The Story Wave 51

Halloween Trick-or-Treat Trends – Instacart-Harris Poll

With the start of October, Spooky Season is in full swing. In anticipation of the upcoming Halloween holiday, Instacart partnered with The Harris Poll to uncover Americans’ Halloween habits and candy preferences.

• A ghoulish good time: A quarter of Americans say that Halloween is their favorite holiday.
• Trick-or-treat yo’self: Half (46%) of Americans plan to pass out Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters.
• Let’s boo this!: A third (33%) of Americans start to get into the Halloween spirit before October, but 13% wait until the week of Halloween.
• “I can’t Reese-ist”: The map below shows which candy Americans purchase the most often in each state – with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups dominating the scene.

American Eagle’s “Live Your Life” Platform Sparks Enthusiasm Among Young Shoppers – Brand Story

In July, American Eagle revived a 20-year-old slogan “Live Your Life.” This phrase was originally trademarked by the retailer in the mid-2000s, but was recovered earlier this year as American Eagle’s marketing platform. The Live Your Life platform encourages consumers to step out of the digital world and to engage with those around them IRL.

• As part of the campaign, the brand is partnering with tennis player Coco Gauff, NFL quarterback Trevor Lawrence, and actresses Kristine Froseth and Nikki Rodriguez. In addition to this star-studded cast, American Eagle has partnered with more than 200 influencers. The brand is looking to flood consumers’ social media feeds with Live Your Life content.
• Using data from QuestBrand by The Harris Poll, we can see the impact that Live Your Life has had on the way that young adults (Gen Z and Millennials) describe the American Eagle brand.
• When we compare the way that young adults describe the brand pre-versus-post platform launch, we see that American Eagle is more often  described as “innovative” (+8.9), “classy” (+7.6), “stylish” (+7.2), “traditional” (+6.5), “fun” (+5.3), a “good value” (+5.1), and “hip” (+3.6) after the release of Live Your Life.

Read the full brand story to learn more about this campaign, and to see how Live Your Life impacted American Eagle’s sales conversion funnel.

Artificial Intelligence: German Insights

On August 1, 2024, the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act (EU’s AI Act) took effect in Germany and within all other EU Member States. While German companies work to ensure that their AI technology works within the EU’s new regulations, we took a close look at whether German consumers are ready for an AI-powered future. Examining data from QuestBrand’s Custom Questions functionality, we found:

• Don’t get left behind: 63% of German adults agree that AI is the future, and companies should be working to integrate it effectively into their products and services.
• Pull out the checkbook: roughly a third of Germans say that they are more likely to purchase products (29%) or services (31%) that incorporate AI.
• It’s not all roses: 65% of Germans agree that companies often overestimate their interest in AI-infused products and services.
• Sell, sell, sell!: 76% of Germans agree that AI has become companies’ latest marketing ploy.
• Cross-country  comparison: When a company announces that it is incorporating AI into its products or services, German (87%) more often than British (75%) or American (73%) adults say that they have the same, or better, opinion of the company.

Download the report for more insights.