Happy Trends Tuesday!

Hey, if you thought ScarJo made AI sound sexy in Her, wait til you check out OpenAI’s latest launch, GPT-4o. 

It feels like talking to a real human with a (somewhat flirty) personality. 

That smile when you start to forget she's AI... Source: X

ChatGPT’s ability to process text, vision and sound is already next-level.

At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if their next model can literally tell us if we smell bad. 

In today's email…

• Our noses are the next frontier for digital innovation
• Why psychedelic concierges will be in hot demand soon
• What we’re surfin’, from grilling dads to redneck business tactics

Let's dive in!

 🦄 INSTAGRAM-IFY YOUR BRAND

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🚀 WHERE TO BUILD NEXT

Wake up and smell the money in scent tech innovations

To woo today’s consumers, 63% of whom crave multisensory experiences, companies are lining up to develop new technology that tickles the senses.

Their next frontier? Our noses. 

The digital scent market is valued at $1.2B in 2023, and poised to double by the end of the decade. 

Source: Markets and Markets

Smell is processed by the emotional part of our brains, unlike sight and sound, which are processed by the logical part, the cortex.

That means any brand that successfully captures consumers’ noseshare will have a direct line to their hearts and minds. 

Let’s look at some opportunities:

AI-enhanced scent delivery device

As a lover of Mukbang videos – where streamers gobble up food on camera – I’d pay good money for a device that diffuses scent based on content on a screen. 

Imagine watching The Bear… while smelling all that good stuff. 

Yesss chef. Source: Reddit

With the help of AI, the device could learn and store a wealth of olfactory information from popular foods, and then use visual recognition to identify which scent molecules to dispense. 

This could do wonders for:

• Social shopping: Nearly half of social media users have impulsively bought something while scrolling – and that’s just via sight and sound. Add scent into social or in-stream ads? It’ll be over for us all. 
  
  
• Extended reality (XR): Scent will be a major piece of the $62.9B XR market. Devices like this one from OVR are already digitizing scent to enhance VR experiences. 

Partner with brick-and-mortar businesses

Scent marketing is a hot new trend in retail, for good reason — 74% of customers are drawn into a store because of the smell. 

You can work with physical businesses on using scent to enhance their customer experience. A few ideas: 

👩‍🔬 Scent consulting: Help business owners implement a strategy that fits their specific audience. Research scenting tech solutions to help them choose a vendor, and analyze ROI after implementation. 

🧰 Service the machines: Scent machine is a $18.6B global market. At large commercial spaces, they need to be installed and maintained professionally. If you own an HVAC business, consider adding HVAC scent diffuser installation and maintenance into your services. 

💺Go niche: Develop your own devices or scenting systems, and sell them to niche commercial clients. Think airplanes, cruises, movie theaters, therapy offices, or even dental clinics (to give those dreaded visits a whiff of positivity).

Keep reading to see opportunities in health and wellness, and another futuristic idea that's risky yet... sexy. 🔥

🔎 OUR LATEST OBSESSION

You need a trip advisor for psychedelic therapy  

“Psychedelic therapy is going to be a multi-billion dollar business, and we’ll start to see that in late 2024.” 

That was Arlene Battishill, a badass serial entrepreneur and long-time Trendster. 👊

She’s onto something. Psychedelic use in mental health have received major buzz in recent years: 

• 1 in 3 Americans (and over 50% of Millennials) are interested in using it for mental health
• The US ketamine clinics market reached $3.1B in 2022, and will more than double by 2030
• It might soon become a workplace perk paid by your employers

Not to mention the rising popularity of psychedelic retreats. 

But there’s a serious lack of integration and aftercare for these psychedelic-assisted therapy experiences, which could be the real moneymaker. 💰

Instead of tamping down your feelings like antidepressants do, psychedelics let you excavate and get rid of them. Many people report feeling that a few doses are worth years of traditional therapy. 

“Imagine doing 20 years worth of therapy in an hour, and then having to figure out what to do with everything you just dealt with in your sessions,” Arlene said. “People need a support system to help them integrate that experience.” 

That’s why psychedelic concierges can be a big opportunity. 

As a psychedelic concierge, you can act as a liaison between patients and qualified therapists, consult people on their options, and facilitate aftercare sessions so they can process their trip.

Be safe, do it like Roger Sterling. Source: Reddit

There are already offerings like this:  

• Zappy Zapolin, aka “psychedelic concierge to the stars,” has guided famous actors and athletes through the use of ayahuasca, ketamine, and ibogaine
• Psychedelic Passage is a service in Oregon (the first US state to legalize adult use of psilocybin) that connects clients with psychedelic facilitators

You can also become a niche retreat organizer and focus on a specific demographic and their needs. 

“Psychedelics, to be quite blunt about it, are still very male, white, and heteronormative.” Arlene said. 

A safe environment for someone to be that vulnerable means eliminating elements that contribute to them feeling unsafe, which can vary based on: 

• Gender: Women who experienced sexual violence might not want to undergo psychedelic therapy with men present
  
  
• Race: Minorities who want to heal from racism might be exposed to micro-aggressions from people who don’t share their experience
  
  
• Socioeconomics: Immigrants or displaced foreigners might not feel safe in a therapeutic setting with affluent white people from America

But of course… 

There’s no psychedelic therapy without safe, accessible psychedelics. 

That’s why we can’t ignore major headwinds to this trend, from the lack of legalization and scientific research to the economics of drug development. 

But when psychedelics go mainstream – likely starting in 2025, according to Arlene –  entrepreneurs who prioritize human-centered aftercare will reap huge benefits. 

🗂️ OPEN TABS

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