Need to Know
22 : 07 : 19

Paris – Real-life couples discuss one another’s quirks in the luxury house’s autumn/winter 2019 campaign.

The campaign, which takes the form of a short video and series of images, stars real-life couples from Paris, who discuss the nuances of their romantic relationship through voiceovers. With young heterosexual, lesbian and gay couples represented, the campaign contrasts the highly elaborate and glamourised love stories often presented in luxury marketing.

Shot by Ed Fornieles and mimicking the style of user-generated content (UGC) on social media, the film comprises footage that has been captured on surveillance cameras. In this way the brand offers a fly-on-the-wall aesthetic that is able to capture the couple’s intimate moments.

Luxury brands such as Balenciaga are using their campaigns to burst the authenticity bubble, demonstrating how modern relationships can still be explored in marketing without romantic overkill.

Abu Dhabi – Istanbul-based studio Superspace’s SolarCloud project imagines 1,500 solar balloons that are both a source of renewable energy and a kinetic sculpture.

The project has been shortlisted as part of the Land Art Generator competition, which provides a platform for artists, architects and creatives looking to develop forward-thinking solutions for sustainable energy that double as public works of art.

Designed to be installed at the gate of Masdar City, SolarCloud consists of a canopy of balloons made from solar fabric. In the daytime, the structure creates shade below while harvesting solar energy from above. Behaving like a kinetic sculpture, the balloons would gently fall at night to create a lower canopy, while serving as a canvas for light art shows. In addition to creating green energy, the proposal intends to create a new landmark for Masdar City.

For more future-facing energy solutions, read our Renewable Energy Market.

China – The airline’s What Travel Brings You campaign takes a tongue-in-cheek look at life after returning home from a trip.

While holiday campaigns tend to revolve around paradisiacal destinations, China Airlines has chosen to highlight the unusual souvenirs one can expect to take home from a travel experience. ‘Every journey may bring something new into your life,’ reads a statement by the airline, ‘be it new knowledge, new experiences, or even a whole new life.’

The ad follows the stories of a man who has recently returned from the mountainous Japanese region of Hokkaido with a cast on his leg and a snapped snowboard, a woman with a positive pregnancy test after visiting Australia and a couple discarding a marriage certificate following their trip to Las Vegas.

New travel and tourism campaigns are breaking the mould of idyllic sunsets and happy families. In a similar vein, Vienna’s tourism board earlier this month unveiled a campaign that highlighted the city’s worst online reviews.

Just under half of consumers in the US now purchase from direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, according to the IAB’s Disrupting Brand Preference report. The study identified that these consumers tend to be younger and driven by the desire to convey something about themselves, with 53% saying they are expressing who they are when they make a purchase.

This is compounded by a wish to seek out new products and those who shop DTC brands are at least 36% more likely to research a brand before making a purchase, the report reveals. As part of the discovery and research process, they are 83% more likely to go to a pop-up or physical store location pre-purchase.

In response to these behaviours, new multi-brand retail formats are bridging the gap between digital-first products and physical spaces.