Home & DIY DIGITAL INSIGHTS AND TRENDS: CONTENTS
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DIGITAL INSIGHTS AND TRENDS: home & DIY CONT E N T S • 3 key trends for 2020 • Spotlight on audience: Generation(s) Rent
3 key home trends for 2020
1. SAY C HEESE(PL AN T )
We all know that YouTube was made for cat videos. So, it’s probably got to take some
responsibility for good old-fashioned cat ownership morphing into #purrenting, where
some singletons and couples are using their moggy as a kind of training course in actual
human kid-readiness.
Well, maybe those poor cats can take a break from posing in knitwear, because it looks
like it’s yuccas and cheese plants, cacti and aloe veras who are the new babies in the
millennials’ nursery.
Many thirty-somethings are switching their parental instincts to tending for tender-stems,
with a dutiful level of care that can mean getting up early for a daily 45 minute leaf-
inspection and circuit with the watering can before work.
Source: Brandwatch
The reasons behind this trend of #plantparenthood might be the decline in
homeownership, the rise in Generation Rent (see later), and landlords still
being a bit reluctant to allow full on #petparenthood. THE OPPO RT UN I T Y FO R B RAN DS
It’s certainly helped by the fact that these plants are not just That seasonal search pattern is worth digging into a bit better.
photosynthesisers, they’re pretty photogenic too. If you’ve spent a lot of Are we all just too busy trying to stop the needles from falling
time on social media you’ll have seen that plant parents love to share tips off our xmas trees to take on another green responsibility, or
about, and pictures of, their picturesque plant children. is there a plant-gifting campaign waiting to happen? Consider
marketing furniture and things like side tables with images of them
Searches for plant care on Pinterest rose 87% in 2018. And while actual as plant-plinths for our flats, and maybe look at the naming and
(human baby) #parenthood has 4.4M unique posts on Instagram, personalising product-opps too (people love giving names to their
#plantparenthood has nearly one tenth of that, with almost 400K unique plant babies). Basically, look at the pet-peripherals market, and
posts. then think ‘plant’.
Google Trends also shows a distinct rise in houseplant-related searches
over the last decade - and a definite seasonal pattern to those searches.
The regular dips are at Christmas and New Year… so it could be that
houseplants have yet to bloom as the perfect Christmas gift.
GOOGLE TRENDS: HOUSEPLANT VS. ALOE VERA VS. CACTUS SINCE 2004
Source: Google Trends
2. B RE AT H I N G RO O M
The sweeping influence of the wider ‘clean’ revolution,
added to the increasing health concerns and media
coverage about respiratory problems associated with smog
and particulates, mean that we’re seeing heightened levels
of interest in the purity of air in our homes.
Sales of air purifiers in the Far East have doubled (South
Korea) and trebled (China) in recent years. And even if we’re
not at their levels of pollution (yet) - the UK search volume
for air purifiers is rising. Those searches are ahead of other
domestic obsessions like ‘pizza ovens’. But they’re still a way
behind ‘mattresses’ (we do love to keep ourselves awake
with sleep-aid searches), and ‘wood-burning stoves’ (which
as well as giving us cosy hygge-vibes, are also guilty of
adding to the air pollution problem in the first place).
GOOGLE TRENDS: AIR PURIFIER INTEREST SINCE 2004
Source: Google Trends
IKEA are due to launch an air-cleaning curtain in 2020. Dyson have already
combined air purifier tech with their heaters and fans, but they have also
filed a patent that pairs a purifier with headphones.
In the UK we spend a whopping 90% of our time indoors, and according
to some research, the hazards associated with ‘indoor’ air pollution are
even greater than the ones caused by our outdoor city air (and popping
that bowl of pot pourri, or lighting a Jo Malone candle in the hallway is not
going to sort it).
Cooking a Sunday roast can drive indoor air pollution far above the levels
found in the most polluted cities on Earth. Researchers found that roasting
meat and vegetables, and using a gas hob, released a surge of fine
particles that could make household air dirtier than that in Delhi.
T H E O P PORTUNITY FOR BR ANDS
Just like the ‘sleep’ phenomenon sparked a rise in associated
aids like mattresses, pillows and headphones, so the demand for
‘breathe-easy’ pure-air aids will rise too. Aside from the NPD, your
digital brand communications and campaigns can offer a mix of
rational, thoughtful, expert-led explainers (air quality is linked not
just to breathing problems, but skin conditions like eczema) as
well as the experiential and creative. Breathing is sensory as well
as essential, so think of stimulating executions like this which can
be good for getting your brand under people’s noses. Absolut
Vodka created murals in Mexico using a paint technology that
actually purifies the air.
IKEA GUNRID air-purifying curtains
Photo credit: IKEA via dezeen.com
3. J O MO SAPIE NS Sometime in 2019 FOMO gave way to JOMO, the Joy of Missing Out, maybe when Danish psychology professor Svend Brinkman wrote the book of the same name, and set out to free us from our over-stimulated modern lives through his steer towards more old-skool notions of restraint and moderation. For the home, JOMO helps to usher in an era - perhaps not of Brinkman’s full-blown restraint, but at least of a rise in ‘not going out’ (or ‘not going out til later’). The idea of ‘cocooning’ - which could be more ‘FOGO’ (the fear of going out) than JOMO - has been a Faith Popcorn megatrend since the 1980’s. Now she believes this trend could have reached ‘uber-cocooning’ or even ‘bunkering’ proportions. So whether it’s driven by bunkering or hygge, the desire to spend even more time hunkered at home is good news for makers of couches and sofas. Sofa Startup Burrow Photo credit: Burrow via adweek.com
GOOGLE TRENDS: MARTINI RECIPE VS. APEROL SPRITZ VS. NEGRONI SINCE 2004
Source: Google Trends
But it doesn’t mean we’re becoming hermits. Alexa and Google Home aren’t just
companions for solo stay-at-homes. They’re DJs on call - where the home is integrated
with music systems like Sonos, for quality sounds while we entertain.
