Big Things Podcast
A weekly show where we talk about the big things we're watching in marketing, social media, pop culture and sports. We also talk through signals we’re seeing that could inform the future of digital marketing.
You can catch the podcast every Friday wherever you listen or watch it on YouTube. Be sure to follow us on Instagram or TikTok for updates on every episode.
Big Things Podcast
What Digital Audiences Want in 2025 (E15)
This week, we welcome our first guest speaker, Alyssa Yuhas, Arcade’s Creative Director and resident Futurist. With a background working with online creators to Nike and the United Nations (Canada), Alyssa brings the experience and mindset for compelling results. Together, we break down the 2025 Trend Report and discuss 5 trends, revealing what digital audiences REALLY want this year. From authenticity to shared moments, here’s how creators and brands can meet the evolving demands.
More from us:
- Mitzi Payne @mmmitzi
- Mike Payne @mmmiiike
Timestamps:
- 02:05 – What exactly is a futurist?
- 05:40 – Scan club & Signals: Current, surprising and specific trends.
- 15:08 – Breaking down the 2025 Trend Report.
- 19:25 – Trend 1: People want to be seen.
- 24:15 – Trend 2: People crave realness. How do we keep it real?
- 29:07 – Trend 3: People want shared moments.
- 36:40 – Trend 4: People want to (parallel) play — being alone, together.
- 46:10 – Trend 5: People want ease. Making life more manageable.
Show notes:
- The SCAN 👀 CLUB 2025 Trend Report: https://scanclub.substack.com/p/what-digital-audiences-want-in-2025
- The SCAN 👀 CLUB 2024 Trend Report: https://scanclub.substack.com/p/what-digital-audiences-want-in-2024
Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).
For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/
Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.
Welcome to Big Things. I'm Mitzi. This is Mike.
Speaker 2:This is our show where we talk about the things we're watching in marketing, social media, pop culture and sports and we go through the signals that we're seeing that could inform the future of digital marketing.
Speaker 1:Today on the show, we're welcoming our first ever guest on Big Things. It's Alyssa Juhasz. Alyssa is our very own creative director and Arcade's resident futurist, and today we're talking to her all about our brand new trend report what digital audiences really want in 2025.
Speaker 2:Alyssa is a visual designer and throughout her career she's collaborated with exciting, innovative brands, engaging in meaningful work from online creators to Nike to the United Nations, helping move them from an idea to a compelling result. She has a master's in strategic foresight and innovation, which is an exciting aspect of what we're going to get into today with her and what she brings to Arcade in general.
Speaker 1:I'm really excited about this episode because it's going to be summarizing a lot of the work we've been doing all year, but I really feel like it's going to be valuable for anyone who works in marketing, especially as they're setting up strategies for 2025. So I hope you find it valuable too. Before we get into the episode, we want to remind you to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoy the show. You can catch a show every Friday on YouTube and all streaming platforms. Also, our trend report, which we talk about, can be viewed on Substack and it's available for free at the link in our bio.
Speaker 2:Without further ado, let's welcome Alyssa.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Big Things, Alyssa. You're our very first guest. We're so happy to have you.
Speaker 2:We've got a lot to unpack today, but before we start discussing the actual trends, I really want to make sure that we set the stage properly and help people understand what this process looks like to get where we got. So, for our listeners and our audience, can you just unpack a little bit about how we get to this trend report and specifically what a futurist does?
Speaker 3:Yes, definitely. So I feel like the futurist question is kind of a big question but overall, yeah, futurist is looking for futures for future, opportunities for future innovations, challenges ahead, and so a lot of times, especially in the space where people are actually engaging with like actual futurists, it's a lot of times in government and like public sector, in policy and then technology. For sure, those are who have engaged with them in the past and it's often to really solve complex problems, to understand what's coming and the different ways that we can react to them. So post-pandemic future thinking has become really, really important because we've definitely seen that, you know, leading up to the pandemic, there was a lot of larger agencies, organizations thinking about these, like these, like wild things that are potentially happening like a pandemic, but a lot of smaller agencies or smaller organizations people weren't necessarily thinking about that. So post-pandemic futures thinking has become a lot more mainstream, a lot more people are engaging it, and so that's kind of what a futurist does. I don't know. Did that answer the question?
Speaker 2:yeah, 100, and I think ever since you introduced it to us, it's really opened our eyes to just a different way of thinking it. It can sound, I think, intimidating to think that someone could officially be called a futurist and like what the what the process can look like, but I think for for us, as we've started to understand what the practice is like, it's also just it influences the way we think about anything. So I'm really excited to unpack this a little bit more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think before we started working together, I didn't know what a futurist was. I'm sure lots of people maybe aren't familiar with it either, but I think what you walked us through is kind of like this like methodology of approaching content, and most of us, if you work in social or digital marketing, you're consuming a lot of content, even like if you don't realize it. Every time you open your phone, every time you look at social media, anything like is content and a lot of those things end up being signals. So can you walk us through what are signals and what's the methodology behind? How you kind of like look to the future?
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely, and even just to go back to the futurist question, it's exactly what you said. We're using all these different methodologies Futurists will use, like different things, but it's about being not reactionary. It's about you know, having that space to understand what's coming next.
Speaker 1:Next, so you aren't surprised by it, so you know what to do, which is huge because I think in our industry we're like we're, we're good on the fly, we're used to reacting to trends, but this isn't that.
