Trends Prediction: How Survival is Shaping Social Interactions, Travel and Diet
Bernstein recently theorised which countries would benefit most from increased internal tourism as a result of the pandemic. The results, discussed here by Skift, may surprise you. This research is fact-based, probable and, best of all, interesting. It is also underpinned by the widely-accepted view that, for the foreseeable future at least, society will be shaped by safety and separation.
At the same time, the pandemic is also prompting us to seek out new and novel ways to connect with others, alongside a renewed desire to place our individual efforts within greater movements and actions.
On the surface, these impulses may seem paradoxical. However, WGSN Insights identifies “The Settler” as a key consumer behaviour to watch over the next few years. Experts in boundary-setting, this consumer group leaves work at the door. They prioritise time for themselves, support nearby business, and care for their local community.
This is bringing about changes in the ways we define sufficiency, survival, community, resilience and reliance. This article will shed light upon some of these changes.
Backed up by examples drawn from the lifestyle, food and beauty sectors, we will also explore some of defining social trends that are shaping the present moment, namely that:
- Brands and businesses are pivoting for survival on a mass scale.
- These pivots are responding to changing consumer behaviours, which are in turn reinforcing them.
- Survivalism and resilience as themes underpinning several key trends, and equally influencing behaviours and buying choices.
We will also predict how these impulses will shape priorities and drive investment in the long term.
(This is the second of a two-part article. You can read the first part here.)
Health and beauty trend: Inner strength / Outer barriers
We spoke exclusively to influential tantra yoga teacher and holistic sex educator Jenny Keane, who predicts that “the medicine of the future is going to be a hybrid form — one in which people take greater responsibility for their own health”. Diagnoses and doctors will still play a part, but Keane meets people becoming increasingly disappointed with top-down approaches. This is driving many to “seek a stronger understanding of how their bodies work” and what works for them, individually and holistically.
Keane’s approach is warm, sex-positive — and wildly popular. Filling gaps within the current health system (particularly for women’s health), Keane offers Tantra yoga classes alongside sexual educational workshops, exploring sex, orgasms, periods and masturbation. Based in her native Ireland, Keane’s teaching moved online during the pandemic, making her reach international.
Keane is part of a growing number of instructors and practitioners who are redefining people’s relationship to their bodies and their self worth. This trend has been accelerated by the current pandemic, partly due to increased time at home for and virtual access to exercise classes.
This is (arguably) democratising and expanding the definitions of fitness, health and wellness. Consider the growing number of body-positive and come-as-you-are workouts online, which we spoke about earlier this year.
This trend also reflects the growing importance of barriers and self-protection in society — which is leading people to reevaluate personal health and hygiene, from the inside out. This is also seen in the following ways:
Warpaint
During the pandemic, militaristic and combative language has been widely adopted in everyday conversation, business psychology, and speeches by world leaders. Observing Direction also points out its enduring influence in athletic and activewear.
Skincare brands and beauty editors are tapping into this trend. Biossance president Catherine Gore highlights skincare’s growing importance “as our largest organ and first line of defense against outside aggressors.” A recent article from Vogue confirms “anti-stress” and “barrier-building” properties as this year’s topmost selling points.
The physical layouts of pharmacies and makeup shops are also changing to create a more individual, private experience for customers. Sephora laid out on their website stores would reopen with “plexiglass barriers” to separate customers, while Boots announced its in-store consultations would need to be booked in advance as they reopened their beauty counters.
The Mask
Grand View Research predicts growth in global facemask sales (both disposable and fashion styles) will continue into at least 2027. After an initial dip as the pandemic took hold, Etsy’s stock recently climbed to record levels partly due to its facemask sales.
Selling PPE brings ethical implications. Boohoo was recently criticised by healthcare workers for selling non-medical masks with skull motifs. However, many brands are finding the balance between profit margins and their civic duty. Making PPE for free, donating to charity — or, at the very least, being very transparent about the materials used (like Edinburgh-based Emily Millichip’s beautiful “Zero Waste” range).
Lifestyle trend: Virtual placemaking
Crisis often accelerates trends. One clear offshoot from the pandemic has been the explosion in digital adoption. Designer Michelle Ogundehin has noted that the advent of streaming has transformed homes into personal gyms, offices and schools. The reliance on tech for connection, shopping and work has blurred the barriers between physical and digital space, bringing the term “phygital” to widespread usage.
With many companies pivoting to remote working long-term, we predict that virtual placemaking will continue to mature and exist alongside in-person events as we enter, to use Ogundehi’s definition, “the next inter-pandemic phase — learning to live with a virus in our midst.”
