LSN : Daily Signals : Need to know 27 : 07 : 17

1. Gucci’s alien campaign mimics old sci-fi films

Gucci autumn/winter 2017 campaign by Glen Luchford

Global – Gucci is continuing its foray into youth-targeted content with its new Instagram video directed by Glen Luchford. With its grainy aesthetic, the short film emulates a vintage science fiction film, borrowing motifs from cult classics such as Star Trek and Star Wars.

The cast includes humans, aliens, robots and a dinosaur, with the human characters dressed opulently in the fashion house’s autumn/winter 2017 collection.

As explored in our Luxury Futures: Focuses Market 2017, luxury brands such as Gucci are using social media to engage with younger consumers by putting a luxury spin on the type of content that they already consume regularly.

2. Ann Ringstrand combines jewellery with perfume

Fragrances by Ann Ringstrand, Stockholm

Jewellery by Ann Ringstrand, Stockholm

Stockholm – The range of scents, which includes an eau de parfum and scented oils, are made to be contained in specially designed lava bead bracelets, creating a tactile as well as a fragrant experience.

The collection, which comprises three fragrances – Ground, Gather and Touch – taps into consumers’ desire for a more spiritual take on the retail experience. In line with Metaphysical Retail, people are now searching for an other-worldly antidote to 21st-century concerns.

‘Both gemstones and scents are tools for our senses,’ designer Ann Ringstrand tells LS:N Global. ‘Our concept combines tools that are used in the spiritual world with an aesthetic design for urban modern life.’

3. Study explores how gaming might improve autistic cognition

YouTube gaming

Boston – Faja Lab is testing computer games to determine whether they can aid brain function and self-regulation in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Participants aged between 7 and 11 will complete 5–10 one-hour long video game sessions during which their brain activity will be monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG).

The study aims to show how video games can be used to help children with ASD to process conflicting information and perspectives by helping them to better articulate their thoughts, beliefs and feelings.

The importance of research around neurodiversity is demonstrated by brands such as Yahoo, which are implementing the idea in the workplace and celebrating difference as a new skill set.

4. Marks & Spencer cuts waste across its packaging

UK – The retailer has redesigned more than 140 of its best-selling snacks to reduce the amount of air trapped at the top of the bag as part of its Project Thin Air initiative.

It has also replaced the plastic used to package products in its hand-cooked crisps range with a thinner and sturdier plastic film that requires 20% less plastic than the original packaging.

The changes, which have been developed over the past year, will mean that 75 tonnes less packaging will need to be produced each year, according to Marks & Spencer, which is equivalent to 152 fewer lorries on the road. Read our Whole-system Thinking macrotrend to find out more.

Project Thin Air by Marks & Spencer, UK

5. E-commerce creates more jobs than it destroys

While fears about the automation of jobs leaving people without work abound, data collected over the past decade by the Progressive Policy Institute demonstrates that, contrary to common belief, e-commerce is creating more jobs than it destroys. The findings by economist Michael Mandel, head of the Progressive Policy Institute, show that the rise of e-commerce has helped to establish a new American Middle class.

6. Thought-starter: Is this the end of ad-land’s nuclear family?

As the Advertising Standards Agency hits out at brands whose campaigns enforce gender roles, LS:N Global senior journalist Peter Maxwell asks what this means for the on-screen family.

The recent Depictions, Perceptions and Harm report by the Advertising Standards Authority has re-ignited the conversation about the industry’s reinforcement of gender stereotypes. The most interesting aspect of the document was how it placed particular emphasis on the depiction of the modern family, and the roles within it.

While campaigns such as Protein World’s Are You Beach Body Ready? have grabbed the negative headlines over the past few years, the ubiquity of the nuclear family tends to raise fewer complaints. We have developed a blind spot when it comes to the portrayal of households in advertising, with the majority of FMCG ads defaulting to a benign 2.4-child model.

The ASA report's suggested guidelines will go some way towards addressing this, but brands also need to start thinking about whether it makes business sense to continue supporting an ideal to which consumers increasingly no longer aspire.

For more on why brands must stop misrepresenting today’s households, read the full opinion piece here.