Speaker 2:This is like looking ahead, basically taking in everything we've seen and we've consumed and having more of a strategic and critical eye and identifying what these could point to yeah, for me I feel like it's had a calming effect, like a it's like a stabilizing process, so that instead of feeling like I'm just like kind of jumping at whatever jumps out at me or defending against whatever comes my way, it's like a more zoomed out macro view of the landscape within which I exist, so that I can better anticipate the things that I need to pay attention to and the things that I can just kind of let pass me by.
Speaker 3:Amazing, yeah, and that's like what it is. So for what we've been doing with our team is called scanning or, like, in futures thinking, they call it horizon scanning, but for us, for our purposes, we can just call it scanning, and that's where we're looking at signals. So for us, like you said, you can see signals everywhere. We're probably all consuming them at all the time, and so what our practice at Arcade is to really like stop and start to interrogate the things that we're looking at and understand you know what's happening, what will happen next. So signals in general are usually well.
Speaker 3:What I tell the team is we want signals that are current, are surprising and specific. So current being things that are happening now. We don't necessarily want to know what's happening five years ago or even even sometimes a ago, six months ago feels dated. So we want to sort of see what's happening now, surprising. So, and yeah, these signals aren't necessarily like huge, like everyone's doing it, and that's the point. So surprising could feel surprising to you, surprising to me, maybe not surprising to everyone on the team, and that's okay. So they're like there are things that make you maybe pause, make you think, maybe make you go. Okay, what's happening here? And then um, so current, surprising and specific, yeah, um. And then specific is we want to really narrow in, so a lot of like it being um, more of a specific headline and that one's like a little bit trickier. But even for us, we frame it around digital marketing. So we're really always trying to look at our signals through that lens of, like digital marketing, what's happening here and how it could impact that.
Speaker 1:Right. So a signal can be like anything, like it could be a news story, it could be an Instagram post, it could be a campaign, it could be an Instagram post, it could be a campaign, it could be a law. So I think all of us well, as we were kind of doing signal scanning without knowing what it was before, we worked with you and it was funny because you really schooled us and educated us and it helped us turn that attention to something productive and focused, which is really cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's exactly like you said. So a signal is it's like a small innovation, it's something changing. You want to make sure that a signal or you know it's a signal because there's some type of movement, so it could be decelerating, accelerating, but there's some change happening there, so that's important. So, yeah, like you said, a law, an event like a market strategy, a new policy, a headline, a tweet if those are even happening anymore yeah, yeah, fancy ask, yeah. So all of that can be a signal and that you can start to kind of, you know, compile these signals together to start to see patterns. And I think that's the like so much of us are doing, that we're so much, so many of us are online, we're looking at things, we're reading things all the time, but it's about putting these signals together and starting to see the patterns, and that's what we've been doing at Arcade.
Speaker 2:I like it. I think the movement thing was eye-opening for me. But even than that, the idea that something can be a signal just as much if it's decelerating, if it shows deceleration as much as if it shows acceleration, kind of side by side with crypto. And then, as I think, bitcoin especially, but crypto in general, has continued to accelerate, but maybe NFTs have started to decelerate, and that's not to say that they won't become popular again, but it's important, I think, for us to recognize that those types of movements are just as important and notable.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, and it's like that whole interrogation of the signal. So we always ask like what's changing, why does it matter? And what could happen next. So even for nfts, sure it's decelerating, but like why? And like what's changed, why is the change happening? And if they decelerate, what could happen? And then we're even seeing like little blips of like nft, but like why, right? So we can start to kind of ask why and what's happening as well.
Speaker 1:Because they're just like uncool and like hard to understand. Thank God they're not accelerating, because I could not wrap my head around NFTs.
Speaker 2:Well, I think I'm not an expert in NFTs but from the little I know about it, I think that it still could accelerate again. But I feel like it was harder to understand for, like people, the general person, to wrap them their head around. How do I value something like a, like a codified piece of art, whereas it's easier to comprehend how you might value another type of digital currency, you know, because it's more, that's more supply and demand.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I don't know, I think that it's tbd, but I think that there's still the opportunity as you know, the metaverse slowly develops and materializes that this could be a thing in the future okay and I'm not even an nft fan, so I'm not trying to make it happen well, we're talking about signals today, because we've used those signals, we've been tracking those signals all year round and we, you've and morgan shout out to morgan, who is a big partner in getting this trend report live. She wrote most of it and does an amazing job, um, but you and with morgan, like put together, took all these signals and started grouping them right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we meet regularly as a team. We're looking at signals and that's also another thing that's important about scanning is not doing it alone. So having other people, other experiences, other biases, all coming together, looking at signals together. Because, you know, we can have our own ideas of what's happening but it might be based on our own lived experience that's different from other people and different from the other signals that other people are looking at. So that's the beauty of us coming together at Arcade to like, look at them weekly or monthly and talk about the signals that we're looking at.
Speaker 3:So we do that already regularly as a team. We're cataloging all of those. Then we started to, in advance of this report, started to bring them together along with other signals, things that we're seeing, and start to, yeah, group them together, synthesize them, start to understand, see the patterns that are emerging and really just even interrogate the patterns like why is this happening? Why are all of these things? Sort of grouping together, what's happening next? And, yes, and Morgan um being my uh partner in all of this, and um has been such a joy to work with her and we also work on the newsletter, so even just that work together has really um come into the play with this yeah, and if people don't know, we have a newsletter.
