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.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to Big Things .
I'm Mitzi.
This is Mike.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
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 thesignals that we're seeing that
could inform the future ofdigital marketing.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Today on the show, we're welcoming our first ever
guest on Big Things.
It's Alyssa Juhasz.
Alyssa is our very own creativedirector and Arcade's resident
futurist, and today we'retalking to her all about our
brand new trend report whatdigital audiences really want in
2025.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Alyssa is a visual designer and throughout her
career she's collaborated withexciting, innovative brands,
engaging in meaningful work fromonline creators to Nike to the
United Nations, helping movethem from an idea to a
compelling result.
She has a master's in strategicforesight and innovation, which
is an exciting aspect of whatwe're going to get into today

(01:02):
with her and what she brings toArcade in general.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
I'm really excited about this episode because it's
going to be summarizing a lot ofthe work we've been doing all
year, but I really feel likeit'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 valuabletoo.
Before we get into the episode,we want to remind you to
subscribe and leave a review ifyou enjoy the show.
You can catch a show everyFriday on YouTube and all

(01:26):
streaming platforms.
Also, our trend report, whichwe talk about, can be viewed on
Substack and it's available forfree at the link in our bio.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Without further ado, let's welcome Alyssa.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Welcome to Big Things , Alyssa.
You're our very first guest.
We're so happy to have you.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
We've got a lot to unpack today, but before we
start discussing the actualtrends, I really want to make
sure that we set the stageproperly and help people
understand what this processlooks like to get where we got.
So, for our listeners and ouraudience, can you just unpack a
little bit about how we get tothis trend report and
specifically what a futuristdoes?

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yes, definitely.
So I feel like the futuristquestion is kind of a big
question but overall, yeah,futurist is looking for futures
for future, opportunities forfuture innovations, challenges
ahead, and so a lot of times,especially in the space where

(02:30):
people are actually engagingwith like actual futurists, it's
a lot of times in governmentand like public sector, in
policy and then technology.
For sure, those are who haveengaged with them in the past
and it's often to really solvecomplex problems, to understand
what's coming and the differentways that we can react to them.

(02:51):
So post-pandemic futurethinking has become really,
really important because we'vedefinitely seen that, you know,
leading up to the pandemic,there was a lot of larger
agencies, organizations thinkingabout these, like these, like
wild things that are potentiallyhappening like a pandemic, but
a lot of smaller agencies orsmaller organizations people

(03:14):
weren't necessarily thinkingabout that.
So post-pandemic futuresthinking has become a lot more
mainstream, a lot more peopleare engaging it, and so that's
kind of what a futurist does.
I don't know.
Did that answer the question?

Speaker 2 (03:26):
yeah, 100, and I think ever since you introduced
it to us, it's really opened oureyes to just a different way of
thinking it.
It can sound, I think,intimidating to think that
someone could officially becalled a futurist and like what
the what the process can looklike, but I think for for us, as
we've started to understandwhat the practice is like, it's

(03:47):
also just it influences the waywe think about anything.
So I'm really excited to unpackthis a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, and I think before we started working
together, I didn't know what afuturist was.
I'm sure lots of people maybearen't familiar with it either,
but I think what you walked usthrough is kind of like this
like methodology of approachingcontent, and most of us, if you
work in social or digitalmarketing, you're consuming a
lot of content, even like if youdon't realize it.

(04:15):
Every time you open your phone,every time you look at social
media, anything like is contentand a lot of those things end up
being signals.
So can you walk us through whatare signals and what's the
methodology behind?
How you kind of like look tothe future?

Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, definitely, and even just to go back to the
futurist question, it's exactlywhat you said.
We're using all these differentmethodologies Futurists will
use, like different things, butit's about being not reactionary
.
It's about you know, havingthat space to understand what's
coming next.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Next, so you aren't surprised by it, so you know
what to do, which is hugebecause I think in our industry
we're like we're, we're good onthe fly, we're used to reacting
to trends, but this isn't that.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
This is like looking ahead, basically taking in
everything we've seen and we'veconsumed and having more of a
strategic and critical eye andidentifying what these could
point to yeah, for me I feellike it's had a calming effect,
like a it's like a stabilizingprocess, so that instead of
feeling like I'm just like kindof jumping at whatever jumps out

(05:21):
at me or defending againstwhatever comes my way, it's like
a more zoomed out macro view ofthe landscape within which I
exist, so that I can betteranticipate the things that I
need to pay attention to and thethings that I can just kind of
let pass me by.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
Amazing, yeah, and that's like what it is.
So for what we've been doingwith our team is called scanning
or, like, in futures thinking,they call it horizon scanning,
but for us, for our purposes, wecan just call it scanning, and
that's where we're looking atsignals.
So for us, like you said, youcan see signals everywhere.
We're probably all consumingthem at all the time, and so

(05:58):
what our practice at Arcade isto really like stop and start to
interrogate the things thatwe're looking at and understand
you know what's happening, whatwill happen next.
So signals in general areusually well.
What I tell the team is we wantsignals that are current, are
surprising and specific.
So current being things thatare happening now.

