News Flash: Overstimulating content overstimulates people 📰
Plus: Dolly Parton’s new cosmetics line teaches a lesson on brand awareness, and travel dupes take over!
Welcome back, Scanner!
Ahhh, August. It's a beautiful month of slow, summery days, deliciously fresh food and (sometimes) chasing down clients for approvals. We can't hate the OOO game, but our industry isn't slowing down even while we're whipping up a fresh batch of pistachio butter to eat on our patio. Pinterest's Fall Trend Report is out, summery collabs continue to pop up, Sneex are apparently not an April Fools joke and TikTok has published a Holiday Marketing Playbook. Through it all, we've kept our pulse on some unique signals to get on your radar.
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Here we go!
📅 CURRENT
That Creator Who Doesn’t Edit? They’re Strategic, Not Lazy
What’s changing?
Some creators are saying bye-bye to high-production, flashy cuts and editing. These YouTube and TikTok creators are all about a stripped-down look. As Taylor Lorenz reports, social media users have been drowning in “retention-edited content.” A new class of creators has emerged, creating stripped-down content with zero or minimal editing. These “no-edit” creators offer a reprieve from the fatigue of overstimulating, “brain-rot” style videos (think: graphics and sound effects on the screen every couple of seconds, quick scene changes, etc.). And they’re growing in popularity – fast.
Why does it matter?
Our Trend Report noted that “people want less stress, more rest.” This behavioral trend is about removing over-stimulating, attention-needing mediums from our feeds and replacing them with calmer, lower-energy ones. Creators are noticing this and capitalizing on it. We’ve speculated whether longer-form mediums, like blogs and magazines, will have a resurgence. It appears that we are continuing to see inklings of this happening.
What could happen next?
It’s important to remember that our signals don’t only apply to social media. While we know that creators are noticing the success “no edit” content can have, what would it mean more widely for digital marketing? How does this factor into what we know about hooks and content length? What about photography and product direction? Design? Consider your marketing channels and where a no or low edit style might be worth testing!
Scan-o-meter: 📅 📅 📅 📅 / 5
🎯 SPECIFIC
Dolly Parton Launches Makeup Line for Country Girls Who Dream of Glamour
What’s changing?
On August 22, Dolly Parton launched a cosmetics line called “Dolly Beauty.” The line is an extension of her existing fragrance collaboration with Scent Beauty. The first launch includes four rhinestone-clad lipsticks, with names like “Jolene Red” and “Birthday Suit.” The brand notes that additional lip, eye and face products will launch during 2024 and into 2025.
Why does it matter?
Aside from being a master of launching exciting, on-brand collabs, Dolly Parton is also known as an American sweetheart, something so integral to her brand that she extends it to details like product pricing and quality. These lipsticks, sold in bedazzled, luxurious cases (with tons of pigment), are sold at an accessible price compared to many other cosmetics brands ($20 USD each). It’s not her first time caring about the wallets of her buyers. She is not trying to rob anyone during these economically challenging times. Aka: She’s aligned with the lived experiences of her fans (and their need for guaranteed value). As Claire Sisco King, an associate professor of communication studies at Vanderbilt University, states, “It’s really difficult stuff that people experience every day […] So the idea that someone who’s famous could be really nice gives people a sense of hope.”
What could happen next?
Simply making a celebrity brand doesn’t guarantee success. In fact, we’ve been talking for months about how people are currently more focused on quality than we have been in recent years. Credibility needs to be high for a celebrity or major brand to successfully create a new product. Parton is known for being her authentic, glammed self even as trends have changed. Could this indicate that brands that strive for longevity need to narrow in on their identity and pay less attention to trends? It doesn’t sound so far-fetched to us.
Scan-o-meter: 🎯🎯🎯 / 5
😲 SURPRISING
Your Next Travel Destination? Try One of These Dupes
What’s changing?
Looking for your next travel hotspot? We’ll bet that one of your first searches will be on TikTok. TikTok is helping travelers find their next vacation spot, including places that are up-and-coming hotspots. Since 2021, TikTok has seen views on travel content increase 5x. Users increasingly turn to the platform as their search engine instead of just for passive content consumption. We know we’ve made some folders to share our travel inspo. What’s changing, however, is the rise in “destination dupes,” where users share locations that aren’t entirely bombarded by tourists (well, yet).
Why does it matter?
This is interesting to us because it shows UGC's power for marketing experiences. For travel, we want to see before we actually go. When we think of “dupes,” most people think of purses/clothes/makeup and not actual places. But with the power of search, these less expensive, less crowded, less known locations are now easily discovered. It’s a bit of an odd terminology choice, applying “dupe” culture to locations or experiences, and it’s one we’re keeping our eyes on.
What could happen next?
Aside from TikTok continuing to grow as a travel search engine, where could this “dupe” culture spread next? When we think of our trend around guaranteed value, we know people are looking for some level of certainty before they spend their hard-earned money. Coupled with the desire to feel something, we know there’s a need for unique and exhilarating experiences. Does social media open us up to more options (we wouldn’t have considered before), or will we continue to travel to the same places (like everyone in Italy last year)? Travel aside, where else might we see “dupes” pop up?
Scan-o-meter: 😲😲😲 / 5
🔍 TREND REPORT IRL
Updates from our Trend Forecast
We loved sharing our first Trend Report with you back in January. As the year goes on, we’ll continue investigating signals that further the conversation around our forecast. Here’s what we’re watching this week:
People want guaranteed value: Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Kerry Washington and more celebs play an ‘influential’ role in voter turnout.
People want close friends only: TikTok creates group chats for up to 32 people.
People want a whole new world: Adidas’ avatar launch signals the brand’s continued confidence in Web3.
Want more trend news? Check out our Trend Report: Update!
🤔 BEFORE YOU GO
To help keep these signals top-of-mind, we share 1 question to ask yourself (or your team) in each edition. Your question to mull on this week is:
See you next time 👋