THE continuance of the global pandemic has undoubtedly increased the amount of time people spend looking at screens, be it the TV, their smartphones or computer screens.
In fact, some within Southeast Asia (SEA) have been paying attention to the trends of western celebrities, influencers and even the entrepreneurs, as seen in their recent purchasing behaviour.
This was discovered from a study by iPrice Group on how Hollywood brand ambassadors and western media shapes the interest of Southeast Asians in certain products online.
Results from the study showed that Singapore and the Philippines’ product interests were the most influenced by celebrity and influencer endorsements.
Is Crocs making comeback?
Questlove’s golden Crocs and Nicki Minaj’s pink Crocs have made a huge buzz after their recent appearance on the Oscars red carpet. This is just one of many of Crocs’ comeback appearances.
With its continuous exposure, the love-it-or-hate-it shoe brand that almost faced bankruptcy in 2018 has kept the public’s interest.
Crocs has also piqued Southeast Asia’s interest. In the region, iPrice saw that the search interests for the brand surged in April 2021 by 243% and 244% compared to May 2019 in Singapore and the Philippines respectively.
A similar trend can be seen in 2020 when the highest peak occurred in December 2020. Priyanka Chopra’s endorsement and Post Malone’s collaboration sent Google searches to skyrocket by 155% more in Singapore and 278% more in the Philippines.
Other high-end collaborations worth mentioning are Justin Bieber’s in October 2020 and rapper Bad Bunny’s in September 2020, amounting to a total of 373,770 searches in both countries.
It’s also interesting to see when the first upward trend was seen in July 2020. Google searches saw 84% and 85% in July 2020 when compared to the same month in 2019.
This increase in searches occurred when Crocs announced its collaboration with the famous western fast-food chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).
Surprisingly, the western celebrity style influence wasn’t as huge in other Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand.
Another thing iPrice noted is that in Singapore and the Philippines, Google searches of the brand would soar every time Crocs would engage in a collaboration.
The rise of cryptocurrency
Kanye West talked about cryptocurrency in Joe Rogan’s podcast in October 2020. In December 2020, Elon Musk tweeted about Dogecoin. Thus, the searches for cryptocurrency started to increase by 143% and 53% in Singapore and the Philippines respectively since Kanye’s podcast episode.
In February 2021, Jack Dorsey, Jay Z, and Snoop Dogg started to put on a good word. Tesla announced its US$1.5 bil purchase of bitcoin in the same month.
At the end of March 2021, Snoop Dogg announced the release of his first NFT collection. Shortly after in April 2021, Paris Hilton talked about bitcoin and NFT as well.
By then, the searches from cryptocurrency had reached an all-time high in at least two years, experiencing a 755% and 542% increase compared to the month Kanye talked about it in Joe Rogan’s podcast.
Not to mention that Elon’s tweets about cryptocurrency did not stop in December 2020; it has been ongoing since then.
Green hair fad in the Philippines
Spotify’s most-streamed female artist in 2020, Billie Eilish, has always been known for her green hair, oversized clothes, and streetwear-chic ensembles. And her style has brought inspiration across the region.
The Philippines has the most interest in this green hair dye trend, solidifying Eilish’s huge influence in the country.
In 2019, she started dyeing her roots green. In September 2019, she appeared on the cover of Elle magazine with her green roots and posted it on Instagram. By the end of the year, Google searches on green hair dye increased by 72% if you compare searches the month before and after she appeared on Elle’s cover.
Eilish appeared on the Oscars and the cover of Vogue magazine right before her scheduled tour in March 2020 (which was later on cancelled due to the virus). By then, searches on green hair dye have increased by 141% compared to the beginning of 2020.
Interestingly enough, every time the Grammy-winning pop star released content, the searches for green hair dye increased.
In May 2020, she released a short film, which she endorsed on Instagram. Just two months later, she released My Future’s music video.
By then, Google searches for green hair dye reached their peak as it increased more than six times compared to the beginning of the year. As expected, there was another spike as Therefore I Am’s music video came out in November 2020.
Just like Crocs, other Southeast Asian countries’ search volumes on green hair dye did not reach as high as the Philippines’. – June 5, 2021
