Welcome to The Trend Report: Business Editionâ˘, a midweek look at top stories, trends, and more of whatâs happening online and off by Kyle of The Trend Reportâ˘. Today, weâre exploring why Acorns is betting on sports bet quitters, how people are feeling about spending money now, another âAI WILL KILL US!â fire drill, and why hiking comes after running.
đREMINDER: HIP REPLACEMENT, live at Ace Brooklyn
On September 17, Ben Dietz and I are hosting a live recording of HIP REPLACEMENT with special guest kate lindsay at Ace Hotel Brooklyn. Itâll be a fun night â and itâs free! With drinks too!! See you there!!!
𩹠Branded: Acorns wants you to stop sports betting
Everything is gambling now, with companies like Kalshi doing their best to rob the young (and male) out of their livelihoods. Kalshi alone has seen 18 to 21 year olds spend approximately $5.4B on bets! These platforms are so bad, turning gambling into a âgameâ that steals the future from the present. Itâs very evil and very bad! At a time when so few are stepping up to 1.) offer leadership and 2.) take seriously the dire conditions of most people, a huge opportunity to do good presents itself â and finally someone is taking it, while putting their foot down on this mass robbery being committed: the financial planning app Acorns has launched an effort coinciding with the start of the NFL season to lure people away from sports betting to save money instead. Housed within a campaign called Investinall, which frames sports betting as a condition of regret that kills your wallet, the brand is matching peopleâs sports betting losses up to $50, which would be used as their first deposit in an Acorns account. Itâs a very smart idea, one that seeks to fight the frivolous fire of a sports bet with a more responsible FIRE-type fire. âSportsbooks and betting apps are built to turn our desire for more money into a game,â Acorns CMO, Kasia Leyden, shared via email on this effort. âThe deeper problem is what theyâre selling: that thereâs a fast, exciting way to get rich. There isnât. Building wealth is usually boring. It takes time, consistency, and patience.â This moment is one of entrapment and âquick wins,â which we see from the confusing bubbling around AI and markets to American politicians conning the government (and all of us) out of financial stability: this is what a multi-tiered armed robbery looks like. Acorns too is seeking to profit in this moment, but itâs couched in taking a stance against cultural rot and for larger literacy: this is something to celebrate, considering so few are doing anything to foster responsiblity. âBetting doesnât just cost people the money they lose,â Leyden said, âIt can crowd out the saving and investing that could build their financial future.â
đď¸ Politicultural: More money miseries
Very briefly: two things that feel somewhat related and spiraling out of the above money losses, both of which are pre-Q4 and pre-holiday bells ringing about how weâll be spending. None of this should be surprising given the K-state.
First: PwC dropped their holiday outlook report which forecasts both caution around travel and a flatness in spending, with the average holiday gift budget being $708 (which is the lowest since 2022). Millennials and Gen Z will obviously be the most hit by this. People are also seeming to be gift card inclined, as the top âmost likely to buyâ gift for family and friends are gift cards. Huh? Safe, sure, but also boring and a touch selfish, considering the top âmost likely to buyâ gift for the self is clothes. Might as well say we want to be influencers while weâre at it. Vanity becomes us! Dress for the jobs we have, etc.
Second, crypto (Eh.) payment platform Oobit did a study on tipping, finding some non-surprises: most people feel pressured to over-tip, find that the state of tipping is too aggressive, resulting in people being less generous with tips. Young people and women are more likely to feel pressured, with the vast majority of people (77%) finding tipping culture being out of control. Since moving back to the states, I can concur â but that doesnât mean I tip less! Itâs sad there are no standards or protections for service workers, which means they must rely on tricks to make money, therefore reinforcing the scam economy.
Why bring this up? This is to reiterate to any and all C-suiters, leadership, advertisers, and the like how bad most people are doing now. Raises have been stalled or down-trending for years! Everyoneâs betting their lives for some financial salvation! And you want to push us to spend money we donât have? Talk about being a Scrooge. After the year weâve had, this holiday season may break some people. Know that itâs gonna be a tough one. (Something to build from here, both these findings and the Acorns item: we may be wandering toward brands doing more and more âgivingâ stunts to counter-act these times while building loyalty. See MyFitnessPalâs recently launched âyearâs worth of groceriesâ stunt, which exchanges logging oneâs meals with the potential for free food. Sign of the times?)
đŻď¸ Quoted: What our rooms say about us
I have a new story out with Dwell, about the trend of digital interior design shows and specifically about the power of Interior Motives, a queer game show where you guess someoneâs identity based on their space. I spoke with host Ben Mora in May and in August, who is a fascinating character whose whole thing goes much deeper than giggling at peopleâs spaces. Something he said helped construct this weekendâs essay on lost privacy, which he said in response to his interior design advice. Hereâs what he said, key line bolded by me â
It sounds so canned, but the rooms that get the most negative reaction from me arenât even necessarily like the dirtiest or the most disturbing. Those I actually find sweet because this is someone truly doing exactly what they want. Theyâre at peace with themselves. The rooms that I donât like are when someone follows through on the trend. Itâs not designed for functionality or comfort. Itâs not designed as a home. Itâs more designed as a set, and that I really donât like because it reminds me of this idea that even your personal space is a site of performance. Itâs a way that you can actually display your personality back to yourself. Something about that feels really cynical to me. If the personality youâre displaying is one that youâve picked up from the internet, I really donât like that. So I truly say do what you want to do. Donât try to be tasteful.
Itâs not just a Shit Kyle Says⢠thing but a larger cultural moment where we are adapting, willingly, to losing our privacy, to relinquishing all of our information and space being âpublic.â Does that mean everywhere is a third space now? Yes and no, hence why that conversation wonât die. It also gets at something weâll get into this weekend: Gen Z and young people in general act as they act because they do not know privacy at all. This is the subconscious gas that runs their engine, hence their great conservative swing. All super interesting: read the story here.