US research has shown that staying at home is not just a money-saving thing. 28% of
millennials actually prefer to stay in, just to avoid the hassle of going out.
Here in the UK, we increasingly use our homes as a pre-drinking venue for friends. And
we can see that JOMO Brits are rediscovering classic cocktail recipes (with a growth in
searches for how to make them).
THE OPPORTUNI T Y FO R B RAN DS
Think of content and campaigns that work in voice activations for hands-free
access by audiences - like menus, cocktail recipes. And offer DIY guidance and
content guides on how to adapt the home (especially if it’s rented) into a kind of
swiss-army-knife-multi-purpose space, that can shift from being the bar, to the
club, to the restaurant, to cosy chill-zone.
THE AUDIENCE OPPORTUNITY: generation(s) rent “There should be a Millennial edition of Monopoly where you just walk around the board paying rent, never able to buy anything” @mutablejoe ‘Generation Rent’ is often used interchangeably with the Millennial label, which in turn makes it easy to slide into stereotypes of avocado-eating snowflakeyness. And while in the UK it is undoubtedly true that younger people struggle to own their own homes by the same lifestage as the generations before them, the shift towards renting is wider than millennials. Research from PwC has revealed that London will become a city dominated by renters by 2025, with only 40% owning their own home. The Centre for Ageing Better (CfAB) has reported that the number of over 60s renting privately has risen from 254,000 in 2007 to 414,000 in 2017. And it predicts about a third of people over 60 could be living in private rented accommodation by 2040. Here are three examples of the Renters of today, with their own motives (and considerations for brands in the home category. (Okay, one is a still a millennial.)
I NDI A: ‘RENT AL MOST EVERYTHI N G.’ She’s a caring, thoughtful flexitarian. Now she’s cut out the fast fashion habit in favour of vintage shopping, and stumbled into renting the high-end gear for those special occasions like weddings and parties, and she can’t wait for the electric- scooter hire from Lime to blend seamlessly with Uber-ing around town. She’ll post detailed breakdowns on instagram of her choices and sources, like her conscious-shopping hero Aisling Bea, getting on-board with the #30wearschallenge for clothes, and using Good On You to help source everything ethically. Renting her home is a necessity, not really a choice, but now she’s renting (or borrowing) everything she can. Local platforms offer a ‘library of things’ from leaf blowers to disco balls. She’ll still buy for the home, but recycled materials and wood for furniture and shelves, and transparency of their provenance really matters. And if you can offer a solution that let’s her not-own home furnishings, and tap into her desire for home-staging variety, you’re on to something. Her in a hashtag #peertopeer Driven by sustainability, sharing (and shareability). JAMES AND LI Z: ‘MOBI LE HOME.’ Renting started as a necessity, but now it’s become more of a choice. Work has taken them to Berlin for a three-year stint, where 90% of people rent - compared with over 50% (and rising, set to be 60% by 2025) in London. Back in the UK, they’ve overcome the national psyche of the homeowner-default. Now they’re both 34, with their first on the way, renting a two-bed flat on the third floor of a Georgian house in Finsbury Park. And even though security of tenancy is much less than in Berlin, they’ve still chosen to fit their own kitchen (it’s freestanding so they’re more relaxed about being able to take it with them when they move.) They still like owning their furniture, they like tracing their slightly-itinerant moves through the things they collect, as long as those objects are little memory-makers - and as long as they’ll pack up and move with them. Them in a hashtag #footlooseandfancyfree Driven by variety, exploration, and uniqueness
S POT L I G H T ON M A RTHA , M A RY AND C HERI : ‘SI XTY AND
S H AR I N G ’
Statistics from Age UK show that 3.6 million over‑65s live alone, accounting for more than
a third of the age group. And almost 70pc of older people who live alone are women.
Against that backdrop, as many as 20% (and rising) of renters are retired, and some of
them are singles choosing to share - as an alternative, more sociable solution to the fear
of living alone.
One solution is offered by services shareandcare.co.uk which tries to match someone
older, who might need some help so they can still live independently in their own home,
with someone (usually) younger.
Martha, Mary and Cheri didn’t know each other, and met through a flatshare matching-
website Roomgo. Now they’re renting a property together for a year to see how they get
on. If it works out, they’ll sell the homes they currently own and buy a five-bed property in
Hove.
They’re confident early-adopters, as their approach to solving their homes-situation
shows. So they’re also some of the 60-plus age group who particularly enjoy the
connected-home. Active and health-conscious, they all have smart-watches for fitness
tracking. Martha has also brought her Sonos for wifi sounds, and each of them has added
a speaker in their own room (Cheri chose the IKEA sonos bookshelf).
TH E O P P O RTU NITY FOR BR A NDS
Don’t fall into the youth-trap, this age-group is smart, optimistic and has spending
power. Say “okay, boomers” and help them find solutions that let them continue
enjoying their home. Not everyone on digital channels is a digital-native. Channels like
Facebook, Instagram and increasingly Pinterest are good places to reach and engage.
Photo credit: “Housesharing,
over-60s style” telegraph.co.ukYou can also read
