Call the restaurants and reserve the florist orders - Valentine’s Day is sneaking up on us. Nothing is more romantic than data in our opinion, so scroll down to see who’s headed for a candlelit restaurant, and who’s eating from a takeaway pizza box next month.
Stats to power your week
♥️Well, well, well. Valentine’s celebrants in the UK take the lead for exchanging gifts (71% do), but the Americans take the lead for going to a restaurant, with the Brits big fans of a night in with a takeaway (26%). We’ll put that one down to the weather. GWI Moments
🎄Another intriguing one from our latest GWI Moments release. While we don’t want to create any political situations, it does seem like the Americans are the most Christmassy after all. 57% describe it as “very important”, compared to 50% of Brits. GWI Moments
🧠Among the many vibe shifts occurring at present is a changing view on mental health interventions, with one new review arguing that universal mental health screenings are “ineffective and harmful”. For what it’s worth, self-reported mental health conditions among 16-24 year olds have fallen from their 2023 peak of 30%, to 25% last year. GWI Core (US/UK)
🚶We’ll admit, before doing some recent research into outdoor activities, we thought the results for walking and hiking might not be great for the car-loving Americans. But they’re at the top of the global pack, with two-thirds doing some walking or hiking in the last year. It’s actually Italians who are the least active - perhaps we need to rebrand the fine art of la passeggiata? GWI Zeitgeist
Meet the audience: horror fans
Without GWI data
With GWI data
The evenings are still dark, so we’re calling it: it’s still spooky season. In tribute to the witching hours, we wanted to run a profile of those intriguing people who enjoy being scared by horror films.
Our non-GWI profile has all the aesthetic hallmarks of a horror fan, and you’ll probably recognize the posters in the background. It’s horror as identity, built through collections, a personal brand, a vibe.
With GWI data we can capture more of their actual behavior, not just aesthetics. It’s not just one person plowing through vintage VHSes, but a much more modern media ecosystem, with multi-device, platform-led, in-the-moment viewing.
Another tidbit we enjoy about horror fans from GWI data: they over-index for self-care and grooming, particularly fragrances and deodorant. To be fair, they’re probably sweating a lot…
Chart of the week
What do the 2012 winner of golf’s Masters tournament, Bill Clinton, and Forrest Gump’s best friend have in common? They are all called, or at least nicknamed, “Bubba”, a fairly common term of endearment in the American South.
Well, here’s the thing. If you look at Google Trends data, Alabama is the most “Bubba” state - it searches for that name the most. But the wild thing is, in GWI USA data, Alabama is top for saying Hubba Bubba gum is their favorite brand. Coincidence? Surely not.
More from GWI
If you want even more Valentine’s Day data, here’s one of our blogs on the topic from last year.
Our new insights analyst Agent Spark is live - if you want to learn more about how to get great insights fast, read on.