Speaker 2:We send it out every two weeks. It's called Scan Club and we've got about 3000 subscribers so far. We've been doing it for maybe a year and a half and it's awesome. And for me, I think, beyond the monthly touch points we have together as a team, to talk just really in an unpolished way about some of the signals that we're seeing, it's really cool. I think it's like the next step for me to see the newsletter come out because I read it too as a reader and to see how these just random bits of information that we're processing together and, to your point, interrogating together, start to form bigger pictures and bigger movements and and it kind of exposed their connections. So I think if you haven't subscribed already, make sure that you are and, uh, you can ride along on this journey with us and even maybe play a small part in the next trend report.
Speaker 1:Totally. I love promoting scan club because I'm so proud of it and I didn't do it, you know it's like doesn't feel weird to promote something that I'm not part of it.
Speaker 2:Scan clubsubstackcom.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there, it is One thing I wanted to clarify. So obviously a lot of us can get in the trap of just like scrolling and doom scrolling. Explain how you know absorbing information might be different than scanning. It's a bit more active, right A hundred percent.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I've actually even been thinking about that lately because I'm trying to be more healthy with my online habits and not doom scrolling. So, yes, it's a lot more active. You're not just consuming it just to consume, you're asking questions of it. So it's the whole thing of like what's changing, why does this matter and what could happen next. So, yeah, I think it's that active um nature of it. You're not just kind of letting it come, I don't know, into your brain, into who you are or whatever. You're like looking at it more and like active and trying to like see the pattern, see the movement as well.
Speaker 2:I do find to that point like there's definitely times when I'm more proactively looking for things, but then also after you start to train your brain to think about those things and then you actually call out or like, notice specific signals, I think other times when I'm not necessarily as actively scanning, my brain still knows to recognize things that connect to the signals that I've noticed before. So that that's kind of cool too, just to see how your brain starts totally.
Speaker 1:I feel like I'm always looking at something. I'm like, oh, that's a signal, like now, that I kind of like know what to look for and also keeping in mind some of the trends that we've outlined. Like I think if someone goes to this report here's and like kind of thinks about these trends, they'll start seeing signals that support those trends in just like everyday life. Okay, so we're going to break down every trend from our new trend report, but before we do, I want to be clear that you've helped us identify what trends are, and they're different than what the internet says. Trends are like. I think we've all heard trends and we've heard it related to TikTok trends. Is this a report about TikTok trends?
Speaker 3:No, so, yeah, tiktok trends you're right here today, gone tomorrow. This is where a lot of that like stress and, like you know, doom scrolling or just like the anxiety that can come online and maybe even as marketers like you're seeing all these trends coming. They're coming so fast you feel like you can't even jump on anything because they're here today, gone tomorrow. So what we're looking at, though, is we're looking at trends that have longevity, so they're probably between three, maybe even eight years, but let's, let's for, like our purposes, we'll say they're around like three years, right?
Speaker 3:Other TikTok trends can be a lot faster. It can be weeks, it can be months, it can be days, and then we also want to think about fads, so we're not looking at fads. Fads, again, would fall probably a bit more around the TikTok trends, so those often are like one to two years. And, yeah, I think that we're just looking at things that are a bit more with long-term impacts. Our short-term signals are like laddering up to these larger trends that have long-term impacts and that are really thinking about things with a bit more longevity.
Speaker 1:Thank, god right, this is not a TikTok trend report.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's. That's not to discount like the things that are happening on TikTok, though, because I think definitely even some of the micro trends we see on that platform or on Instagram can even be signals in and of themselves, and we can ask questions about those things and learn what we need to learn from them, or even sometimes choose to react to them.
Speaker 1:Yes. But I think it's just having more of a measured kind of like.
Speaker 1:I think you've actually validated us so much with like giving us an opportunity to use social to help us think critically and think more bigger about like okay, this, this kind of TikTok video is trending. Why? What does it mean? Why do people all want someone to pay their mortgage? Like what could that that point to? And like does that have anything to do with like us as a society and what we need right now? And sometimes the answer is yes, which I'm excited to. That's a little teaser for you, because that is connected to one of our trends.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 2:And before we get into the trends themselves, I want to say too that as an agency and as marketers, that this practice and process has been something that we actually bring into our client work.
Speaker 2:It's not just something that we kind of like, sensationalize and get excited about but then move on and back to our typical content planning practices.
Speaker 2:But we've been, we've been able to start to work this into the way that we think about digital strategy at the brand level, thinking about the types of content that we're sharing, um, in light of some of the trends that we begin to map together from the signals that we recognize. It also can be useful for coming up with campaign ideas, or maybe even not the idea itself, but the way that it's executed or delivered or where you do it or what the tone is. And I think having this foresight practice allows us. I guess you could look at it one of two ways. In some ways, it feels like it reduces risk because we have a better sense of what the future holds or could hold or different scenarios for it. But it also, in other ways, increases the likelihood of resonance with audiences, because we understand what they care about right now and the way they're moving and the decisions that they're making and the values that they hold.
Speaker 1:Totally, it's a way to future-proof your strategy.
Speaker 3:Yeah that was so good Cool.
