04 Jul 2023
This quarter, we explore culture and content through the lens of the comfort influ...
Read MoreTikTok Trends Promoting Body Positivity
– 316.K videos using the Twenty One Pilots song.
– 43.5M views of the #MyTaseInMusicIsYourFace.
– Embracing all body types with ‘sharing my actual weight’ trend.
Two recent TikTok trends in particular are challenging unrealistic perceptions and expectations of beauty and playing into the broader movement we’ve been seeing for more real, raw and authentic content.
‘My taste in music is your face’ – Users are sharing a video selfie with the ‘enhance’ filter applied (think big lashes, feline flick of eyeliner) along to the song Tear in my Heart by Twenty One Pilots. At the section of lyrics ‘my taste in music is your face’, users reveal what their actual face looks like without the filter, celebrating their no-make-up look.
‘Sharing my actual weight’ – Users are sharing their exact weights and body types in order to shift the focus from numbers and show that the weight on the scale could look totally different on various heights and figures, emphasising that no two bodies are the same. A particular thread of videos focusses on women over 200lbs sharing their actual weight, to normalise what is considered a larger body type.
Both trends illustrate the potential of social media to be a force for good and championing body positivity, empowering creators and users to embrace their natural beauty. This desire for realness and a movement away from this heavily filtered ‘highlights reel’ of social media is something for brands and creators to be aware of when creating content of their own.
Source: TikTok
Pinterest x Women's Health
Searches for ‘period care’ are up over 9x and ‘period hacks for school’ are up 4x.
The increased demand for menstruation information has led to Pinterest establishing a list of key sources of women’s health education, ensuring people can find relevant resources and insight in the app.
It’s interesting to note the rise in activity around women’s health in the Pinterest app, with more Pinners now relying on the app for a broader range of purposes, outside of just product discovery – something worth considering for marketers as well.
Source: https://newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/pinners-are-turning-to-pinterest-for-period-proud-inspiration
April Fools - A brand marketing ploy
Light-hearted and comedic content from brands driving engagement.
JD Sports achieved their most liked tweet ever.
Although an annual trend, it’s important to note how brands can use this date to their advantage, to create controversy and generate traffic to site; illustrating that light-hearted and comedic content can successfully drive high engagement.
Good examples from this year include sustainable fitness wear brand, TALA who announced the latest launch ‘NightFlex‘, a range of sexy gym wear and JD Sports who executed a Twitter prank which ended up being their most liked tweet ever, formed totally from organic interactions.
Source: Instagram 2022, Twitter 2022
Futurestalgia
9 in 10 millennials say they reminisce almost always.
Modern reworks of nostalgic relics of the past are driving brand marketing and culture.
Futurestalgia is a trend that is still echoing its way through the cultural landscape involving a modern reworking of nostalgic relics of the past. We are seeing this trend continuously explored in all facets of brand marketing and culture, beyond just the social content crazes of GenZ on TikTok recreating 90s and 00s fashion looks.
Examples include Dua Lipa’s Grammy outfit – originally worn by supermodel Chrissy Turlington on the AW92 runway 30 years ago- , Ganni’s latest brand collaboration with 00s wardrobe staple Juicy Couture – now with size inclusive velour tracksuits and logo’d items – and the recent promotion of the new series of Derry Girls using reworked graphics from Smash Hits magazine (a title most popular in the late 90s, early 00s).
Source: YouGov, Campaign Live, Vogue Instagram
TikTok Stars are the New Faces of Fashion
Khaby Lame x BOSS
Francis Bourgeois x Gucci x North Face
Francis Bourgeois x Paul Smith
TikTok is increasingly being used as platform for discovering new talent across all verticals. Starting primarily in music and entertainment, the platform is now a hub for fashion muses and models for brands who want to tap into a Gen Z audience.
Khaby Lame, the second most-followed creator on TikTok with 136.2 million followers, has partnered with Hugo Boss on a multiyear deal alongside industry veterans like Kendall Jenner, Hailey Beiber, Joan Smalls, Chris Hemsworth and Anthony Joshua – an extremely significant partnership for a digital creator.
Frances Bourgeois, beloved trainspotter with 2.4 million followers, starred in the latest campaign for Gucci x North Face and is now the lead of a new Paul Smith campaign “What makes you happy” alongside other creators.
These partnerships show the growing importance for brand campaigns that include digital creators over traditional music and film celebrities, highlighting and celebrating individuality, unique passions and quirky personalities.
Discovering the Gaming Creators of Tomorrow
YouTube launches $100,000-prize uTure global competition show to find the next big gaming creator.
YouTube is continuing the trend of social platforms being used as incubators for emerging creative talent and have launched their global competition, uTure. The competition allows aspiring digital stars to submit entries as YouTube Shorts with the hashtag uTureShow. The 10 who are successful in selection for the contest will compete in weekly content challenges to win the top prize. uTure showcases the importance YouTube has for creators, gives a push on its YouTube Shorts format against rival TikTok, and highlights the ever-growing relevance of gaming and gaming creators.
Source: YouTube
Brands Adopting the Metaverse
5% of people will spend at least 1 hour per day in the metaverse by 2026.
Zara launches the ‘Lime Glam’ collection.
LEGO partners with Epic Games to make a safe and fun metaverse for children and families.
A recent Gartner report estimated that 5% of people will spend at least 1 hour per day in the metaverse by 2026. It’s clear that this is where consumers will be heading so brands are already entering the Metaverse with unique creative experiences to engage with audiences. And it’s not just high-fashion brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton who have entered the space but high-street retailers like Zara with the ‘Lime Glam’ limited edition collection, beauty brands like Charlotte Tilbury with the launch of their pillow talk lipstick, sportswear giants Nike and Adidas and even LEGO which recently announced a partnership with Epic games to shape the future of the metaverse to make it safe and fun for children and families.
Source: Gartner
NFT's x Instagram and Facebook
NFTs are set to get another boost, with a new report suggesting that Meta is about to unveil its NFT trading and display plans.
Meta plans to launch a pilot for posting and sharing NFTs on Facebook in mid-May. Facebook will be looking to facilitate dedicated NFT communities and become more of a destination for certain holders and their discussions. Right now, most NFT communities are hosted on Discord, where whitelisting and other elements take place. But maybe Facebook can become the new home base for such conversation and communities, and ideally take some of that engagement back to its apps, with more dedicated, integrated NFT discussion and community features, which, aligned with Facebook’s scale, could be an attractive lure for NFT projects. Meta’s ultimate aim is to encourage eCommerce within the metaverse.
Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/nfts-are-coming-to-facebook-and-instagram-whether-you-like-them-or-not/621719/
Virtual Influencers
58% of social media users follow at least 1 virtual influencer.
35% of social media users on average said they have already bought a product or service promoted by a virtual influencer.
With digital products also on the rise via interest in NFTs and other trends, virtual influencers are here to stay with the annual growth rate predicted to exceed 26% until 2025.
Source: The Influencer Marketing Factory
