LSN : News : Need to Know 02 : 05 : 18

1. The Goods Mart re-imagines the convenience store

The Goods Mart, Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles – The Goods Mart is a healthy convenience store committed to smarter eating. The store curates products from brands that recognise the importance of ingredient quality and ethical sourcing.

Founder Rachael Krupa has acknowledged that planet-friendly and organic products usually come with a higher price tag. But it was important for the entrepreneur to keep the concept of convenient pricing embedded in the brand, without sacrificing on ingredients. As a solution, she worked with existing clients from her health and wellness PR firm and local businesses to offer items at a more accessible price, including an 8oz coffee for £0.90 ($1.25, €1) and 12oz for £1.46 ($2, €1.66).

The brand has also worked with the non-profit organisation Lunch on Me to donate food within 24 hours of the expiry date, avoiding any waste.

As consumers have less and less time to spend around the dinner table, they are increasingly searching for more convenient formats of food shopping that better suit their time-poor lifestyles, but not at the expense of their health.

2. Documentary addresses Muslims’ complex political identities

Terminal 3 at Tribeca Film Festival 2018, Kaleidoscope and Ryot

New York – At this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Asad J Malik presented an interactive augmented reality (AR) documentary, Terminal 3, that explores contemporary Muslim identities in the US through the lens of an airport interrogation.

As viewers enter the installation, they are transported to a US immigration office where they act as the officer deciding whether the presenting Muslims are a danger to the country. By using their own voice, the viewer can choose from a set of questions to trigger a prerecorded response from the interviewee. To end the experience, the participant must decide whether the Muslim is able to enter the country.

To enhance empathy for the subject, Terminal 3 is based on real migration stories from Malik and many other Muslims. The experience is just one of many that use AR technology to evoke an emotional, more empathetic response from its users. For more, see our Virtual Empathy microtrend.

3. Xbox translates a real football match into game commands

UK – Creative agency McCann London has mimicked the moves of a Champions League football match into game commands for Xbox One users.

Created for a match report in the London Evening Standard, the campaign re-imagines player’s moves into the corresponding console commands. Take for instance, ‘Navas (Y) but drops the ball. Varane (X) but can’t get to it.’ The command ‘Y’ refers to ‘through ball’, a forward pass which goes through the opposing team’s defence, and command ‘X’ refers to a ‘lob pass/cross/header’.

The concept is similar to McCann’s A Beautiful Combination campaign for Xbox that demonstrated how to recreate Real Madrid football stars’ skills using an Xbox controller.

In an effort to combat skip culture, marketers are experimenting with ways to mimic digital behaviour and capture the attention of those disinclined towards advertising.

Champions League Match translated by McCann London for Xbox

4. A medi-salon offering botox and beverages

Christopher Hanna salon, Bridge Street, Sydney

Sydney – Luxury salon Christopher Hanna has unveiled a new beauty and lounge bar concept for its flagship store on Bridge Street in Sydney.

While recognising that alcoholic offerings in salons are nothing new, Christopher Hanna is looking to take that experience to the next level by serving cocktails and refreshments to clients who are also receiving cosmetic treatments such as dermal fillers and anti-wrinkle injections. In addition, the salon has created a designated area for socialising where guests can enjoy espresso martinis from the nitrogen-charged cocktail unit and a range of other high-class whiskies, gins and vodkas.

As the rise in demand for cosmetic procedures continues, Christopher Hanna demonstrates how the treatments have evolved to become a social event. For more on the growing acceptance of cosmetics, look out for our beauty macrotrend, to be published at the end of May.

5. US adults debate the impact of the internet

A sizeable majority of online adults (70%) continue to believe the internet is good for society but that number previously stood at 76% in 2014, according to the Pew Research Center. The US study found that there is a growing number of consumers becoming more cautious about the impact of digital connectivity.

It also discovered growth in the number of adults who perceive the internet’s societal impact as a mix of good and bad. This rose from 8% in 2014 to 14% in 2018.

While positive views of the internet were based on access to information and connectivity with others, the negative views participants expressed included isolation from others, overuse of devices and the prevalence of fake news.

In our macrotrend Morality Recoded we explore further why today’s consumers are increasingly questioning our relationship with the internet, social media and technology in general.

6. Thought-starter: How have apothecary services evolved?

With an emphasis on community and education, the next generation of supplement brands are re-imagining the high street store format.

Supple is a new pared-back retail concept designed to simplify the health journey. Through design and curation, it helps customers to navigate the complex health terrain by offering a hand-selected range of supplements and lifestyle products.

Beyond the store itself, the concept will provide space for alternative medical practitioners, adding an additional level of expertise and insight to the customer experience.

The anatomé store in Shoreditch, London, founded earlier this year by Brendan Murdock, aims to provide a clear, coherent selection of products that address nutritional, physical and emotional wellness. The brand has curated an edit that breaks them down into specific life goals, such as Sleep + Relaxation and Heart + Blood Health.

In the spirit of a traditional apothecary, visitors can also book one-to-one consultations with the store’s in-house nutritionist Winder Ton for a more bespoke experience that goes beyond the typical health store offering.

Read the full microtrend here.