Gabriella Olivera, Google Trends Expert discusses the top trending items for back-to-school season. Popular teacher gifts include Stanley Cups, while North Face and True Religion backpacks are leading in school supplies and more.
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Back to School Segment Transcription
Announcer – 0:00: Mason Vera Paine.
Mason Paine – 0:01: It’s back to school season and Google Trends expert Gabriela Olivera joins me to speak about the top trends that people are searching for this school season. Thanks for joining me, Gabriela.
Gabriela Olivera – 0:10: Of course. Happy to be here.
Mason Paine – 0:12: Tell me, what are some of the top trends for back-to-school season?
Gabriela Olivera – 0:16: We’ve got some fun ones this year. Stanley Cup is the top trending teacher gift. North Face Backpacks and True Religion Backpacks are the top trending backpack brands. School Lunch Peanut Butter Bar’s recipe and School Lunch Cheese Stick recipe are the top trending school lunch recipes. Then we also have some fun back to school apparel that’s been trending. The first is Nike sweatpants, second is Graphic Tees, third is sweatshirts, fourth is Zara jeans, and fifth is camo jeans which I actually bought some camo jeans just the other day. If you didn’t know, you can actually say, for example, you see a graphic that you really like, you can use the lens to take a picture of that. In the search bar, you can use that photo to instantly see options that better match your preference. It also will then show shopping options where you can compare the prices and the different graphic tees based on what you like.
Mason Paine – 1:07: I am a sucker for back-to-school stuff. Even though I’m not in school anymore, I don’t know why I still get excited. It’s the child in me. I was a little bit shocked though about gifts for teachers. Do you remember ever giving gifts to teachers? Because I never did. Was I just a bad kid?
Gabriela Olivera – 1:21: Honestly, I don’t think you were a bad kid, but I didn’t either. My mom did.
Mason Paine – 1:26: Oh, she did? What did she give her?
Gabriela Olivera – 1:28: I think it was always a note and a little gift basket or some sort.
Mason Paine – 1:34: Yeah, the gift basket thing. My sister, she has two kids and she did that. And I was like, why? I was like, why? I know giving them gifts, okay, cool. But I think as a teacher, wouldn’t you want some school supplies? Give them pencils, give them so they don’t have to buy it themselves, right? I don’t think they need another Stanley Cup.
Gabriela Olivera – 1:55: Honestly, it’s a very good point. Actually, when you’re shopping back to school season, there is a tool on Google Shopping that allows you to see price insights and historical average for products over the past 90 days. Then you can see the school supplies and decide if that deal is truly good and if now is the right time to buy. If now is not the right time to buy, there’s also price alerts. So you know when it’s the perfect time to snag those deals. Teachers, keep that in mind this year. It could come in handy.
Mason Paine – 2:22: Absolutely. Because I know for my sister’s son, he’s now in the I think it’s either the three or the five-subject notebook. And I think that would be really nice to give a teacher. Give her 10 of those. Bam. You can always, for the kid who didn’t buy one, boom, put it right on his desk. Be like, “I know you didn’t do it, but I got it for you and I didn’t have to pay for it.” I think that would be a super good gift. Pencils, pens, paper for the teacher. Now when it comes to some of the school supplies though like the backpacks, North Face, I didn’t even know. Did they have backpacks 20 years ago? I don’t remember. And what is True Religion? What is True Religion? I’ve never heard of that until right now.
Gabriela Olivera – 3:03: Really? It’s a pretty popular brand right now. And yeah, North Face backpacks, I think they’ve definitely been around for a minute, but we’ve seen a peak in the trend this year.
Mason Paine – 3:13: Which is crazy because North Face jackets were such the rage in the early 2000s?
Gabriela Olivera – 3:18: Yeah, definitely. The trends seem to always circle back around.
Mason Paine – 3:21: I’m curious about True Religion. Is that just school supplies? What is that? Because now I feel very old. What’s going on?
Gabriela Olivera – 3:29: Yeah, honestly, I think it is just a brand, and they do offer more than just backpacks. I think it’s also clothing, but I would recommend checking it out.
Mason Paine – 3:36: Yeah, definitely. I’m in need of a new book bag simply because my Jansport one, which I have lovingly cared for for years, it’s starting to show some wear.
Gabriela Olivera – 3:45: Yeah, and you know what? Actually, given that True Religion is also a clothing brand, there’s a new tool on shopping as well where you can actually virtually see what a top would look like right on your screen. There’s a diverse set of models, so you can get a realistic feel for how a top drapes and fits before you buy. This is available for US shoppers, and you can go ahead and try it out with just the Try-on icon on search and select a model that resonates with you most.
Mason Paine – 4:13: Now with that Try-on stuff, is that AR? No, that wouldn’t be AR, right?
Gabriela Olivera – 4:18: It’s various models to choose from with specific clothing options. You can choose a model that you just feel resonates with your body style.
Mason Paine – 4:27: This is like the old-school Barbie stuff. We would take clippings out of the magazine and post it on top of a picture of Barbie and be like, “I like it.”
Gabriela Olivera – 4:34: No, exactly. Think of it as a more advanced version of that.
Mason Paine – 4:39: I’m a little curious too about the back-to-school lunch options. Are there any recipes that were trending for your kids?
Gabriela Olivera – 4:46: Yeah, we actually don’t have the specific recipes aside from the School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars and the School Lunch Cheese Stick recipes. But if you were to see one of these recipes and want to make it for yourself at home, Lens is also another really cool tool for that. You could take a picture of it and you can then get a recipe based on what that food item is.
Mason Paine – 5:06: Oh, nifty. Now when it comes to studying, is there any studying stuff that was trending at all or useful that Google has?
Gabriela Olivera – 5:14: Actually, when it came to just the school space in general, there’s a lot of dormitory things trending. So, “What size rug fits in my dorm room?” “Do you change dorms every semester?” (which the answer is usually not), “Are electric kettles allowed in dorms?” “How much space is under a dorm bed?” As for topics themselves, we have more on dorms.
Mason Paine – 5:33: It’s just the dorm stuff, which is important too. But I imagine that every dorm is a little bit different. Take out the old measuring tape, guys. You’re going to have to go out there and just measure it just to be sure, right?
Gabriela Olivera – 5:43: Exactly.
Mason Paine – 5:44: Well, Gabriela, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate you being here. For those listening, where can they find all these cool topics?
Gabriela Olivera – 5:51: They can find them on Google. If you actually go in with the various search features that we talked about in shopping, if you’re shopping for something, you’ll be able to find those price comparisons right then and there. Lens is also available on Google.
Announcer – 6:05: This has been the Mason Vera Paine Show. Thanks for listening.
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