News 08.01.2024

Need to Know

Tinder wants to tackle Gen Z loneliness, Carrefour ditches PepsiCo products to protect clients from unfair prices and US-based Gen Z love influencer brands like no other group.

Tinder tackles Gen Z loneliness in new brand film

It Starts With A Swipe by Tinder, UK

UK – Dating app Tinder has launched a new ad for its UK audience, redefining the brand’s messaging to appeal to swipe-fatigued Gen Z and modern relationship priorities.

Created by W Communications and taking a localised marketing approach, the brand film follows Ava, a young woman who is feeling lonely after moving to London. She downloads Tinder and is pleasantly surprised by the wide circle of relationships – platonic and romantic – the app unlocks.

Part of Tinder’s It Starts With A Swipe campaign launched in 2023, the ad reframes Tinder as an app for companionship as much as romance or sex. But with evolved dating apps such as Summer, Ilios and Snack establishing themselves as the Next Generation of Dating Apps, designed to better suit Gen Z’s relationship priorities and digital behaviours, can Tinder’s new messaging compete?

Strategic opportunity

Companionship sells when it comes to Gen Z. How can your brand provide digital spaces that foster kinship between your customers that can be translated into offline friendships and relationships?

LG unveils two-wheeled AI agent designed for smart homes

LG Smart Home AI Agent, South Korea LG Smart Home AI Agent, South Korea

Korea – LG Electronics has introduced an innovative smart home AI agent at CES in January 2024 to redefine the concept of a zero-labour home. This two-wheeled robot integrates multi-modal AI, robotic capabilities and advanced communication to serve as a comprehensive home manager.

Fuelled by Qualcomm’s Robotics RB5 platform, the AI agent navigates independently, understands emotions, controls smart home devices, and acts as a pet monitor and security guard. LG envisages liberating users from household chores and aims to establish itself as a dominant player in the smart home market.

With its unique two-legged wheel design, the AI agent combines voice and image recognition with natural language processing, offering verbal interaction and expressive movements. It connects with smart home appliances, analyses real-time environmental data and autonomously patrols the home.

In our Home States Futures: Residential Retail macrotrend, we analysed how AI-powered companions and their artificial emotional intelligence are the next step for smart homes – providing comfort and tailored solutions for consumers while collecting data seamlessly.

Strategic opportunity

Develop strategies to ethically collect and analyse data from smart home devices, providing practical insights for improved product development and customer experiences

Carrefour supermarkets ditch PepsiCo products to denounce unfair pricing

Europe – French supermarket chain Carrefour has announced it will stop selling products from PepsiCo brands in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium. The group will drop brands including Pepsi-Cola, Doritos and 7Up as a protest against PepsiCo’s pricing strategy, deemed unfair by the retailer.

While inflation is falling in France – down to 7.1% in December 2023 compared to 16% in March 2023, according to TradingEconomics.com, many manufacturers are reluctant to bring prices down. Carrefour, one of the main retailers in the country, has called some recent price hikes ‘unacceptable’ and halted sales of all products from the PepsiCo group. Where products including Lay’s, Doritos, Benenuts, Alvalle, Lipton, Pepsi, 7Up and Quaker used to sit on shelves, Carrefour left empty spots with notes explaining why the brands are no longer on sale.

In October 2023, the supermarket giant rolled out in-store signage spotlighting shrinkflation – when product sizes are reduced but the retail price remains unchanged. Carrefour is setting a new standard for brands, acting as an ally against the cost of living crisis by actively protecting consumer rights and advocating for their purchasing power.

Wholesome, Australia

Strategic opportunity

Follow Carrefour’s example of advocating for its consumers. Can you use your platform not only to denounce unfair practices, but also to put pressure on the stakeholders that aggravate the issue?

Stat: American Gen Z love influencer brands like no other group

Kin Euphorics, US Kin Euphorics, US

US – In an exclusive report released in December 2023, Morning Consult suggests that Gen Z adults are the most likely to buy from a brand founded by an influencer.

