What are the 8 key trends to watch in this year's funding market?... Announcing '2022 Wadiz Trends'
What are the 8 key trends to watch in this year's funding market?... ‘2022 Wadiz Trends’
-’Stay Safe’ ‘Fandom Power’ ‘Greenery Life’ ‘General Creator’ and other value consumption trends based on personal preferences and beliefs are becoming more pronounced
-The most notable trends compared to the previous year are ‘Fandom Power’ and ‘General Creator (a world where anyone can become a creator)’
The keywords selected for this year by the funding platform, which has recently gained attention as a new distribution channel for MZ generation, are ‘Stay Safe’, ‘Greenery Life’, ‘Fandom Power’, ‘General Creator’ and others.
Wadiz, a life design funding platform, announced the ‘2022 Wadiz Trends’ on the 27th, analyzing over 13,000 funding projects launched over the past year and forecasting 8 major trends to gain attention this year.
Wadiz has established itself as a D2C (Direct to Customer) platform that directly connects companies and customers beyond online and offline through funding, stores, and spaces. Over the past year, out of 16 categories, ‘Fashion/Accessories’ (3,000 projects), Food (2,000 projects), and ‘Home Living (1,800 projects) saw the most projects launched. Year-over-year, ‘Travel/Leisure’ (262%), ‘Character/Merchandise’ (226%), and Games/Hobbies (154%) showed the highest growth rates.
The 8 trends analyzed by Wadiz that will define this year are: ▲Safe and precious Home Sweet Home (Stay Safe) ▲My own long-breath time (Ritual Time) ▲The mighty power of love (Fandom Power) ▲Will for green coexistence (Greenery Life) ▲A world where anyone can become a creator (General Creator) ▲Passion for learning toward ideal living (Endless Learning) ▲Innovation transcending reality (Virtual Tech) ▲A warm world together (Better Together).
Among these, the most notable trend compared to the ‘2021 Funding Trends’ announced in February last year is ‘Fandom Power’ and ‘General Creator’.
Items like ‘Pengsoo Sweatshirts’, ‘Mischievous Luffy’, ‘Coca-Cola’, ‘Highlight Photo Books’, and nostalgic cartoon merchandise like ‘Charming Character Change Goods’ show how the rich power of fandom from last year—spanning from characters and logos to popular idols—is expected to come together through funding this year as well. Additionally, as an era opens where anyone can create content, funding for instruments that can be easily learned indoors such as <Crafter Ol New Myna Guitar> and <Mopley Smart Drum>, as well as photo and video editing tools for creators, have achieved great success.
Beyond this, the trends of environmental protection (Greenery Life) and social empathy formation (Better Together) cannot be overlooked. Amid interest in ‘Zero Waste’, ‘Vegan’, and ‘Upcycling’, various funding projects have been unveiled, from recycled products to challenges and donation-encouraging campaigns. KT challenged the <Zero Waste Challenge> on Wadiz by creating parachute caps, parasols, and ponchos using scrap fabric from paragliders, and projects such as <Ice Bucket Challenge Run> for building Korea's first ALS care center and <Bear's Nest Project> formed for the better lives of captive bears garnered high empathy from supporters.
There is also a clear trend of focusing on personal daily life. Projects that stood out included home Pilates <Bullit> and <Ecto Retro Keyboard> to facilitate remote work (Stay Safe), home café items <Stresso Grinder> that create my own tea time, and self-care for my heart (Ritual Time), time management planners <TimeTracker>, and class funding such as <10-minute Business English Conversation by Ivy Leaguers> (Endless Learning).
The 2022 Wadiz Trends also include vivid funding experiences and impressions from supporters, such as “I funded over 450 makers' stories and passion, and watching them develop has become another source of anticipation” (Mr./Ms. Shin*Hae), and “I gained trust seeing makers actively communicate with supporters even when funding shipments are delayed” (Mr./Ms. Choi*In).
Huh Ji-eun, Executive Director of Wadiz Brand Marketing, said, “In our changed daily life due to COVID-19, there is an increasingly noticeable trend of people focusing on their true selves and the happiness and value consumption they seek in that process,” and “Projects that pursue the joy of directly creating their own daily lives are expected to continue into 2022.”
Meanwhile, the full <2022 Wadiz Trends> can be checked through Wadiz's official website (link), and a ‘Trends Gift Event’ featuring prizes such as ‘electric kickboards’ is also underway.