Lab Weekly - 12/09/2022
Top Five Innovation Trends of 2022; News from Epic Games, Facebook Live, and Snapchat’s Bitmoji Drops, as well as the latest must-know stats
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2022 Year-End Trend Recap
From Crypto’s rise and fall, to the metaverse mania — here’re the top five innovation trends of the year
In case you missed it…
The Rise of Embedded Healthcare Services
The launch of Amazon Clinics, and how the future of accessible healthcare is being embedded into every step of the patient journey
Why Uber is Expanding Its Ad Business
Examining the digital economy and the push for revenue diversification through advertising
Holiday Shopping Trends 2022: By the Numbers
Reading the tea leaves on the state of retail transformation based on early results from the Thanksgiving weekend. Overall, the 2022 holiday season is shaping up better than some of the negative headlines seemed to dictate.
JCPenney Reimagines Holiday Variety Shows For Facebook Live [Retail Dive]
Despite earlier reports about how social platforms like Instagram and TikTok are pulling back on their push on social commerce features, especially via the shoppable live video format, it seems that some brands are still moving ahead in their exploration of live video. This “JCP Live Holiday Spectacular” will feature celebrity appearances, as well as surprise gifts for the audience that engages with the live stream via comments. While not directly shoppable, branded live events like this one are a smart way for brands to stand out in a crowded holiday shopping season and reach a wider audience online.
Related: Live shopping comes to select NYC holiday window displays [Marketing Dive]; Twitch bets on livestream shopping with expanded holiday programming [AdWeek]
Snapchat’s Latest Bitmoji Drop Features Exclusive Adidas Merch [TechCrunch]
The proliferation of digital fashion goods continues as Adidas drops exclusive digital merch as part of the Bitmoji Fashion Drop, an initiative that Snapchat launched in September, giving users a chance to claim an exclusive pair of digital Air Jordan 2 Balvin sneakers. What is new with this Adidas drop is that users can spend their Snap Tokens, the app’s virtual currency, to purchase an exclusive Adidas track jacket for their Bitmoji. Previously, the drop items were given out for free. It will be interesting to see how far Snap would get with charging for exclusive digital merch. A recent Squarespace survey found that 60% of Gen Zers and 62% of Millennial believe that how you present yourself online is more important than how you present yourself offline. Given the increasing emphasis on digital identity and self-expression, bitmoji drops could become an interesting avenue for fashion and beauty brands to explore.
Related: The metaverse fashion stylists are here [MIT Tech Review]; H&M launches innovation metaverse design story collection at the Fashion Awards 2022 [Elle]
Epic’s RealityScan App Now Available On iOS [The Verge]
RealityScan is a mobile app developed by Fortnite maker Epic Games that can turn real-life items into 3D models simply by scanning them with the smartphone cameras. The app launched in limited beta earlier this year, but now it’s available for everyone on iOS for free. This availability could feed into the current wave of metaverse development, as MMO games like Fortnite and Roblox become the next frontier for digital creators to explore. It is self-evident that apps like RealityScan greatly lower the entry level for 3D creation that will help populate the virtual worlds.
Related: Disney and Snapchat partner for AR lens ahead of latest ‘Avatar’ release [AdWeek]; Epic Games launches ‘cabined accounts’ for kids in the metaverse [VentureBeat]
Snap says it has over 300,000 developers building AR products for Snap and that it is working with creators to build lenses that include buyable digital goods. Together, they’ve built more than 3 million lenses that have been viewed a staggering 5 trillion times.
Telegram Premium has amassed more than 1 million subscribers, less than six months after the popular instant messaging app launched the paid offering and began a serious effort to monetize the business. The privacy-centric messaging app is currently used by more than 700 million monthly active users.
ChatGPT, a web-based chatbot service developed by OpenAI, officially launched on Wednesday Nov. 30, and promptly went viral last weekend for its advanced conversational capabilities. By Monday Dec. 5, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted that it had crossed one million users in six days.
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