Blog: consumer trends

Early in August, Elon Musk was vaguely threatened with extradition to the UK for his role in spreading misinformation that resulted in riots. Three weeks later, X was banned in Brazil, following unpaid fines and allegations that the app was being used to spread politically threatening misinformation.

The powerhouse cast and director of Don’t Worry Darling gathered for the film’s premier this week in Venice, enjoying a five-minute standing ovation and critically acclaimed reviews. In the words of lead actor Harry Styles himself , “like, it feels like a movie.

It is hard to believe that six years have elapsed between Beyoncé’s last solo album, Lemonade , and her newest, Renaissance . So much has changed in those six years about how listeners consume music, how fandoms organise, and what is competing for our attention.

We are entering a new phase in the evolution of consumption. Traditionally, IRL dominated entertainment consumption. With the advent of the internet, smartphones and other technological innovations, companies and consumers created de-facto digital replicas of IRL.

Facebook is now old enough that there are teenagers on it that are younger than it is. In the time that it has been around, it has reinvented social media . It has also had to do some reinventing of itself, adding to its portfolio image-sharing app Instagram and end-to-end encrypted messaging service WhatsApp to form a powerful trifecta dominating mainstream digital socialisation.

“Mortgage-backed securities, sub-prime loans, tranches… It’s pretty confusing right? Does it make you feel bored, or stupid? Well, it’s supposed to. Wall Street loves to use confusing terms to make you think only they can do what they do.

In the current lockdown climate, consumer behaviours are adapting to the new normal – and out of necessity, much of this is happening on digital. The 2008 crash resulted in success for many pioneering start-ups ; the current crisis could pose many of the same restrictions and driving need-gaps to result in similar opportunities.