Michaels : Social Listening May – October 23, 2017 Ongoing & Emerging Trends

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Social Listening: Trends Overview Bolded titles are trends provided by Michaels Trends team; non-bolded reflect terminology and most relevant items identified by Zimmerman Social Marketing Analytics team. Ongoing Trends: •  Slime – QOTD (Question of the Day)/AOTD (Answer of the Day), Butter Slime, Gold Slime, Conditioner Slime •  Painted Rocks – Experience Finding Rocks, Rocks in Gardens, Artistry of Painted Rocks •  Unicorn Parties – Unicorn Makeup, Birthdays, Homemade Sweets •  Farmhouse – Dining Room, Vintage Finds, Etsy •  Squishies – Blogger Giveaways, Haul Videos •  Kawaii – Aesthetic, Makeup, Halloween Emerging Trends: •  Paint Pouring – Acrylic Pour Art, Acrylic Pour Fluid Art, Abstract Acrylic Pour Painting, First Acrylic Pour •  *New* Balloon Makes – Balloon Animals, Red Balloons, Water Balloons, Balloon Fiesta •  *New* Punch Needle – Floral Embroidery, Embroidery Work, Gucci Embroidery, Bead Embroidery •  *New* Holiday 2017 – Paw Patrol, Disney Pixar, Hatchimals, Toy Openings •  *New* Fantasy/Rainbows/Unicorns/Gothic – DIY Unicorn Frappuccino, DIY Unicorn Headband, Kawaii Aesthetic •  *New* California Modern Lifestyle – Bohemian, Blue, Turquoise, Natural Look/Products SOURCES: •  Social Listening Tool: Brandwatch, US & Canada •  Sources: The social listening for this report was pulled from Blogs, News, Forums, Videos, Twitter, Reviews, Facebook, and Instagram. Brandwatch

does not pull Pinterest data.

Note: Highlights are not reflective of every input provided, only observatory that could be derived from overall results of the research.

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Social Listening: Methodology •  Related Keywords: Queries utilized top 20 Pinterest searched terms for each trend identified by Michaels. Zimmerman Social

Marketing Analytics team conducted independent research to best capture other potential terms associated with each trend. Zimmerman and Pinterest search terms aligned for social listening query building.

•  Implication of Related Keywords: For trends that carried over from the last report to this report, the query building varied as

we expanded beyond the trend terminology in the September 2017 report. •  Conversation Growth: Any references to percent growth from the last report is specific to changes from September (1 – 23) to

October (1 – 23). Percent increase/decrease is shown for trends that carried over from the September 2017 report.

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Social Listening: Executive Summary •  Ongoing Trends: ‘Slime’ and ‘Kawaii’ accounted for the majority of social conversation, with ‘Slime’ increasing by 11.63% from

September to October with 1.9M mentions from May to October 23rd. Similar to September’s report, ‘Kawaii’ generated 1.8M mentions and had the highest percent of positive sentiment among all the Ongoing Trends evaluated. Other than ‘Kawaii,’ ‘Farmhouse’ and ‘Unicorn Parties’ repeatedly generated the highest positive sentiment. ‘Slime’ and ‘Squishies’ had the highest negative sentiment from the Ongoing Trend list.

•  Emerging Trends: Significant conversation volume for ‘California Modern Lifestyle,’ ‘Fantasy/Rainbows/Unicorns/Scary

Kawaii,’ and ‘Balloon Makes.’ Since the last trend spotting analysis ‘Paint Pouring’ and ‘Punch Needle’ has shown at least a 5.26% decline in mentions from September – October 23rd. ‘Fantasy/Rainbows/Unicorns’ and ‘California Modern Lifestyle’ showed the highest positive sentiment whereas ‘Balloon Makes’ had the highest negative sentiment. ‘Holiday 2017’ trend line remained consistent from May to October with small peaks towards October.

Note: Highlights are not reflective of every input provided, only observatory that could be derived from overall results of the research.

