‘In the future, everything will be a trend for 15 seconds.’
Trends Industry
It’s no news to anyone how accelerated the trends cycle has become with help from social media and the app that everyone is already tired of blaming (aka TikTok.) In an era of fast information and even faster dissemination, the big question ends up being: is nothing trending, or is everything trending at the same time? Let’s take a look at our 2024 journey, and remember some of the noticeable signals that led us here.
Overall, we saw a constant push for connections taking over the year 2024. Be it through collectibles, fandoms, or even dinner with strangers, people wanted to feel like they weren’t alone and that they belonged somewhere. That movement then led Millennials, Gen Zers, and even the young Gen Alphas, in an endless search for identity, finding pieces of themselves in various different subcommunities that each had their own set of microtrends on TikTok. No industry was left unaffected by the power that TikTok amassed with Gen Zers, impacting the publishing industry through BookTok, the music industry with many new independent artists gaining a big following, and even the travel industry that has seen a boom in tourism to the point of cities having to install new taxes for tourists that want to visit.
But how is this even related to the trends industry?
2024 was a great year for trends, yes, but it was also a great year for fads. Opposite to trends, fads are short-lived, rising incredibly fast only to crash a few days or weeks later. Many TikTok trends that suddenly appear on For You pages all across the world are likely fads. However, thanks to that, we’ve observed an increased interest in trend forecasting and the value that trends can bring to different businesses, leading to a sudden boom in the industry where the result was simply hundreds of trend reports.
Then why aren’t we coming out with a report to kickstart 2025?
Because here at MTM we analyse what’s at the tip of culture and what’s ahead of it. Through qualitative and quantitative methods, we explore, disentangle, and mould trends to inform the business decisions of our clients, from content commissioning to new product development.
Our decisions are grounded on data and culture, and we don’t want our insights to be just one more in the grand scheme of things. Our aim is to always create something special and unique.
With that in mind, we can’t wait for what’s to come– watch this space!
What’s on your mind?
Curious about trends? Want to know more about something we’ve spotted? Let us know! Be it for businesses or personal curiosity, we’re here to help!