Lab Weekly - 01/21/2022
Outlook 2022 trend report; Plus, news analysis and cool stats roundup
Editor’s note: Welcome back to this week’s Lab Weekly newsletter, which brings you our Outlook 2022 trend reports, in addition to my thoughts on the Microsoft-Activision deal, Twitter’s NFT profile pic feature, and Amazon’s new apparel store. Let’s dive in! — Richard Yao
“Over the next three to five years, the most reliable prediction will be disorder, with multiple possibilities happening at once,” writes Adam Simon, our head of strategy. Read now to learn the four key trends in consumer tech and culture that all brands and marketers will need to reckon over the next 3 to 5 years:
Power to the People
Lifecycle Loyalty
The Multiplayer Internet
The Great Escape
In case you missed it…
CES 2022 Trend Recap: What Brands Need to Know
Wondering what your brand takeaway from CES2022 should be? The Lab has got you covered! Read our comprehensive trend recap for the key innovation trends emerging from this year's CES that will influence the future of consumer behavior and disruptions.
Ad Age — CES 2022: The Top 3 Innovation Trends For Marketers
TV gaining cameras, "peace-of-mind" IoT devices, and fledgling metaverse concepts hold early promise for brands — here's our content & strategy manager Richard Yao's CES2022 recap for Ad Age
Check back next week for part 1 of our Outlook episodes, where we dive into each trend featured in this year’s Outlook report linked above!
Twitter Blue Subscribers Can Now Display NFTs As Profile Picture [TechCrunch]
Twitter users can now connect a crypto wallet to their profiles, and display any NFTs they own in their profile, provided that they subscribe to the $2.99/month Twitter Blue service, thus giving NFT enthusiasts a new reason to pay for the subscription. Many NFT owners already use the art in their profile photos, but this new feature will also add an icon indicating that the NFT has been authenticated, thus verifying the account as the official owner of the NFTs in question. Their profile picture will be further distinguished by a hexagon-shaped avatar, rather than the traditional circle.
On one hand, one can be cynical and declare Twitter opportunistic for monetizing on the web3 movement via this paid feature designed to appeal to NFT owners; On the other hand, this could expose millions of Twitter users to NFTs, especially the way it functions as a digital identity marker and the social capital it carries within the crypto crowd. Of course, Twitter is not the only one who’s been racing to build NFT integrations into their products — both Google and Meta are reportedly making plans to incorporate NFTs into their respective platforms as well.
In short, Twitter has officially brought NFTs to the mainstream, and time will soon tell whether the mainstream users accept them or reject them.
Related: Twitch co-founder's gaming-focused NFT platform Fractal officially launches [The Block]; Meta plans to let people create and sell NFTs on its platforms [Financial Times]; Google forms blockchain group under newly appointed executive [Bloomberg]
Microsoft To Buy Activision Blizzard For $70 billion [NYT]
In a record deal in the gaming industry, Microsoft is set to buy Activision Blizzard, the game publisher behind popular game franchises like Call of Duty and Candy Crush, for nearly $70 billion. Similar to how Amazon is buying MGM for its Bond franchise and other IP, this blockbuster acquisition would inject a stable of invaluable gaming IP to Microsoft’s Xbox console business, pushing it into a leading position in the gaming industry. As Microsoft continues to develop its cloud gaming service, having a deep catalog of games will also help increase the perceived value of its GamePass subscription, which recently hit 25 million subscribers, and give it an edge over its competitors.
Some of the reports on this acquisition, such as this one from Reuters, highlighted Microsoft’s metaverse ambition as a key driver behind this acquisition. While it is true that cutting-edge technologies developed in video games, such as 3D graphics and digital twins, will play a key role in the development of the metaverse. Yet, it is very unclear how buying Activision, a game publisher that has not done much to develop its own “proto-verse” when compared to the likes of Fortnite or Roblox, is supposed to help Microsoft bring its enterprise-oriented metaverse vision into reality. If anything, the recent employee revolt at Activision over accusations of sexual harassment may have more to do with the timing of this acqusition.
Related: Shareholders call on Activision Blizzard CEO to resign after employee walkout [The Guardian]; Activision Blizzard fires more people in sexual harassment probe [Yahoo]; Sony’s latest patent hints at cloud streaming for PS5 games [Gaming Bolt]
Amazon’s First Clothing Store Lets You Summon Clothes To The Fitting Room [The Verge]
Amazon is set to open its first-ever physical apparel store, Amazon Style, in Los Angeles later this year. The store will be packed with retail tech, Amazon teases, including an integration of item QR codes that will allow shoppers to request items to be sent into the fitting rooms they are in via touchscreens. In addition, Amazon will suggest additional items its algorithms think you might like. This system should solve some pain points of in-person shopping by streamlining the process, while also helping to alleviate the workload of store staff. Similar to how the wider rollout of its “just-walk-out” Amazon Go technology to Amazon Fresh stores has triggered some grocery store chains to experiment with cashierless checkout, this new store could set a new standard for the fashion retail stores in terms of the fitting room experience.
Related: Amazon brings its cashierless tech to a full-size grocery store for the first time [The Verge]; Amazon’s cashierless tech makes first appearance in a rival store outside the US [The Verge]; Kroger testing new 'smart cart' that eliminates checkout [Forbes]
The NFL had a pretty good season. Viewership for the NFL's regular season was up 10% from 2020 — the league's highest-rated season average since 2015. The NFL was the second most-read online news topic in November and December, according to data from Taboola.
New data from Nielsen breaks down how Americans are watching TV and on which platforms. In the month of December, streaming accounted for 27.7% of all time spent on television sets, according to Nielsen, while cable captured 37.3% and broadcast took 26.1%.
Wordle, a web-based word puzzle game, has become the internet’s latest viral obsession. The game was released in October and has been slowly picking up steam since via its clever social sharing feature that reveals one’s process with the daily puzzles without giving away the words. As of Monday, Wordle has amassed nearly 3 million players, NPR reports.
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