Cultural trends tend to come and go depending on what happens in society. When it came to COVID-19, this notion was drastically changed in a manner that no one had foreseen. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted how society functioned, the everyday norms of people, and just overall what everyone thought they knew. Changes were made to jobs, lifestyles and more. From this, two major timely trends arose. The cultural trend of wellness and the cultural trend of technology innovation. These two trends have shifted peoples lifestyles and therefore, how brands position themselves.
For starters, after the pandemic many people realized the importance of health and wellness. Many self-care trends arose, implying that people must do things and use services that are healthy and good for their overall wellbeing. This is true for those in different age ranges, as the article What Self-Care Trends Mean For Retailers In 2022 states that "44% of millennials, 57% of boomers, 64% of swing generations practice self-care". As a result, this causes brands to shift their positioning with health and wellbeing in mind. An example of this shown in the article How brands are shifting strategies to prioritize health and wellness is that of Marriott, as they began stating their “Commitment to Clean” or in other words, their priority to keeping things clean, as travelers' health and safety are their priority. A video that I found explaining more about the trend of wellness is Wellness in the Age of Covid: 5 Trends for 2021.
Secondly, the other major cultural trend is that of technology and its innovation. Alongside health and wellness, people expected businesses to have more technology rather than human-to-human interaction (in order to help the spread of covid). People spent more time online and using technology since they could not interact in-person. This increase in time with technology raised expectations of it and businesses. Not only that, but great technological innovations were praised. The article 10 technology trends to watch in the COVID-19 pandemic gives several examples of this trend. Of these, some examples are online shopping, contactless technology, supply chain 4.0, and online information. A news report showing a general example of this is titled Future of technology in a post-pandemic world. Because there are these new technology expectations of brands, these brands have shifted their position to follow innovation. Brands don’t want to seem out-dated or behind competitors, so there is a shift in technology focus.
Overall, these are two cultural timely trends in life that impact how a brand positions itself. This applies to the final project as the doggy day care will have to position itself with a balance of the wellness and technology innovation trends.
Comments