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The Trends That Direct Our Lives (Whether We Like Them Or Not)
Image Credits: https://unsplash.com/photos/yIfEHPZe0SA
Have you noticed orchids are quite popular right now? Or that periwinkle as a color is popping up everywhere? It’s not by chance; it’s by design.
WGSN, the world’s leading consumer trend forecaster, and its sister company Coloro predicted the Orchid Flower as the 2022 color of the year. The vibrant magenta tone has gained popularity across a wide variety of industries, from women’s runway fashion collections to beauty and interior designs.
Despite what many people may believe, it’s not the influencers on TikTok or other social media platforms that directly influence our taste. They get it way down the line. Rather, there are a few key trendmakers that have an outsize influence on everything from the clothes we wear to the colors we paint our houses.
Color of the Year
Each year, Pantone decides the color of the year, which sets the tone for fashion and design. Billions of dollars ride on this as manufacturers make forecasts and decisions about their products. The choice of 2022 is Very Peri:
The same concept applies to scents as well. For instance, the fragrances of Christmas this year were decided on last year. The toys that will be ‘hot’ this year were also decided months ago.
In other words, trends don’t just happen. They are often designed, usually by a small group of companies and/or people. With this in mind, it’s interesting to look behind the color to the zeitgeist: why is a color being chosen?
Pantone says that this year’s color “courageous presence encourages personal inventiveness and creativity.”
In regards to the Orchid Flower, WGSN said, “In a challenging time, this saturated magenta tone creates a sense of positivity and escapism and embodies the dopamine brights trend that has been peaking across industries as we navigate towards a post-Covid world.”
It’s important to watch these trends closely as they have an effect on business. For example, color psychology in marketing and branding is a powerful tool considering 90% of our snap judgments about products are based solely on color.
Being Strategic About Trends
It’s likely that color and other trend forecasting will play an increasingly important role in marketing. The quicker companies can anticipate trends ahead of their competitors, the more likely they will be able to ride the trend wave.
But is every trend worth participating in?
Whether it’s incorporating a certain color in campaigns or participating in the latest social media challenge by jumping on a trend — known as trendjacking — requires a careful and strategic approach. To be successful, it’s important that leveraging a trend or participating in a viral moment feels natural to the company and its audience.
A famous example of a brand seizing the opportunity to successfully trendjack is dating app Keepler. Following the release of Taylor Swift’s 10-minute version of All Too Well, Keepler posted a TikTok of a billboard that said, Call it what it was, Jake”:
@keeplerapp used our entire advertising budget for this 😭 #taylorswift #red #alltoowell #jakegyllenhaal ♬ All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault) – Taylor Swift
The photoshopped billboard referencing Swift’s lyrics ignited a series of subsequent variations of the advertisements commenting on the latest social media trends, including New York’s infamous serial dater, “West Elm Caleb”:
@keeplerapp looking out for the nyc girlies 👀 #westelmcaleb ♬ Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) – Edison Lighthouse
However, brands don’t always get it right. Cinnabon’s Tweet following the passing of Carrie Fisher (which was eventually deleted) serves as a tale of caution:
Many people deemed the Tweet insensitive, accusing Cinnabon of trying to make light of or profit from the passing of beloved actress.
For many brands, hopping on a trend wave is about reaching a wide audience and generating appeal in new ways. Instead of trying to fit your branding into the latest trending topic, a smarter approach is to consider how the trend can fit into your branding. Long-term success is about relevancy, not reach.
If your voice isn’t adding something to the conversation, it likely won’t resonate with your audience. Allocating all your resources toward building campaigns around the latest trend for the sake of getting it in front of as many people as possible isn’t necessarily a solid strategy. It could be a waste of time if the trend doesn’t resonate with your audience.
Social listening — analyzing and assessing the conversations surrounding your brand and industry as a whole for insights and opportunities — can be an effective way to uncover the trends your audience is actually interested in. It can also help brands discover interests and insights regarding what excites their customer base, then identify ways to tie their products or services to them.
In addition to your consumers, it’s important to consider your competitors. What trends are industry competitors engaging with? How are consumers responding?
Timing is key. Looking ahead at trend forecasts can better position and prepare your brand to naturally incorporate rising trends into campaigns and social media presence. By using predictive analytics and thoughtful observations to anticipate incoming trends, you can adjust your marketing strategy so that you’re able to ride the wave of a trend at the perfect time—before it’s overused or tired.
Finally, it’s essential to go beyond the surface level of a trend and examine why it’s resonating with so many people. To truly connect to your audience and leverage trends in meaningful ways, it’s important to dig for the insight behind the need.
For example, to understand the exponential growth of the self care and wellness industries in the last few years, it’s necessary to contextualize it alongside not only the growth of behind products and practices like kombucha, meditation, and skincare, but also the ripple effect that the pandemic has had on the American lifestyle over the past three years.
If not for the amplification of burnout, anxiety, and overall exhaustion people experienced due to COVID, these trends may not still be driving forces.
Exploring a trend and the interest behind it from multiple lenses can inspire an innovative approach with bigger thinking that is both unique and relevant.
Interested in working With RedSky Strategy? We look forward to helping you leverage HumanSight™ and our unique approach to Innovation to gain a deeper understanding of your target and identify relevant trends.