(06:20):
We don't necessarily want toknow what's happening five years
ago or even even sometimes aago, six months ago feels dated.
So we want to sort of seewhat's happening now, surprising
.
So, and yeah, these signalsaren't necessarily like huge,
like everyone's doing it, andthat's the point.
So surprising could feelsurprising to you, surprising to

(06:42):
me, maybe not surprising toeveryone on the team, and that's
okay.
So they're like there arethings that make you maybe pause
, make you think, maybe make yougo.
Okay, what's happening here?
And then um, so current,surprising and specific, yeah,
um.
And then specific is we want toreally narrow in, so a lot of
like it being um, more of aspecific headline and that one's

(07:04):
like a little bit trickier.
But even for us, we frame itaround digital marketing.
So we're really always tryingto look at our signals through
that lens of, like digitalmarketing, what's happening here
and how it could impact that.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Right.
So a signal can be likeanything, like it could be a
news story, it could be anInstagram post, it could be a
campaign, it could be anInstagram post, it could be a
campaign, it could be a law.
So I think all of us well, aswe were kind of doing signal
scanning without knowing what itwas before, we worked with you
and it was funny because youreally schooled us and educated

(07:39):
us and it helped us turn thatattention to something
productive and focused, which isreally cool.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, it's exactly like you said.
So a signal is it's like asmall innovation, it's something
changing.
You want to make sure that asignal or you know it's a signal
because there's some type ofmovement, so it could be
decelerating, accelerating, butthere's some change happening
there, so that's important.
So, yeah, like you said, a law,an event like a market strategy

(08:08):
, a new policy, a headline, atweet if those are even
happening anymore yeah, yeah,fancy ask, yeah.
So all of that can be a signaland that you can start to kind
of, you know, compile thesesignals together to start to see
patterns.
And I think that's the like somuch of us are doing, that we're

(08:29):
so much, so many of us areonline, we're looking at things,
we're reading things all thetime, but it's about putting
these signals together andstarting to see the patterns,
and that's what we've been doingat Arcade.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
I like it.
I think the movement thing waseye-opening for me.
But even than that, the ideathat something can be a signal
just as much if it'sdecelerating, if it shows
deceleration as much as if itshows acceleration, kind of side
by side with crypto.
And then, as I think, bitcoinespecially, but crypto in
general, has continued toaccelerate, but maybe NFTs have

(09:10):
started to decelerate, andthat's not to say that they
won't become popular again, butit's important, I think, for us
to recognize that those types ofmovements are just as important
and notable.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, exactly, and it's like that whole
interrogation of the signal.
So we always ask like what'schanging, why does it matter?
And what could happen next.
So even for nfts, sure it'sdecelerating, but like why?
And like what's changed, why isthe change happening?
And if they decelerate, whatcould happen?
And then we're even seeing likelittle blips of like nft, but

(09:43):
like why, right?
So we can start to kind of askwhy and what's happening as well
.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Because they're just like uncool and like hard to
understand.
Thank God they're notaccelerating, because I could
not wrap my head around NFTs.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Well, I think I'm not an expert in NFTs but from the
little I know about it, I thinkthat it still could accelerate
again.
But I feel like it was harderto understand for, like people,
the general person, to wrap themtheir head around.
How do I value something like a, like a codified piece of art,
whereas it's easier tocomprehend how you might value

(10:17):
another type of digital currency, you know, because it's more,
that's more supply and demand.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
But yeah, I don't know, I think that it's tbd, but
I think that there's still theopportunity as you know, the
metaverse slowly develops andmaterializes that this could be
a thing in the future okay andI'm not even an nft fan, so I'm
not trying to make it happenwell, we're talking about
signals today, because we'veused those signals, we've been

(10:44):
tracking those signals all yearround and we, you've and morgan
shout out to morgan, who is abig partner in getting this
trend report live.
She wrote most of it and doesan amazing job, um, but you and
with morgan, like put together,took all these signals and
started grouping them right.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Yeah, so we meet regularly as a team.
We're looking at signals andthat's also another thing that's
important about scanning is notdoing it alone.
So having other people, otherexperiences, other biases, all
coming together, looking atsignals together.
Because, you know, we can haveour own ideas of what's

(11:26):
happening but it might be basedon our own lived experience
that's different from otherpeople and different from the
other signals that other peopleare looking at.
So that's the beauty of uscoming together at Arcade to
like, look at them weekly ormonthly and talk about the
signals that we're looking at.
So we do that already regularlyas a team.
We're cataloging all of those.
Then we started to, in advanceof this report, started to bring

(11:50):
them together along with othersignals, things that we're
seeing, and start to, yeah,group them together, synthesize
them, start to understand, seethe patterns that are emerging
and really just even interrogatethe 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 beingmy uh partner in all of this,

(12:13):
and um has been such a joy towork with her and we also work
on the newsletter, so even justthat work together has really um
come into the play with thisyeah, and if people don't know,
we have a newsletter.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
We send it out every two weeks.
It's called Scan Club and we'vegot about 3000 subscribers so
far.
We've been doing it for maybe ayear and a half and it's
awesome.
And for me, I think, beyond themonthly touch points we have
together as a team, to talk justreally in an unpolished way
about some of the signals thatwe're seeing, it's really cool.

