Viral Consumer Insights

Implications - Highlighting the ubiquitous nature of coffee as a symbol of social interaction and much more, the experience of coffee consumption has become a space for innovation in flavor, form, aesthetic, and beyond. This demonstrates the new context of coffee as a gourmet food experience rather than a commodity, a transition that can be observed taking place currently in other adjacent categories such as cannabis.

Implications - Restaurant menus are catering to those interested in Instagram-friendly dining experiences by producing brightly colored, aesthetically pleasing dishes that lend themselves to image-based social sharing. This shift speaks to the interest in creating social media-friendly experiences that offer rare elements of joy and delight, while it also highlights the innate interest in curation as a means of having specific control over something tangible in a time of great cultural and social stress.

Implications - Hyper-indulgent dessert items adorned with rainbow toppings are enticing social media-inclined consumers looking for experiences they can celebrate and relive online. This progression showcases the new secondary role of food and beverage experiences as shareable moments that emphasizes insider knowledge on of-the-moment menu items.

Implications - In a curious progression of direct-to-consumer marketing by way of social media influencer campaigns, Insta-famous dogs are parlaying viral buzz into prosperous brand partnerships. This intriguing progression speaks to the evolving nature of the pet economy, while it also serves as an example of how influencer marketing is expanding beyond the more obvious iterations in fashion, beauty and experiences such as music festivals.

Implications - Consumers are being drawn to food and drink products marketed around fairy tale-esque iconography that aims to re-position consumption as an experience of escapism. In addition to being a continuation of the acknowledgement of "adulting," this shift highlights the desire for escapism amid uncertain political times and the ease of creating an imaginary narrative around dining.

Implications - The accessibility of resources like Kickstarter have made the toy market a crowded one. In response to this, both larger companies as well as more entrepreneurial teams are releasing board games focused around highly unusual concepts more likely to go viral than their more traditional counterparts. This appeals to consumers in search of more unique products to reflect their individualism, while tapping into a sense of nostalgia via analog play.

Implications - In order to stay top of mind in an increasingly crowded meal delivery market, established pizza brands are launching increasingly competitive digital campaigns in the interest of generating buzz online. This progression highlights the expectation that all brands transition into content creators in order to build an organic following online, now key to brand loyalty and as a direct line of communication to customers.

Implications - Increasing engagement and capitalizing off of buzz, games focused around pop culture phenomena like politics or Internet memes are taking off. By playing into topics that consumers are already interested in and talking about, game creators are not only able to increase sales, but generate word-of-mouth around the products themselves as well. This shift toward a more niche version of existing products is reflective of a consumer base that seeks out goods that reflect their specific interests.

Implications - Iconic movies and shows are being tastefully and artfully recreated into restaurants, hotels and pop-ups. While the spaces are spitting image creations of their muses, it's the "Easter eggs" that keep fans returning. Hidden nods to quotes, characters and obscure references that only the true fans will pick up on are sprinkled throughout, and spotting them all or what's newly added is why they keep coming back.

Implications - Though attention spans are getting shorter, consumers remain emotionally connected through social platforms such as Twitter, which are engineered to foster connection in an easily digestible form. The same is becoming true of entertainment, wherein consumers are turning to shorter episodic content that offers the same emotional high as full-fledged network programming, while being easier to access and share. The progression points to the condensation of length, but not of quality, when it comes to entertainment.