TrendWatching | MakeShift

Edition #5 • 5-12 September 2023

Trend deep dive

FULL DISCLOSURE: Demands for workplace reform are gathering pace

Latin America is living through major transitions in labor. While lower-income workers — whose salaries dwindle while inflation rises — push for unionization and hope for employment reforms, highly-skilled workers are drawn to working remotely for foreign companies (and higher-value currencies). As the inequality gap shows no signs of declining, one thing is certain: consumers of all demographics expect the future of work to be increasingly… read more

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Innovation

🇩🇪🇩🇰 Arla's new milk label Æ.KT gets literal about acting for climate and animal welfare

Dairy cooperative Arla Foods has announced the launch of a new milk label in Germany: Arla Æ.KT. Beyond milk, the product symbolizes commitment to environmental sustainability and animal welfare. Arla plans to reduce… read more

Innovation

🇺🇸 Centering cycling, an Arkansas office building's six stories are linked by bikeable ramps

With over 250 miles of trails, Bentonville, Arkansas, calls itself the mountain biking capital of the world. It's now also home to what might be the world's first bikeable building — a six-story office and retail space called Ledger, which… read more

Innovation

🇯🇵 No need to be a regular: a new cafe in Harajuku treats all customers like friends

A Tokyo cafe that opened in April 2023 wants every customer to feel like they're among friends. Known as Tomodachiga Yatteru Cafe (TYC) or 'Cafe Run By Friends', it serves coffee by day and cocktails by night. The idea… read more

Insight

👀 Seeing is believing!

On 7 June 2023, New York City was second only to Delhi, India for the worst air quality and pollution out of over 100 major cities tracked by IQ Air. Unprecedented wildfires in Canada sent a thick blanket of smoke across swathes of the US East Coast, forcing millions to stay indoors or wear masks (again). The Blade Runner-esque haze has now cleared from Manhattan's skyline, but what new mindsets remain? What actions will be initiated?

As more people experience the effects of climate change firsthand, they will demand climate action that gets real. That sentiment could quickly spread across a region that’s witnessed global heating-related catastrophes up close: nearly 3 in 10 Americans limited their time outdoors due to air pollution after seeing images of NYC on TV and social media.

The silver lining? All of this is fuel for innovative sustainability and climate adaptation solutions. When the effects of climate change start filling eyes and lungs in one of the world's most iconic cities, the time for dawdling and delaying is over.

Discover how other brands are putting their green initiatives front and center

Trend

Trend update: NORM-NUDGING

Consumers expect brands to look after their wellbeing. A March 2023 study by Edelman revealed that 83% of consumers expect the healthcare industry to play a significant role in making sure they are as healthy as possible, closely followed by the food & beverage (77%), tech (74%), retail (64%) and finance (60%) industries. And while recent crises have prompted people to re-prioritize their health, financial worries and healthwashing lead to inaction and confusion.

To overcome that paralysis, brands can help people incorporate healthy habits into their daily routines. We’ve seen a credit card company incentivize healthy living, an Indian tech startup force its staff to go home on time and a French TV channel turn kilometers into free content.

What can your brand do to nudge people towards healthier lifestyles? Given the connection between human health and planetary health, there’s also an opportunity to encourage routines and purchases that benefit both.

See 20+ additional NORM-NUDGING innovations

Thought starter

Digital nomads are pricing out locals

If a barista working in a '15-minute city' can only afford to live 30 minutes away, something isn't working. Similarly, remote working hubs such as Mexico City or Buenos Aires often benefit digital nomads over locals. How can you price locals in?

Insight

Games consoles and podcasts forecast to overtake print press reach by the end of 2023

The dethroning of the printing press, predicted by WARC and GWI last week, is partly about creation and dissemination: digital media has lower outlays than physical; new AI tools are reducing barriers to entry; digital audiences are infinite; and in-game purchases provide a constant stream of revenue that can be funneled back into R&D.

Should we be concerned? At the height of the pandemic, consumers across the globe reported feeling digital fatigue, resulting in record rates of burnout and depression. Since then, brands from Microsoft to Pokémon have evolved their offerings to actively improve consumers’ (digital) wellbeing.

Rather than countless war simulation games and mindless podcasts — that is, more of the same — we’re now seeing a wealth of unprecedented verticals emerge; see these audio heirlooms or this sustainability series. With that in mind, think about where your brand sits in this new media landscape. Can you use these channels to enhance your customer experience?

Trend

BRAND BANDITS: hackers are coming for you 😉

During a weekly internal trend discussion, our content team explored the emergence of tech that enables consumers to hack the brands and organizations they interact with. These BRAND BANDITS don't want to steal your brand, but they do want to deeply customize their UX.

Here are some of our favorites:

A browser plug-in replaced coronation news with Indigenous stories
Skyrim players mod the game to give in-game characters memories
Web browser Arc allows users to ‘vandalize’ any website

Generative AI will increasingly help brands keep up with this remix culture by blending creativity, relevance and data-driven insights in new ways — 39% of companies across 11 industries are already exploring how the tech can speed up the development of marketing materials. Absolut Vodka is celebrating cultural diversity through AI-generated cocktails while Google’s Magic Compose utilizes gen AI to usher in a new Shakespearean era.

How will you empower BRAND BRANDITS?

Hack your own brand by using our Consumer Trend Canvas

Innovation

🇨🇳 WeChat introduces 'Quiet Mode' to bring peace of mind to 27.8 million deaf users

WeChat is ubiquitous in China, used by over a billion people to chat with friends, check the news, watch videos, pay bills, share photos and shop. And much of that activity is accompanied by a… read more

Innovation

🇳🇱 Shift's group sessions help individuals take action to shrink their carbon footprint

Faced with the enormity of the climate crisis, figuring out how to respond as an individual can be overwhelming to the point of paralysis. Recognizing this challenge, non-profit startup Shift has… read more

Talk to us

Be sure to ping our editor, Galina Yordanov, if you're working on something we should feature on MakeShift.

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