Oh, happy day! Last week, we released our flagship report, Connecting the dots. As always, itâs bursting with data-backed insights designed to help brands stay a step ahead of consumers. To whet your appetite, scroll down to read about the rise of social boomers, the fall of veganism, and how combat sports are using short-form video to make more impact.
Stats to power your week
đ€ Letâs start with the robot elephant in the room. Our data shows that while interest in AI has grown 36% year-on-year, worries about this brave new tech have doubled. Take it from us, thatâs an unprecedented change in how consumers feel about technology. GWI USA
đ€„ AI could also have its (robot) fingerprints all over another of our trends: the number of Americans who donât trust the mediaat all has climbed 24% since Q2 2020. Interestingly this is being driven by some unexpected groups, with trust collapsing significantly among Hawaii residents (-69% since 2020), creative services workers (-64%), and 55-64 year olds (-42%). GWI USA
đ€ł Boomersâ faith in the media might be falling but their interest in TikTok is growing â up a big 57% since Q2 2021. Some boomers are even achieving influencer status, with the likes of Barbara Costello, Lynn Davis, and Gym Tan all boasting millions of followers between them. GWI Core
đ„ Combat sports (weâre talking MMA, boxing, and wrestling) have seen a 20%+ rise in engagement since Q4 2020.Today Tyson Fury has his own show, while Netflixâs âWrestlersâ profiles its subject in a way that resonates beyond the ring. What weâre seeing here is a two-in-one trend: the growing cultural power of short-form video, and how that format is helping a group of sports that were once slightly looked down on. GWI USA
đ± In 2019, YouTuber Alex OâConnor (aka CosmicSkeptic) uploaded a video called âA Meat Eaterâs Case For Veganismâ. Four years later he issued a statement saying heâs back on the animal products. This turnaround means heâs basically a bellwether for another big trend weâre seeing in our data, with global interest in vegan food down 19% year-on-year. GWI Core Plus
đ In 2020, gun violence was 6th on Americansâ list of worries. Itâs now neck-and-neck at the top of the list alongside healthcare, with concern driven by some surprising groups, including aspiring Marines and readers of Guns & Ammo magazine. GWI USA
Whatâs on our radar
The new Humane AI Pin provides a glimpse of a future AI-driven wearables market, though the success of Kendrick Lamarâs âdumbâ phone shows many might be after something rather more retro.
Sticking with AI for a minute more, in a world first, two bots recently negotiated a contract without human involvement, a singer-songwriter used AI to create a Korean version of his latest single, and more people are asking if talking to an AI counts as cheating on your partner (though in a recent survey we did, most didnât think it was).
More proof that anxiety has well and truly entered the public conversation over the last decade: Pixar has added Anxiety to its cast of characters for Inside Outâs sequel.
Booths, a chain of premium supermarkets in northern England, has made international headlines by doing away with self-checkout machines âin response to customer feedbackâ. Interestingly, in the US at least, our research shows demand for self checkouts is growing.
If Christmas decor is anything to go by, Gen Z gaudiness is beating millennial minimalism.
Anime streaming service Crunchyroll is adding games for its premium subscribers, while Netflix is upping the ante by adding some darlings of the indie game world to its gaming library.
Enthusiasm about the metaverse may have fallen fast, but brands are still running campaigns on platforms associated with the term. Cosmetics brand e.l.f has launched a new virtual experience on Roblox, while Gucci is staging an exhibition in The Sandbox to run simultaneously with its real-world counterpart.
Chart of the week
As we mentioned above, consumers are turning away from veganism. This is a truly global trend, with interest down in over 90% of the markets we track.
So what are these people eating today? How do they describe themselves now? The key word here is âflexitarianâ, with over 1 in 4 interested in reducing â but not stopping â their meat consumption.
For brands selling meat-free products, that means looking for imaginative ways to target flexitarian foodies. In the US, for example, aspiring flexies are thriftier, less status-driven, and less likely to say eco-friendly food is important. So getting ahead might mean presenting plant-based items as wallet-friendly rather than planet-preserving.
Local lowdown
Beijing boomers, Glamma grandmas
Itâs an (admittedly accurate) stereotype that Facebook is baby boomersâ most-used and most-loved app. But one country offers a glimpse into how things might be changing as more boomers sign up to short-form video platforms.
China has a very different online ecosystem, and its version of TikTok (Douyin) has taken the lead in the boomer app portfolio (WeChat is technically first, but weâre classifying it as a messaging app in this context).
Chinaâs seniors are seriously savvy online, and theyâre actively participating in the countryâs livestreaming economy â which could be why theyâre attracted to video-based apps.
It might only be a matter of time before we see a London or New York equivalent of the fabulous âGlamma Beijingâ grandmas.
