Need to Know
27 : 06 : 18

London – British fashion label Stella McCartney is highlighting its environmental and sustainability credentials with a new retail space that promises the cleanest air in London.

Levels of nitrogen dioxide inside stores on Oxford Street in London are found to be similar to those at street level. With the Stella McCartney store on Old Bond Street just a few minutes away, the brand has collaborated with Airlabs to reduce shoppers’ exposure to air pollution. Airlabs has installed custom-made, nano-carbon filters into the store’s ventilation system, which clean more than 1,800 cubic metres of air per hour, with very low energy consumption. The ease and flexibility of the system means that such air cleaning could be scalable to other retail spaces or heavily-polluted regions.

‘Indoor air pollution is totally unregulated, and more research is urgently needed to assess the full cost to our health over a day, not just the pollution we breathe outdoors’, saysSophie Power, CEO and co-founder of Airlabs. For more on how clean air can enhance the retail experience, read our interview with Sophie Power.

Germany – Beck’s latest premium beer container echoes the shape of a champagne flute in an effort to position the drink as a premium product.

Designed by creative agency Serviceplan, the special-edition beer flute marks a departure from the category’s conventional cans, which have remained the same for the last seven decades. The flute embodies a more luxurious design aesthetic with surface engravings and a brushed aluminium finish applied using a precision laser. Beck’s plans to distribute the flutes, which contain its premium Le BECK’s beer, for use in more sophisticated cultural environments such as art galleries and classical concerts, as well as special events.

Following a positive response to the flutes in its native Germany, Beck’s is now considering mass manufacturing of the product to potentially roll out to the rest of the globe.

To explore how packaging can both elevate and democratise a product, read our Accessible Premium micro trend.

US – The crowdfunding platform is going back to basics with a new campaign focused on supporting smaller, creative ideas, in line with its original purpose.

Having supported an array of high-profile product launches, Kickstarter’s new Quickstarter campaign will shine a light on small-scale business ventures. Devised in partnership with Oscar Lhermitte, a French designer based in London, the project sets out a specific set of rules for potential Quickstarter proposals. Projects should require a maximum of US $1,000 in funding, or the local currency equivalent, and should be completed within a limited timeframe of three months. In addition, Quickstarter has to be included in the campaign name and creators should not reach out to the press or media for support, unless contacted.

As businesses become increasingly driven by brand purpose, initiatives such as Quickstarter demonstrate the importance of campaigns that capture consumers’ imagination and sense of creativity over monetary measures of success.

Despite the publicised success of YouTube stars such as Zoella and PewDiePie, a new study highlights that most YouTube vloggers aren’t as financially successful. For every ‘Zoella’, there is an estimated 28 other video-makers who don’t reach an income of £9,166 ($12,140, €10,404) a year directly through YouTube’s ad revenue.

While the study specifically explores the challenges faced by YouTubers, a recent opinion piece by The Future Laboratory writer Carla Seipp questions whether social influencers have lost their sway as consumers begin to see through the sheen of their lifestyles.