Brigadoon Weekend | No. 1 | January 15, 2022

Curating the top ten emerging issues from the week shaping commerce + culture

ONE

Electric truck startup Rivian plans a $5 billion Georgia factory complex.

Rivian announced that the battery and assembly plant east of Atlanta would employ 7,500 workers and possibly 10,000 workers. This new factory is the largest industrial announcement in Georgia history.

Electric-vehicle sales in China jumped 160% to a record 2.91 million units last year, industry figures released Wednesday show, underpinning the first rise in overall auto sales here in four years.

Look for US sales of new fully electric vehicles to more than 2 million by 2025 - around 12% of US new vehicle sales.

TWO

Resorts are pitching themselves as places for employees to mix leisure time and focused work.

More and more resorts are offering “work wellness” packages that allow people to get some work done while taking fitness and other classes in a luxury environment.

Work-from-anywhere (WFA) opens more possibilities for professionals that maximize productivity while at the same time improving mental, emotional, and physical health.

Look for more workers and companies to embrace "paid time on" that combines the best of working vacations.

THREE

Web3 = Decentralized Internet + Lobbyists

The Web3 world is bracing for an onslaught of regulatory and enforcement action this year, flooding Washington with money, snapping up lobbying firms, and building up their trade associations in an effort to curb new rules.

This week Jack Dorsey announced the creation of a nonprofit group, the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund, to help developers of the original cryptocurrency facing “legal headaches.”

Look for "yeah, it's a totally decentralized internet, but we are hiring lobbyists, so it's all good" attitude to dominate as Web3 companies are building and protecting at the same time.

FOUR

The use of cash is declining across the world.

A recent UK Finance study reports the use of cash has dropped 35% between 2019 and 2020.

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could accelerate the transition to a cashless society.

The Bahamas became the first nation to introduce a CBDC with the 'sand dollar' while Nigeria became the first African country to launch a digital currency – the eNaria. China is rolling out its digital yuan ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Look for more CBDCs to be launched as more nations support a cashless society.

FIVE

Local green energy used for global data, it's a bug, not a feature.

Facebook's data center plans in the Netherlands rile locals who say Big Tech data centers will siphon away all their green energy.

The attitude reflects a broader shift against Big Tech's plans to flock to the Netherlands, turning the issue into a debate over data nationalism - Dutch resources used to power the internet beyond Dutch borders.

Look for Big Tech to face more NIMBY resistance in its efforts to secure green energy that helps their global business plans at the expense of local energy needs.

SIX

The Catholic Church is losing Latin America.

Conservative Pentecostals have made massive inroads in Latin America during the reign of Argentina's Pope Francis.

One Catholic magazine has described the crisis of Catholicism in Latin America as likely to last for more than a generation, and this is only the beginning of the shift.

Look for the Catholic Church to become a minority religion in Brazil, which has more Catholics than any other country, as soon as this year. With an election in Brazil, the religious shift will impact the campaign trail.

SEVEN

Ready to eat some lab-grown meat?

Although cultivated meat itself is considered safe, both the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture have spent three years figuring out how they'll monitor the cultivated meat industry.

It's already possible to purchase some types of manufactured meat. Singapore became the first nation to approve the sale of cultivated meat and Israel's Aleph Farms says it will be ready with some vat-grown thin-cut steaks by yearend.

Look for the United States to be the next nation to greenlight cultured meat. America has a strong interest in becoming an early leader in the market. Plus, industrial processors have largely welcomed the technology.

EIGHT

Soccer has become the go-to sports property of the streaming era.

The audience for the average soccer match does not compare to professional baseball, basketball, or hockey (to say nothing of football).

However, on a typical Saturday now, American fans have live access to more than 75 professional soccer games, with many available only on streaming services.

Look for soccer's popularity in the US to only continue to grow with its young and digital-savvy fans happy to stream from a global menu of soccer matches.

NINE

Podcasting hasn't produced a new hit in years.

According to Edison Research, none of the 10 most popular pods in the US last year debuted in the previous couple of years. They are an average of more than 7 years old, and three of the top five are more than a decade old.

Spotify, Amazon, SiriusXM, and iHeartMedia have plowed billions of dollars into production companies. Spotify has spent more than anyone, paying about $500 million for three studios.

Look for the podcasting industry to improve discovery, spend more money on marketing, and expand innovation in formats - more live pods and becoming audio + video experience.

TEN

Journalism has no easy answer for the internet.

As Andrey Mir opines, the internet is not about just replacing newspapers. It's about how the news ecosystem is now organized. Journalism used to have a monopoly over news delivery and agenda-setting.

With this information monopoly now gone, even CNN isn't safe. Soon CNN+, a global direct-to-consumer service, will be seeking an audience.

Look for WarnerMedia's CNN+ and HBO Max to be essential foundations for Discovery's plan to create its own streaming behemoth to battle Netflix and the Disney bundle.