Consider the success of the following brands, events and individuals that were early adopters in making a virtue of the virtual, such as:
Live(streamed) music events
The Lady Gaga-fronted One World: Together At Home concert raised a total of $127.9 million and (despite some dull moments) was hailed “a tremendous, audacious” and game-changing use of the livestreaming format. Musician Tim Burgess’ Listening Party, where music lovers listen to an album simultaneously, has amassed 16000 Twitter followers in only three months. See the (amazing) future line-up here.
Fashion frontiers
Congolese luxury designer Anifa Mvuemba used masterful VR to display her SS20 collection. With invisible models to represent everywoman and streaming live via IGTV, Mvuemba set a new standard for fashion presentation. This was closely followed by the likes of Dior and Prada.
Isolation influencers
With models unable to travel, many fashion brands also turned to creating visual assets and marketing campaigns remotely. Storq, Zara and Boden were among the first to create isolation influencers shot in their homes, in a move many hailed as “refreshing”.
Connected cuisine
As we reported previously, countless restaurants pivoted and implemented brand new service models in order to survive during lockdown. We saw examples of restaurants making meal kits and recipe cards, supplemented by online content guiding customers to perfect dishes at home.
We predict that more sectors will explore the phygital space, or the interplay between virtual and tangible experience. These examples nod to the future of this:
Digitised dining
NYC-based Junzi Kitchen has created an incredible Distance Dining menu where customers eat “together, apart” via Instagram Live every week. The success of the project has led the Chinese restaurant to declare that “the future of dining is a blended experience between tangible products and virtual experiences”.
Virtual VIP experiences
Events companies have pivoted to Zoom press junkets, replacing immersive installations for blockbuster movie announcements and album drops. This has opened “a whole new market” that could withstand future spikes of the virus, including Hollywood meet-and-greets and acting lessons, and mobile-based coaching and mentoring with NBA players.
Drive-in force
Drive-in events are seeing an unlikely resurgence. Steeped in nostalgia, these events let people enjoy a cultural event together from the safety of their own cars, with sound fed to cars via short-range transmitters. So far this has included films and comedy shows. The problem? They require large amounts of space to work. Petco Park stadium in San Diego has even hosted graduation ceremonies — and classic baseball games.
Food trend: Food = Medicine
Amidst the pandemic, awareness and appreciation of food supply chains — and their pivotal role in survival — has surged, while Google shows that interest in the term “food sovereignty” has reached peak levels.
The last decade could perhaps be summed up as food as fuel, which led to huge rises in snacking, convenience food and pre-exercise eating. While these trends are not going away by any means, the changing definition of wellness and health — which is becoming more inclusive and, perhaps, less vanity-driven — is also bringing about a global change in mindset about nutrition. A new theme is emerging in how people write about nutrition and diet — food as medicine.
Recent research by the World Bank sensitively explores the interrelated links between poverty, poor nutrition and gut health — and how these correlate with worsened coronavirus symptoms, weaker immune systems and chances of survival.
The idea of the preventative and healing powers of what we ingest is also gaining traction in other areas, such as:
Food, harmonious, food!
Against a backdrop of fear, which WGSN highlights as a key consumer sentiment, demand is growing for the “next era” of food and beverages which can help defeat “stress — physical, chemical or biological”.
This new class of superfoods and ingredients are claimed as modern innovations (adaptogens, nootropics), but have deep roots in Chinese and ayurvedic medicine. Expect to see further rises in products claiming to have active healing properties (maca, holy basil, ashwagandha and rhodiola), and ultra-modern twists on well-known varieties (aloe vera, rosemary, ginseng).
Fair water
Water is also an evergreen global concern, compounded by climate chaos and its current value in both growing food and basic sanitisation. “Fairness” in water access is of particular interest, and is driving major worldwide research by World Bank, and a devoted research strand at Stanford looking at the American West.
Stanford researchers have unveiled an efficient (and affordable) method of desalination — the conversion of saltwater to freshwater. Swedish sustainable tech company Wayout has successfully engineered an solar-powered brewing system capable of filtering large amounts of water, considerably reducing plastic waste and greenhouse gas emissions. Best of all, it can be rented by communities through a subscription plan.
Incr-edible Beauty
As we spoke about earlier, skincare messaging is pivoting toward prevention and protection. This can also be seen in the interesting consumer shift toward products with nourishing — and edible — properties. Bio-chemist Alison Cutlan has unveiled Biophile, a new line of clean beauty products based on fermented ingredients, botanicals and superfood extracts.
Cutlan calls the range “biotic broths”, to highlight its healing ingredients, which work with the wearer’s own microbiome. Cutlan’s “broths” reflect a growing turn in the global beauty industry blurring the lines between skincare and food. For now, “beauty snacking” is confined to China — but watch this space. Nestlé is reportedly diversifying its product portfolio to include collagen beverages and beauty products.