Speaker 1:Good thing we're recording. Agreed. Okay, should we get into the actual trends?
Speaker 2:Let's do it. I can cue up the first trend. I feel like this is a big reveal, but, um, the first one is people want to be seen. So, alyssa, that can feel or sound like a whole bunch of different things, because it's it's, uh, at a pretty high level, but can you help us unpack a little bit about how we arrived at that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely, and I think also I want to just quickly take a step back in that we're looking at this also with the lens of, like, you know, what's happening politically, economically, etc. In the world right now. So a lot of the trends are living in that, at it around the frame of digital marketing. But it's so important to be looking at signals, not just in marketing, not just in the creative world, not just in media, etc. We need to be looking more globally and that's what we did, and so a lot of these trends are coming out of that as well. So, yes, people want to be seen. So that's really around how we're really thinking about highlighting the growing demand for personalized, culturally aware, like hyper niche that's really recognizing and valuing individual identities and experiences. So in that, we're seeing that people are really wanting products and content that feel bespoke representation across demographics, personalization around experiences, age diversity in campaigns, inclusivity around gender and body types and acknowledgement of cultural backgrounds one of the signals that felt like so clearly connected to this trend is how youtube.
Speaker 1:They launched um, so sorry, what I mean was pinterest. They launched their new body type ranges to deliver better, more inclusive results. So if I'm looking for a you know hairstyle that suits my hair type or texture, you can like prescribe what your type is and then they'll give you search results based on that. So if your hair is naturally curly, like, this haircut works better for that type of hair, or if it's like coarse or whatever, like I love, I feel like this that whole innovation and it's a technology innovation is a signal that ladders up to this kind of trend.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely, and that's I think it's the advancements in technology that are definitely helping to for this to be a bit more widespread, that people can use more um personalization online on apps, um, etc.
Speaker 2:to really like speak to their audience one that I can think of, though, um, it's less recent I feel like I don't know how long this brand has been around, but it was a big decision that they made. Um, that didn't leverage technology, but it was good American jeans and they decided to shoot a model in every different size of their jeans for their e-com store.
Speaker 1:The first brand to ever do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, where most brands would just shoot the pant on what they perceived to be the ideal model and the ideal size and then they just show product photos of the rest of the sizes, and that made waves, you know, and I think that's a cool example of like a brand just getting it and choosing to put in the effort to personalize the experience for every customer.
Speaker 1:I think this trend also points to not just like diversity and inclusion, but also to like niche communities, and I think McDonald's is like a great brand that does this really well. They really lean into like that niche community and just like double down on it, even if it doesn't apply to like their mass consumer base. They're like we pick this I don't even know like I can't think of an example right now and we're just gonna like really give that community what they need and how, and then we want them to feel seen in this campaign yeah, I think that was the uh McDonald's one where it was a bit more anime, yeah, which is so cool.
Speaker 3:Like I love seeing brands or like I love this trend in that it's speaking to those smaller communities within your community and and giving them the importance and believing that they deserve to be spoken to just as much as, like the widespread mainstream a bit more generic, it's kind of like seeing every single person. So I think people are really wanting that, I think in general, and then also seeing that in the content they're looking at and the communities they're a part of and the marketing that's being targeted to them.
Speaker 2:For sure. We do have a variety of different signals or references that connect to each of these trends, and we'll share them in the show notes afterwards, just so everybody knows.
Speaker 1:Totally. Should we move on to the next one? Let's do it Okay. Trend two people want realness. How can we keep it real this year, alyssa?
Speaker 3:Oh, good question. Yeah, so this trend is a fun one. So it really is reflecting a shift towards real and human-centered content and storytelling. So it's a bit of a rejection. So AI, right, ai is like getting shoved down everyone's throats, like it's everywhere. It's happening, whether you like it or not. People are really jumping on board of that. A lot of content, a lot of you know video photos are really going into that chat GPT, like you can. People are using that to write their content. So it is a sort of a rejection of that. So people are wanting genuine connection, relatability and just like real over polish.
Speaker 1:Love it. So you're saying AI is out, it's not a trend, just kidding? No, that's not what you're saying at all. It just means that people are starting to crave, like that, human human touch.
Speaker 3:yeah or just like, uh, understanding or seeing what is out there, that is ai and just wanting the opposite. So if I'm looking at content, if I'm looking at a video, I want to know that a real human made this, or a team of humans made this, I, I I'm gonna be more interested in that versus, you know know, it just being computer generated.
Speaker 2:I was going to say I think it absolutely is a reaction to AI, but I feel like there's more to it than that too.
Speaker 2:Like even from when you had kind of brought some of these trends to us in the first place with the rough draft.
Speaker 2:I remember you mentioning that people will want the mess, and that's kind of resonated with me, even more than just saying we want something that's made by a person.
