Down the Rabbit Hole
Patterns, peculiarities, and the odd epiphany
How Mystery Boxes Fuel the Serendipity Economy
Labubu dolls have somehow convinced grown adults to hand over £15 for a mystery toy they might absolutely hate – and we're queuing up for more.
Using YouScan's social listening data, I mapped the conversations around mystery boxes. Consumers aren’t just buying products, they're buying emotional rollercoasters, micro-doses of hope, and escape from algorithmic predictability.
In a world obsessed with precision targeting, we're still hungry for serendipity.
Trend Taster: travel ick edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
Reddit's time spent is surging
Gen Z's travel 'icks'
Gen Alpha's influence on their parents' shopping
Foreca$ter puts a dollar on Canada's snowfall
The misunderstanding of gluten sensitivity
Cultural Insights: Navigating Cross-Cultural Research During Key Vacation Seasons
I wrote a piece for @Greenbook on a common research dilemma: what to do when cross-cultural fieldwork clashes with holiday seasons. We’ve all heard the usual advice: pause, delay, avoid. But in a world where people are online 24/7, does that still stack up?
Trend Taster: ‘sleep tourism’ edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
AI-powered dubbing
Gen Z's instant coffee boom
Dior's luxury rail travel
Sleep Tourism
Rome airport's app to support travellers with vision impairments
Are You Designing Your Research Backwards? Here's Why You Should
Ever found yourself in a research debrief, thinking, “So what?” You're not alone. And it’s probably not because the data was bad, but because the research was designed forwards rather than backwards.
The backwards approach in market research isn’t new, but it's still surprisingly rare in practice. The central idea is simple: instead of starting with questions, start with the decisions.
If you've ever wrestled with a bloated questionnaire, or had that moment of realisation that your data doesn't actually answer the questions your stakeholders care about, this one's for you.
Trend Taster: ‘granny hobbies’ edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
Does anyone still print photographs?
The hidden costs of digital nomadism
"Lipstick in the dark" stores
"Granny hobbies"
Knit-while-you-watch screenings
Trend Taster: ‘little treat culture’ edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
Buying European-made goods
Spain's fines for not labelling AI-generated content
People have become ruder since the pandemic
Little Treat Culture
The rise of baby tech
Trend Taster: niche book club edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
Vinted's Shopping Personas
AI book discovery tools
Singapore's laundromats are transforming "third spaces"
Niche Book Clubs
Italy’s first "emotional bookstore"
Trend Taster: lipstick robot edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
Green ammonia is emerging as a sustainable fertilizer
Turning invisible nature signals into haptic feedback
Consumers' sustainability mindsets vary widely
AI-powered lipstick robot
Manga Lashes are spiking in popularity
The Patterns of Micro Joy
Yesterday, the sky was that shade of grey that is typical for London: not quite threatening rain, but not offering sunshine either. And yet, there were little moment of joy: casually running into my neighbour’s dog Peanut, the perfect song shuffling onto my playlist, a message from an old friend that made me smile.
For 84% of us, it is important to find little moments of joy. So I dug into YouScan’s social listening data to understand how micro joy manifests in our daily conversations.
Trend Taster: weighted plushies edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
Weighted plushies are designed to reduce stress
AI Cribs support modern parenting
Wearable Breast Pumps
QR t-shirt helps find lost children
Asda offers coffee pod recycling
Trend Taster: cool aunt edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
AI chatbot trained on ancient Buddhist texts
Wearable pins combat phone theft
Who is the "cool aunt"?
Explainer: Hyperlocal Retail
Gen Z are fickle with their brand loyalty
60-second Explainer: hyperlocal retail
Physical retail is making a compelling comeback as brands reimagine their local presence through innovative experiences. Post-pandemic consumers are seeking authentic connections that digital spaces simply can't replicate. This is driving both established retailers and direct-to-consumer brands to create more engaging physical shopping experiences. From immersive store designs to creative pop-ups, these enhanced retail experiences are transforming traditional shopping into meaningful community gatherings.
Trend Taster: daylight clubbing edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
Wikileaks of Beauty
Caregivers are burning out
Timeline apps offer content curation
Under 35s face homeownership hurdles
Daylight clubbing
Trend Taster: silver tsunami edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
Walk 100 steps to earn one minute of scrolling
Middle-class graduates now dominate internships
Slow travel incentives
The "silver tsunami" retirement crisis
AI is moving from capturing attention to influencing choices
Menopause Tech is Breaking Taboos
The menopause technology market is projected to reach $60 billion by 2027. Despite this:
Only 27% of pre-menopausal women understand perimenopause
Half of post-menopausal women still consider menopause a taboo topic
Female-founded femtech start-ups raise less than half the funding of male-led companies
While current tech solutions focus primarily on symptoms like hot flushes, there is potential for more inclusive approaches that support the spectrum of menopausal experiences.
Explore my YouScan dashboard to see around which topics the menopause tech conversation clusters.
Trend Taster: cottage cheese edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
How fast food prices have changed over time
M&S's first food redistribution program
The rise of functional drinks
Orange Juice's Downturn
The Resurgence of Cottage Cheese
Trend Taster: knitfluencer edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
India's tourism sector funding gap
The return of the mechanical wristwatch
New accessibility tech is game-changing for visually-impaired fans
Explainer: Knitfluencer
Mixed-use development features a Costco store beneath 800 residential units