McDonaldâs and Coca-Cola. Theyâre as American as an eagle catching a baseball on the 4th of July. But these days, theyâre drawing more inspiration from Asian culture, with Coca-Cola unveiling a K-Pop inspired beverage, and McDonaldâs leaning into anime. (If anyone at the Golden Arches is reading this, please bring back the Szechuan sauce.)
Scroll down to read about smart rings, neglectful sons, and some surprising insights about WFH.
Stats to power your week
đ· Apologies to any Brits whose wallets are still recovering from Valentineâs Day, but itâll soon be Motherâs Day. Our data suggests the sons out there need to up their game â women (72%) are much more likely to celebrate it than men (56%). While the gap is smaller, the same is also true for Fatherâs Day. GWI Zeitgeist
đ The smart ring is having a moment, with Samsung debuting its first device, rumors of Apple being interested in making one, and old favorite Oura still going strong. But what are the use cases here? Beyond health, sleep, and fitness tracking, 1 in 3 smart ring owners/potential buyers are keen on using it for contactless payments. We see even more instant gratification in our future. GWI Custom
đ Men are 31% more likely than women to use ride-hailing apps each week, in part due to safety concerns among female passengers. In a bid to win new users, ride-hailing company Lyft is expanding Women Plus Connect, a feature that matches women and non-binary riders and drivers, across all US cities. GWI USA
đŹïž We often talk about climate change as a future event, but itâs making its presence felt in current consumer trends. Worldwide, the number of people whoâve bought an air conditioning unit has increased 37% year-on-year. This trend blows. GWI Core
đ§ Upmarket yoga leggings are in. Globally, Lululemon is the fastest-growing brand we track right now, increasing its number of buyers by 63% year-on-year. With Gymshark posting its âbiggest revenue everâ, itâs a good time for athleisure. GWI Core
Whatâs on our radar
OpenAIâs Sora release has clearly caught the attention of potential customers and competitors: Tyler Perryâs so impressed by its output that he put his $800 million studio expansion on hold, Adobe is making new commitments to generative AI, and Stability AI released its latest image-generating model.
The Queenâs Gambit made chess chic. Will Zendayaâs latest movie do something similar for tennis? If the Carrie Soto book fandom is anything to judge by, it could be an ace move.
In other fashion developments, âGorpcoreâ (wearing hiking gear as fashion) seems to be going mainstream, with Sports Direct debuting a new outerwear concept.
A few weeks ago, ads came to Amazon Prime Video, giving brands a shiny new channel to advertise on; and plenty of big names have already jumped at the chance.
Mildly interesting: Redditâs going public, with some Redditors having first dibs on its shares. The platform also signed a deal with Google, with big implications for AI and the future of search.
Ocado will begin offering a range of human-grade frozen ready meals for pets in a new partnership. The âhumanization of petsâ trend is hot right now â it truly is a dogâs life after all.
As for human food, companies are developing strategies for a post-Ozempic world â some are looking at portion-controlled frozen meals, while others are looking at weight management products.
Chart of the week
The debate around the benefits of working remotely vs. in the office goes on, and research continues to emerge on what is, all things considered, a very new topic.
We wonât claim to settle this once and for all, but a case study of tech workers around the world makes for interesting reading. Whether youâre mostly in the office or mostly at home doesnât actually make much of a difference across most of the metrics that get discussed. The two slight differences are perhaps counterintuitive: communication seems slightly better when remote-first, while morale is higher for workers who are office-first.
There are some interesting regional differences to shout out here though. Remote-first workers are pulling ahead of their office-based counterparts in Europe and North America, while in Asia, the opposite is happening.
Local lowdown
Nigeria: The big opportunity for e-learning
Nigeria has one of the youngest populations in the world, and a fast-growing middle class. Globally, consumers here are the most likely to describe themselves as career-focused, and education is key for those hoping to climb the corporate ladder.
But higher education is relatively new, and the sector hasnât caught up with demand just yet â which is good news for e-learning companies.
As the founder of a local edtech firm puts it, Nigeriaâs universities cannot physically sustain all the potential students who want to go there â an insight that led him to founding an online college.