Speaker 2:I think, even as creators and brands get smarter and better at doing more and creating a better production with less, I feel like there's still a desire from audiences people that are actually consuming content I feel like there's still a desire from audiences, like people that are actually consuming content, to just see the truth, you know, and take away some of these layers of production quality and just give us the real, honest story. And I find that I'm reacting to that and that's even why I still find myself spending time on a crazy like polarized place, but it's so raw and real, you know, and and I think there's something to that, even though it's a bit scary and and tumultuous to be on that platform sometimes at the same time. So I just wanted to point that out. You mentioned people over polish, and I think that's absolutely true. Ai aside that, um, your story could mean a lot to people without having to make it perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I feel like this year we're going to see a lot of brands lean into that, like telling personal stories, like real, like relatable stories, not like marketing campaigns where it's like a perfect, like tied up in a bow, it's like stuff that makes you feel something and it's going to like connect you back to humanity. I've already seen like some brands kind of dabble in that and that, you know, has always resonated. This isn't a new thing, but I think what you're saying is like we we're starting to crave that even more now because of how technology has changed. And so, messiness, the real, the raw, the human stuff like that's what people want to see.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, and this one is where kind of sports really play in a big role as well. Like that unscripted moments to cheer for, moments to like that don't feel created or produced.
Speaker 2:Or the underdog winning the game.
Speaker 1:Exactly, sports is the new reality TV. Like it is so real, it's like you can't make that stuff up, like when you understand the stories. I've like really just been so excited about getting into sports because there's so many storylines, there's players, there's coaches, there's business like it has all of those layers and it happens every week and I think it's really cool to that point.
Speaker 2:there's even realness to the players, like what used to be just presented as a person, like a talented person on a football field or on a basketball court. Now there's, I think, as the industry and different brands and even the players themselves react to what people seem to engage with or respond to. Now we're starting to actually see their backstory and their life at home, or their significant other, or that side project that they have, or the illness that they've been battling with or things like that loss that they've experienced and that adds so much more color to the story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and all the unscripted stuff, like I'm seeing and I think we're even working on some campaigns where we're starting to make up players and even that, just like getting their commentary, the real stuff, like the on the fly stuff this happened and what did they say like that in itself is a moment that people are really excited about fun more of that is that all we have to say about trend two.
Speaker 2:Anything else, we can keep it rolling. Trend three is that people want shared moments, so let's get a high level summary of what that means.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So this one's interesting because it's definitely a continuation from last year, what we're seeing with, like the Big Era's tour and like Beyonce's tour and like all of these things. But this one's really around the collective experience that fosters connection and participation, and especially when you can take um, when this experience can be amplified through social media or and you can just feel a part of that larger cultural moment. So even if you didn't go to the eras tour, there's like still so much that you could have been a part of and I don't want to talk about taylor, swift anymore, but um, but that's kind of what it is. It's these shared moments we're coming together and we can really get connected.
Speaker 3:So there's a lot of fandoms, niche groups and creating more moments of monoculture. So monoculture is really it's been hard to be a part of because of social media, because of all the different areas, but creating these larger moments that you can be a part of because of social media, because of all the different areas, but creating these larger moments that you can be a part of, yeah, I'm not as sifty, but even I wanted to go to the Arrows tour because everyone was there.
Speaker 1:I'm hoping we get that same energy this year if Beyonce announces her tour, so I think I'm gonna take Mike. I've gone me yeah.
Speaker 3:I think you, I think it's time, you and I just like production quality would be so I mean, I have been to her concerts and yeah, it's incredible, yeah so what you're saying is like people are are looking for things that they can share on social media yeah and share together.
Speaker 3:So even let's say again oh, I don't want to keep using Taylor, but but like the friendship bracelets, like being able to share that and people could even be doing that when they weren't on at the tour but then sharing things online, being a part of it online we're also seeing, like some of our signals were around, like book clubs, like run groups, different things like that where you can be a part of the smaller group and then share it online and be a part of something bigger online. So it's even small groups laddering up to like the larger group or obviously like these large, huge moments, um, even coming down into smaller, smaller moments.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I feel like like the an easy example would be the Jake Paul Mike Tyson fight, and that was a huge moment that people all experienced together. But I feel like it was a moment in the sense of the fight, but then also there's this like shared experience that people had with how bad the stream was too, and like that was a huge part of the discourse. Obviously, that wasn't Netflix's desired outcome, but even in that sense, when things go right or when things go wrong, there's an opportunity for people to experience it together in real time.
Speaker 3:yeah, and like being in, being in on the joke, being in on like you know, if you know, you know kind of thing. That was also huge, and I think live stream is such a great signal for this. You know, obviously it can also be speaking to sports and different things like that that are really rising up. I mean, sports have always been big, but they're just so much in culture and they're infusing in so many different areas. But the cool thing about live streaming is, yeah, it's these moments that we're experiencing together and then we can jump online and we're all talking about it together and we're creating this like really like fun moment, most of the time together, online and even offline, like you're going and talking and having coffee with friends and you're all talking about the same thing.
Speaker 2:And maybe it's not a fun moment sometimes Maybe it's a unifying moment, like I it made me think of. I saw on social media there was a live stream happening. I feel like it was maybe FaZe. He's like a big streamer, but they were doing a live stream and he had a couple other streamers on with him and then they all got the emergency alert at the same time for the la fires, the pacific palisades one, and they were like opening their phones while they're on the stream, like showing each other, being like what do we do, and it seemed like a moment where they're like it kind of took them out of what they were experiencing, but it was relevant to all of them at the same time and even a lot of the people that were watching the stream.
