Monthly Trend Monitor: September 2022


The monthly trend monitor provides a unique data-driven overview over the most important global consumer, industry, and society trends. How it works: We use the SONAR trend radar, which tracks the volume of written scientific and journalistic publications on a certain trend, to find out what the top five trends are in these three categories. Utilizing intelligent algorithms, SONAR analyzes a continuously growing database of more than 40 million publications from academic journals, expert blogs, mass media, and patent registers to gain unique insights on global trends.

SONAR can sort trends by Volume (number of articles relevant to a trend and relative to the SONAR index), Growth (YoY growth, volume of the last 12 months vs. previous 12 months) or Momentum (MoM growth, volume of the last month vs. volume of the previous month).

Each month, we present the top 5 consumer, industry, and society trends by Momentum.

Top 5 Consumer Trends in September 2022

Healthy Lifestyle & Wellbeing succeeds Eco-Awareness as the new number one consumer trend in September. Data Privacy follows second with only a slightly lower momentum. Next in line is Human Enhancement, a very interesting trend not often seen in the top five. Worthy of note, Meme Culture is also featured on the last positioned. 

Top 5 Industry Trends in September 2022

Food Tech, last month’s number one trend, is superseded by Bio Engineering in September. Renewable Energy not only manages to stay in the top five, but also climbs up two positions to become the second-strongest industry trend in September. 

Top 5 Society Trends in September 2022

Diversity & Inclusion is the number one society trend in September, followed by Smart Cities and Digital Ethics. Global Threats, a trend indicative of dangerous new global developments, enters the top five once again. 



Monthly Trend Monitor: August 2022


The monthly trend monitor provides a unique data-driven overview over the most important global consumer, industry, and society trends. How it works: We use the SONAR trend radar, which tracks the volume of written scientific and journalistic publications on a certain trend, to find out what the top five trends are in these three categories. Utilizing intelligent algorithms, SONAR analyzes a continuously growing database of more than 40 million publications from academic journals, expert blogs, mass media, and patent registers to gain unique insights on global trends.

SONAR can sort trends by Volume (number of articles relevant to a trend and relative to the SONAR index), Growth (YoY growth, volume of the last 12 months vs. previous 12 months) or Momentum (MoM growth, volume of the last month vs. volume of the previous month).

Each month, we present the top 5 consumer, industry, and society trends by Momentum.

Top 5 Consumer Trends in August 2022

None of the July’s top consumer trends have managed to maintain a strong enough momentum to make it to the top five in August. The top consumer trends in August are Eco-Awareness, followed by Snackification and Data Privacy

Top 5 Industry Trends in August 2022

The ranking of the top five industry trends has also seen a complete reconfiguration. Food Tech takes over the pole position from Artificial Intelligence and boasts a very strong momentum. E-commerce follows closely with only a slightly lower momentum. 

Top 5 Society Trends in August 2022

The number one society trend Digitalization and runner-up Climate Change both boast exceptionally strong momentum in August. Fake News and Right Wing Populism, two trends rarely seen in the top five, take the fourth and the fifth positions, respectively. 

Monthly Trend Monitor: July 2022


The monthly trend monitor provides a unique data-driven overview over the most important global consumer, industry, and society trends. How it works: We use the SONAR trend radar, which tracks the volume of written scientific and journalistic publications on a certain trend, to find out what the top five trends are in these three categories. Utilizing intelligent algorithms, SONAR analyzes a continuously growing database of more than 40 million publications from academic journals, expert blogs, mass media, and patent registers to gain unique insights on global trends.

SONAR can sort trends by Volume (number of articles relevant to a trend and relative to the SONAR index), Growth (YoY growth, volume of the last 12 months vs. previous 12 months) or Momentum (MoM growth, volume of the last month vs. volume of the previous month).

Each month, we present the top 5 consumer, industry, and society trends by Momentum.

Top 5 Consumer Trends in July 2022

Vegan and Vegetarian Food and Healthy Lifestyle & Wellbeing continue to be the strongest and second-strongest consumer trends by momentum, respectively. Healthy Lifestyle & Wellbeing‘s momentum has almost doubled compared to the previous month.

Top 5 Industry Trends in July 2022

Cognitive Care & Mental Health moves from the first to the fourth position. The new top industry trend in July is Artificial Intelligence, also boasting high volume and growth, followed by Deep & Machine Learning and Data-Driven Enterprise.

Top 5 Society Trends in July 2022

Diversity & Inclusion is the new top society trend in July, coinciding with some of the world’s biggest gay pride events, such as the Berliner Christopher Street Day. Interestingly, despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, Global Threats is not among the top five society trends in July.