(12:45):
I think it's like the next stepfor me to see the newsletter
come out because I read it tooas a reader and to see how these
just random bits of informationthat we're processing together
and, to your point,interrogating together, start to
form bigger pictures and biggermovements and and it kind of
exposed their connections.
So I think if you haven'tsubscribed already, make sure

(13:07):
that you are and, uh, you canride along on this journey with
us and even maybe play a smallpart in the next trend report.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Totally.
I love promoting scan clubbecause I'm so proud of it and I
didn't do it, you know it'slike doesn't feel weird to
promote something that I'm notpart of it.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Scan clubsubstackcom.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, there, it is One thing I wanted to clarify.
So obviously a lot of us canget in the trap of just like
scrolling and doom scrolling.
Explain how you know absorbinginformation might be different
than scanning.
It's a bit more active, right Ahundred percent.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, and I've actually even been thinking
about that lately because I'mtrying to be more healthy with
my online habits and not doomscrolling.
So, yes, it's a lot more active.
You're not just consuming itjust to consume, you're asking
questions of it.
So it's the whole thing of likewhat's changing, why does this

(14:05):
matter and what could happennext.
So, yeah, I think it's thatactive um nature of it.
You're not just kind of lettingit come, I don't know, into
your brain, into who you are orwhatever.
You're like looking at it moreand like active and trying to
like see the pattern, see themovement as well.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
I do find to that point like there's definitely
times when I'm more proactivelylooking for things, but then
also after you start to trainyour brain to think about those
things and then you actuallycall out or like, notice
specific signals, I think othertimes when I'm not necessarily
as actively scanning, my brainstill knows to recognize things

(14:43):
that connect to the signals thatI've noticed before.
So that that's kind of cool too, just to see how your brain
starts totally.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
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 alsokeeping in mind some of the
trends that we've outlined.
Like I think if someone goes tothis report here's and like
kind of thinks about thesetrends, they'll start seeing
signals that support thosetrends in just like everyday
life.
Okay, so we're going to breakdown every trend from our new

(15:11):
trend report, but before we do,I want to be clear that you've
helped us identify what trendsare, and they're different than
what the internet says.
Trends are like.
I think we've all heard trendsand we've heard it related to
TikTok trends.
Is this a report about TikToktrends?

Speaker 3 (15:26):
No, so, yeah, tiktok trends you're right here today,
gone tomorrow.
This is where a lot of thatlike stress and, like you know,
doom scrolling or just like theanxiety that can come online and
maybe even as marketers likeyou're seeing all these trends
coming.
They're coming so fast you feellike you can't even jump on
anything because they're heretoday, gone tomorrow.

(15:47):
So what we're looking at,though, is we're looking at
trends that have longevity, sothey're probably between three,
maybe even eight years, butlet's, let's for, like our
purposes, we'll say they'rearound like three years, right?
Other TikTok trends can be a lotfaster.
It can be weeks, it can bemonths, it can be days, and then

(16:10):
we also want to think aboutfads, so we're not looking at
fads.
Fads, again, would fallprobably a bit more around the
TikTok trends, so those oftenare like one to two years.
And, yeah, I think that we'rejust looking at things that are
a bit more with long-termimpacts.
Our short-term signals are likeladdering up to these larger

(16:33):
trends that have long-termimpacts and that are really
thinking about things with a bitmore longevity.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Thank, god right, this is not a TikTok trend
report.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, I think it's.
That's not to discount like thethings that are happening on
TikTok, though, because I thinkdefinitely even some of the
micro trends we see on thatplatform or on Instagram can
even be signals in and ofthemselves, and we can ask
questions about those things andlearn what we need to learn
from them, or even sometimeschoose to react to them.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Yes.
But I think it's just havingmore of a measured kind of like.
I think you've actuallyvalidated us so much with like
giving us an opportunity to usesocial to help us think

(17:29):
critically and think more biggerabout like okay, this, this
kind of TikTok video is trending.
Why?
What does it mean?
Why do people all want someoneto pay their mortgage?
Like what could that that pointto?
And like does that haveanything to do with like us as a
society and what we need rightnow?
And sometimes the answer is yes, which I'm excited to.

(17:51):
That's a little teaser for you,because that is connected to
one of our trends.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Nice.
And before we get into thetrends themselves, I want to say
too that as an agency and asmarketers, that this practice
and process has been somethingthat we actually bring into our
client work.
It's not just something that wekind of like, sensationalize and
get excited about but then moveon and back to our typical
content planning practices.
But we've been, we've been ableto start to work this into the

(18:16):
way that we think about digitalstrategy at the brand level,
thinking about the types ofcontent that we're sharing, um,
in light of some of the trendsthat we begin to map together
from the signals that werecognize.
It also can be useful forcoming up with campaign ideas,
or maybe even not the ideaitself, but the way that it's
executed or delivered or whereyou do it or what the tone is.

(18:37):
And I think having thisforesight practice allows us.
I guess you could look at itone of two ways.
In some ways, it feels like itreduces risk because we have a
better sense of what the futureholds 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

(19:00):
care about right now and the waythey're moving and the
decisions that they're makingand the values that they hold.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Totally, it's a way to future-proof your strategy.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah that was so good Cool.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
Good thing we're recording.
Agreed.
Okay, should we get into theactual trends?

Speaker 2 (19:18):
Let's do it.
I can cue up the first trend.
I feel like this is a bigreveal, but, um, the first one
is people want to be seen.
So, alyssa, that can feel orsound like a whole bunch of
different things, because it'sit's, uh, at a pretty high level
, but can you help us unpack alittle bit about how we arrived

(19:38):
at that?

Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yeah, definitely, and I think also I want to just
quickly take a step back in thatwe'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 areliving in that, at it around the

(20:04):
frame of digital marketing.
But it's so important to belooking at signals, not just in
marketing, not just in thecreative world, not just in
media, etc.
We need to be looking moreglobally and that's what we did,
and so a lot of these trendsare coming out of that as well.
So, yes, people want to be seen.
So that's really around howwe're really thinking about
highlighting the growing demandfor personalized, culturally

(20:27):
aware, like hyper niche that'sreally recognizing and valuing
individual identities andexperiences.
So in that, we're seeing thatpeople are really wanting
products and content that feelbespoke representation across
demographics, personalizationaround experiences, age

(20:49):
diversity in campaigns,inclusivity around gender and
body types and acknowledgementof cultural backgrounds one of
the signals that felt like soclearly connected to this trend
is how youtube.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
They launched um, so sorry, what I mean was pinterest
.
They launched their new bodytype ranges to deliver better,
more inclusive results.
So if I'm looking for a youknow hairstyle that suits my
hair type or texture, you canlike prescribe what your type is

(21:24):
and then they'll give yousearch results based on that.
So if your hair is naturallycurly, like, this haircut works
better for that type of hair, orif it's like coarse or whatever
, like I love, I feel like thisthat whole innovation and it's a
technology innovation is asignal that ladders up to this
kind of trend.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, definitely, and that's I think it's the
advancements in technology thatare 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 (22:01):
to really like speak to their audience one that I can
think of, though, um, it's lessrecent I feel like I don't know
how long this brand has beenaround, but it was a big
decision that they made.
Um, that didn't leveragetechnology, but it was good
American jeans and they decidedto shoot a model in every
different size of their jeansfor their e-com store.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
The first brand to ever do that.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah, where most brands would just shoot the pant
on what they perceived to bethe ideal model and the ideal
size and then they just showproduct photos of the rest of
the sizes, and that made waves,you know, and I think that's a
cool example of like a brandjust getting it and choosing to
put in the effort to personalizethe experience for every

(22:43):
customer.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
I think this trend also points to not just like
diversity and inclusion, butalso to like niche communities,
and I think McDonald's is like agreat brand that does this
really well.
They really lean into like thatniche community and just like
double down on it, even if itdoesn't apply to like their mass

(23:06):
consumer base.
They're like we pick this Idon't even know like I can't
think of an example right nowand we're just gonna like really
give that community what theyneed and how, and then we want
them to feel seen in thiscampaign yeah, I think that was
the uh McDonald's one where itwas a bit more anime, yeah,

(23:29):
which is so cool.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
Like I love seeing brands or like I love this trend
in that it's speaking to thosesmaller communities within your
community and and giving themthe importance and believing
that they deserve to be spokento just as much as, like the
widespread mainstream a bit moregeneric, it's kind of like
seeing every single person.

(23:50):
So I think people are reallywanting that, I think in general
, and then also seeing that inthe content they're looking at
and the communities they're apart of and the marketing that's
being targeted to them.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
For sure.
We do have a variety ofdifferent signals or references
that connect to each of thesetrends, and we'll share them in
the show notes afterwards, justso everybody knows.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
Totally.
Should we move on to the nextone?
Let's do it Okay.
Trend two people want realness.
How can we keep it real thisyear, alyssa?

Speaker 3 (24:22):
Oh, good question.
Yeah, so this trend is a funone.
So it really is reflecting ashift towards real and
human-centered content andstorytelling.
So it's a bit of a rejection.
So AI, right, ai is likegetting shoved down everyone's
throats, like it's everywhere.

(24:42):
It's happening, whether youlike it or not.
People are really jumping onboard of that.
A lot of content, a lot of youknow video photos are really
going into that chat GPT, likeyou can.
People are using that to writetheir content.
So it is a sort of a rejectionof that.
So people are wanting genuineconnection, relatability and

(25:03):
just like real over polish.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Love it.
So you're saying AI is out,it's not a trend, just kidding?
No, that's not what you'resaying at all.
It just means that people arestarting to crave, like that,
human human touch.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
yeah or just like, uh , understanding or seeing what
is out there, that is ai andjust wanting the opposite.
So if I'm looking at content,if I'm looking at a video, I
want to know that a real humanmade this, or a team of humans
made this, I, I I'm gonna bemore interested in that versus,
you know know, it just beingcomputer generated.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
I was going to say I think it absolutely is a
reaction to AI, but I feel likethere's more to it than that too
.
Like even from when you had kindof brought some of these trends
to us in the first place withthe rough draft.
I remember you mentioning thatpeople will want the mess, and
that's kind of resonated with me, even more than just saying we
want something that's made by aperson.

(26:00):
I think, even as creators andbrands get smarter and better at
doing more and creating abetter production with less, I
feel like there's still a desirefrom audiences people that are
actually consuming content Ifeel like there's still a desire
from audiences, like peoplethat are actually consuming
content, to just see the truth,you know, and take away some of
these layers of productionquality and just give us the

(26:22):
real, honest story.
And I find that I'm reacting tothat and that's even why I
still find myself spending timeon a crazy like polarized place,
but it's so raw and real, youknow, and and I think there's
something to that, even thoughit's a bit scary and and
tumultuous to be on thatplatform sometimes at the same

(26:43):
time.
So I just wanted to point thatout.
You mentioned people overpolish, and I think that's
absolutely true.
Ai aside that, um, your storycould mean a lot to people
without having to make itperfect.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, I feel like this yearwe're going to see a lot of
brands lean into that, liketelling personal stories, like
real, like relatable stories,not like marketing campaigns
where it's like a perfect, liketied up in a bow, it's like
stuff that makes you feelsomething and it's going to like
connect you back to humanity.
I've already seen like somebrands kind of dabble in that

