The Rise of Hygge (again), Cottagecore & DIYers

We've spent a lot more time at home this year (whether some of us like it or not) and it looks like many of us will be spending a lot more time at home in the coming months as cases of Covid-19 rise in many cities and restrictions continue to tighten in many regions from the US to the UK. I live in the city of Toronto and we just moved to the "Grey Zone," which means maximum measures that we saw earlier in March. It's essentially a declaration of emergency and we're in full lockdown again just in time for the holidays. The rest of the province will follow on Christmas eve.

It's been interesting to see what behavioral effects the pandemic has had on behavior and where trends have been catapulted from. I did a keynote in 2018 on the growing potential of the stay-at-home economy and found surprising studies that found people ages 17-24 were spending 70% more time at home compared to the general population. In 2020, I'm sure that gap has closed between generations. Even more interesting: before this year, home crafting was on the rise with young knitters and crocheters were learning at twice the rate of those 35-54. So, with the holidays right around the corner, expect a lot more crafty DIY gifts – from homemade wine to knitted scarfs and delicious baked goods.

It seems that the younger generation was already building the foundation for a different type of life than their older Millennial, Gen X, and Boomer counterparts. The pace of life has slowed because of the events of 2020 for all of us, however, younger generations were already trending in this direction well before this year.

The idea of slowing life down and appreciating the small things ties back to "Hygge." A Danish word that refers to

"a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of well-being."

The term was made Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year in 2016 and it makes sense given some of the surprising events happening 4 years ago -- Brexit, the US election results, etc. In times where we can’t control the world, we look to control our immediate environment and comfort ourselves.

This idea has evolved globally and in Internet culture into a variety of different aesthetics and ways of living. Cottagecore is one of those. An aesthetic based around the idealized life on a Western farm. Common themes include sustainability, gardens, farm animals, rural living, and nature. Popular sub-aesthetics include dirtcore, farmcore, honeycore, and the age-old grandmacore. People are looking to harken back to a time when life was a little less fast-paced and complex.

This is why we’ve seen DIY searches on a similar incline, reaching its highest rate ever in 2020. When making things ourselves, we tend to have a higher attachment and value that we place on those items – regardless of the quality of the end result. It’s called “The IKEA Effect.” Dan Ariely has a great bit on this for a TEDx Talk he did awhile back. Here is the video and I encourage you to skip to 12:145 to get to the good part about cake mix -- it's worth it!

So how did the DIY movement manifest itself in 2020? We saw a rise in DIY QSR where consumers could recreate their favorite meals at home from places like Shake Shack, Burger King, and Denny's.

Similarly, we saw delivered cocktail kits where you could get the experience of a high-quality, artisan cocktail from the comfort of your own home and at a lower cost. Ketel One’s cocktail kits in collaboration with Cocktail Courier were a shining example of this. They offered cocktails that were a twist on beloved classics created by world-renowned mixologists. Each cocktail can be selected to your desire with their “taste scale” and best of all, most of the cocktails revolved around specific milestones, occasions or holidays whether it was a birthday, a date night, or even events like the Emmy's.

We’ve seen the rise in the DIY movement expand to children’s toys as well, allowing them to flex their imaginations more as well as with adults where a surge in home renovation and improvement projects was seen this year. Share prices have skyrocketed with home improvement stores. If this DIY trend continues in this space, just a 1% increase in sales would mean billions more in revenue for home improvement retailers.

Some are taking these projects to the next level and fleeing big cities for smaller ones and dressing up their new accommodations to suit their taste and new demands they have for their spaces. There has been a lot of controversy about this idea of dense urban hubs giving way to the popularity of rural living and rural life, but the fact is articles about this were in print long before the changes of 2020 made headway. Business Insider, CBC, Bloomberg and NYT have all reported on it earlier on.

The fact is that while the future is uncertain, there has been more interest by Millennials to consider working in more affordable exurbs not only because of Covid-19 and increased flexibility of work and the unaffordability of cities like NYC, San Francisco London and Toronto, but also because of this slowed-down pace of life and a desire to have more of a connection with nature.

As brand builders moving forward into 2021, we have to ask ourselves:

• Are we offering a way to enjoy at-home occasions for consumers?
• Have we given our consumers a sense of "ownership" or input in our product or service? How do we maximize on the IKEA Effect in this increasingly DIY world?
• Will our brand fare well if consumers spend more time at home? Not just in 2021, but beyond?
• How is our business impacted if urban hubs are not the de facto residence for Millennials and exurbs and rural areas become more attractive?

Interested in your thoughts, feelings, and musings as always on Hygge, the DIY movement, and changing consumer needs! If you want to learn more about any of the above shifts generationally, in retail or marketing, join us virtually at Future Festival this March.