Rage Rooms Are All the Rage
Screaming into pillows isn’t cutting it? You’re not alone. An all-time high of 139k+ people searched “rage room” this February, per Keywords Everywhere.
Rage rooms, AKA smash rooms or anger rooms, are places where you can vent by destroying objects. Pre-COVID, Smash Therapy was one such business bashing over 3k lbs. of electronics per week, translating to average sales of $20k-$25k/mo.
To learn more about this phenomenon, we interviewed Trendster Meredith O’Shaughnessy, an award-winning experiential designer who created one of the world’s first Christmas rage rooms.
For $24, you could put on a hard hat, grab a baseball bat, and go to town smashing Christmas trees and decorations. The irreverent pop-up room sold out and went viral in 2017, long before rage rooms had become a thing.
Meredith sees opportunity through corporate partnerships. One idea: Create a rage room in the back of a van and drive it to offices for use at holiday parties. While seasonal, this model is scalable -- instead of guessing how many people come through each night, companies would be sponsoring.
Another avenue to explore: the potential mental health benefit of a controlled space to release emotions. Parents of children with autism have been especially interested in professionally supervised rooms, Meredith says.
Pop-up rage rooms, where people bring a bat, safety equipment, and objects like furniture or dishes to your backyard, are a more pandemic-friendly option. Take note of Rage Ground’s mobile units or Smash’s mobile rooms for college campuses.
Curious for more? Check out this thread by Trendster Vincent Serpico, who’s interested in opening a room in Phoenix.
Honey, I Shrunk the Fish
Back in 2019, we covered the tiny trend, covering everything from mini cooking sets to mini Zen gardens. Now, the latest tiny craze is fishing for mini species.
R/MicroFishing, a subreddit for fishermen who “seek the little things in life,” has surged 5x in the last year.
With micro fishing also comes micro fishing tools. Check out this YouTube video on how to make your own mini rod, which has 3.5m+ views.
If you’re interested in climbing aboard the tiny fish boat, consider creating trips, communities, kits, or newsletters around species or equipment. TenkaraBum (a site that could use some sprucing up) has a micro fishing gear guide that gets 1.5k clicks/mo, per Keywords Everywhere.
Since micro fishers are often “life-listers” -- meaning they obsessively log each species caught -- there’s space to niche down for a tiny fish-specific tracker. Fishbrain, one such app for all types of fish, gathered 70k downloads and $400k in revenue in January 2021 alone.
Another option is bringing the trend to online games. Tiny Fishing, which was released in December 2020, has a 4.7-star rating with 117k+ votes. Reviews reveal the desire for more options and challenges, especially for kids.
Dried Grass and Flowers Are Growing Like Weeds
Dead grass, flowers, and leaves are stealing the spotlight from live plants, bringing in tens of thousands of dollars every month for some entrepreneurs.
Dried pampas grass has been the star of the show, peaking this past September with 34.2k Google searches, per Keywords Everywhere. Searches for other dried varieties are also rising in popularity:
- “Dried lavender”: 22.2k searches/month
- “Dried eucalyptus”: 9.9k
- “Dried protea”: 1k
Dried grass and flower arrangements for both interior and exterior decorating are in high demand. Jungle Scout shows this pack of 3 pampas grass stems brings in $106k/mo on Amazon.
Entrepreneurs could specialize in events (“pampas grass wedding” gets 2.4k searches/mo, per Keywords Everywhere). Because dried plants last longer than fresh ones, you could provide rentals instead of sending them straight to the trash.
Dried flowers pair well with craft kits, including candle, soap, or jewelry making. These tiny dried flowers for nail art make $69k/mo, according to Jungle Scout. Flowerfetti is also totally a thing.
Also consider capitalizing on the DIY resin craze (Jungle Scout data reveals that Amazon searches for “dried flowers for resin molds” climbed 1020% in the last 30 days).
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