It’s that time of the year when my inbox is filled with meetings rescheduled to January, Amazon gift order confirmations, and many, many marketing trend emails. So, in the spirit of the season, I have combed through these various trends / predictions and curated the resources that I found most useful - consider these your 12 Trend Decks of Christmas.
1. Year in Search (Google): A time capsule of what people searched in Canada and across the globe over the past year. Great for a quick snapshot of the zeitgeist of 2023, and how Canadian search interest differed from the rest of the world. For example, wau more Connor Bedard, Women’s World Cup and Quordle. Bonus trends from Google: A Year on YouTube.
2. Pinterest Predicts: Identifies trends based on the number of searches for different items and topics on Pinterest. Great for tracking how interest is surging for different consumer products and design trends. Highlight: Um...Jellyfish-inspired searches - Jellyfish haircut +615%, Jellyfish hat +220%, Jellyfish umbrella +195%.
3. What’s Next Trend Report (TikTok): Reviews trends and what’s driving engagement on the platform, as well as the benefits of marketing on TikTok. Great for getting up to speed on popular creators and creative formats. Highlight: TikTok is positioning itself against Google as a place to ‘discover’ vs. ‘search’; "44% of TikTok users came to the platform with a specific outcome in mind and ended up discovering something they didn’t intend to."
4. Think Forward (We Are Social): Explores very current cultural trends and the implications for social media marketing. Great for catching up on the people, topics, and hashtags driving social engagement today. Highlight: the #delulu movement (celebrating being intentionally delusional!) has over 4 billion views.
5. Global Consumer Trends (Mintel): Synthesizes Mintel data from around the world to identify five macro trends influencing consumer behaviour, along with what marketers can do about it. Great input for big picture brand planning. Highlight: ‘Relationship Renaissance’ – more people seeking new forms of real-life intimacy for physical and mental health.
6. Most Contagious Report: Reviews the events, advertising trends, and award-winning campaigns that captured the industry’s attention in 2023. Great for marketers to refresh themselves on the most successful (or rather contagious) creative campaigns for the year. Highlight: Research shows that putting ads on physical objects that don’t usually carry marketing messages can be more effective than traditional media.
7. Tech Trends 2024 (Deloitte): Comprehensive review of technology trends, including how Deloitte’s trend predictions have evolved over the last 10 years in the areas of interaction, information, and computation. Great for business leaders considering their technology roadmaps. Highlight: Eye-opening section on synthetic media, and how it is getting easier for bad actors to use AI tools to impersonate and deceive. Scary stuff.
8. Trends 2024 (Mindshare): Reviews 5 current trends impacting the media landscape, as well as the performance of Mindshare’s last 10 years of trend predictions. Great for marketers looking for a perspective on how digital media has changed, and what’s coming next. Highlight: Kudos to Mindshare for including their ‘missed’ trends – tech that didn’t catch on (e.g., iBeacons, Snapcash, and Smart Ink?!)
9. 2024 Trend Report (Trend Hunter): Very detailed report (I love this one) including specific trends with real-world examples, with smart workshop questions for readers to ponder. Great for anyone looking for some inspiration or fuel for an innovation-focused brainstorm: Highlight: Too many to choose from – give it a skim and I promise you’ll come away with a new product idea.
10. Reckoning with Reality (Foresight Factory): Reviews four macro trends (Humanity, Health, Sustainability, Belonging) and how they are playing out in the world today, including where they conflict (e.g., technology vs. ecology). Great as an input for macro-framing of a consumer market. Highlight: the business opportunity around serving people looking for more human connections (see above 'Relationship Renaissance') - 22% of US consumers believe the biggest drawback of AI is loss of human interaction.
11. AI, and everything else (Ben Evans): Annual presentation on macro strategic trends in the tech industry, this year with a focus on AI. Great for understanding and framing AI in smart, non-technical terms as we move from ‘this is cool!’ to ‘is this useful?’ Highlight: Reframing ChatGPT use more accurately from “answer to this question” to “what would an answer to this look like?”
12. Digital Trends 2024 (IMG): Review of digital marketing trends through the lens of sports and entertainment. Great for folks working in this space, as well as marketers investing in content and sponsorships. Highlight: Smart categorization of ‘not-so-social’ media platforms and how they best support different business and communication goals.
This will be my last newsletter of the year, so I’d like to thank all of you who have been reading, sharing, and replying back to say kind things along the way. I appreciate you and your support. Have a wonderful holiday.
Sincerely,
Tim