LSN : News : Google backs African entrepreneurs

Iceland encourages tourists to ditch sweatpants

Looks Like You Need an Adventure, Inspired by Iceland

Iceland – Icelandic tourism site Visit Iceland is encouraging global tourists to emerge from lockdown lifestyles in a campaign centring on the switch from sweatpants to walking boots.

Its Looks Like You Need an Adventure campaign by SS+K features a music video from Icelandic rapper Cell7 – shown wearing upcycled travellers’ old sweatpants that have been recycled into walking boots. Referencing the mundanity of home lifestyles due to pandemic restrictions, the video then spotlights travellers in different areas of Iceland. Alongside the video campaign, a pop-up store in Reykjavik’s Rainbow Street will offer an upcycling service to transform sweatpants into hiking boots.

‘For those ready to travel again, we want to make sure you’re prepared to experience life to its fullest and take on whatever adventure you’ve been craving,’ says Sigríður Dögg Guðmundsdóttir, head of Visit Iceland.

As the travel sector begins to show signs of recovery, marketers are focusing on the sensorial aspect of visiting new places – here swapping indoor living for picturesque scenery.

Half Past seltzers offer a clean drinking moment

Half Past, US

US – Hard seltzer brand Half Past is catering to the demand for cleaner, health-led drinks that still contain alcohol.

Through clean ingredients, minimal sugar and low calories, the brand offers seltzers that it positions as drinkable at any time of the day. Flavour combinations also tune into health-conscious needs, with ingredients such as ginger, turmeric, rosemary and cloves. In this way, the brand aims to provide guilt-free drinking moments – even stating that Half Past can be paired with food or enjoyed after exercise. This cleaner approach means that people are less likely to feel the negative effects associated with consuming alcoholic drinks.

Its brand identity, by creative agency Manufactur, further reflects the guilt-free element of Half Past with its joyful colours and typography. ‘When someone spots a Half Past can, we want it to have the power to transport them to an easier time – a place that sparked joy – whenever and wherever that might be,’ says Manufactur.

To discover more about complex drinks flavours that tune into health-conscious demands, delve into our Grown-up Sodas microtrend.

Google backs African entrepreneurs

Africa – Google is working to support entrepreneurs across Africa through its Black Founders Fund Africa (BFF Africa) programme.

As part of the initiative, the tech giant is spearheading 15 start-ups from across the continent – with a particular focus on Black-founded start-ups and those that benefit Black communities. Selected enterprises are being offered a three-month online programme, which includes virtual training bootcamps, mentorships and Google product support. It is also supporting innovation through a £2.2m ($3m, €2.5m) injection of funding.

Entrepreneurship training, mentorship and coaching will also be provided to at least 5,000 women with low digital skills, especially those operating from rural areas. Other initiatives supporting women include seed capital in the form of one-time cash grants to 500 African women aspiring to be entrepreneurs. Nitin Gajria, managing director of Google Sub-Saharan Africa, says: ‘We are determined to help Black founders grow their businesses, not just through access to capital but also through access to the best of Google’s resources.’

With Africa’s mobile-first behaviours increasingly on the rise, such initiatives show how technological support can further boost the careers and livelihoods of African citizens.

Thebe Magugu, South Africa at International Fashion Showcase, London

Stat: US daters likely to reject one-night stands post-Covid

Compression Cradle by Lucy McRae

Daters in the US are set to reject one-night stands in favour of more intimate connections in the inter-Covid period, according to research by dating app Plenty of Fish and OnePoll.

More than half of US singles (51%) think one-night stands will become a thing of the past when the pandemic ends. Meanwhile, nearly six in 10 (57%) of respondents now value other types of intimacy – such as emotional or intellectual connections – more than physical connections.

Social distancing measures have also resulted in an increased adoption of digital intimacy – a behaviour that is set to continue even as restrictions ease. Indeed, two-thirds of people said that they will continue to be just as virtually connected after the pandemic as they were during it – with people relying on video chats (61%), sexting (51%) and phone sex (47%).

For more on virtual connections in the inter-Covid period, discover our Isolated Intimacy microtrend.