Monthly Trend Monitor: June 2022


The monthly trend monitor provides a unique data-driven overview over the most important global consumer, industry, and society trends. How it works: We use the SONAR trend radar, which tracks the volume of written scientific and journalistic publications on a certain trend, to find out what the top five trends are in these three categories. Utilizing intelligent algorithms, SONAR analyzes a continuously growing database of more than 40 million publications from academic journals, expert blogs, mass media, and patent registers to gain unique insights on global trends.

SONAR can sort trends by Volume (number of articles relevant to a trend and relative to the SONAR index), Growth (YoY growth, volume of the last 12 months vs. previous 12 months) or Momentum (MoM growth, volume of the last month vs. volume of the previous month).

Each month, we present the top 5 consumer, industry, and society trends by Momentum.

Top 5 Consumer Trends in June 2022

Vegan and Vegetarian Food remains the top consumer trend, with increased momentum compared to May. Health Lifestyle & Wellbeing also remains the second-strongest trend, though with a decreased momentum. The remaining three trends in the top five are new entries.

Top 5 Industry Trends in June 2022

None of the previous month’s top industry trends have managed to preserve their momentum and remain in the top five. The new top industry trend in June is Cognitive Care & Mental Health, showing a very strong momentum, followed by Customer Satisfaction Monitoring and Natural Language Processing.

Top 5 Society Trends in June 2022

After a hiatus in May, June’s top society trend is once again dominated by Global Threats – a trend that reflects armed conflicts around the world, especially the current war in Ukraine. It also boasts an extraordinarily strong momentum. New Living Models and Creative Class follow on the second and third positions, respectively, with a much weaker momentum.

Monthly Trend Monitor: May 2022


The monthly trend monitor provides a unique data-driven overview over the most important global consumer, industry, and society trends. How it works: We use the SONAR trend radar, which tracks the volume of written scientific and journalistic publications on a certain trend, to find out what the top five trends are in these three categories. Utilizing intelligent algorithms, SONAR analyzes a continuously growing database of more than 40 million publications from academic journals, expert blogs, mass media, and patent registers to gain unique insights on global trends.

SONAR can sort trends by Volume (number of articles relevant to a trend and relative to the SONAR index), Growth (YoY growth, volume of the last 12 months vs. previous 12 months) or Momentum (MoM growth, volume of the last month vs. volume of the previous month).

Each month, we present the top 5 consumer, industry, and society trends by Momentum.

Top 5 Consumer Trends in May 2022

Health-related trends dominate: Vegan and Vegetarian Food takes the top spot among consumer trends in May with exceptional momentum, followed by Healthy Lifestyle & Wellbeing. Natural & Organic Products is the third health-related trend in the top five.

Top 5 Industry Trends in May 2022

Circular Economy is May’s top industry trend for the first time in a long time, followed by E-Mobility. Gene & Stem Cell Therapy is another industry trend that rarely shows up among top five industry trends by momentum.

Top 5 Society Trends in May 2022

Climate Change is the top society trend in May. Diversity & Inclusion, fourth-placed in April, moves up to the second position in May. Worthy of note, the ongoing war in Ukraine is only fully reflected by Global Power Shifts, which is the third-strongest trend in May, whereas a related trend, Global Threads, topped the list last month.

Monthly Trend Monitor: April 2022


The monthly trend monitor provides a unique data-driven overview over the most important global consumer, industry, and society trends. How it works: We use the SONAR trend radar, which tracks the volume of written scientific and journalistic publications on a certain trend, to find out what the top five trends are in these three categories. Utilizing intelligent algorithms, SONAR analyzes a continuously growing database of more than 40 million publications from academic journals, expert blogs, mass media, and patent registers to gain unique insights on global trends.

SONAR can sort trends by Volume (number of articles relevant to a trend and relative to the SONAR index), Growth (YoY growth, volume of the last 12 months vs. previous 12 months) or Momentum (MoM growth, volume of the last month vs. volume of the previous month).

Each month, we present the top 5 consumer, industry, and society trends by Momentum.


Top 5 Consumer Trends in April 2022

Mindfulness & Conscious Living replaces February’s top trend Healthy Lifestyle & Wellbeing to become the number one consumer trend in April. New Work moves one position up from the third to the second place. Interestingly, the niche trend Quantified Self boasts the third-highest momentum among all consumer trends.

