Amidst the increasing consumer demand for novelty and personalisation, how can brands engage and stay in sync with their customers' individual and unique universes all year round?

Halloween, once reserved for children, is increasingly becoming adultified as grown-ups dress in costume and hold parties. Consumer anthropologist Robbie Blinkoff believes that the takeover of Halloween shows a need for creative self-expression.

In the US, the week of Christmas is the second highest-selling week of the year for fresh food, after Thanksgiving, with sales 8% higher than average. Fresh ham, for example, is 2.3 times more likely to be purchased during that week than at any other time.

People are under increasing pressure to be the best versions of themselves they can be: to eat healthily, spend carefully, live ethically and achieve, achieve, achieve. But as the pressure increases, so does the need to let off steam.