Winter 2019 Industry Trends
Below are a few industry trends we’ve taken note of for winter. If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out to CVB marketing specialist, Kelsey Blevins at kblevins@vbgov.com.
Marketing, Advertising & Tech Trends
- Facebook Video Poll Ads: Following the adoption of poll sticker for Instagram Stories ads that rolled out earlier this year, Facebook is now bringing video poll ads to Facebook mobile Feed. [LINK]
- Hulu Binge Ad Format: Hulu rolled out a new ad format tailored to viewers binge-watching several episodes of a show in a row. Format is made up of three ads spread across three episodes of the same series. [LINK]
Culinary Trends
- Impossible Foods Introduces Plant-Based Pork and Sausage: Impossible Foods is adding meatless pork and sausage to its lineup, aiming to reshape the massive pork market nearly four years after its introduction of plant-based burgers helped shake up the hamburger business. [LINK]
- Ube: Vibrant green matcha tea was everywhere in 2019 but in 2020, we’ll be seeing more purple, thanks to the rising popularity of this electric purple yam. [LINK]
- Boozy Kombucha: Yelp review mentions of this boozy beverage grew 377% in the last 12 months. [LINK]
- Floral-Infused Drinks and Dishes: Chrysanthemum and butterfly pea tea are just two of the extracts popping up in cocktails and dishes across the country. [LINK]
- Non-Alcoholic Happy Hours: Raise a glass to the mocktail. Non-alcoholic bars are popping up across the country and zero-proof concoctions with delicious juice and tea blends may become just as popular as a glass of wine. [LINK]
Travel Industry Trends
- Free Public Transportation: Kansas City is the first major U.S. city to get rid of bus fares. [LINK]
- Zero-Footprint Travel: Natural Habitats offers zero-footprint itineraries and is now offsetting travelers’ entire lives for a full year if they book one of its Climate Change & Our Wild World trips. [LINK]
- Women Wanderers: Another travel trend this year is small, curated trips for women that only include a clientele of one gender. In fact, some companies’ itineraries simultaneously focus solely on women throughout the world. [LINK]
Lodging Trends
- Rent the Runway + W Hotels: Rent the Runway, a billion-dollar designer clothing rental company, is teaming up with W Hotels to bring clothes straight to hotel guests’ closets. The “Closet Concierge” program includes four items for $69, and it will initially launch in four cities: Aspen, Colorado; Miami; Los Angeles; and Washington. [LINK]
- Rise of Luxury Tented Resorts: The space is growing because luxury travelers like the ability to be closer to nature without sacrificing creature comforts. Even the super-high-end hospitality brands are getting in on the trend. [LINK]
- New Housing Model for Business Travelers: The Guild, a hospitality startup, is not quite a hotel but not quite Airbnb. It’s betting on $25M in funding to expand its apartment-like accommodations to urban centers to attract more business travelers. [LINK]
- Gardens Are the Hot New Hotel Amenity: There isn’t a lot of idyll in our hyperdrive lives, and that’s why gardens are becoming an increasingly popular hotel feature. [LINK]
- Ban on Mini-Toiletries: Mini-toiletries could soon be checking out of hotel rooms across the state of New York as authorities seek to introduce a state-wide ban. [LINK]
Retail Trends
- Retailers Use Fitness Perks to Woo Customers: To get customers in the door, retailers — whether grocery stores or athleisure brands — are offering fitness classes. Lululemon has invested in two new experiential-focused stores. The Mall of America location comes complete with locker rooms, yoga and fitness studios, a meditation room, and a fuel bar. [LINK]
Health & Wellness Trends
- High-Tech Spas: Somadomes, Bod Pods, virtual reality wellness — if you have no idea what these things mean, you will soon. [LINK]
Arts & Culture Trends
- Digital Art Centre: A former WWII bunker in France is being converted into the world’s largest digital art centre, with multimedia displays projected over illuminated pools of water. [LINK]
- ‘The Whale’ Building: A stunning architectural creation known as The Whale will be Norway’s next visitor attraction, and it will enable visitors to Andenes on the island of Andøya to see migrating whales up close. [LINK]
- Night Time Enterprise Zone: London is encouraging residents and visitors to stay out after dark under the new Night Time Enterprise Zone project, which aims to make the capital a 24-hour global city. [LINK]