Top 5 Industry Trends in April 2022

Renewable Energy, a notable high-volume trend, boasts a very strong momentum and occupies the top position among industry trends in April. Notably, Cognitive Care & Mental Health is the second strongest industry trend in April. It may be speculated that this is associated with the Russian-Ukrainian war. Food Tech managed to preserve some of its strong momentum from February, falling back from the first to the third position.

Top 5 Society Trends in April 2022

Unsurprisingly in view of the escalating Russian-Ukrainian war, Global Threats is the number one society trend in April, jumping up from the third position that it occupied in February. Curiously, the niche trend Talent Gap also boasts a strong momentum and enters the top five.

Whitepaper: Wahlforschung mit digitalen Daten





Spätestens seit der Brexit-Wahl in Großbritannien und dem Sieg Donald Trumps bei den US-Präsidentschaftswahlen 2016 wird die Rolle der klassischen Wahlforschung und ihrem Hauptinstrument, der politischen Umfrage, sowohl von gesellschaftlicher als auch wissenschaftlicher Seite zunehmend kritisiert. Auch in Deutschland haben viele Umfragen in den letzten Jahren die Wahlergebnisse insbesondere von vergleichsweise jungen und populistischen Parteien wie der AfD ungenau prognostiziert. So wurde bei den Landtagswahlen 2016 in Sachsen-Anhalt die Stärke der AfD in diesem Bundesland deutlich unterschätzt. Fünf Jahre später, bei den Landtagswahlen 2021, wurde sie wiederum ebenso deutlich überschätzt. Statt dem vielfach prognostizierten Kopf-an-Kopf-Rennen zwischen CDU und AfD gewann die CDU mit einem üppigen Vorsprung von 16 Prozentpunkten.

Die Problematik von Umfragen betrifft naturgemäß nicht nur die Wahlforschung, sondern auch die quantitative Marktforschung. Leider setzt auch die recht verkrustete Marktforschung zumindest in Deutschland immer noch immer noch auf klassische umfragebasierten Methoden setzt. Allerdings haben Marktforscher, wenn sie denn wollen, längst Zugang zu einer echten und in der Praxis erprobten Alternative zu Umfragen: der Analyse der Online-Fußspuren von Internetnutzern in Form von Suchbegriffen oder Reaktionen auf Social Media.

TD Reply ist ein führender deutscher Spezialist für diese Art der datengetriebenen Markt- und Konsumverhaltensforschung, die auf dem Prinzip „Zuhören statt Befragen” beruht. Durch die Auswertung von Online-Daten mithilfe datenanalytischer und statistischer Methoden können wir Markttrends mit einer hohen Genauigkeit prognostizieren und ein besseres Verständnis von ihnen bekommen, und das ohne jemandem befragen zu müssen. Das hängt vor allem mit der konkurrenzlos hohen Verfügbarkeit, Granularität und Aktualität von Online-Daten zusammen. Ihr exploratives und vorausschauendes Potential ist enorm. Bereits seit zehn Jahren unterstützen wir erfolgreich mehrere DAX30-Unternehmen mit unseren Datenanalysen.

Vor einiger Zeit ging eine bunt gemischte Gruppe politisch interessierter TD-Reply-Mitarbeiter der Frage nach, ob die gleichen Methoden und Prinzipien auch in der Wahlforschung Anwendung finden könnten. Ihre Untersuchungen sprachen allesamt eine klare Sprache: Mit unseren Ansätzen können wir durchaus nicht nur den Markt und das Konsumverhalten besser verstehen, sondern auch das Wahlverhalten. Damit wurden die Weichen für das Forschungsprojekt „VOICE” gestellt, das im Januar 2021 seinen Anfang nahm. Gegenstand der Untersuchung: Das Wahlverhalten der Deutschen bei der Bundestagswahl 2021. Können wir mithilfe digitaler Daten wirklich neue Erkenntnisse über die politischen Präferenzen deutschen Wählerinnen und Wähler gewinnen?

Unser Hauptziel war es, zu zeigen, dass datenbasierten Methoden bei der Analyse und Prognose von Wahlverhalten eine sinnvolle Alternative oder auch Ergänzung zu Umfragen sein können. Nach dem Abschluss des Projektes sehen wir uns darin bestätigt. Nun wollen wir eine Expertdiskussion zu diesem Thema anregen. Dazu dient dieses Whitepaper, das unsere wichtigsten Ergebnisse und Erkenntisse zusammenfasst.

Ebenfalls wichtig für uns ist es deutlich zu machen, dass Big-Data-Analytics-Projekte wie VOICE nicht mit der Nutzung sensibler Personendaten einhergehen müssen. Wir griffen ausschließlich auf anonymisierte und offene Daten zurück.

