LSN : News : Thought-starter: Could bio-ink replace use by dates on food labels?

Thinx tackles the taboo around period sex

Sex blanket for people with periods by Thinx, US

New York – Thinx, the brand behind period-proof pants, has launched a new campaign to destigmatise the conversation around period sex. Titled Come As You Are, the separate microsite introduces the new Period Sex Blanket, a quilted satin blanket that uses the same patented absorbent material found in its pants.

While brands that work within the female health product space have traditionally chosen to disguise menstrual blood as unrealistic blue liquid, Thinx follows Bodyform’s lead in visualising the campaign with blood-red liquid that ebbs and flows across the screen. To mark the launch of the campaign, Thinx held a three day pop-up event in Manhattan’s NoHo district featuring talks from guest speakers like feminist writer and sex educator Gigi Engle.

As explored in Intuitive Pleasure, women are increasingly taking control of their own sexuality and creating products that foreground their pleasure.

A cruise ship dedicated to fitness enthusiasts

Active Lifestyle Cruising by Blue World Voyages

Active Lifestyle Cruising by Blue World Voyages, Global

Miami – Tapping into the booming Wellness Tourism market, Blue World Voyages is set to launch a fleet of cruise ships that allow holidaymakers to workout while on the water. During the cruise passengers will be able to take advantage of Gaiam-designed yoga sessions, spin classes, TRX workouts and spa treatments, while dining on healthy meals made from locally-sourced ingredients collected at port.

As well as these on-board fitness offerings, holidaymakers will also be able to partake in runs, bike rides, hikes and sunrise and sunset yoga classes when the ship is docked.

As Blue World Voyages’ CEO, Gene Meehan explains in a press release, ‘it's time for a cruise line, and a ship, that responds to the preferences of active, wellness-minded individuals, or of those looking to move in that.’

Serial Box delivers fiction as push notifications

New York – Publishing platform Serial Box is re-imagining the traditional novel format with a new campaign that sends stories of 150-characters or less directly to subscribers’ phones. Dubbed Microfiction Mondays, the narratives will be picked from a selection of more than 60 authors who already write for the platform.

Similar in sentiment to the ideas explored within Off-demand Entertainment, the stories will only be available via push notification, ensuring that consumers receive them at a specified time rather than being able to access them on-demand.

In an age when online culture pervades, brands are experimenting with new ways of getting audiences excited about reading by mimicking their digital interactions and reaching them through their smartphones.

Serial Box

Grocery store chain unveils self-driving delivery scheme

Kroger and Nuro

US – Supermarket chain Kroger plans to begin piloting autonomous vehicles (AV) for grocery delivery this autumn.

Working in collaboration with Nuro, the makers of a small AV, shoppers will be able to order groceries online or through either Nuro’s app and have food delivered via the unmanned vehicle on the same day. Consumers will have to pick up their goods from the curbside, which is one element that the pilot is going to test.

‘With the pilot, we’re excited about getting more experience interacting with real customers and understanding exactly what they want,’ Nuro co-founder Dave Ferguson told Tech Crunch.

This will be the first application of Nuro's vehicles, and is just one potential use case for the cars. The company wants to conquer last mile deliveries for other things like dry cleaning.

It comes at a time when Convenience Culture is dominating consumers’ expectations around service.

Study emphasises the importance of workplace culture

US – LinkedIn has unveiled its latest Workplace Trends report, with findings that reveal how toxic workplaces are beginning to turn off potential talent.

The report, which surveyed 3,010 full-time workers, found that a majority (71%) were willing to take a pay cut to work for a company that shared the same values as them. Moreover, more people (70%) would find working in a bad environment a deal breaker when deciding to work for a leading company than having lower pay (65%) or foregoing a fancy title (25%).

The report highlights the importance of workplace culture in people’s decision-making during their job search. It is clear that pay and prestige are no longer the sole motivating factors. For more on how office culture is shifting, see our Brand Culture 2020 report.

Thought-starter: Could bio-ink replace use by dates on food labels?

We spoke with Paul Yong and JJ Ismail, co-founders of Malaysian creative studio Aesthetid, about their project Honest Egg, which examines how preprogrammed ink could transform our food labelling system.

Honest Egg is a simple, intuitive system that indicates when an egg has passed its recommended consumption date.

The egg is coated in an intelligent ink pigment and a graphic image appears on the shell to show that the egg is nearing its consumption date or is no longer safe to consume.

‘We are trying to address this major food wastage problem. There is a lot of ambiguity in packaging design, particularly in expiry dates, and we identified how eggs have a particular problem,’ Yong explains. ‘[For eggs] once you dispose of the packaging, there is no natural signifier to say it is not suitable to eat.’

While food has natural indicators such as mould, the duo believe programmable ink could be used to tell a greater story. ‘From a future-facing perspective, food has the potential to communicate the conditions it was transported in and highlight whether it has been defrosted or whether it has begun to degrade before it is in the consumer’s hand,' they explain.

For more on how bio-ink could remake food packaging, read our latest Q&A.