Speaker 2:So has lots of different ways. I think there's also like smaller ways that brands can tap into this, like um. One feature I noticed more recently on the zone which is a way for at least for canadians to stream um, like nfl sunday ticket and stuff like that. That's how I watch football games. When you watch it on the tv, it's pretty Like it just feels like a TV broadcast experience. But when you open up a game on your phone. In the DAZN app they have a live chat function that opens when you pick which stream you want to watch, and there's a bunch of people like reacting to different moments in the game and stuff like that. I don't always engage with it, but it's one of those ways that I think they're reacting to. How do we bring fans around this specific game likely they're fans of these specific teams and give them the opportunity to react together?
Speaker 1:yeah, and I feel like I was just thinking too about like brands and how they can participate in things like this, because you've you've mentioned like there's a bigger movement happening online that you can participate in a smaller way in your own local space. So, like run clubs are good example, like there's run clubs are a very popular thing in every single city. You can do them here. And then you also talked about book clubs, which is exciting. Um, so for brands, like that's a way they could probably participate in something bigger, just see what's happening that's bigger and find a way to do it in their own way, like in a smaller scale.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly Like bringing that larger, like macro view or macro event, and then bringing it and being able to be more localized to which, then again, like the cool thing about this is, we start to see the personalized trend from. You know, people want to be seen moving into the shared moments and we can start to, like you know, put these trends together, you know, shake them around and create these ideas that really speak to more people and, um, really speak to like what's happening out there as well, like those lookalike contests.
Speaker 3:I feel like that applies to both trends.
Speaker 2:People like I look like Bradley Cooper and I want to be recognized for it. But I'm not saying I do, but I'm just using like a random Cooper and I want to be recognized for it.
Speaker 3:I'm not saying I do, but I'm just using like a random person. I want to meet more people that look like Bradley too.
Speaker 1:I want to just go see a bunch of Bradleys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and just like joke about it together. You know, I feel like it scratches both surfaces.
Speaker 1:Right, and I'm glad you brought that up, because one thing that I was thinking of when we were talking about this trend and how it is, how maybe like the direction here is to think bigger and try to hop into that, but it's and not be niche, you know, because the first trend is like about niche and being allowing people to feel seen in their content, even if it is by zeroing in on niche communities. But it's kind of like the two of them combined can be really strong too.
Speaker 3:So it's not like picking one of these and laying in because there is, there can be overlap yeah, exactly, and I mean we might talk about this later, but even just to like just quickly touch on this now, like the point of these trends, or any trends, really is to use them as like a springboard, and you can either, you know, use one to start ideating with your team or alone, or whatever you need to do to like get new ideas, or you can start to like put trends together and see what's going to happen. So, if I put the personal or like people want to be seen, and I put, yeah, the shared moments one together, like what ideas could come out of that, based on our sandbox of like the problem we're trying to solve?
Speaker 1:that's awesome. Um, okay, I want to get into the next trend, which is my favorite trend from the trend report, which is people want play. Tell us about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this one is probably my favorite too. It's so, yeah, it's a really an emphasis towards prioritizing fun, creativity, playful experiences. Playful, yeah, just play in general as a way to really combat digital fatigue and just embrace joy and escapism. So this one is a bit of a swing, maybe because of, like the political climate, and I mean we can look at this in different ways, but this one's really fun. So it's about, yeah, having unserious fun, just like being just like not so serious about everything. Um, gaming, sports hobbies, really like being okay to like follow your passion, follow your interests, being curious, trying new things, experimenting, um, being okay to be silly. Um, parallel play, like being together and doing things together.
Speaker 1:Um, so it's yeah, it's a really, really fun one that people can start to experiment with yeah, this one was with me so much because I feel all this a lot and for me, like it feels like a reaction to what's happening in the world in general, like politics and just like life stuff. Um, I want to talk about like I'm excited about this because I think as marketers, we're always like trying to inspire in action and I think a lot of that is driven to business and sales and things like that. But I think what this? At least it gives me a little bit of permission to say, hey, the goal can be just to have fun.
Speaker 1:Like the goal here to make an impact, because digital, this is the landscape. Digital audiences want to just like be silly and have fun and have like silly little tiktoks to share with their friends. Like that, too is still bringing a lot of value and is still something worth pursuing. If you're just willing and brave to let go of the KPIs or that, make that a KPI. You know, yeah, I like that, make that a KPI yeah, why not?
Speaker 1:um, the unserious fun is like so amazing.
Speaker 3:But tell me about parallel play yes, that one actually is a signal that's kind of popped up more so. Morgan and I have just been talking about that. So it's, it's even just like a phrase that I've been hearing more and more and start to like again. It's that whole idea. You start to like, notice it. Okay, I noticed it once. Okay, I'm starting to notice it more. So this one parallel play is all around. You know, getting together with a friend or multiple friends, and you're all doing different things, but you're like together.
Speaker 2:So like I'm you know Also, you're not doing the same thing. It's not like building Lego together.
Speaker 3:No, like maybe one person's building Lego, maybe one person's crocheting, or one person's that's you to a T Stop.
Speaker 2:That is like you just need a body in the room. You're not trying to like do something together because that might slow you down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you just want proximity. Yeah, well, that's like I think other like influences to that. But no, I think this is funny because I've heard parallel play a lot as a mom, like there's a stage in life where your kids don't need you to entertain them and they just like exist in your presence, kind of like me to you.
Speaker 2:But we're seeing that with our kids now too exactly so.
