October '22 Drop

Our TL;DR monthly trendspotting and reporting on the sticky stuff for your biz, your brand, and your cultural fluency. Check back monthly for the next 5 best things.

Premium looks different in 2022

Inflation might mean higher prices, but consumers still crave premium experiences

We all deserve to treat ourselves, but what does that look like for different consumers? Millennials are looking for aspirational brands, while Gen Z seeks more intentional brands.
Right now, premium is less about outward presentation and more about finding products that create a sense of pride, self-celebration and good vibes.
Inflation means consumers are being more selective. Purchases are for fun and happiness. Happiness microdosing, if you will.
Enjoying life on their own terms manifests itself as shifting from big travel to local experiences and from mainstream events to local entertainment. For example, premium brands like Outdoor Voices and Milk Bar are finding ways to empower and entertain customers with IRL events.
As a form of microdosing, consumers are more driven than ever to find experiences that make them feel optimistic and creative.

Consumer x Brand Opportunity:

Now’s your time to look inward. It’s more important than ever to understand what exactly about your brand makes your customers smile. Promoting the genuine happiness you create will help Gen Z and Millennials remember what brands they want to open their Apple Wallets for.

One question to ask your consumers:

What’s one thing you’ve bought from us that you can’t live without?

Source: AdAge

Rewards? Yes, please!

Loyalty programs are nothing new, but they’re showing up in new ways

Membership and loyalty programs are becoming commonplace and are meant to create value for consumers and cement brand love.
Tiered based loyalty programs are taking over. They are a great way for retailers to keep the customers they already have — offering extra points and other tier-exclusive incentives — while attracting new consumers at the same time.
Getting creative, Starbucks Rewards members can now link their accounts with other leading brands’ loyalty programs, adding new benefits and ways to earn Stars that were not possible before. A multi-brand experience!
When done right, tiered and other creative programs keep current customers engaged and working towards reward redemption, while also showing new consumers an enticing way in to start shopping your products.

Consumer x Brand Opportunity:

Do you have a loyalty program in place? If not, now might be the time to try. Customers are looking to feel valued and cared for and rewarding them for loving your brand is a great first step. Just make sure there isn’t a barrier to entry. This could be an effective way to ensure your consumers keep coming back for more.

One question to ask your consumers:

For every $100 you spend with us, we give you ___. How would you fill in the blank?

Sources: Modern Retail, AdAge

An AI Takeover

Experimentation and adoption of AI has exploded, raising important questions

AI, especially generative AI, has taken off in the last year and there are numbers to back up the hype. For example, DALLE-2, has more than 1.5M users and Midjourney has over 3M Discord users.
Brands are also beginning to take notice and use AI in innovative ways. Heinz Ketchup used it in a promotion utilizing their iconic brand and bottle shape to show that ketchup is synonymous with Heinz.
Microsoft has also entered the AI space by bringing generative AI to consumers with their Microsoft Designer app via a partnership with DALLE-2.
However, this has only added more to the conversation surrounding these AI generators, specifically in regard to intellectual property and content censorship.

Consumer x Brand Opportunity:

Consider fun ways you might use AI-generated content or encourage your audience to create with your brand or product in mind.

One question to ask your consumers:

How would you describe our brand to an AI program like DALLE-2? Show us!

Sources: Tech Crunch, Fast Company, NY Times

The future of shopping

Never shop alone again — social shopping is taking over

Recommendations from friends and family have always impacted our shopping decisions. We crave conversation when making purchases and want to feel inspired, informed and confident in what we buy. It’s called social shopping.
Two billion people made a purchase on social media last year. That’s two-thirds of all social media users around the globe.
Now, social platforms bring businesses and consumers even closer, with purchases happening directly on platforms and brand sites.
Twitter is the perfect example. The conversation on Twitter is public and open for all to see and join. And it gives shoppers that outside perspective they instinctively seek. Think #FinanceTwitter, #NBATwitter, #FashionTwitter.
The future is nothing short of a people-powered democratic retail revolution. It seamlessly blends social experiences and e-commerce transactions through a single path to purchase, all enabled by a single platform Iike Twitter.

Consumer x Brand Opportunity:

Get the conversation started. Be the brand to help your consumers talk with each other and share their opinions. Consumers will love learning what others love about your brand and it will be a meaningful way to gain consumer insight. This can be as simple as posting a question on Twitter, or something more involved, like hosting a live event.

One question to ask your consumers:

Where and who do you go to and get your shopping advice from?

Sources: AdAge

Brands still betting big on metaverse

But are consumers on board?

While the metaverse has been riding on a hype wave for quite some time, there are those claiming that the numbers are just not matching up.
Brands are still making moves in digital spaces even if the overall success of web3 is debatable.
Google is providing info on Etherium wallets in their search engine, Meta just released their new Meta Quest Pro VR headset, major food brands such as Kraft and In-N-Out Burger have taken out NFT trademarks in the past several months, and luxury fashion brand Burberry has teamed up with Minecraft to build out an online experience with both digital and irl goods.
The biggest buzz in the space is definitely Reddit who has generated close to 3M new Reddit Vault wallets since July in order to buy their collectable NFT.
Despite these developments it remains to be seen whether the consumers of today are fully on board with the digital future of brands, but given a growing interest early adoption by brands now could end up paying off.

Consumer x Brand Opportunity:

Have ideas of how you can leverage the metaverse to help build your digital presence? Making plans and prepping now could help position your brand to engage with your audience and make your mark in this newer digital landscape.

One question to ask your consumers:

How are you engaging with the metaverse today? (online gaming, purchased virtual items/NFTs, Decentraland, VR headset, etc. – we want to hear about it!)

Sources: Futurism, Decrypt, NFT Evening, Hub Spot

The Wax reported by:
Kalinda Panholzer & Carly Stern
2022 Platform Listeners

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