A New Meaning for Netflix and Chill
Wellness Media for the Soul
Every year it seems wellness works its way deeper and deeper into the consumer psyche. Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle empire Goop continues to expand its dominion, with two partnerships—Netflix and Sephora—announced in the same day. “It shows how celebrity-owned brands are expanding their credibility into new areas,” Director of Client Strategy Mary Klindworth noted in our discussion. People trust brands that align with their personal set of values and in turn brands expand their platform to other verticals.
In a deep dive on reality show viewership in the UK, The New York Times suggested that perhaps it’s a sign of the times that we’re seeing more wholesome reality TV, such as “The Great British Bake-Off” than previous eras.
When people deal with increasingly scary and controversial news, they turn to content like cooking shows, drawn to its neutral nature. “In multigenerational households, where everybody has different political views, it’s hard to find something to watch together,” as our director of cultural strategy Courtney Emery points out.
2020 could perhaps see a renewed effort by audiences to reclaim their media as safe, comforting reprieves from the stress of the day-to-day, and push for a new brand of wellness media as people contend with difficult, hot-take style news cycles. One that’s not focused so much on actual science or health practices, but instead about creating a moment (or an hour-long time slot) of zen.
Kitchenware is the New Athleisure
Cookbook sales have increased despite the decline of print media consumption in the past decade. People want to spend more time in their homes and in their kitchens; buying cookbooks being a part of this broader phenomenon.
Cookbooks are a collection of recipes so “they have a similar cultural code to vinyls: collecting the originals and/or rare albums can give you cache.” Steve Goldberg, VP of Cultural Strategy, mentions. So maybe it is just about the art of collection.
In tracking the trend aspiration, the art of showcasing your personal achievements can be more important than actually accomplishing them. Millennials are cooking less and their lack of confidence in their kitchen abilities may also explain that these purchases of cookbooks are in fact aspirational, or simply symbolic of status and personality. “Millennials consume food in a restaurant or bar around 30 percent more often than any other generation,” according to a report by the United States Department of Agriculture. This also tracks with our Element of Culture Camera Culture, where people like to share and show that they are doing something, like buying the best cookbook on the market or wearing the most popular legging brand.
With the boom of athleisure, putting on workout clothes to show that working out is perhaps an aspiration—but not a reality—cookbooks can have a second life as eye-candy in your home and on your insta profile.