Need to Know
01 : 11 : 17

Sweden – Furniture retailer Ikea has launched a series of YouTube pre-roll ads designed to counteract consumer skip culture. Part of the wider Where Life Happens campaign, the Irresistible Pointless Trueview Ads, which run for up to eight minutes, depict a variety of everyday scenarios such as a couple kissing and a teenager washing the dishes. The subjects appear to address the viewer directly, asking questions such as ‘do you really want to watch this?’. According to ad agency Åkestam Holst, which created the spots, the average viewing time among targeted viewers was three minutes, with 39% of viewers watching an ad in its entirety.

The shorts feature no marketing save for a tag over an item of furniture in each room that lists its name and price. As consumers’ attention spans become shorter, brands are using long-form content to pique viewers’ interest and create campaigns that linger in the memory. See our Focus Filter macrotrend for more.

Global – Nissan has developed a new safety feature that uses sound to alert pedestrians when an electric vehicle is nearby. Canto, which will be installed in models including the new Nissan Leaf, is ‘what the future of Nissan Intelligent Mobility will sound like’, according to the brand’s executive vice-president of global sales and marketing Daniele Schillaci.

Although more environmentally friendly than internal combustion engines, electric car batteries are quieter, presenting a significant safety issue. According to a report by the US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, pedestrians and cyclists are 35% and 57% more likely to be involved in a crash involving an electric or hybrid car, respectively. As LS:N Global explored in our Safety in Sound microtrend, mobility brands are exploring the potential of sound as a safety feature.

China’s Communist Party has announced the temporary closure of its most polluting factories. Officials from more than 80,000 factories have also been charged with criminal offences for breaching emissions limits over the past year. As part of this move, the government has pledged to reduce the concentration of fine particulate matter from 47 micrograms per cubic metre in 2016 to 35 micrograms by 2035. As pollution levels rise globally, brands need to do more to address the issue and alleviate consumers’ concerns. For more see our Smog Life series.