(27:19):
and that, you know, has alwaysresonated.
This isn't a new thing, but Ithink what you're saying is like
we we're starting to crave thateven 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 (27:35):
Yeah, exactly, and this one is where kind of sports
really play in a big role aswell.
Like that unscripted moments tocheer for, moments to like that
don't feel created or produced.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
Or the underdog winning the game.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
Exactly, sports is the new reality TV.
Like it is so real, it's likeyou can't make that stuff up,
like when you understand thestories.
I've like really just been soexcited about getting into
sports because there's so manystorylines, there's players,
there's coaches, there'sbusiness like it has all of
those layers and it happensevery week and I think it's
really cool to that point.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
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 abasketball court.
Now there's, I think, as theindustry and different brands
and even the players themselvesreact to what people seem to
engage with or respond to.
Now we're starting to actuallysee their backstory and their

(28:32):
life at home, or theirsignificant other, or that side
project that they have, or theillness that they've been
battling with or things likethat loss that they've
experienced and that adds somuch more color to the story.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
Yeah, and all the unscripted stuff, like I'm
seeing and I think we're evenworking on some campaigns where
we're starting to make upplayers and even that, just like
getting their commentary, thereal stuff, like the on the fly
stuff this happened and what didthey say like that in itself is
a moment that people are reallyexcited about fun more of that

(29:03):
is that all we have to say abouttrend two.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
Anything else, we can keep it rolling.
Trend three is that people wantshared moments, so let's get a
high level summary of what thatmeans.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
Yeah.
So this one's interestingbecause it's definitely a
continuation from last year,what we're seeing with, like the
Big Era's tour and likeBeyonce's tour and like all of
these things.
But this one's really aroundthe collective experience that
fosters connection andparticipation, and especially

(29:36):
when you can take um, when thisexperience can be amplified
through social media or and youcan just feel a part of that
larger cultural moment.
So even if you didn't go to theeras tour, there's like still
so much that you could have beena 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'recoming together and we can

(29:57):
really get connected.
So there's a lot of fandoms,niche groups and creating more
moments of monoculture.
So monoculture is really it'sbeen hard to be a part of
because of social media, becauseof all the different areas, but
creating these larger momentsthat you can be a part of
because of social media, becauseof all the different areas, but
creating these larger momentsthat you can be a part of, yeah,

(30:17):
I'm not as sifty, but even Iwanted to go to the Arrows tour
because everyone was there.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
I'm hoping we get that same energy this year if
Beyonce announces her tour, so Ithink I'm gonna take Mike.
I've gone me yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
I think you, I think it's time, you and I just like
production quality would be so Imean, I have been to her
concerts and yeah, it'sincredible, yeah so what you're
saying is like people are arelooking for things that they can
share on social media yeah andshare together.
So even let's say again oh, Idon't want to keep using Taylor,
but but like the friendshipbracelets, like being able to

(30:55):
share that and people could evenbe doing that when they weren't
on at the tour but then sharingthings online, being a part of
it online we're also seeing,like some of our signals were
around, like book clubs, likerun groups, different things
like that where you can be apart of the smaller group and
then share it online and be apart of something bigger online.
So it's even small groupsladdering up to like the larger

(31:19):
group or obviously like theselarge, huge moments, um, even
coming down into smaller,smaller moments.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yeah, and I feel like like the an easy example would
be the Jake Paul Mike Tysonfight, and that was a huge
moment that people allexperienced together.
But I feel like it was a momentin the sense of the fight, but
then also there's this likeshared experience that people
had with how bad the stream wastoo, and like that was a huge
part of the discourse.
Obviously, that wasn'tNetflix's desired outcome, but

(31:46):
even in that sense, when thingsgo right or when things go wrong
, there's an opportunity forpeople to experience it together
in real time.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
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 thinklive stream is such a great
signal for this.
You know, obviously it can alsobe speaking to sports and
different things like that thatare really rising up.
I mean, sports have always beenbig, but they're just so much
in culture and they're infusingin so many different areas.

(32:13):
But the cool thing about livestreaming is, yeah, it's these
moments that we're experiencingtogether and then we can jump
online and we're all talkingabout it together and we're
creating this like really likefun moment, most of the time
together, online and evenoffline, like you're going and
talking and having coffee withfriends and you're all talking

(32:33):
about the same thing.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
And maybe it's not a fun moment sometimes Maybe it's
a unifying moment, like I itmade me think of.
I saw on social media there wasa live stream happening.
I feel like it was maybe FaZe.
He's like a big streamer, butthey were doing a live stream
and he had a couple otherstreamers on with him and then
they all got the emergency alertat the same time for the la

(32:56):
fires, the pacific palisades one, and they were like opening
their phones while they're onthe stream, like showing each
other, being like what do we do,and it seemed like a moment
where they're like it kind oftook them out of what they were
experiencing, but it wasrelevant to all of them at the
same time and even a lot of thepeople that were watching the
stream.
So has lots of different ways.
I think there's also likesmaller ways that brands can tap

(33:16):
into this, like um.
One feature I noticed morerecently on the zone which is a
way for at least for canadiansto stream um, like nfl sunday
ticket and stuff like that.
That's how I watch footballgames.
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 onyour phone.

(33:38):
In the DAZN app they have alive chat function that opens
when you pick which stream youwant to watch, and there's a
bunch of people like reacting todifferent 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 aroundthis specific game likely
they're fans of these specificteams and give them the

(33:58):
opportunity to react together?

Speaker 1 (34:01):
yeah, and I feel like I was just thinking too about
like brands and how they canparticipate in things like this,
because you've you've mentionedlike there's a bigger movement
happening online that you canparticipate in a smaller way in
your own local space.
So, like run clubs are goodexample, like there's run clubs
are a very popular thing inevery single city.
You can do them here.
And then you also talked aboutbook clubs, which is exciting.

