Signals

London – The advertising agency partnered with World Afro Day to empower and transform the experience of women with afro hair.

Featuring striking imagery from photographer Derrick Kakembo, the campaign layers the images with statistics from The Good Hair Study to showcase societal attitudes towards afro hair. With the tagline ‘Change the facts. Not the fro’, findings include how 78% of people instinctively prefer smooth hair, and only 27% of black women feel comfortable wearing dreadlocks to a professional event.

The campaign hopes to offset the association of straight hair with success and beauty, and wants to empower women to feel confident about their naturally afro hair, a texture that’s rarely celebrated or considered by mainstream brands.

Since outlining the importance of Curl Power in 2015, the beauty industry has been gradually diversifying, reclaiming the African art of braiding and developing products for under-served hair types.

UK – The Inkey List creates straightforward beauty products and gives customers 24/7 access to a skincare expert.

The recently-launched brand hopes to democratise skincare with high quality toners, masks, serums and moisturisers that cut through the scientific jargon of the beauty industry. With products priced between £5 and £10, The Inkey List is encouraging customers to test out what works best for their skin with the help of an online expert, with the aim of building a bespoke skincare wardrobe to fit their needs.

Its monochrome packaging helps to portray this transparent communication, clearly defining each technical term in the style of a dictionary. ‘We won’t talk down to you or intimidate you; this is beauty you can trust, on your terms, with expert skincare advice on hand around the clock,’ reads a press release from the brand.

Read our microtrend Honest Products for more on how beauty brands are navigating around industry jargon to create a more honest and accessible sector for consumers.

With sources reporting that Amazon is in talks to offer a basic bank account to its Prime members, a new study of 6,000 American consumers by Bain & Company suggests that Amazon already has a sum of loyal customers that would be open to banking with them.

The study found that two-thirds of Prime members would be willing to open a free online bank account with Amazon. Furthermore, 37% of consumers that don’t yet shop with Amazon would be willing to try it. The study also offered a direct comparison of customer loyalty rates between Amazon and US national banks, finding that the retailer’s score of 47 significantly exceeded the national banks’ average of 18.

If Amazon does open its own banking service, the brand’s high loyalty rates and significant customer base would give it a strong head start on competing with financial institutions. To find out how big banks can stay relevant in the future, explore our recent interview with Anne Boden, founder of Starling Bank.