Curation

Trend - As inflation financially constrains consumers, cashback programs from banks and businesses are becoming more popular. Now, some brands are focusing on consumers with greater or more specific needs with these reward systems--including students, caregivers and those struggling with high costs.

Insight - Rapid inflation, price gouging and stagnant wages are impacting North Americans, and more people are looking for ways to reduce their daily expenses in order to manage. Consumers are now turning to discount businesses and increasingly relying on brands that accommodate the barriers they face in order to retain their financial stability (or achieve it).

Trend - Brands are adapting to the increasing presence of smart technology on worksites with professional-focused rugged tablets. These tablets have larger, clearer displays than rugged smartphones, making them more suited for on-site collaboration and communication.

Insight - Workers in physical labor industries, such as construction or engineering, often require smart technologies to view plans and instructions, and communicate with other workers. These workers cannot afford to have technology be fragile, like many smart devices are. While these users have previously used rugged phones, or phones with extensively protective cases, brands are now adapting to the needs of this industry in full with rugged, certified durable tablets.

Trend - Brands are launching lawnmowers that take advantage of modern artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. These lawnmowers can automatically patrol lawns with minimal human input. This saves consumers time to spend on more important tasks. These mowers are controlled by apps for simplicity.

Insight - Modern smart homes have nearly every product powered by AI. Consumers are quick to adopt AI doorbells, security systems, vacuums, and more. These consumers strive for automation that improves their quality of life by completing basic tasks and subsequently reducing stress by creating more free time. These consumers are willing to pay premium prices for products that are more efficient, leading to brands launching AI-powered lawnmowers and yard cleaners to reduce maintenance time.

Trend - Brands are launching platforms that automate media and customer outreach campaigns with AI. These platforms streamline lead detection, determine the optimal method to reach out, and send the message at an effective time. These enable AI marketing for brands without technical backgrounds.

Insight - Digital marketing continues to grow in competitiveness each year, with more businesses, channels, and voices reaching out to customers each day. In this competitive sector, businesses continually search for a tool that can give them an advantage over competitors. Businesses prioritize freeing up worker time for more intricate tasks, automation of simpler tasks, and reduction of expenses. These businesses are gravitating towards AI platforms to automate a large range of marketing tasks.

Trend - Brands are releasing smart inflation devices in ultra-portable form factors. These inflators provide instant support for bikes, cars, and inflatables without requiring wall connectivity. These also include smart pressure indicators, making them easy to use without prior experience.

Insight - The micro-mobility space continues to grow in popularity with the modern consumer. Electric bikes and scooters offer a level of convenience beyond that of a traditional bike or full-sized car due to the ease of use, low entry-cost, and ease of maintenance. However, consumers are still often faced with maintenance challenges, such as stuck chains or deflated tires. As a result, these consumers are investing in ultra-portable service kits as reliable contingency plans.

Trend - Healthcare businesses and institutions are increasingly prioritizing the use of AI-powered programs and services to help manage and focus patient care. These solutions are typically specialized in their purpose--like programs that prioritize care for people with more than one illness.

Insight - The potential of AI in medicine is vast, but systems that provide comprehensive assessments and care are limited because they would require inter-business or institutional collaboration. Instead, purposeful AI programs help businesses focus their efforts toward care providers' specialties and their own patient needs. Since AI is still (relatively) new in the healthcare industry, providers using focused solutions are helping build the foundations for more extensive programs.

Trend - Independent developers are using shared protocols to create decentralized content aggregator platforms. Companies do not own or moderate these platforms, which offers better privacy than large alternatives. Many of these platforms communicate with one another to form the 'Fediverse.'

Insight - Social media users are becoming increasingly dissuaded from the popular websites due to changes in moderation. Undesirable policy changes such as restrictive guidelines, feature monetization, and centralized control have led to users gravitating towards alternatives created by independent developers. Users prioritize privacy, personalization, and freedom on social media platforms, leading to several decentralized platforms that form the federalized metaverse, or the Fediverse.

Trend - Brands in the computer hardware space are launching new hardware with specifications optimized for performing artificial intelligence-related workloads. These AI computing chips are built around creating, hosting, and training AI models as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Insight - The recent influx in popularity for generative pre-trained transformers and other large language models have caused brands across every industry to focus on AI-related products, services, and tools. These brands seek to improve output, either by streamlining existing operations or by launching entirely new ventures backed by artificial intelligence. Due to the large number of companies showing interest in this space, computer manufacturers are responding with hardware dedicated to AI.

Trend - Brands are launching laptops, mini computers, and full-size computer cases without fans to reduce noise. These computers uses passive cooling through various heatsink technologies to lower the active temperature of the components without needing to power fans. The benefit of this technology is silent operation and reduced power consumption at a slightly increased cost.

Insight - Consumers who build DIY computers do so for a variety of reasons. While some customers desire the most performance for the lowest cost, others are willing to pay a premium for unique designs, specific technologies, or quieter operation. On the other hand, workplaces that require each worker to have a computer focus on different metrics, such as cost-effectiveness and operation volume, as running many loud computers would be detrimental to productivity. As such, one common consumer pressure from the business and individual side is volume, placing pressure on PC brands to create solutions for low-noise PCs through various means.

Trend - Companies are launching premium air purifiers designed for vehicles. These purifiers either run on battery, USB, or lighter socket power, meaning they are compatible with any car. The purifier helps customers breathe fresh air, even when the car is stored for long periods or is stuffy.

Insight - Recently, major cities around the world have had worsening air quality for a variety of reasons from industrial manufacturing to wildfires and pollution. Consumers in these cities wear masks and run humidifiers and air purifiers at home or in the office to ensure they breathe clean air. However, there are still a number of situations, such as while in a car or at a store, where the air is potentially stuffy and unpurified. As a response, brands are launching new dedicated air filters.