We had our semi-annual company gathering in Pittsburgh this week.
Other than a terrifying storm on Tuesday knocking out the power in much of the region (still), the three-day event was a smashing success. It culminated with a party at the Pirates game on Thursday, where, in a stroke of luck, phenom Paul Skenes started. They still lost, because the rest of the team sucks.
It was the most energized and positive get-together we’ve had in the four post-COVID years we’ve done them. That’s true in spite of – and arguably because of – the dark clouds hovering over the broader business and consumer world.
Our Intelligence business handily beat forecasts in Q1, while our juggernaut Advertising business is pacing to blow away revenue goals for the first half of the year. The two excel for different reasons if owed to the same root cause.
As advertisers’ belts tighten, efficiency and performance are at a premium. This has allowed us to prove that simply asking people about their attitudes, intent, and changing shopping behaviors can reliably predict who’s most likely to buy your product. We haven’t encountered anyone whose strategies are performing better than ours right now.
Our insights offerings are especially coveted at the moment – as during the pandemic – because of their real-time-ness. Week-old data is useless when things are changing as rapidly as they are today, and no economic upheaval of the past is a perfect facsimile for this flavor of chaos. Being agile based on timely, forward-looking market signals is the best you can do. Hence, we’re crushing it.
I’ll readily admit it’s bad karma to revel in our company thriving when hardship and uncertainty hits everyone else, but facts are facts. Q2 of 2020 was the biggest sales quarter we ever had until this one. Many of our most heroic client case studies emanated from crisis – PR disasters, product recalls, structural declines, etc.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be true if companies acted with urgency all the time, if they didn’t get complacent when comps were up. You can set your watch to businesses getting lazy when times are good, as if success were purely a result of their strategic brilliance and not a function of being in the right place at the right macro time.
Alas, it is true. The economy contracted in Q1, just like we told you it would. And we haven’t even seen the worst of it yet. I hope you weren’t caught with your pants down.
We’re here to help, if you were.
Here’s what we’re seeing:
Coupons are having a renaissance. In our 3 Things to Know this week, we highlighted the rapid ascent of coupon usage among grocery shoppers, yet another neon sign of the economic times. Nearly half (49%) of U.S. adults are using coupons “often” to buy groceries, up 10 percentage points since 2020. Meanwhile, loyalty programs are on a similar surge. Fifty-six percent of loyalty-member Americans buy the majority of their groceries where they belong to one. Finally, we learned that a growing number of U.S. consumers are in the market to buy shoes right now – up significantly over this time last year. Wait until they learn most shoes are manufactured in China.
The summer concert season will buck conventional economic wisdom. While every wisp of our current financial headwinds should suggest otherwise – not to mention that there’s no Taylor Swift tour this year – Americans are planning to hit concerts this summer in big numbers (up 20% over last year). It’s a textbook sign of how emotional well-being and outdoor activities rise in importance during times of uncertainty (see: pandemic déjà vu). Corresponding with simultaneous declines in travel intent (especially air travel), the trend extends beyond music events to live sports, festivals, theme parks, and zoos. It’s cheaper to have fun if you stay local.
After a flat-footed start, Google is gaining major ground in consumer AI In the latest findings from our AI tracking data, we found that OpenAI’s ChatGPT remains the most popular choice among the 40% of U.S. adults who use them, but Google Gemini is closing the gap. Microsoft Copilot is a distant third, followed by Meta’s Llama. I found two other things to be especially notable: 1) That the average user employs more than one of the tools and 2) A large percentage of respondents answered “Other,” meaning there are a lot of long-tail apps in the mix. Also, personal use of the tools still vastly outpaces use for work. Users are much more financially optimistic than non-users overall.
Sports betting is growing among men and women, alike. You’d think high-risk hobbies like gambling would subside during times of financial duress, but the opposite appears to be true. The number of betting-age Americans (21+) who say they have or are planning to bet on sports this year is up 33%, among both boys and girls, compared to 2023. The size of their average wagers is up too. If that bothers you, you’re not alone. One in four U.S. adults say they’re “very” or “extremely” concerned about the growing prominence of sports gambling.
A super-majority of Americans support a phase-out of artificial food dyes. Although the health risks are subject to earnest scientific debate, while a bunch of uncolored Skittles and M&Ms seems remarkably unappealing, RFK Jr. appears to be on to something with his food dye crusade. A whopping 79% of U.S. consumers are strongly or somewhat supportive of moving away from artificial food dyes, whether or not they fully understand the consequences. Notably, the numbers are higher among parents with children 12 or over, presumably because they’re no longer feeding their kids Lucky Charms.
More awesomeness from the InsightStore:
- As seen in AdAge, 3 out of 4 Americans say they’d like to see tariff surcharges enumerated in the cost of goods they buy (on Amazon and elsewhere);
- Backlash is growing against the use of AI in advertising.
The most popular questions this week:
Would you use the White House swimming pool if you were President?
Have you started any spring planting yet this year?
How safe do you think it is for young people to play football?
Do you typically drive faster than the speed limit on highways?
How would you react if a snake fell into your margarita?
Do you think all businesses should be required to accept cash payments?
Answer Key: Hell yeah; No, only weeding; Very unsafe but they should do it anyway; Yes, because I’m not an asshole; I would figure out who came up with this question and ask them what the hell they’re smoking; No.
Hoping you’re well.
JD
