4 ways to ‘trendjack’ your next product launch

For established consumer brands, product launches represent tentpole opportunities for growth. Whether you’re focused on driving sales, building brand awareness, or customer acquisition, a new, high-quality product with thoughtful messaging sets the stage for success. But in the end, the wider impact of a particular campaign often comes down to one frustrating wildcard question: What’s trending?The trouble with trends is that they are inherently fleeting. Before you can decide whether a product is more brat summer or demure fall, it’s already the holiday season, and consumers have moved on. So, how can you attempt to predict trends when the cycles move so fast? And how can you use this knowledge to inform your next product launch, collaboration, or campaign?Over the years as CEO and founder of Bearaby, I’ve learned that although it isn’t always productive to chase trends as they come and go, they can be an impactful tool for growth when approached proactively. By choosing to look ahead with an eye toward “trendjacking” our launches, we’ve seen success in elevating our campaigns to greater cultural relevance. Here are four ways to do that.1. Listen to your customersJust because a topic is trending doesn’t mean it will resonate with your audience—so before undertaking any trendjacking project, it’s crucial to ensure that your strategy aligns with the interests of your target customer base.Consider who your customers are and what popular culture they engage with outside of your brand. Where do they shop? What music do they listen to? What TV shows do they watch?The answers to these questions can lead you to unexpected avenues for product development—like Stanley’s collaboration with fashion brand LoveShackFancy, which gave the sturdy tumblers a floral makeover complete with bow-shaped straw toppers. Stanley understood that their core female audience resonated with the coquette aesthetic, and they used this knowledge to create a unique, unexpected product. The result was a colorful collection that left brand fans asking for a restock almost as soon as it was released.2. Rethink social mediaTrends that start on social media typically stand out as the most obvious examples of buzzworthy cultural moments, but they are also notoriously short-lived and difficult to predict. In order for a social media trend to provide solid footing for a full brand campaign or product launch, it has to possess staying power that goes beyond a few weeks of posts and memes. Social media trends become most relevant to brands when they start to impact consumer behavior offscreen.At Bearaby, our focus on home aesthetics leads us to take frequent inspiration from creators in the interior design space, so when “dopamine decor” started popping up across every platform, we took notice. Dopamine decor was used to describe decor items chosen solely for their ability to bring eclectic vibrance into home spaces. The phrase was showing up in viral videos of room transformations and maximalist design inspo, and it was also driving purchases, with users routinely taking product recommendations directly from the trending content.Because dopamine decor was a stable new term (rather than a fleeting trend), it became an effective theme for our collaboration with Shake Shack. The product we created—a French fry-shaped body pillow mimicking our partner brand’s iconic menu item—was designed to fit right in with the bright, joyful items that we saw resonating within the maximalist design space. By taking this a step further and partnering with influencers who built their platform around this aesthetic, we were able to reach that new audience right where they were already engaged.3. Watch the calendarCapitalizing on stable seasonal trends such as pre-existing minor holidays and awareness days can be an effective way to add a layer of relevancy to almost any brand campaign, leading to more opportunities for media coverage. Consumers have even come to expect activations from their favorite brands on certain days. Earth Day, for example, has become a flagship seasonal moment for sustainability focused brands, anchoring clever activations like the Allbirds and Audubon Society collab or Pangaia’s Naomi Campbell-sponsored air pollution ink.But even lesser known holidays can make a difference when it comes to press—we timed our Bearaby/Shake Shack launch to National French Fry Day (which happens to fall on the second Friday of July each year), knowing that this provided a more holistic storyline for press coverage.Tying your product launch to a holiday also adds a sense of seasonal urgency for customers by providing a reason they might want to buy today instead of tomorrow (or next week or next month).4. License with careLicensing deals can be an effective way for smaller brands to skip the guesswork and reap the benefit of seasonal moments that big companies are already planning. Beloved brands like Hello Kitty create elaborate press moments around their anniversaries, while active cultural forces like Netflix shows can be counted on to generate attention and excitement each time the next season drops.That said, licensing opportunities should be approached with as much care and caution as any trend. If it’s part of a timed activation orchestrated by a legacy brand, your product will be competing with a wide range of products licensing the same motifs. In these cases, a successful collaboration requires a truly unique product/brand match.A great example of this is Olipop’s recent “Peaches & Cream” flavor drop, backed by the aesthetics of a Barbie collab. The new soda flavor reportedly sold better than eggs the first week it dropped, standing out among a wave of licensing deals surrounding Barbie’s 65th anniversary.Though there is no one-size-fits-all solution for predicting trends, these steps can help you become more actively engaged with trend cycles, leading to sharper strategy for your next product launch. By starting with a deep understanding of your customer base and thoughtfully taking inspiration from social media, seasonal events, and legacy brands, consumer brands can begin to make the shift from passive trendwatchers to active trendsetters.Kathrin Hamm, PhD, is founder and CEO of Bearaby.