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BBH Singapore creates the country’s first legal chewing gum for more than 30 years

Unthinkables by BBH Singapore, Singapore

Singapore – Creative agency BBH Singapore has developed Unthinkables, a hyper-chewy flavoured candy designed to mimic gum but made without a gum base to bypass Singapore’s decades-old chewing gum ban.

The ban, implemented in 1992 to curb public vandalism, remains one of the city-state’s most famous regulations. Since 2004, only therapeutic gum under medical supervision has been permitted. Unthinkables sidesteps the rules with a fully water-soluble formula which was developed with sugarcrafter Irene Chan after testing more than 60 combinations for the perfect chew.

Each piece includes a QR code linking to the agency’s most inventive campaigns, from Heinekicks – beer-filled sneakers for Heineken – to Trapped, a horror film promoting travel insurance. The product marks Singapore’s 60th birthday with a statement on the value of ‘unthinkable’ ideas that challenge limits.

‘It’s unthinkable to launch a chewing gum in Singapore,’ said BBH Singapore’s chief creative officer Sascha Kuntze. 'But that’s the point. Creativity lets us solve problems by making the impossible possible.’

The product is not currently available for sale – instead people can try contacting BBH Singapore for a sample.

Similarly, our Mischief Marketing report analyses how bold brands are bending the rules to cut through the noise.

Strategic opportunity

Consider how to reframe restrictions as creative catalysts by treating regulations, category norms or product limitations as springboards for innovation rather than as obstacles. How can constraints enforce disruptive thinking in your team?

Carebot GR-3 brings emotional intelligence to humanoid robotics

China – Robotics company Fourier has unveiled its first full-sized humanoid companion robot, the Care-bot GR-3, to transform emotional interaction in care and service environments.

Fourier, best known for its rehabilitation exoskeletons, is positioning GR-3 as part of a new wave of socially intelligent machines, where companionship and accessibility are as important as technical performance.

It integrates auditory, visual and tactile sensors into a multimodal emotional interaction system to bring the concept of ‘warm tech companionship’ to life. We explored the rise of empathetic companionship and AI carers for older people in our AI Companionship Market report.

Unlike other task-driven industrial robots, the GR-3 prioritises human connection with an animated LED face and soft-touch materials designed for approachability. Its applications span nursing homes and rehabilitation centres, where it could prompt patients to take medication with a friendly reminder, to classrooms to support children with learning differences, and corporate settings for empathetic customer service.

This reflects a wider shift identified in our EQ-Homes report, where emotional intelligence is becoming a core design principle across industries. As brands reimagine products, spaces and services, prioritising empathy alongside utility is emerging as a decisive competitive edge.

Enchanted Tools exhibited an updated Mirokaï at CES, US

Strategic opportunity

Design interactions that prioritise empathy and connection alongside functionality. Integrate emotional companionship into products, services and spaces to foster trust, loyalty and wellbeing

Stat: Almost half of Substack publishers are using AI tools

Substack, Global

Global – Almost half of Substack publishers (45%) are using AI tools according to a new survey of more than 2,000 of its writers, artists and podcasters. The creators surveyed said they integrate AI into research, productivity and accessibility workflows.

The Substack AI Report found that AI adoption is the highest in technology, business and finance. Most creators rely on tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Grammarly for tasks such as summarising complex documents, optimising SEO and generating images. Accessibility emerged as a key benefit, with creators citing support for disabilities including ADHD, dyslexia and blindness.

While AI adoption cuts across revenue levels, it divides opinion: users are generally optimistic about enhanced capabilities, while non-users express concerns about ethics, plagiarism and creative atrophy. Some 52.6% of respondents said they don’t use AI at all.

Even among adopters, more than half hold reservations about losing their voice or style. As one publisher said, ‘We’re entering a spicy new era, where human-created content will be ‘premium’,’ adding that ‘authentic human writing and video will be sought out and prized above the noise.’

For more insights on the future of AI as a co-creator, read our The Synthocene Era macrotrend report.

Strategic opportunity

Blend AI efficiency with human creativity and position human-generated work as a premium product while using AI for background tasks such as research, formatting and data analysis