(34:24):
Um, so for brands, like that'sa way they could probably
participate in something bigger,just see what's happening
that's bigger and find a way todo it in their own way, like in
a smaller scale.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
Yeah, exactly Like bringing that larger, like macro
view or macro event, and thenbringing it and being able to be
more localized to which, thenagain, like the cool thing about
this is, we start to see thepersonalized trend from.
You know, people want to beseen moving into the shared
moments and we can start to,like you know, put these trends

(35:00):
together, you know, shake themaround and create these ideas
that really speak to more peopleand, um, really speak to like
what's happening out there aswell, like those lookalike
contests.
I feel like that applies to bothtrends.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
People like I look like Bradley Cooper and I want
to be recognized for it.
But I'm not saying I do, butI'm just using like a random
Cooper and I want to berecognized for it.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
I'm not saying I do, but I'm just using like a random
person.
I want to meet more people thatlook like Bradley too.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
I want to just go see a bunch of Bradleys.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
Yeah, and just like joke about it together.
You know, I feel like itscratches both surfaces.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Right, and I'm glad you brought that up, because one
thing that I was thinking ofwhen we were talking about this
trend and how it is, how maybelike the direction here is to
think bigger and try to hop intothat, but it's and not be niche
, you know, because the firsttrend is like about niche and
being allowing people to feelseen in their content, even if
it is by zeroing in on nichecommunities.

(35:48):
But it's kind of like the twoof them combined can be really
strong too.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
So it's not like picking one of these and laying
in because there is, there canbe overlap yeah, exactly, and I
mean we might talk about thislater, but even just to like
just quickly touch on this now,like the point of these trends,
or any trends, really is to usethem as like a springboard, and
you can either, you know, useone to start ideating with your

(36:16):
team or alone, or whatever youneed to do to like get new ideas
, or you can start to like puttrends together and see what's
going to happen.
So, if I put the personal orlike people want to be seen, and
I put, yeah, the shared momentsone together, like what ideas
could come out of that, based onour sandbox of like the problem

(36:36):
we're trying to solve?

Speaker 1 (36:38):
that's awesome.
Um, okay, I want to get intothe next trend, which is my
favorite trend from the trendreport, which is people want
play.
Tell us about that.

Speaker 3 (36:46):
Yeah, this one is probably my favorite too.
It's so, yeah, it's a really anemphasis towards prioritizing
fun, creativity, playfulexperiences.
Playful, yeah, just play ingeneral as a way to really
combat digital fatigue and justembrace joy and escapism.

(37:08):
So this one is a bit of a swing, maybe because of, like the
political climate, and I mean wecan look at this in different
ways, but this one's really fun.
So it's about, yeah, havingunserious fun, just like being
just like not so serious abouteverything.
Um, gaming, sports hobbies,really like being okay to like

(37:30):
follow your passion, follow yourinterests, being curious,
trying new things, experimenting, um, being okay to be silly.
Um, parallel play, like beingtogether and doing things
together.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
Um, so it's yeah, it's a really, really fun one
that people can start toexperiment with yeah, this one
was with me so much because Ifeel all this a lot and for me,
like it feels like a reaction towhat's happening in the world
in general, like politics andjust like life stuff.
Um, I want to talk about likeI'm excited about this because I

(38:05):
think as marketers, we'realways like trying to inspire in
action and I think a lot ofthat is driven to business and
sales and things like that.
But I think what this?
At least it gives me a littlebit of permission to say, hey,
the goal can be just to have fun.
Like the goal here to make animpact, because digital, this is
the landscape.
Digital audiences want to justlike be silly and have fun and

(38:28):
have like silly little tiktoksto share with their friends.
Like that, too is stillbringing a lot of value and is
still something worth pursuing.
If you're just willing andbrave 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?
um, the unserious fun is like soamazing.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
But tell me about parallel play yes, that one
actually is a signal that's kindof popped up more so.
Morgan and I have just beentalking about that.
So it's, it's even just like aphrase that I've been hearing
more and more and start to likeagain.
It's that whole idea.
You start to like, notice it.
Okay, I noticed it once.
Okay, I'm starting to notice itmore.
So this one parallel play isall around.

(39:12):
You know, getting together witha friend or multiple friends,
and you're all doing differentthings, but you're like together
.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
So like I'm you know Also, you're not doing the same
thing.
It's not like building Legotogether.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
No, like maybe one person's building Lego, maybe
one person's crocheting, or oneperson's that's you to a T Stop.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
That is like you just need a body in the room.
You're not trying to like dosomething together because that
might slow you down.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
Yeah, but you just want proximity.
Yeah, well, that's like I thinkother like influences to that.
But no, I think this is funnybecause I've heard parallel play
a lot as a mom, like there's astage in life where your kids
don't need you to entertain themand they just like exist in
your presence, kind of like meto you.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
But we're seeing that with our kids now too exactly
so.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
It's so funny when you had this in the report and
parallel play in terms of likeadults, like they are getting
together to just exist togetherand maybe not necessarily do the
same thing, but do somethingtogether that might be different
.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
Yeah, exactly like loneliness.
You know post-pandemic peoplejust wanting to kind of get
together, maybe also likeeconomically, like just getting
together, doing your cute littlehobbies together, not having to
all be on like the same hobbyagain, trying new things,
experimenting and being okaywith that.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
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 theirshowroom into different
stations.
So they had, like, a paintingstation, they had a clay, like
pottery station, they had adrawing station, they had like
someone to help you guide youthrough that so you could like

(40:55):
all be in the same beautifulspace and doing different like
types of things, and I feel likethat's a great way for a brand
to take this kind of trend andrun with it and take it and make
it their own do you think likegoing to the fair is like
parallel play?