Speaker 1:It's so funny when you had this in the report and parallel play in terms of like adults, like they are getting together to just exist together and maybe not necessarily do the same thing, but do something together that might be different.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly like loneliness. You know post-pandemic people just wanting to kind of get together, maybe also like economically, like just getting together, doing your cute little hobbies together, not having to all be on like the same hobby again, trying new things, experimenting and being okay with that.
Speaker 1:I have a brilliant example for this, one that a brand did Sunday's Furniture, invited me to a craft night and they basically transformed their showroom into different stations. So they had, like, a painting station, they had a clay, like pottery station, they had a drawing station, they had like someone to help you guide you through that so you could like all be in the same beautiful space and doing different like types of things, and I feel like that's a great way for a brand to take this kind of trend and run with it and take it and make it their own do you think like going to the fair is like parallel play?
Speaker 2:it's what it's making me think of, because I, you know like you go stampede yeah, exactly like you, just so ludicrous. You're going together like in a group but everyone kind of has a different game they want to play or a different thing they want to see. But you're kind of then like re-congregating to get a like deep fried pickles or like elephant ears or something like that, and then you're kind of breaking off again a few booths down to do your be honest alissa you can say no, I just that's what.
Speaker 2:That's where you got my line of thought.
Speaker 3:I mean I think it's a little different, but I mean that's good for you and your friend group, just like going off and coming back. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2:No, that's super cute.
Speaker 1:Families do that too yeah, but also this this trend also relates to hobbies. Like everyone is getting a hobby. Last year, likely that's going to continue and the hobbies are just for fun, they're not like trying to. I think one thing I'm seeing a lot online is like find a hobby that you don't need to monetize, that's just for you and just for fun. There's a lot of value in that, but I think it's like it says so much about our culture and what we need right now and what people are craving Could be a reaction to like life and stuff, but also just like just having something that's just for you and not for anything else.
Speaker 2:I really like this like parallel play piece, as well as the unserious fun, I think I almost wonder if it can end up compounding into deeper relationships than we've ever had.
Speaker 2:Because I think when I think back to elementary school or even high school, you kind of had your friend group based on a shared interest.
Speaker 2:You know like you had the jocks, you had the emo kids, but also you had people congregate around like sci-fi or like a certain sports team or different things like that, and there was almost a pressure to align yourself with the interests of the group that you wanted to be part of, rather than building a group around the things that you're actually interested in.
Speaker 2:So I'm just curious, like, where this will take us, because for me especially, I think in the last couple of years I've tapped in a little bit more to unserious fun but also given myself permission to actually like what I like and and own it Even, just like I've mentioned this a couple of times on the show but reading fantasy books like it even just like I've mentioned this a couple times on the show but reading fantasy books like it just feels like such a weird thing for me to say that I like, but and I don't know why that is, but I don't even have that many friends that read fantasy books, but it's just so fun for me to tap into it and then, as I start to find sub communities of people that are interested in that same genre, then that's really exciting, you know.
Speaker 3:So definitely yeah, and I I think too, with the play. What's really cool is that? Um, like it's. It's also, I think, like what you're saying, like about relationships, like we're learning after the pandemic, like how to be friends with people again, how to like come together, how to hang out together. So if we can just learn to like play together, I guess, or like be okay with like just coming together, I feel like it reminds me of like a meme I think I've seen, or it's just like I just want to have a friend that I can just like go do errands with, and so, yes, yeah, right and right, like who? I just want to do nothing, I don't want to spend money.
Speaker 2:I just want to hang out, yeah.
Speaker 3:I feel like it's kind of similar to that and that we're learning how to be together. Again we're learning how to hang out, and so play can be really helpful for that. It's a way for us to like get together, not feel so serious and just to learn to.
Speaker 2:you know come together after maybe being apart, does parallel reading count, I think so I think that's actually like a better example yeah, the.
Speaker 2:Thing cool the one to do yeah, because even as we started this year, we've like been trying to change up our habits in the evenings, after we put our kids to bed and, um, just like be in bed sooner and like get away from just watching TV every night and stuff like that. And it was funny because I kind of perceived like calling it a night earlier to be like less social, like almost we would be losing this time that we've had together like watching TV or relaxing on the couch. But I actually do. When I think about it, I actually feel like it's been more quality, even though're still we're not necessarily like talking that whole time. We might be reading or listening to something or whatever, but it actually after a few weeks of trying to change that habit, it feels more quality yeah, in my case, I've been reading and crying, that's true.
Speaker 2:I've just been like reading my book with, like, my hand on my seat next to my bed, like, are you okay?
Speaker 3:yeah, and that's what they say. Like parallel play is like being okay to be alone together so I think it's a really cool, cool way to start to like move away from, you know, loneliness. It's like a really big thing right now. It's even an epidemic in itself. And so just being okay to just be together, um, you know, being unserious, having a bit of levity, reading, doing nothing I think it's really, really important.
Speaker 2:Cool. Well, let's wrap it up with trend five. I think there's like some connection here between trend four and now what this one is, which is people want ease.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So this one, you know, everyone can take a deep breath.
Speaker 3:We're now like moving into the last trend, but it's really around a growing desire for simplicity, functionality, just like low barrier solutions that reduce stress, make life more manageable, and this can be through low tech tools, just even like straightforward content and just everyday essentials. So, my favorite we have this list on all of our trends. What people want. My favorite, one that really sums this trend up, is that people want to be taken care of, whether you are 30 or 20 or 50 or wherever you're like, yeah, just want to be. I just want that like comfort, that ease, someone to take care of me, whether that's through a gadget or an app or or practice, or whatever it might be right, and this is what I was referring to when I said like there's a trend, have you?
