News 21.12.2018

Need to Know

Lyft is converting drivers into ride-sharers, Deliveroo becomes a bricks-and-mortar destination and why the market for biodegradable packaging is thriving.

Backdrop is rebranding the paint industry

Backdrop, US
Backdrop, US
Backdrop, US

New York – The company is re-inventing the £127bn ($155bn, €139bn) home painting category for the Millennial generation (source: Business Insider).

With advisers from Glossier, Everlane and Warby Parker, Backdrop is a new paint brand that is applying the direct-to-consumer formula to the interior paint industry. The brand challenges the overwhelming nature of paint shopping by offering a curated selection of colours, a range of essential supplies and an inspiring shopping experience.

The branding, created by design agency Aruliden, differentiates Backdrop from most paint brands on the market, which tend to focus on images of interiors. Backdrop instead positions itself as a lifestyle brand, filling its e-commerce site with playful campaign imagery of young people and families.

Inspired by the success of start-ups like Warby Parker, brands like Backdrop and Clare are taking on an antiquated industry by going direct to the consumer and simplifying the shopping experience.

A cultured destination for luxury car owners

Otto Car Club, Arizona Otto Car Club, Arizona
Otto Car Club, Arizona Otto Car Club, Arizona

Scottsdale, US – Situated close to the Arizona desert, OTTO Car Club promises to elevate the luxury car enthusiast experience.

Limited to just 175 members, the 4,000 square foot space features a library, bar, private dining room and members’ lounge for high-end car owners. With an in-built car elevator, OTTO also offers climate-controlled storage for 185 luxury vehicles.

Created as an alternative to tired race track hospitality, its creator Eli Kogan says: ‘If you’re a car person or car-centric and love design and art, there’s nowhere central to go meet with friends and spend time besides the racetrack or a cars ’n’ coffee. But not everyone likes to go to a racetrack.’

Likened to a Soho House for car fans, OTTO also offers a calendar of events that includes private rallies and whisky nights. As explored in our Members Club Market, private members’ clubs are undergoing a transformation, inspired in part by the rise of high-end, co-working spaces.

Food Market is Deliveroo’s first physical outlet

Hong Kong – Offering local noodle dishes and Hawaiian poké bowls, Deliveroo has launched Food Market – its first brick-and-mortar location.

The hybrid space in Hong Kong will allow customers to walk in and order dishes to take away, or otherwise place an order for delivery elsewhere.

Food Market will host five restaurants at any one time offering a variety of global cuisines, and builds on the food delivery company’s Deliveroo Food Market service, which allows customers to choose dishes from several restaurants in a single order.

While delivery-only restaurants have existed for some time, spearheaded in 2016 by David Chang’s delivery-only concept Ando, food delivery brands like Deliveroo are also opening dedicated, multi-restaurant kitchens to help meet demand for convenience-driven consumers.

Deliveroo restaurant

Lyft wants to convert drivers into ride-sharers

Nope/Yep by Lyft, US

US – The brand’s latest campaign reminds drivers of the freedom they can regain when riding with Lyft.

The film, which was created by Wieden & Kennedy, highlights the inconveniences that come with driving, such as speeding tickets, parking spaces and having to forgo alcoholic drinks. It follows a driver, who says ‘’nope’ to driving and swaps his car for a Lyft. He then discovers a newfound sense of liberty and says ‘yep’ to everything, including having a few drinks.

Ride-sharing has seen success in cities where consumers are unlikely to own a car, but now Lyft is attempting to convert a more challenging market – accustomed drivers. ‘Here at Lyft, we want to help you say ‘yes’ to more things,’ reads the brand’s press release. ‘Riding is often a better alternative to driving yourself – yet many of us are still held back by our own cars.’

As more drivers trade in their cars for ride-sharing apps, the way we plan our cities will have to change. For more, read our Far Futures vertical on Mobility.

Stat: Biodegradable packaging has a prosperous future

The market for biodegradable packaging is forecasted to boom over the next five years, according to a report by Research and Markets. In 2017, the market was valued at £64bn ($81bn, €71bn), and it is expected to reach a value of £89bn ($113bn, €99bn) by 2023.

As more brands react to consumer demand for sustainable products, biodegradable packaging is being used in a wide range of industries due to its low environment impact. The report also cites the growing number of companies that are gradually phasing out their wasteful practices, such Unilever and P&G, which have pledged to move to natural packaging and reduce their ecological footprint by 50%.

As consumers grow more aware of the environmental impact of their waste, natural packaging will increasingly become a factor in their purchasing decisions.

Thought-starter: How will gaming build future workplace skills?

Javier Chan Ruiz, CEO of Processim Labs, on how customised gaming simulations will help to sharpen skills in the future workforce.

Processim Labs utilises the one tool that many students and workers rely on – their smartphone – transforming it into a convenient educational platform. Creating what it calls ‘higher education mobile games’ students are given chance to experience the world of work before entering a real-life workplace. The aim? To better prepare them for the responsibilities and strategic skills required at work.

‘One of our student simulations is a virtual factory. Users can hire employees, as well as monitor and manage the inventory. At the end of the game, users can export all of their company’s data into an Excel spreadsheet to crunch the numbers and learn from any mistakes without ruining a real company,’ Ruiz explains. ‘This is important practice. If you’re a university-level student and you do an internship at a company, you see how things work, but you are very rarely involved in the big decisions.’

For more on how virtual workplace platforms are preparing workforces for the future, read the full interview here.

Processim Labs
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