Last week we dropped Connecting the dots, our annual trends report, and it’s packed with the biggest trends to watch in 2025. This isn’t your average trends piece – it’s one of the only reports that explores who’s driving these shifts, not just what’s trending. Ever wondered why healthcare workers are sampling energy drinks, stay-at-home parents are putting on podcasts, and cinemagoers are investing in home security? Dive in and see for yourself.
Scroll down to read about the Christmas ads causing a stir, a Tubthumping addition, and some surprising insights about loneliness.
Stats to power your week
🏠 One of the most surprising trends in Connecting the dots shines a light on smart home security – a booming market that’s largely slipped under the radar. Ownership has exploded by a staggering 153% since 2019 – something Apple has noticed, if recent reports are to be believed. GWI Core
🎄 The starting klaxon for the festive season in the UK has officially sounded, with the John Lewis Christmas ad released last week. But not everyone feels the magic in the same way. Turns out, a third of consumers aren’t really fans of Christmas ads, and for those living alone, it’s closer to half. GWI Zeitgeist
😔 Here’s an interesting twist on loneliness: people who live alone are actually less likely to feel lonely than people who live with friends. So what really fuels loneliness? Low income and a feeling of being overworked appear to be much stronger predictors of feeling isolated. GWI Zeitgeist
🍺 Guinness is such a consistent brand that at one time we highlighted consumption of it as one of the most unchanging data points in all of our research. But, thanks to a new wave of pints, chit chat, and good people enjoyers, the number of Guinness drinkers is up 27% in the UK since last year (and by 93% among 25-34-year-olds). GWI Core (UK)
🎧 We thought it might be a TikTok election, but maybe the 2024 Presidential race was a podcast election after all. And little wonder – almost as many Americans now get their news from podcasts (21%) as newspapers (24%). Want to dig deeper into the podcast boom? You know where to go (it’s almost like we predicted it…). GWI Zeitgeist
What’s on our radar
Snack company Hershey has acknowledged a “mild impact” from GLP-1 drugs in its latest earnings call, making it one of the first companies in its sector to talk about it publicly.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: the future of AI isn’t just chatbots - it’s agents that actually do stuff for you. The new ChatGPT macOS app offers a sneak peek by reading code in some other apps, and word on the street is OpenAI will release a new agent tool in January.
How good will these agents be? It all depends on how far AI tech improves before hitting some kind of wall. Casey Newton’s got an interesting take that dives into whether we’ve hit that point - or if it even matters at all.
Even if all AI improvement stopped today, we’ll still have a lot of consequences to deal with. A Harvard Business Review study has found it’s already cutting demand for freelance writers while another paper has found that people actually prefer AI-generated poems (sorry, Byron). And another study has found that AI can outperform human physicians.
Coca-Cola’s classic “Holidays Are Coming” ad for 2024 uses generative AI tech for the first time. It’s worth having a read of the pros and cons they found of using it. It made the process faster, more collaborative, and more easily customized to different cities – but also reduced creative control.
Chart of the week
Chumbawamba once sang: “he drinks a lager drink, he drinks a cider drink.” But if they re-released “Tubthumping” in 2025, they might have to add “he drinks an energy drink” as well, since they’re now more popular with twentysomethings around the world than beer.
Energy drinks are one of the strongest growth markets we’ve found in our research in the last few years, and they’re seeing even bigger growth outside their core audience of young gamers and extreme sports fans. Retirees, full-time parents, healthcare workers are all hopping on the train – as you’ll see in Connecting the dots. They’re just some of the audiences increasingly searching for a buzz to keep them going.
Local lowdown
The body keeps the culture
Brazilian culture has long celebrated beauty, body positivity, and self-expression. Proof? These words written by an anonymous observer in the fleet of Pedro Cabral, the first European to land in Brazil:
“These women go nude almost like the men and wear great riches. They have their hair marvelously arranged and are very beautiful…”
Fast forward to today, and you can see those values remain central to its culture. Compared to all other markets in our data, Brazilians are the most likely to work in the health and beauty sector, participate in online fitness classes, and use health and fitness apps. They’re also the most likely to undergo medical treatment, which is likely to be cosmetic surgery (including this famous procedure) much of the time.
Geography plays a role – its long, sandy beaches and sunny climate encourage a vibrant outdoor culture (most famously during Carnival). It’s a useful reminder that not all cultures think about body positivity the same way. For some it may be a rejection of beauty standards, while for others, it’s about self-confidence and self-care.