Speaker 2 (41:12):
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 agroup but everyone kind of has
a different game they want toplay or a different thing they
want to see.
But you're kind of then likere-congregating to get a like
deep fried pickles or likeelephant ears or something like

(41:32):
that, and then you're kind ofbreaking off again a few booths
down to do your be honest alissayou can say no, I just that's
what.
That's where you got my line ofthought.

Speaker 3 (41:44):
I mean I think it's a little different, but I mean
that's good for you and yourfriend group, just like going
off and coming back.
Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
No, that's super cute .

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Families do that too yeah, but also this this trend
also relates to hobbies.
Like everyone is getting ahobby.
Last year, likely that's goingto continue and the hobbies are
just for fun, they're not liketrying to.
I think one thing I'm seeing alot 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

(42:15):
so much about our culture andwhat we need right now and what
people are craving Could be areaction to like life and stuff,
but also just like just havingsomething that's just for you
and not for anything else.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
I really like this like parallel play piece, as
well as the unserious fun, Ithink I almost wonder if it can
end up compounding into deeperrelationships than we've ever
had.
Because I think when I thinkback to elementary school or
even high school, you kind ofhad your friend group based on a
shared interest.
You know like you had the jocks,you had the emo kids, but also

(42:48):
you had people congregate aroundlike sci-fi or like a certain
sports team or different thingslike that, and there was almost
a pressure to align yourselfwith the interests of the group
that you wanted to be part of,rather than building a group
around the things that you'reactually interested in.
So I'm just curious, like, wherethis will take us, because for
me especially, I think in thelast couple of years I've tapped

(43:09):
in a little bit more tounserious fun but also given
myself permission to actuallylike what I like and and own it
Even, just like I've mentionedthis a couple of times on the
show but reading fantasy bookslike it even just like I've
mentioned this a couple times onthe show but reading fantasy
books like it just feels likesuch a weird thing for me to say
that I like, but and I don'tknow why that is, but I don't
even have that many friends thatread fantasy books, but it's
just so fun for me to tap intoit and then, as I start to find

(43:32):
sub communities of people thatare interested in that same
genre, then that's reallyexciting, you know.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
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 whatyou're saying, like about
relationships, like we'relearning after the pandemic,
like how to be friends withpeople again, how to like come
together, how to hang outtogether.

(43:58):
So if we can just learn to likeplay together, I guess, or like
be okay with like just comingtogether, I feel like it reminds
me of like a meme I think I'veseen, or it's just like I just
want to have a friend that I canjust like go do errands with,
and so, yes, yeah, right andright, like who?
I just want to do nothing, Idon't want to spend money.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
I just want to hang out, yeah.

Speaker 3 (44:21):
I feel like it's kind of similar to that and that
we're learning how to betogether.
Again we're learning how tohang out, and so play can be
really helpful for that.
It's a way for us to like gettogether, not feel so serious
and just to learn to.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
you know come together after maybe being apart
, does parallel reading count, Ithink so I think that's
actually like a better exampleyeah, the.
Thing cool the one to do yeah,because even as we started this
year, we've like been trying tochange up our habits in the
evenings, after we put our kidsto bed and, um, just like be in

(44:58):
bed sooner and like get awayfrom just watching TV every
night and stuff like that.
And it was funny because I kindof perceived like calling it a
night earlier to be like lesssocial, like almost we would be
losing this time that we've hadtogether like watching TV or
relaxing on the couch.
But I actually do.
When I think about it, Iactually feel like it's been

(45:18):
more quality, even though'restill we're not necessarily like
talking that whole time.
We might be reading orlistening to something or
whatever, but it actually aftera few weeks of trying to change
that habit, it feels morequality yeah, in my case, I've
been reading and crying, that'strue.
I've just been like reading mybook with, like, my hand on my
seat next to my bed, like, areyou okay?

Speaker 3 (45:40):
yeah, and that's what they say.
Like parallel play is likebeing 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 thingright now.
It's even an epidemic in itself.
And so just being okay to justbe together, um, you know, being

(46:00):
unserious, having a bit oflevity, reading, doing nothing I
think it's really, reallyimportant.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
Cool.
Well, let's wrap it up withtrend five.
I think there's like someconnection here between trend
four and now what this one is,which is people want ease.

Speaker 3 (46:18):
Yeah.
So this one, you know, everyonecan take a deep breath.
We're now like moving into thelast trend, but it's really
around a growing desire forsimplicity, functionality, just
like low barrier solutions thatreduce stress, make life more
manageable, and this can bethrough low tech tools, just
even like straightforwardcontent and just everyday

(46:41):
essentials.
So, my favorite we have thislist on all of our trends.
What people want.
My favorite, one that reallysums 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

(47:02):
of me, whether that's through agadget 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 atrend, have you?

Speaker 1 (47:13):
I don't know if you've seen the trend, but
there's a trend on TikTok wherethese women usually women will
say to their like husband orspouse and say like hey, I don't
think I can pay the mortgagethis month.
And then they reply like whenhave you ever paid the mortgage?
And it's kind of like funny.
But like all the comments arelike you know, everyone's desire
is like I want that, I wantthat, I want that.

