Some might say Zelda, others Baldur’s Gate, but the real game of the year might be…chess. Mo Salah can’t stop playing, Magnus Carlsen is hanging out with football royalty, and its largest platform has now signed with a global talent agency. We’ll hold off on the “checkmate” comments, we’re sure you’ve heard them all b4.
Scroll down memory lane to read about LimeWire, Google Glass, and the first Facebook babies.
Stats to power your week
👓 In early 2015, more consumers in the UK and US were strongly interested in using a Google Glass (11%), just before sales of them were stopped, than the then-unreleased Apple Watch (10%). Why are we telling you this? Meta and Ray-Ban’s smart glasses collab is doing well on TikTok, so the dream of futuristic specs could still be alive. GWI Core
👔 GQ has just hailed women as the real champions of menswear in 2023, and it’s been a vintage year for women wearing clothes designed for men and vice versa. The market for this is bigger than you might think – 18% of American men and 33% of American women buy or use products that are “for” other genders besides their own. GWI USA Plus
😌 For those with sensory disabilities (and others), a quick trip to the store can be a difficult experience. So Walmart is extending a program aimed at making its outlets more comfortable, dimming the lights, and lowering the music. The most distinctive thing shoppers with ADHD would like, though, is limited interaction with attendants – something to bear in mind when you come across premature obituaries for self-checkouts. GWI USA
⚡COP28, the UN’s conference on climate change, concluded last week with pledges to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030. For what it’s worth, consumers do find these conferences valuable – back in COP26, 78% said they were at least “moderately” useful in fighting climate change. GWI Zeitgeist
🎁 As the year draws to a close, we’ve crunched the numbers to find the fastest-growing brands on both sides of the pond. In the US, it’s been a great 2023 for Inter Miami (thanks Leo!), Casamigos tequila, Celsius energy drinks, Amazon Freevee, and the dating app BLK. In the UK, the brands of the moment include On Running, the Miami Heat, Air Jordan, Barbour, and Champion. GWI Core / GWI USA
What’s on our radar
If you can’t beat them, join them – an Oxford University professor is allowing students to use ChatGPT in their essays. Meanwhile, a study has found that ChatGPT hasn’t made more students cheat, and OpenAI and Axel Springer have signed a deal giving ChatGPT users AI-generated news summaries.
Need inspiration for music class, or maybe just want a personal theme tune? Google’s MusicFX creates custom music with a prompt of just a few words. Other companies are also launching forays into generative music, including one whose name you might recognize – LimeWire.
As we’ve been saying for a while, 2024 is going to be jampacked with elections, all of which are likely to experience significant AI disruption. In recent weeks we’ve seen a robo-caller in Pennsylvania, and deepfakes in Bangladesh.
Both Apple and Google are expanding diagnostic tools and assets for their devices, making it easier for their owners and third-parties to repair any faults.
What if mental health awareness campaigns did more harm than good? It’s a topic getting more column inches as both The Atlantic and The Economist have run articles exploring the idea.
Welcome relief is on the way for expectant mothers as the first pill for postpartum depression is now available, in addition to a research breakthrough for morning sickness.
Maryland may become the second state in the US to protect the rights and profits of child influencers. Something worth keeping an eye on: Facebook added photos to its platform in 2005, so the first children to have their entire lives documented by their parents on social media are just entering college themselves…
Chart of the week
There are a few stereotypes about Gen Z out there: they’re TikTok obsessed, chronically online, and uninterested in politics. There’s some legs to the last one – they’re the generation least likely to list politics/social issues as an interest.
Of course, interest differs by country. Turkish Gen Z are the most interested in politics, wanting a bigger say in politics after citing dissatisfaction with current economic conditions and job prospects.
Gen Z as a whole may be less interested in politics, but those who care are noticeably vocal. As the generation ages into the workplace, become parents, and have more skin in the game, we may see their interest and passion for politics go up.
Local lowdown
Super savvy shoppers in South Korea
Ordering groceries from your phone was a revelation during the pandemic, but no market embraced it like South Korea. Even today, they’re still the leaders in ordering groceries from a mobile device.
It’s not hard to see why. Nearly 9 in 10 Koreans live in cities, making delivery services enticing, considering the heavy traffic. South Korean consumers also cite free delivery and coupons as their biggest online purchase drivers, two things grocery stores are happy to do after consumers spend a certain amount.
Big grocery retailers like Emart and Homeplus cover much of the demand, and delivery services like Kurly can get an even wider variety of goods to consumers. The popularity of delivery services is an opportunity for all retailers, from small brands looking to get their name out there, and even to luxury brands looking to gain an edge in a highly competitive market.
