Need to Know
02 : 08 : 22

New York – Cognac brand Rémy Martin has teamed up with the singer Usher to create a sensory campaign that merges the spoken word with artificial intelligence (AI). Designed to celebrate the launch of its limited-edition 1738 bottle, the campaign features Usher poetically describing the tasting notes of Rémy Martin cognac, using phrases such as toasted bread, vanilla and brioche. His words are then translated into digital artworks as a way to visually depict the flavours.

To support the campaign, entitled A Taste of Passion, an AI-inspired bottle will also be available for a limited time, purchasable as a non-fungible token (NFT). A multi-sensory experience will also be hosted in Las Vegas to promote the launch. Here, Rémy Martin demonstrates how physical responses to flavours can be captured and translated through several different activations.

Usher comments: ‘I am so impressed by the visuals that came out of the AI process – they truly represent the medley of tasting notes captured in the flavour.’ By visualising the ways this drink can make people feel, the brand also leans into the tenets of our Psychophysical Identities microtrend.

London – To mark the opening of hotels in London and America, CitizenM is transforming the windows of its new properties into a public art exhibition. The hospitality company invited photographer Amber Pinkerton to create realistic portraits of guests sleeping that allude to the deep rest each of its hotels’ promises.

The images, which show guests in various states of undress – some in pyjamas, others dozing off in their clothing while surrounded by mementos from the night before – are purposefully unfiltered. Instead of ‘beauty sleep’, the company is depicting what real relaxation looks like. 'We wanted to show how people actually snooze, to create honest [and therefore more engaging] portraits of sleep – dribble and all,’ says Adam Morton-Delaney, art director of KesselsKramer, the agency behind the campaign.

By creating visceral visuals, the company is tapping into the Sensorial Strategies that we explored in Innovation Debrief, where brands translate the sensation of particular feelings through their marketing campaigns.

As Japan’s population continues to shrink, new research by its government shows that dating among Generation Z and Millennials is also on the decline. According to a newly released report, four in 10 single Japanese men in their 20s have never gone on a date.

The report, which polled 20,000 Japanese adults aged in their 20s through to their 60s, indicates that young men may be placing other priorities – such as independence and work – ahead of romantic relationships. As men become older, the percentage falls a little, with about 35% of single men in their 30s having never been on a date. In comparison, only 25% of women in their 20s have never dated. Elsewhere, both men and women cited a desire for freedom as a reason for not wanting to get married.

The results, which arrive after Japan reported its lowest birth rate in more than a century in 2021, are not encouraging for a nation that is urgently attempting to boost its population numbers. Across the world, the rise of Uncoupled Living is changing population trends, as nations face up to the fact that endless growth is not a given.