Need to Know
26 : 09 : 22

US – The iconic Hermitage Hotel unveiled a new face that is fresh and playful while echoing the Nashville-based hotel’s rich history.

The Hermitage Hotel has collaborated with creative studio Mucca to modernise its visual identity while celebrating its past. The hotel, which is classified as a National Historic Landmark, played a role in advocating for women’s rights in the 1920s.The updated branding is a nod to the past, namely through a new customised typeface called Suffragette and the use of bright yellow, a colour symbolising the movement. The hotel’s messaging is adopting a laid-back tone; for instance, swapping traditional ‘Do not Disturb’ door hangers for ‘No, thanks’ or ‘Please tidy up my room’ for ‘Yes, please’.

‘We were able to honour the original spirit of the building, using the right mix of reverence and irreverence to help it reclaim its moment in history,’ explains Mucca founder Matteo Bologna. An increasing number of luxury institutions want to see their Heritage Refashioned, but striking the right balance between brand legacy and relevance for tomorrow’s consumers can be a challenge.

UK – Mirchi is a new spirits company launching a natural spiced rum that prioritises real ingredients – and community. Guided by the founders' West African and South Asian roots, Mirchi interrupts a market that fails to appeal to young communities of colour and that often treats sustainability as an afterthought.

Distilled locally in the UK, the natural spiced rum is carbon-neutral and plastic-free. Mirchi, which means ‘spice’ in Urdu, encapsulates the ‘beauty of Lahore and the atmosphere of the London night scene’. Combined with the with hero ingredient baobab, an organic powder grown in Ghana, the spirit embodies a melting pot of cultures. Co-founders Arslaan Ahmed and Harry Nti Trotman wanted to ‘take the best bits of our culture and combine them with how we experience flavour today’, affirming their mission to diversify a market rooted in tradition.

Mirchi bridges the gap in the market for a spirit that appeals to these diverse communities, decolonising a space that relies on outdated aesthetics.

Invasive data collection used to spark outrage, but new research from the Advertising Research Foundation suggests that consumer attitudes to privacy are changing. According to the small study, the number of consumers who frequently avoid retailers because of privacy concerns fell from 50% in 2021 to 47%.

The report comes as the American Data and Privacy Protection Act is making its way through Congress with unusual bipartisan support. If passed, it could fundamentally change how companies operate online.

While the Act aims to improve security measures, the report reveals that consumers are willing to trade personal data for more individualised online interactions. Respondents ranked prior purchases and the media you use as the most acceptable information to hand over, at 76% and 74%, respectively.

Amid mounting calls from governments in the US and the UK to regulate how companies behave online, the report suggests that shoppers are becoming increasingly comfortable with swapping personal information for increased personalisation, another instance of Morality Recoded.