Letztendlich wollen wir mit den hier gezeigten Einblicken in unser VOICE-Projekt möglichst viele Menschen gerade im Bereich der Wahlforschung dazu inspirieren, neue Wege in der Wahlforschung zu erkunden. Digitale Daten sind dabei die Wegweiser.


Whitepaper: Luxury in the Eye of the Chinese Consumer



China’s burgeoning luxury market has been the primary driver of growth for the vast majority of Western luxury brands in recent years. At the same time, Western brands are today facing unprecedented challenges stemming from the rise of domestic Chinese luxury and fashion brands. New Chinese brands can also rely on the support of China’s Gen Z, which is marked by a distinctively friendly, even patriotic attitude towards domestic brands, and also very high expectations for Western brands when it comes to their understanding of Chinese socio-cultural nuances.

At the same time, winning over the Gen Z is pivotal for Western brands seeking to stabilize and strengthen their position on the Chinese market in the long term. Against this background, gaining an intricate understanding of the Chinese luxury consumer is becoming more crucial than ever for Western brands.


This whitepaper offers a unique glimpse into the intricancies of the Chinese luxury market, answering a range of high-level strategic questions for marketers:

➡ What is the meaning of “luxury” for the Chinese consumer?

➡ How are Western and Chinese luxury brands currently positioned in the Chinese market?

➡ What must Western brands really do to successfully position and steer their brands in the right direction?

Drawing on our decades-long experience in consulting leading international brands in their China activities, this whitepaper elucidates how through a smart brand positioning based on real-time digital data, Western luxury brands can increase both their brand strength and market share in China.


Monthly Trend Monitor February 2022

The monthly trend monitor provides a unique data-driven overview over the most important global consumer, industry, and society trends. How it works: We use the SONAR trend radar, which tracks the volume of written scientific and journalistic publications on a certain trend, to find out what the top five trends are in these three categories. Utilizing intelligent algorithms, SONAR analyzes a continuously growing database of more than 40 million publications from academic journals, expert blogs, mass media, and patent registers to gain unique insights on global trends.

SONAR can sort trends by Volume (number of articles relevant to a trend and relative to the SONAR index), Growth (YoY growth, volume of the last 12 months vs. previous 12 months) or Momentum (MoM growth, volume of the last month vs. volume of the previous month).

Each month, we present the top 5 consumer, industry, and society trends by Momentum.

Top 5 Consumer Trends in February 2022

Healthy Lifestyle & Wellbeing is the top consumer trend in February. The top consumer trend in January, Data Privacy, is not in the top five anymore. Convenience Foods drops from the third to the fifth position.

Top 5 Industry Trends in February 2022

Food Tech is the somewhat surprising new top industry trend in February, followed by Gene & Stem Cell Therapy and Amazonification.

Top 5 Society Trends in February 2022

Owing to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, Global Threats and Global Power Shifts are once again among the top five society trends in February.

Monthly Trend Monitor: January 2022

The monthly trend monitor provides a unique data-driven overview over the most important global consumer, industry, and society trends. How it works: We use the SONAR trend radar, which tracks the volume of written scientific and journalistic publications on a certain trend, to find out what the top five trends are in these three categories. Utilizing intelligent algorithms, SONAR analyzes a continuously growing database of more than 40 million publications from academic journals, expert blogs, mass media, and patent registers to gain unique insights on global trends.

SONAR can sort trends by Volume (number of articles relevant to a trend and relative to the SONAR index), Growth (YoY growth, volume of the last 12 months vs. previous 12 months) or Momentum (MoM growth, volume of the last month vs. volume of the previous month).

Each month, we present the top 5 consumer, industry, and society trends by Momentum.

Top 5 Consumer Trends in January 2022

Data Privacy overtakes Eco-Awareness to become the top consumer trend in January 2022, followed by Convenience Foods, a newcomer trend. Social Media Stars & Internet Celebrities remains on the fourth position. Shareconomy is another new addition to the list this month.

Top 5 Industry Trends in January 2022

None of the top industry trends in December 2021 are featured in the list of the top industry trends in January 2022. Data Security is the industry trend with the strongest momentum in January 2022, followed by Augmented & Virtual Reality. The latter is likely fueled by the current “metaverse” hype. An interesting new addition is Smart Wealth Management.

Top 5 Society Trends in January 2022

For the first time in many months, Global Threats is not the among the top society trends in January 2022. Digitalization remains the society trend with the strongest momentum, significantly stronger even than in the previous month. Continuing Education becomes the third-strongest trend, while Urbanization slips to fourth place. Digital Ethics completes the ranking.