Need to Know
12 : 02 : 19

By Olivia Houghton, Holly Friend and Alex Hawkins

Harper Wilde wants to make the lingerie sector sustainable, QVC launches a shoppable video app and consumers express concern about personalisation.

In today's news:

An unbiased identity for a religious organisation

Nike’s latest pop-up store is based on an app

Harper Wilde is on a quest to recycle bras

QVC taps into social shopping with Q Anytime

Stat: Consumers value privacy over personalisation

Thought-starter: Why are the rich obsessed with the end of the world?

An unbiased identity for a religious organisation

The Centre for Public Christianity branding by For The People, Australia

Australia – Creative studio For The People has headed the disruptive rebranding of The Centre for Public Christianity.

The not-for-profit media company offers a Christian perspective on contemporary living in order to promote understanding and debate, publishing high-quality print, video and audio material. To promote The Centre's unbiased, candid attitude, For The People created a new brand identity that deconstructs Christianity’s most iconic symbol, the cross, transforming it into plus and minus – or positive and negative – signs.

‘Today, religious groups can be seen as irrelevant and divisive, and distorted media stereotypes paint faith as reactionary and anti-intellectual,’ reads a statement from For The People. In response, it is using the positive and negative signs, cobalt blue branding and witty captions to demonstrate how religion can be part of modern discourse.

As more young people substitute organised religion for Alternative Spirituality, Christian organisations are using visual codes to reclaim the cultural significance they have lost over the years.

Nike’s latest pop-up store is based on an app

SNKRS Atlanta, Nike

Atlanta – The sportswear brand has opened a technology-enhanced retail space that serves users of the Nike SNKRS mobile app.

The pop-up store, which Nike has described as ‘the physical manifestation' of the app, will sell limited-edition shoes, apparel and branded SNKRS merchandise. It boasts a number of location-based features, with Nike encouraging shoppers to use the app as they browse to unlock access to a variety of products.

The store's Shock Drop feature, for example, will send SNKRS app users push notifications about impending product drops. Shoppers can also buy items from a vending machine stocked with SNKRS goods by scanning a unique QR code generated in the app.

SNKRS Atlanta follows Nike’s data-driven stores and its New York flagship store, both of which rely heavily on the brand’s NikePlus app. With this app-enabled approach to bricks-and-mortar retail, Nike is using mobile as a tool to drive in-store engagement and build customer data.

Harper Wilde is on a quest to recycle bras

California – The lingerie brand has worked with t-shirt start-up For Days, inviting women to send in their old bras for recycling.

With a mix of materials, underwire and fastenings, many women are unsure how to positively dispose of their bras, with most simply throwing them away. In response, Harper Wilde will now send a prepaid return shipping label with its online orders, encouraging customers to send back their old bras, no matter what the brand, to be recycled into new products.

As Harper Wilde offers a free try-before-you-buy programme that includes return shipping, the process is not adding to the retailer’s carbon footprint. ‘We are not actually increasing the number of packages shipped, which comes with its own environmental cost,’ says Jeff Borsuk, Harper Wilde head of growth. ‘These old bras are hitching a ride, and we’re taking advantage of that efficiency we already had.’

With fashion industry waste set to reach 148m tons annually by 2030, brands such as Harper Wilde are innovating with commercial programmes that drive a circular economy.

Harper Wilde, US

QVC taps into social shopping with Q Anytime

QVC app, UK

US – The retailer and television shopping network has unveiled a new iOS app, expanding into mobile with a video-based shopping platform.

Q Anytime is designed to support the flagship QVC app with an ever-changing feed of on-demand, shoppable videos, presented in 5–8 minute segments. At present, Q Anytime pulls videos from QVC’s library of live and on-demand shoppable content, but the company plans to eventually introduce original content and episodic series tailored for a mobile audience.

‘In many cases, today’s consumers are discovering new brands through video and social apps on their smartphones and other mobile devices,' says Alex Miller, senior vice-president of digital commerce and marketing at QVC. ‘Q Anytime represents our latest push into a video-first mobile experience.’

According to the company, about 60% of its sales in the US were via e-commerce, and two thirds on mobile devices in the first nine months of 2018. With its new app – and a rebranded logo – QVC aims to evolve alongside an increasingly mobile-first consumer. For more on this new mindset, explore our Shoppable Social market.

Stat: Consumers value privacy over personalisation

According to a new survey of more than 6,000 consumers conducted by RSA Security, a fraud prevention and security company, consumers increasingly perceive personalisation as intrusive and unethical.

Fewer than half (48%) of survey respondents said there are ethical ways that companies can use their data. Meanwhile, 52% believe ethical data use is when a company only collects the personal information needed to deliver the service customers are receiving – and nothing more.

‘Companies must acknowledge and protect consumers’ right to privacy while considering the impact of emerging technology,’ the report reads. ‘By so doing, they can forge deeper connections with customers to grow their business while addressing very real concerns about data protection and privacy.' To this effect, we debate the ethical implications of targeted advertising in a recent Opinion piece.

Thought-starter: Why are the rich obsessed with the end of the world?

Wealthy people are spending billions of dollars preparing for disasters. But foresight writer Holly Friend asks: why aren’t they using their money to make the planet disaster-proof?

We’re only in February, yet 2019 already feels like an unfortunate year. The Doomsday Clock, a symbol created to represent just how close we are to a man-made catastrophe, is set at two minutes to midnight, while films from the past, like Blade Runner, The Running Man and Akira, are all set in bleak, war-torn versions of 2019.

While this outlook may seem dramatic to most, one consumer group in particular are not taking any chances – ultra-high-net-worth individuals. A small but significant subset of the American elite are disaster-proofing their homes, with many building deep luxury bunkers fitted with swimming pools, cinemas and fibre optic internet to ensure they do not just survive Doomsday but can spend it shooting pool.

What’s ironic, however, is that these preppers are plotting the desertion of a world they helped to shape. Rather than providing these Doomsday fanatics with the tools to aid their escape, why aren’t more brands encouraging them to stay put and plough their wealth into initiatives that help prevent these disasters from happening in the first place?

Read the full Opinion here.