it might surprise you. 7 in 10 consumers worldwide think politicians put themselves before their country, and 63% are hesitant to believe any politician, regardless of who they are. Yikes. GWI Zeitgeist
🏠 Some trends grab all the attention, while others tick over in the background and are only noticed in retrospect. A good example of the latter is smart homes: The number of consumers who own a smart speaker has almost doubled since 2019, now reaching 1 in 10 of the global online population. GWI Core
💪 The fastest-growing food requirement consumers have? Wanting high levels of protein (+20% year-on-year). In response, we’re seeing nutritional companies move into snacking, and snacking companies move into nutrition. GWI USA
What’s on our radar
Yet more signs of our canine friends getting the attention they deserve, with Scandi design company HAY launching a collection of pet products, while Strava will now let you track your dog’s activities.
More brands are bringing out collections designed to be gender-neutral, including outdoor retailer REI and British supermarket Asda.
A pair of useful studies have identified large language models tend towards more Western cultural responses, and may exhibit “dialect prejudice”. On the image-generating front, another study shows that tools like Midjourney make artists more productive and their work more appealing, though they can also make their ideas less original.
Whether it’s a wellness trend or a legacy of lockdown, we seem to be valuing earlier bedtimes these days (the millennials are eepy). Maybe this is why we’re seeing more listening bars springing up in cities across the world – a cozier version of a night out?
Following a promising clinical trial, LSD has become the latest psychedelic to be granted “breakthrough therapy” designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, joining psilocybin and MDMA.
Activewear is going even more upmarket – Gymshark has opened a new permanent space in Selfridges London.
One thing to keep your eye on in the next few years is the war on microplastics, as new research indicates their presence in arteries is linked to an increase in heart disease.
Chart of the week
A long time ago, a man started up a business selling fried chicken – using a secret blend of herbs and spices – that would eventually become one of his country’s most well-known and well-liked brands. That man was not Colonel Sanders, but Shakour Abu Ghazalah, the entrepreneur behind AlBaik, Saudi Arabia’s most popular fast food restaurant.
A few years ago, as part of the country’s Vision 2030 program promoting local brands globally, AlBaik started opening in neighboring countries for the first time. In the UAE, it’s made rapid ground in just a few years against some very well-entrenched American brands. The longest queue at Expo 2020, held in Dubai, was for AlBaik.
Local lowdown
Turkey and Bosch: Home appliances are where the heart is
Most of the time, tech brands are most popular in their home country. Taiwan has more Acer and ASUS buyers than anywhere else, Japan leads the way for Canon and Sony, while the Dutch outrank the rest of the world for buying Philips products.
One interesting exception is Bosch, a German company whose strong presence in Turkey has a lot to do with its namesake founder, Robert Bosch. Though initial efforts to set up there were scuppered by two world wars, contacts between the two parties persisted, and both sales offices and a factory were eventually established in the 20th century. Turkish consumers are now more likely to buy Bosch products than any other country in the world.
According to Bosch at least, much of this stems from its founder’s particular kinship with the country. There’s a street in Istanbul whose name commemorates the “House of Friendship”, a never-finished building part-funded by Bosch that reflected his desire for cooperation and collaboration between Germany and Turkey. Expanding into a new location is almost always strategic by nature, but sometimes it’s driven through by a founder’s fondness.