Among a representative sample of 2,201 US adults of all ages, 53% of Gen Z adults said they had purchased a product from a brand founded by a social media influencer within the past year or more than a year ago. The figure is much lower for the average US adult (30%), highlighting higher levels of trust among Gen Z for influencers’ brands.

Morning Consult also analysed how Gen Z and Millennials’ strong support has turned influencer brands like Rare Beauty and MrBeast Burger into significant players. Founded by former Disney Channel actress and musician Selena Gomez in 2019, Rare Beauty was on track to surpass £236.9m ($300m, €274.8m) in sales in 2023.

Young, social media-savvy consumers surveyed expressed interest in influencer products, particularly in the food and beverage, apparel and beauty categories. The high customer satisfaction rate of 80% and favourable perceptions demonstrate the promising future of influencer-owned brands, one of the many revenue streams we analysed in Web Summit Lisbon 2023: The Future of The Creator Economy.

Strategic opportunity

Consider exploring partnerships with influencers and their brands to tap into their established trust with a younger demographic who are engaged, and who consume influencer content and purchase their products

Previous News Articles
Cash App taps Timothée Chalamet for youth-friendly money talk

News

Cash App taps Timothée Chalamet for youth-friendly money talk

Cash App has launched an integrated brand campaign featuring Academy Award-nominated actor Timothée Chalamet which aims to foster intergenerational...
Finance : Gen Z : Youth
Foresight Friday: Rose Coffey, senior foresight analyst

News

Foresight Friday: Rose Coffey, senior foresight analyst

Every Friday, The Future Laboratory team offers an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, ...
Beauty : The Synthocene Era : Virtual Beauty
Stat: Southeast Asia is TikTok’s largest advertising audience

News

Stat: Southeast Asia is TikTok’s largest advertising audience

Southeast Asia now accounts for nearly a quarter of TikTok’s global advertising audience, according to the Digital 2025: July Statshot report.
Statistic : Stat : Southeast Asia
Spktrl’s AI diamond ring aims to cut screen time

News

Spktrl’s AI diamond ring aims to cut screen time

Parisian start-up Spktrl is reimagining wearable technology with the launch of its AI-powered Light Ring, a piece of high jewellery designed to cur...
Wellness : Augmented Human : The Synthocene Era
Represent launches in-person fitness competition 247 Mission Rivington

News

Represent launches in-person fitness competition 247 Mission Rivington

British fashion brand Represent has held its first-ever fitness event, 247 Mission Rivington, with 100 athletes competing in a 12‑hour endurance ch...
Sport : Fashion : Fitness
Stat: Technological innovation is driving the future of beauty

News

Stat: Technological innovation is driving the future of beauty

Wealth divides, digital tools and regional identity are reshaping the international beauty market, according to The State of Fashion: Beauty Volume...
Statistic : Stat : Beauty
AI-generated images of animals in plastic help WWF-Korea raise awareness about pollution

News

AI-generated images of animals in plastic help WWF-Korea raise awareness about pollution

WWF-Korea has launched Animal Trash Fashion, a powerful out-of-home campaign using AI to starkly illustrate the devastating impact of plastic pollu...
Sustainability : Design : Advertising
Rixo launches pre-loved resale platform

News

Rixo launches pre-loved resale platform

British fashion brand Rixo is expanding its circular ambitions with the launch of Rixo Pre-Loved, a resale platform where customers buy and sell it...
Retail : Fashion : Sutainability
Stat: Global business travel spending hits historic high

News

Stat: Global business travel spending hits historic high

Business travel is set to reach a record £1.18 trillion ($1.57 trillion, €1.36 trillion) by the end of 2025, according to ...
Stat : Statistic : Global Travel Market
Axe gamifies fragrance sampling with arcade-inspired bus stop activation

News

Axe gamifies fragrance sampling with arcade-inspired bus stop activation

Axe is making fragrance sampling fun again with a new campaign for its Cherry Fizz body spray.
Advertising : Fragrance : Retail
You have 2 free News articles remaining. Sign up to LS:N Global to get unlimited access to all articles.
BECOME A MEMBER
SIGN IN