“Farmcore,” retail robotics, Cybertrucks, and more?

Welcome to Razorfish Radar, a newsletter about life on the internet brought to you from the pioneers of digital innovation for marketing change makers. Radar delivers the latest news on cultural trends, technology, and platforms—along with the expert insights to help you make sense of it all.??

The season’s hottest trend: farms?

And it’s not just for the apple cider donuts and pumpkin patches. The “agritourism ” trend has people learning about techniques like organic farming,?eating farm-to-table cuisine , and?celebrating the radicchio ?while they’re on vacation. (And yet they can no longer visit?Sleepy Hollow Farm ?in Vermont, which?spiked in notoriety ?after posting “influencers keep out ” signs earlier this fall.)?

The trend could be seen as the latest manifestation of a cottagecore/farmcore/cozycore vibe people are manifesting (15.6B ?,?155.1M ?views, and?164.3M ?views, respectively, on TikTok, where people are also asking one another?“which season” their friends are ). But the push toward connecting with nature could also be a rejection of the doom and gloom of social newsfeeds, which can play host to?increasingly negative conversations ?about?the ineffectiveness of carbon credits ?and?the tenuous existential reality ?of the?Greenland ice sheet , as well as?for misinformation warfare . The third is leading to?both E.U .?and?U.S. regulatory pressure ?for better platform content moderation.?

Why it matters: Brand storytelling around serious topics like recycling and sustainability—in which marketers have to?take care not to be accused of greenwashing —may also benefit from a more playful lens that allows audiences to focus on positive or “cozycore” aspects of unplugging from the frenetic pace of their daily feeds.???

Other news and trends?

Tesla & EV outlook:?In yesterday’s?Q3 earnings call for Tesla , Elon Musk tried to temper expectations for delivery of the Cybertruck, which he sees as?an albatross around Tesla’s neck . Due to production concerns, the company won’t reach their target of 250k trucks per year until?after?2024. People are paying attention to the news because of perceptions that as Tesla goes, so goes the?rapidly expanding ?electric industry. (Tesla owners are actually the staunchest supporters of the category; A?recent study from S&P Global Mobility ?highlights that current EV drivers don’t see electrification as their only future, with roughly half buying a traditional ICE vehicle to replace or supplement—with the exception of Tesla loyalists.)?

• Related: State of Twitter/X.?There’s renewed scrutiny of another of Musk’s ventures because of confirmed reports that?new platform users will have to pay at least $1 annually ?in order to be a part of the conversation. It has people questioning?the outsized impact ?the platform continues to have, and speculating about?the long-term repositioning of X .?

Sequoia:?A new robotics system,?named Sequoia , at Amazon’s fulfillment centers will be part of a major “warehouse overhaul ” ?that could improve how the company manages its inventory (by up to 75%) and ships out orders (up to 25% faster). Amazon is positioning the technology as a solution that can?improve safety for the humans ?who work in company warehouses and?is?tweeting ?updates from its?#DeliveringtheFuture event ?to take followers behind the scenes to show the latest innovations in?supply-chain delivery .?

• Walmart vs. Amazon.?Walmart (which coincidentally?released its “ethical AI” company values ?earlier this week) continues to go toe-to-toe against Amazon’s Prime sale pushes.?Back in July,?Walmart Plus Week ?coincided with Amazon Prime Days, with 70% of products coming from its virtual marketplace. And just last week,?Walmart hosted yet another sales event ?battling Amazon’s second round of Prime Days. The?encouragement of small businesses and brands to fill virtual shelves ?appears to be paying off; even as retailers like?Macy’s?and?Target?reported declines, online sales for Walmart in the U.S.?rose substantially across two fiscal quarters .?

Trending: Halloween.?Somehow, the Spirit Halloween?generative meme ?template?still hasn’t lost ?its luster, and people are calling the trope “the brand’s best friend .” Here’s a roundup of the best looks?from last year . Speaking of roundups,?a power ranking of the scariest movies “according to science ” (read as: based on viewers’ heartrates) is coming to an #FYP near you (@cinema.joe ?– 976.4k followers).?

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Contributors: Head of Social Content and Engagement Strategy Cristina Lawrence , Senior Vice President Jerry Lawrence , Group Vice President Andrew McKernan , and Senior Vice President Tammy Pepito .?

At Razorfish, we help brands define their higher purpose—the emotional reason why they belong in people’s lives. Ready to find your purpose? Learn more here .?