Speaker 1:I don't know if you've seen the trend, but there's a trend on TikTok where these women usually women will say to their like husband or spouse and say like hey, I don't think I can pay the mortgage this month. And then they reply like when have you ever paid the mortgage? And it's kind of like funny. But like all the comments are like you know, everyone's desire is like I want that, I want that, I want that. Or even just I was teasing um, one of our team members, um, because she often calls herself a 24 year old, a teenager, and I think it's really funny. There's that like a lot of people do that on TikTok as well. And this is where, like some of those things and elements, they do play into something bigger and a bigger feeling. It's not just like a silly little thing that starts to catch on, it's like this is laddering up to, like what a bigger desire and behavior that people want.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, and even what you're saying there, looking in the comments, like the comments can have so many signals there where people are all talking about the same thing or all like yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Like you obviously need to like, take everything with a grain of salt, but that is a really great place to sort of start to especially understand. You know, what is the overall sentiment or like, what are people feeling and, yeah, is this resonating, this idea?
Speaker 2:I like that.
Speaker 2:I've always lived for the comment section.
Speaker 2:I feel like that's the best part of social media often One of the things that calls that stands out to me here is like the idea of low stress tech, and I don't know if I'm even getting low stress tech right here, but I think there I've been gravitating towards what I perceive that to be, which is I just got a sleep mask that has like vibration built in to like that's meant to like relax the muscles around your eyes as you go to bed, to like that's meant to like relax the muscles around your eyes as you go to bed, and that's been awesome.
Speaker 2:And then also, I've been reading books for a while now, but I just got a kindle and I just love the kindle, compared to my phone or an ipad, so much because it does one thing really well and I don't have any of the interruptions. So it's been so validating to just put my phone on, do not disturb, and then, if I need something, I pick up my kindle and read a book, and and I get tired faster too than watching a tv show, um, which helps with my nighttime routine and helps me not stay up too late one thing about you is you love low stress tech okay you do you love the techie gadgets that connect to wellness?
Speaker 3:yeah, and we actually talk about also like aesthetic self-care, so this like includes, like the shower heads and like all the extra gadgets that make that contribute and make self-care fun, like red light masks and things like that yeah, exactly, and I think I also want to say like, when I say like we just want someone to take care of us, or like just to be taken of, it can also be ourselves taking care of ourselves, and I think that's what this is all about. So it's not just like I need a man to take care of me. No, no, no. That's not the vibe of this trend. It's like no, we just we want to feel taken care of. We want to off our tech build routines. Yeah, like just again having those healthier indulgences.
Speaker 1:I think are also really important in this trend. Another point in this trend, too, that we've talked about or we mentioned is reliable relationships with brands and creators. Can you give us more about that?
Speaker 3:yeah, I think that one so reliable relationships with brands and creators is just again being able I think it's the trust element so being able to understand that you know what what they are doing, they're going to show up, they're going to be there. It's like what they're saying is going to happen. Um, I think that's kind of like what we're meaning when people want that and is that an acceleration of what we saw last year?
Speaker 1:because one of the trends we had last year was people want real value. It's like value from brands or guaranteed value, excuse me. So value from brands and like really like making sure that they get, they're getting value from, like their products, or they're buying into the same values or shared values from brands and creators.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, that's. That's the cool thing about especially. Even this trend report is just seeing the evolution. So I think we're still looking and people are still wanting value, um, but yeah, we've really focused around here about around how it kind of looks more um, maybe like a bit more internally for us personally. But brands are still so important in that evolution of this trend, just making sure, yeah, the value is there and it's reliable and it's like that whole idea of being taken care of. You can trust what's happening. You can trust what's going to happen, what's going to happen to you and elsewhere as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the trust piece. I feel like that you can build campaigns around, Like it reminds me of the Volvo ad that everyone was talking about a while ago, Was it Volvo?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think yes, the safety one yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel like that one is like a really good way to use some of those like ideals and to build out storylines around it.
Speaker 2:Well, that was trend number five. Five for five. Alyssa, thanks for being here and sharing your expertise with us. If you like this and you want to dive deeper into the trend report, as well as our biweekly newsletter, scan Club, which kind of does this in a smaller capacity all year round, every two weeks, make sure you go to scanclubsubstackcom. It'll be linked in our show notes Also, just subscribers get this every two weeks, so it's not just the one-off trend report, but it's something that you can benefit from all year round. If you're listening and you haven't tried youtube yet, make sure you try out youtube so you can see our bright, shining faces and everything we got going on around here. And other than that, you can join us on instagram, tiktok, slide into our dms, let let us know what you're liking, what you want to see more of, and even some of your reactions to these trends that we articulated today. We'd love to hear your thoughts and how you even start to apply them to the work that you're doing, the things you're thinking about.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening.
Speaker 2:Go check out the trend report and, without further ado, Alyssa, do you want to do the honors of ringing the gong? Alyssa, do you want to do the honors of?
Speaker 1:ringing the gong. No pressure, yeah, I do. That was fun, see you later.
Speaker 2:See you next week.