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Social Listening: Volume & Sentiment Ongoing Trends

Volume (May –

Oct)

Positive Sentiment

Neutral Sentiment

Negative Sentiment

Volume % Change (Sep – Oct)

Slime 1.9M 49% 32% 19% +11.63%

Painted Rocks 165K 41% 47% 11% -11.11%

Unicorn Parties 62K 51% 36% 13% -7.15%

Farmhouse 326K 59% 35% 6% -6.55%

Squishies 592K 32% 52% 17% +6.89%

Kawaii 1.8M 65% 25% 10% -6.66%

Emerging Trends

Volume (May –

Oct)

Positive Sentiment

Neutral Sentiment

Negative Sentiment

Volume % Change (Sep – Oct)

Paint Pouring (-8.6%) 4.2K 42% 53% 5% -8.6%

Balloon Makes 746K 31% 47% 23% N/A

Punch Needle (-5.26%) 678K 45% 48% 6% -5.26%

Holiday 2017 56K 33% 58% 9% N/A

Fantasy/Rainbows/Unicorns/Scary Kawaii

2M 69% 21% 10% N/A

California Modern Lifestyle

756K 49% 43% 7% N/A

Percent Change emphasized in color, Green = Increase, Red = Decrease. Percent change compares conversation volume from September (1 -23) to October (1 -23).

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Overall Trend Line: Ongoing, Emerging

The information presented on this slide represents the trend-lines for ongoing and emerging trends.

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Trend Line: Ongoing Trends

The information presented on this slide represents the ongoing trends conversations.

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OT - Kawaii

OT - Painted Rocks

OT - Slime

OT - Squishies

OT - Unicorn Parties

Mentions related to unique ways to make slime.

Spike contributed to slime videos and October themed slime.

Spike in mentions related to Disney Princess’s and shopping for Squishies.

Dip in conversation related to Kawaii drawing.

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Social Listening: Emerging Trends

The information presented on this slide represents the top topics related to the ongoing and emerging trends. Bullet points correlate to conversations that stand out, not all conversations populating on the topic cloud.

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California Modern Lifestyle

Fantasy/Rainbows/Unicorns

Holiday 2017 Gifts/Toys

Paint Pouring

Punch Needle

Picture of Lebron James in a water balloon fight gained popularity on Twitter.

Spike in mentions related to Kawaii fashion and manga.

Peak in mentions related to flower embroidery.

Peaks in conversation contributed to Fingerlings Unicorn Toy.

Dip in Kawaii specific mentions.

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Social Listening: Upward Trends

The information presented on this slide represents the top topics related to the ongoing and emerging trends. Bullet points correlate to conversations that stand out, not all conversations populating on the topic cloud.

•  OMG – 54K total posts expressing excitement for unique slime creations. •  Butter Slime – 30K total posts exhibiting butter slime. Butter Slime social posts show

videos/images of smooth textured slime. •  AOTD – 37K total posts mentioning QOTD alongside AOTD. QOTD stands for

Question of the Day whereas AOTD means Answer of the Day. Slime accounts are using QOTD and AOTD in their content to state facts and set a conversational tone to the posts. For example, “QOTD: What’s the weather like where you live? AOTD: ______.”

•  Making Slime – 10.5K total posts of general statements on social mentioning the process of making slime.

•  Gold Slime – 2.9K total posts featuring the incorporation of gold in slime. •  Conditioner Slime – 435 total posts mentioning conditioner slime. These posts include

DIY, Conditioner Slime tests, and the exclusion of Glue, Borax, and Liquid Starch.

•  DIY Unicorn Frappuccino – 9.8K total posts related to people wanting to create their own Unicorn Frappuccino. These mentions populated videos, how-to imagery, and reactions to making Unicorn Frappuccino's.

•  Hand Drawn Baby Unicorn – 604 total posts mentioning unicorn apparel and hand drawn illustrations.

ONGOING: SLIME

TESTING: FANTASY/RAINBOWS/UNICORNS/SCARY KAWAII

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Social Listening: Sample Conversations

Sample posts on this slide represent the current conversation for emerging and testing trends.

Thank You.