(47:33):
Or even just I was teasing um,one of our team members, um,
because she often calls herselfa 24 year old, a teenager, and I
think it's really funny.
There's that like a lot ofpeople do that on TikTok as well
.
And this is where, like some ofthose things and elements, they
do play into something biggerand a bigger feeling.

(47:54):
It's not just like a sillylittle thing that starts to
catch on, it's like this isladdering up to, like what a
bigger desire and behavior thatpeople want.

Speaker 3 (48:03):
Yeah, exactly, and even what you're saying there,
looking in the comments, likethe comments can have so many
signals there where people areall 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 reallygreat place to sort of start to
especially understand.
You know, what is the overallsentiment or like, what are

(48:24):
people feeling and, yeah, isthis resonating, this idea?

Speaker 2 (48:29):
I like that.
I've always lived for thecomment section.
I feel like that's the best partof social media often One of
the things that calls thatstands out to me here is like
the idea of low stress tech, andI don't know if I'm even
getting low stress tech righthere, but I think there I've
been gravitating towards what Iperceive that to be, which is I

(48:50):
just got a sleep mask that haslike vibration built in to like
that's meant to like relax themuscles around your eyes as you
go to bed, to like that's meantto like relax the muscles around
your eyes as you go to bed, andthat's been awesome.
And then also, I've been readingbooks for a while now, but I
just got a kindle and I justlove the kindle, compared to my
phone or an ipad, so muchbecause it does one thing really

(49:10):
well and I don't have any ofthe interruptions.
So it's been so validating tojust put my phone on, do not
disturb, and then, if I needsomething, I pick up my kindle
and read a book, and and I gettired faster too than watching a
tv show, um, which helps withmy nighttime routine and helps
me not stay up too late onething about you is you love low

(49:32):
stress tech okay you do you lovethe techie gadgets that connect
to wellness?

Speaker 3 (49:39):
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 makethat contribute and make
self-care fun, like red lightmasks and things like that yeah,
exactly, and I think I alsowant to say like, when I say
like we just want someone totake care of us, or like just to

(49:59):
be taken of, it can also beourselves taking care of
ourselves, and I think that'swhat this is all about.
So it's not just like I need aman to take care of me.
No, no, no.
That's not the vibe of thistrend.
It's like no, we just we wantto feel taken care of.
We want to off our tech buildroutines.

(50:22):
Yeah, like just again havingthose healthier indulgences.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
I think are also really important in this trend.
Another point in this trend,too, that we've talked about or
we mentioned is reliablerelationships with brands and
creators.
Can you give us more about that?

Speaker 3 (50:34):
yeah, I think that one so reliable relationships
with brands and creators is justagain being able I think it's
the trust element so being ableto understand that you know what
what they are doing, they'regoing to show up, they're going
to be there.
It's like what they're sayingis going to happen.
Um, I think that's kind of likewhat we're meaning when people

(50:55):
want that and is that anacceleration of what we saw last
year?

Speaker 1 (50:58):
because one of the trends we had last year was
people want real value.
It's like value from brands orguaranteed value, excuse me.
So value from brands and likereally like making sure that
they get, they're getting valuefrom, like their products, or
they're buying into the samevalues or shared values from
brands and creators.

Speaker 3 (51:16):
Yeah, exactly, that's .
That's the cool thing aboutespecially.
Even this trend report is justseeing the evolution.
So I think we're still lookingand people are still wanting
value, um, but yeah, we'vereally focused around here about
around how it kind of looksmore um, maybe like a bit more
internally for us personally.
But brands are still soimportant in that evolution of

(51:41):
this trend, just making sure,yeah, the value is there and
it's reliable and it's like thatwhole idea of being taken care
of.
You can trust what's happening.
You can trust what's going tohappen, what's going to happen
to you and elsewhere as well.

Speaker 1 (51:55):
Yeah, the trust piece .
I feel like that you can buildcampaigns around, Like it
reminds me of the Volvo ad thateveryone was talking about a
while ago, Was it Volvo?

Speaker 2 (52:04):
Yeah, I think yes, the safety one yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:07):
Yeah, I feel like that one is like a really good
way to use some of those likeideals and to build out
storylines around it.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
Well, that was trend number five.
Five for five.
Alyssa, thanks for being hereand sharing your expertise with
us.
If you like this and you wantto dive deeper into the trend
report, as well as our biweeklynewsletter, scan Club, which
kind of does this in a smallercapacity all year round, every
two weeks, make sure you go toscanclubsubstackcom.
It'll be linked in our shownotes Also, just subscribers get

(52:39):
this every two weeks, so it'snot just the one-off trend
report, but it's something thatyou can benefit from all year
round.
If you're listening and youhaven't tried youtube yet, make
sure you try out youtube so youcan see our bright, shining
faces and everything we gotgoing on around here.
And other than that, you canjoin us on instagram, tiktok,
slide into our dms, let let usknow what you're liking, what

(53:00):
you want to see more of, andeven some of your reactions to
these trends that we articulatedtoday.
We'd love to hear your thoughtsand how you even start to apply
them to the work that you'redoing, the things you're
thinking about.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
Thank you for listening.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
Go check out the trend report and, without
further ado, Alyssa, do you wantto do the honors of ringing the
gong?
Alyssa, do you want to do thehonors of?

Speaker 1 (53:17):
ringing the gong.
No pressure, yeah, I do.
That was fun, see you later.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
See you next week.