LSN : News : Are soybeans the future of bacon?

Fiat’s commitment to colour celebrates the essence of Italy

Operation No Grey by Fiat, Italy

Italy – Italian car brand Fiat has made a bold statement by declaring an end to boring grey cars and launching a vibrant ad campaign that showcases the brand’s commitment to colour and celebrates Italy’s essence. The short film accompanying the announcement features Fiat CEO Olivier Francois being lowered into a vat of orange paint while sitting in one of the brand’s new 600e cars.

The creative process behind the ad took a year, with the aim to create a campaign that went beyond a traditional car commercial. The team at Fiat agency Leo Burnett Italia focused on conveying Italy’s colourful reputation and the joy associated with the ‘dolce vita’ lifestyle. Despite the potential challenges and costs associated with such a daring campaign, Fiat’s leap of faith has won praise from the advertising and marketing industry, not only for disrupting the automotive category but for acting as a commercial for Italy itself.

The campaign has resonated with viewers, with high recall rates for both the brand and the associations with colour and Italy, according to System1 research. It has accumulated over 4m views on YouTube alone, showing how the automotive sector can use innovative strategies to connect with its audiences, a trend we analysed in Not Your Parents’ Car.

Strategic opportunity

The success of Fiat’s bold campaign shows how consumers develop respect and loyalty for brands that assert their individual identity. Businesses can make themselves memorable by prioritising communication of their unique brand identity

Are soybeans the future of bacon?

Piggy Sooy by Moolec, Luxembourg

Luxembourg – Soybeans are known to be incredibly versatile. The humble bean yields countless products and by-products: tofu, plant milk, tempeh, bean curd, miso, soy sauce, and the latest addition – a pork-flavoured alternative meat.

Toying with the genetic structure of the soybean, Luxembourg-based start-up Moolec has figured out a way to start a new type of agriculture – molecular farming. This process re-engineers the bean to integrate DNA from a pig. Enter pink, bacon-tasting soybeans.

The process is possible by isolating the DNA sequence of the animal protein responsible for texture, flavour and nutrition, and triggering soybean plant cells to produce the same proteins by tweaking their DNA.

Because the molecular farming process happens inside the plant, the crop can be grown on farms like conventional soybeans, making it convenient and easily scalable.

The need for such food solutions, equally climate-resilient and foodie-ready, is highlighted in our Adaptive Appetites macrotrend.

Strategic opportunity

Entering a saturated market like meat alternatives doesn’t mean there isn’t room to stand out from the crowd. Take cues from Moolec’s radical approach to innovation, engineering indulgence minus the cruelty

Stat: The great resignation could make a comeback in 2024

Photography by Anastasia Shuraeva, Global

Global – The Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey released in 2023 by PwC suggests employees are more likely to quit now than they were in 2022. Some 26% of workers say they plan to leave their job in the next 12 months – up from 19% in 2022. Following a survey of nearly 54,000 employees across 46 countries, the report reveals that financial hardship is also more widespread in 2023 than in the previous year. Money scarcity and the need to seek higher wages are some of the reasons behind respondents’ increased willingness to look for a new job, according to PwC.

A rising number of employees admit struggling financially, with 42% saying their household can pay all bills every month but has very little or nothing left over for savings, holidays and extras. Amid inflation, one in five employees say they must work outside their primary job – 69% of those say they do so because they need to earn more money. The report encourages business leaders to be aware of employees struggling with financial stress, as the emotional and physical toll it takes on them could affect their productivity and engagement.

As explored in Work States Futures, retaining talent who demand a more flexible, empowering and inclusive workplace will be one of the critical challenges for employers in the next decade. Not taking action could mean losing a quarter of their workforce.

Strategic opportunity

Employers should recognise the impact of financial stress not only on productivity but also on the overall wellbeing of their employees. If pay rises are not on the agenda, survey your team members to understand how to help them with immediate solutions like a public transport pass, weekly free lunches or a wellness allowance