The videos kids watch while playing on a tablet are becoming very big business. Having conquered YouTube, toy reviewer and megastar Ryan Kaji is getting his own movie. Here’s hoping it works out better than last time a YouTube kids’ favorite headed to the big screen.
Scroll down to read about Wallabies, litigious capybaras, and the guy from a-ha.
Stats to power your week
🤗 These shoppers are loyal. Loyalty points are growing steadily as a purchase driver in the US both in-store (+11% since two years ago) and online (+9%) as shoppers look to stretch their money further. On the other side of the pond, Rod Stewart is promoting a new rewards app for a high-end London restaurant. Do ya think he’s saving? GWI USA
💇 A more surprising side-effect of the cost of living crisis – people are thinking more carefully about their hair. Price has grown as a purchase driver when shopping for hair products (+13% since 2021), but so too have recommendations from stylists (+28%) and reviews from experts (+26%). It’s worth thinking about in other sectors as well – you could play the discounting game, or lean into endorsements that justify that hard-won spending money. GWI Core Plus (UK)
🏉 Following a pair of embarrassing defeats, Australia look set to exit the Rugby World Cup at the group stage for the very first time. One of the suggested reasons is other sports hoovering up the best athletes and drawing spectator attention – both Australian rules football (33%) and rugby league (30%) are followed by more Aussies than rugby union (14%) at the moment. GWI Sports
🧑‍🎨 The number of consumers concerned about the impact AI will have on artists/creatives has grown by 16% since February. Last year AI image generator DALL-E went viral for its impressive, if clumsy, portrayal of things like a capybara suing Elon Musk. But the next, much-improved version of the tool is being released soon and, as it will sit natively in ChatGPT and Bing, it will open the doors of AI art even further. GWI Zeitgeist
🏳️‍⚧️ Last week saw the latest release of the British Social Attitudes survey, a long-running study into public opinion in the UK. The broad takeaway is Brits are getting more liberal – except on transgender issues, something we’re finding in our own research. The number in the UK who say maintaining traditional gender roles is important to them has grown 22% since 2020. GWI Core
What’s on our radar
Nike moves to take a slice of the pre-loved pie as it launches Nike Refurbished, an in-house marketplace for used sneakers. We’re sure StockX, Depop, and eBay will be watching.
EA Sports FC, the franchise formerly known as FIFA, is hitting the shelves this week. But it’s breaking the mold in more ways than just changing its name – it’s the first time the game has programmed a player with a limb difference. Remember: people with disabilities are the group consumers most want to see better represented.
Amazon has signed a huge deal with Anthropic, the company behind AI chatbot Claude and rival to OpenAI. So we now have Amazon/Anthropic, Microsoft/OpenAI, as well as Google, all pouring billions into an AI contest. The disruption may have only just begun.
Elsewhere, a hip-hop duo is taking aim at AI by calling their new EP “RIP Human Art”, but then again, Jay-Z didn’t succeed in killing off Auto-Tune in 2009. Not to mention the AI-derived architecture of Curry Hackett and the surreal spirals of @MrUgleh are winning fans.
Some food & drink brands are using AI for stunt marketing, where they let ChatGPT come up with new formulas and recipes, but its integration with the sector goes deeper than you might think. MailOnline actually preferred Beck’s AI-designed beer, while Waitrose is experimenting with using the tech to design recipes for trending cuisines.
Chart of the week
Only a few years ago, telling someone you’d ordered ice cream online would’ve been met with a puzzled look. But the Covid-19 pandemic and growth of ultrafast delivery services have made it easy to get a tub of vanilla delivered to your door.
To anyone else who’s ever ordered a pint (or six) of frozen “self-care packages” from the comfort of their sofa, have no fear – you’re definitely not alone.
Local lowdown
Norway's electric vehicles
You might know Morten Harket as the singer responsible for the oft-imitated falsetto in a-ha’s “Take On Me”, but did you know he also took a leading role in making Norway the world leader for electric car adoption?
In 1989, alongside two activists, Harket took a converted Fiat Panda through toll booths and ignored parking fines and road taxes, arguing this new form of power had to be free of levies to be appealing.
The Norwegian government soon listened, and its generous incentives mean Norway has by far the biggest proportion of EV owners (20%) of any country.
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