Best Past Trends and How to Capitalize in 2025

When it comes to marketing, few things are as successful as being one of the first businesses to take advantage of a big trend. Even if you are not one of the first companies to do it, people love watching trends, and seeing other people's adaptation of the trends. Today, we are going to focus on defining what a trend is, look at some of the most popular trends from this last year, and show how you can capitalize on incoming trends in 2025.

What is a "Trend"

None of this would make sense without first understanding what a trend is. A trend starts out like any other video. Someone does something that others find funny, informational, or emotional, and then they do their own take of it. As more people find the video and do their own adaptation of it, the video then becomes a "trend" and moves beyond the original person into more of a social challenge. Now that the trend has evolved, more and more people will do it, not because they are interested in the original intent, but because they hope to be able to capture more internet "points" or to be seen as "on trend".

While there are many different variations of trends we could focus on, today we will be focusing on the idea of business trends. These are trends that proved to be so successful, that even businesses chose to make an adaptation of it, that best suited their business. These trends are a bit different than normal trends, as businesses tend to either put their own twist on the trend at large, mostly to better fit their business model/to attract attention to a certain product. Businesses also tend to know that certain trends will not fit their brand or be attractive to their original demographic, so they tend to "mock" or poke fun at the trend, which is a form of disruptive marketing. This is not to say that some businesses do not follow the trend as intended, but rather than businesses are adaptable, and choose to modify the trend based on what they see are their business needs.

Popular Trends From 2024

1. Stanley "Cupgate"- This trend started when a user posted that their car had caught fire, but that their Stanley cup was still completely intact, not even the ice had melted. This became one of the best company trends in 2024, not because of its massive scale, but because it showcased how to handle a consumer trend. Shortly after the release of this video, and of several copycats, Stanley reached out offering to replace the car, and used this video to reinforce how great their product was. Stanley was very popular before this video, but this video really helped Stanley to once again be one of the consumers beverage containers of choice, cementing its place in the limelight for at least one more year.

   
   

2. Roman Empire- This trend was all about women coming up to their man and asking them about how often they think about the Roman Empire. The trend was focused on "revealing" what men thought about, and how much knowledge they have about the most random topics. Businesses took this idea, and modified it based on their product. So instead of something like "How often do you think about the Roman empire?" it turned into "How often do you think about Goodyear tires?". This trend was all over social media, and general media coverage, for quite a while due to its versatility. The trend could be easily adopted for any service or product, which made it very appealing to a lot of people and businesses.

   
   

3. Beige Flags- The final trend from 2024 we will talk about is the Beige Flag trend. This trend cropped up mostly around couples at the beginning. They would talk about their own and others' "beige flags". These were not positive attributes, they were not negative, they were just interesting. This sparked a big interest in the consumer market, as people finally had an opportunity to talk about the different quirks and interests they had, that up to this point, did not fit in a specific category. Dating apps and big companies were quick to join on, sharing their different quirks, features, or developing a filter so other users could join in the trend as well. While this did not have as massive of a reach to individual companies, the companies who did jump on this trend saw massive success.

How to Capitalize in 2025

Trying to identify a trend before it happens, or right when it happens, is very hard if not impossible. This is why, instead of focusing on identifying trends, businesses need to focus on the idea of being a "fast follower". Fast followers are not the beginning adapters of all trends. Instead, they wait and see which ones are beginning to be semi-popular, and then they go and jump on the trend. This takes some of the initial risk out of trying to decide which trend will be popular, but also slightly decreases some of the rewards or followers the company could gain. Overall, this leads companies to be able to take the most advantage of a trend, without needing to spend a lot of work or time on sorting through hundreds of potential trends.

To get into specifics, businesses should be getting into the mind of their consumer. The first video or short recommended in any given app is the one that app feels most connects with what you would be interested in, as the app wants you to continue scrolling. So if you can set up a customer account, with information you think your target audience likes, you can see what the most popular trends and items are, and take advantage of them. This allows the trends to come to you, taking away some of the time you are spending looking for trends.

Conclusion

In conclusion, trends are one of the best things a business or consumer can get involved with, the earlier the better. The challenge lies with how to be on the right trends, and how to identify when the right time is for your business to do a video and generate the maximum amount of engagement. Once you figure that you, your marketing game will become that much easier.

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