The top 3 Valentine's Day Trends of 2020
Valentine’s Day has come to represent disappointing truffles and inflated dinner pricing, but consumers are redefining the holiday with these three 2020 predictions:
- Consumers are using Valentine’s Day as an excuse to indulge in extravagant wellness treatments. Overall, the historically commercial holiday has transitioned to being about care, be it care for a partner or care for yourself.
- This Valentine’s Day, we expect to see a departure from spending and a movement towards homemade, experiential, and upcycled gifts due to an increased awareness of the environment. If consumers don’t fully commit to an upcycled gift, they may invest in one of these ethical gifts. Although we expect to see a downturn in spending overall, Gen Z values physical items more than their millennial counterparts so the jewelry industry can relax for another year or two.
- Chefs have been recommending it since 2018, but we expect more couples will stay home this Valentine’s Day and have a romantic dinner for two without leaving the house. When else are you going to whip out that pasta maker?
Honorable mention: Galentine’s Day isn’t going away, but did you really need us to tell you that? With an emphasis on authentic female friendship (we love it) in more and more pop culture, this trend isn’t going anywhere. After all, only 55% of people celebrate Valentine’s Day with a significant other.
Not all Flours Wear Capes: Super Flours
The winds of flour consumption have shifted. From the original wheat flour to flour alternatives like almond, buckwheat and rice flour the Whole Foods baking aisle is expanding once again. This newest trend is giving almond flour a run for its money; with super flour!
Besides missing the most obvious product name opportunity, cauliFLOUR, cauliflower flour has invaded the market from cauliflower cheese souffles to pizza crusts. What makes it so super? The average needs 2.5 cups of vegetables in their daily calorie intake and the average American falls very short coming in at less than a cup. Enter, cauliflower flour; delivering more grams of protein and fiber, not only are you eating vegetables but you are making your gut happier.
Tigernut flour is relatively new to the flour aisle and can be found in places like Whole Foods. Don’t let the name fool you, a tigernut is not actually a nut. Just like a peanut is a legume, a tigernut is a root vegetable that can be found in northern Africa and the Mediterranean. Naturally gluten-free and paleo, this flour is a great option for those on a specific diet or with a nut allergy.
What do these trendy super flours mean for marketers? We expect the flour aisle to continue to expand in the coming years. With today’s cultural climate, more and more in-house marketing teams are feeling the pressure to not only be concerned with dietary restrictions but to take a stance on environmental and social issues as well. So, although super flour might not be high on your list of “need to know,” it is important to be aware of the health and wellness trends happening as to remain relevant in this ever-changing brand landscape.
5 Product Names with Punch
A little bit of research will tell you that there are a lot of “rules” and “principles” to follow when it comes to naming a product. But a walk through the grocery store will reveal that a bit of creativity—and willingness to push boundaries—can produce a product name that not only stands out but speaks directly to your core audience. Here are three brands that prove that breaking the rules can lead to success:
BITCHES BREW by GROUNDWORK COFFEE
TBH, when this black-white-and-red-all-over pouch of coffee hit me in the face, I had no idea it was a musical reference (which will come as no surprise to anyone that knows me). The roast is named after a Miles Davis album, though I’m not sure that even matters. Bitches Brew had me thinking. It wasn’t just that this product was named with a certain level of respectable sass. I don’t normally refer to myself with the b-word, but the way this coffee owned it, it made me want to buy a bag.
MARG-SIMPSON by MORTAL KOMBUCHA
“Our [brand] name makes people who grew up in the 90s have a chuckle,” says Becca Schepps, founder and owner of Mortal Kombucha. The company’s namesake, Mortal Kombat, is a 1990s video game series. The kombucha industry is known for being creative with flavor names, but Mortal Kombucha offers its own spin with names that are decidedly un-hippie. Marg-Simpson, a margarita flavored kombucha that’s blue-green, and Dem Apples, a spiced apple flavor, are just two of the varieties you can find at Whole Foods Markets. Schepps notes this turn from traditional is deliberate: “My original intention was to make a drink that would appeal to college males, without turning off the girl coming out of a Core Power Yoga class.”
EXHORRESCO by BURNS & MCCOY
In the land of hot sauce, a name is a delicate thing: you need a name that accurately communicates heat level while understanding that everyone seems to have varying tolerances for spice. Burns & McCoy sauces are creatively named with almost-words that do the trick. Devorandum may not be a word, but we all can understand what it means (at least, I think so: as some cross between devour and memorandum, this sauce must be legendary). And Exhorresco? Probably too hot for me (Horresco Referens, from Latin, translates to “I shudder as I tell the story," but with the added prefix the name sounds a bit like “exorcism”). If the sauce names don’t do the trick, the label artwork will tell you whether this brand’s for you.
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