Need to Know
12 : 09 : 19

Berlin – The electronics brand has introduced six near-future design concepts that combine technology with wellbeing.

Unveiled at IFA 2019, Balance of Being is a collection of conceptual devices from Panasonic that are designed to enhance our lifestyles and encourage a more meaningful relationship with technology. The series includes products such as SHOT, an AI-enabled device that uses camera sensing to understand a user’s health conditions. It then creates bespoke drinks from frozen fruit and vegetables to improve their inner and outer beauty.

EASE is a skincare device that is attached to a bed; during the night, it understands the user’s skin quality and delivers invisible infrared lighting and fine steam to elevate their skin condition as they sleep. Created as a response to high levels of stress in the home and workplace, WAVE is a smart massaging device that maps and evaluates the scalp to determine the duration, method and intensity of the experience.

Technology brands are rethinking their strategies to encourage a more balanced way of living. For more on how consumers are finding both technological and physical ways to slow down, read our macrotrend Conscious Deceleration.

London – An exhibition at London’s Design Museum aims to raise awareness of how much waste is generated through air travel.

Presented by London-based design firm PriestmanGoode, Get Onboard: Reduce, Reuse, Rethink considers the environmental impact of aviation – from single-use plastic and amenity kits to earphones and food waste. In order to move towards a more conscious way to travel, the exhibition explores how design thinking and material innovation can be used to address the industry’s issue of waste.

‘We want to raise awareness of how much waste is created when we travel and explore alternatives that address the supply of products and services, but also what each individual can do to lead us to a more sustainable industry,’ says Jo Rowan, associate strategy director at PriestmanGoode. By rethinking personal behaviour patterns, as well as the products and infrastructure that make up air travel today, the exhibition points towards solutions for more conscious tourism.

UK – To raise awareness of the disability employment gap, the social enterprise is highlighting the employability of its inclusive workforce.

The eco-friendly toiletries brand BECO has partnered with TBWA\London to disrupt outdated attitudes to people with disabilities. The employer, which has an 80% visually impaired, disabled or disadvantaged workforce, is launching the #StealOurStaff initiative with a packaging redesign that features its staff’s CVs.

In an accompanying campaign film, the brand challenges the traditional recruitment ad by highlighting the skills of its employees and inviting them to be headhunted by other businesses. BECO also worked with partners such as Scope to create a microsite that offers advice on the process of hiring disabled people – 1.1m of whom are struggling to find work.

Alongside challenging the disability employment gap, the campaign represents a future in which employers acknowledge the fact that their workforce is on a journey and may seek experiences beyond their current roles. For more on how recruitment is being redefined, read our Brand Culture 2020 report.

Across the US, natural food and beverage products such as enhanced waters, puffed snacks and kombucha are gaining a foothold in conventional retail, and outpacing the total market for food and drink. While the total market in the US grew by 1.7% in 2019, the market for natural food and beverage products increased by 5%, according to SPINS State of the Natural Industry report.

In the year ending May 2019, natural products made up 4.6% of dollar volume, contributing as much as 15.9% of dollar growth for food and beverage in the convenience category. ‘Natural products and consumers are no longer relegated just to natural retailers, but are actively shaping the future of conventional retail,’ says Tony Olson, CEO of SPINS.

To learn more about the diversifying appeal of natural drinks such as kombucha, read our Fermented Drinks Market.