• by Colin Kirkland , August 4, 2022

Publicis Media’s U.K.-based Spark Foundry agency is launching “Insights Accelerated,” a microsite hosting quarterly insights reports focused on social commerce, the metaverse and sustainability. 

The open-access reports, intended to help shape media strategies, employ agency tools including social listening (for the metaverse), semantic analysis (for sustainability) and an external  panel representative of the U.K. population (for social commerce). 

The insights and implications will be assessed and compared throughout the year to ensure accountability and learning over time, according to the agency. 

Each report will offer three insights and three implications for brands on each of the three themes. 

“These three topics are going to be huge focus areas for brands and advertisers in the coming months, and we’re confident the learnings will be relevant to businesses regardless of category,” said Marcos Angelides, Spark Foundry U.K.’s chief strategy and innovation officer. 

The first report, for example, points out that social commerce is more established than many assume (59% of U.S. adults report having purchased at least once on social and more than half having purchased multiple times). 

Also, for the present, most consumers say they’re most comfortable using social to buy lower-ticket items (£1 to £40). While price points are likely to rise over time, the agency advises brands to focus initially on marketing lower-ticket, entry-level items rather than “marquee” products. 

When it comes to the metaverse, the agency reports that most discussions of this topic are business-driven and posted during weekday working hours (9 am to 7 pm). Most discussions are among those 35 and older, with banking, finance, sales and marketing originating 34% of mentions. 

At the same time, the agency advises brands to remember that many metaverse users are young gamers on platforms like Robloxand Fortnite, who may not use the term “metaverse” in discussing their activities. 

“Unless businesses can tap into the way users talk, and feel, about the metaverse… they won’t be able to design the right experiences to connect with them,” notes the report. 

Sustainable solutions insights include a finding that 54% of searches are related to second-hand options, demonstrating consumer willingness to share and reuse items. 

The report predicts that the autumn/winter fashion cycle will bring increased interest in second-hand solutions, especially as the cost of living continues to rise. 

However, the percentage of brand-led searches for reusable options are very low, even for brands prioritizing sustainable initiatives. Brands would do well to pump up their communications to build awareness of these efforts, the agency notes.