Need to Know
22 : 01 : 18

UK – Directed by the East London photographer Ronan McKenzie, the latest campaign offering from Stella Kids features girls from black and ethnic backgrounds to offer a more diverse perspective of ballet. Inspired Instagram accounts such as ‘Brown Girls do Ballet’ and ‘Dance Theatre of Harlem’, the 15 second spot, entitled The Spirit of Ballet, shows girls chosen from various dance schools around London that had a 'great diversity of young dancers'.

Childrenswear is a growing area of opportunity for luxury brands, as affluent parents seek to kit out their offspring in well-made attire. For more on the brands that have been pioneering this sector see our Childrenswear Market.

UK – While the world of weight loss has typically been the preserve of women, two of the industry's most recognisable brands are using male influencers to reassess this assumption. Atkins and Weight Watchers have employed actor Rob Lowe and artist-producer DJ Khaled as their respective representatives.

Lowe was chosen as the face of Atkins‘ ‘Life Well’ campaign after publicly announcing that he himself follows the low-carb, low-sugar, high-protein diet. Noticeably the emphasis is not on weight loss but on leading a healthier lifestyle. Khaled meanwhile is set to become Weight Watchers' first social media ambassador. The artist, who similarly quoted wanting to get healthy for his son as the impetus behind joining, will chart his weight loss across his social media accounts.

In our Anti-diet Mentality microtrend, we examine how brands are moving away from the word 'diet' and all the negative connotations that come with it and instead promoting the idea of improvement.

UK – GROWN has created a new format for adaptogens – supplements that help to boost cortisol and balance stressors – that goes beyond powdered supplements. The range of three adaptogenic herb and mushroom tonics consists of a morning iteration to combat fatigue, a mushroom tonic to boost the immune system and a calming evening adaptogen.

The liquid supplements can either be added to drinks like tea, coffees and smoothies or pipetted straight onto the tongue, making it easy to incorporate into daily life. 'At GROWN we are not asking you to change your daily rituals, but simply add to the ones you already have,' states the brand website.

First examined in The Optimised Self, the interest in adaptogens is growing as consumers search for products that help to mitigate the stresses of modern life.

A new report of more than 8,000 recruiters on LinkedIn indicates a growing interest in artificial intelligence (AI) as a way of hiring candidates. Respondents indicated that AI is set to enter the mainstream during 2018 for a number of reasons, including it’s a timesaver (67%), removes human bias (43%), and delivers the best candidate matches (31%).