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The Beautiful Meme rebrands the corporate workplace

TwentyTwo branding by The Beautiful Meme

London – The creative studio has designed an eclectic identity for TwentyTwo, a new workspace concept that will open in 2019.

TwentyTwo will be located in the heart of the City of London, an area scattered with offices and co-working spaces like WeWork. The new branding, which uses primary colours and graphic shapes to evoke the energy and fun of a healthy work/life balance, will show a new side to the heavily corporate area.

When it opens, the ambitious 62-floor building will include a gym, spa, members’ club, communal food hall, co-working spaces and numerous pieces of art. ‘We wanted to make sure there was a strong distinction between Twentytwo and competitor commercial property brands – something that reflected the bravery and ambition of the project,’ says Tom Sharp, founder of The Beautiful Meme.

In our design direction Workplays, we outlined how branding agencies are injecting the previously sober workplace with a new visual language, filled with humour, wit and bold graphics.

Private White VC introduces a transparent pricing strategy

Private White VC

UK – The luxury menswear label has launched a Pricing Manifesto that rethinks traditional fashion mark-ups.

Rather than marking an item up by five or seven times, which is an industry standard according to the brand, Private White VC will sell its products at two or three times the cost of manufacturing. Under the new strategy, the price of a Jaguar driving jacket will be £595 ($771, €667) and a shirt will cost up to £125 ($162, €140).

Private White V.C.’s founder James Eden is pushing for more transparency among luxury brands in order to make them more sustainable and less excessive. ‘With full traceability at the top of the consumer’s wish list these days, we feel it is only fitting to encounter such seismic changes with a relevant approach to pricing.’

As awareness of the luxury sector’s excessive nature grows, consumers are looking for more dynamic and transparent price points. Read our Pricing Strategies Market for more on how this is evolving.

SuperAwesome wants to protect children’s streaming data

US – The kidtech start-up is launching an alternative to YouTube’s embedded video player.

Alongside providing child-safe tools, the company’s new video player is aimed at publishers of children’s content as a way to safeguard their young audience’s online data. Users would be able to embed videos using SuperAwesome’s new tool – which captures no data – instead of YouTube.

At present YouTube is involved in a class-action lawsuit over children’s privacy. A complaint by the Federal Trade Commission states that YouTube has been collecting children’s viewing pattern data for years, in violation of federal law.

One of the most pressing questions in the technology world’s conversations about GDPR is how this will affect children and their online privacy.

SuperAwesome video platform

A post-Soviet hotel to boost Georgian tourism

Stamba Hotel, Tbilisi, Georgia

Tbilisi – The Adjara Group has opened the Stamba Hotel, a new luxury offering based in a former publishing house.

The hotel has transformed the brutalist printing house into a sumptuous hotel experience, complete with a functioning casino that aims to recreate the glamorous 1920s era of gambling. The main lobby, which extends the full height of the building, is topped off with the glass-bottomed rooftop swimming pool.

The 150-room hotel follows the success of its sister property, Rooms Hotel, also based in Tbilisi. Both hotels represent a new era for Georgian tourism, and highlight the country’s potential as a unique luxury destination. We interviewed Serdar Kutucu on how Design Hotels is investing in Georgia.

Stat: Missguided triumphs with Love Island experiment

In June, the fashion retailer partnered with the popular dating series to dress all contestants over the eight week run the show. Viewers were able to keep up to date with the outfits on the retailer’s microsite, and could buy each piece via its app.

According to the retailer, exposure on Love Island boosted sales by 40% compared with the eight weeks prior. Some items worn by popular contestants saw an instant 500% sales increase. During the full run of the show, 18% of Missguided’s sales came from products associated with Love Island.

As an alternative to traditional product placement, the media partnership proved highly successful and has provided a framework for future advertising strategies.

Thought-starter: Could the future store recognise you?

With 54% of UK 18–34-year-olds willing to trade their data with retailers in return for personalised experiences, according to Yoyo, foresight writer Peter Maxwell explores the bricks-and-mortar brands investing in consumer data profiles.

Nike is optimising its localisation strategy by gathering data from the community surrounding its new Los Angeles concept store. The Nike Live location will adjust its product mix based on the shopping profiles of NikePlus members living in the local area, with styles changing every two weeks – faster than in other Nike outlets.

The fact that today’s most advanced stores recognise customers on a person-by-person basis is also super-charging the potential to enhance inspiration and engagement on the shop floor. ‘What if you could know everybody?,’ says Matthew Drinkwater, head of the Fashion Innovation Agency at London College of Fashion. ‘What if every consumer that went into your store received that level of service? In a way, [customer analytics] is just returning retail to what it used to be – going to your local store and them knowing who you are.’

Read the full microtrend here.