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Hermès balances wellness with luxury in WeChat tutorials

Hermès Fit Campaign by Lane & Associates

Hermès Fit on WeChat. Screenshots by Jiemian

Hermès Fit Campaign by Lane & Associates

France and China – Luxury brand Hermès has launched yoga tutorials via a WeChat Mini Programme as a way to promote its accessories.

Created to coincide with China’s Labour Day holiday, the brand has released four yoga videos ranging from 13 to 21 minutes long, each detailing how Hermès accessories can be incorporated into people’s fitness routines. The luxury brand’s belts are shown as stretching and breathing aids, for example, while silk scarves are used for balancing.

Building on the brand’s Hermès Fit campaign earlier in 2021, the videos specifically target wellness-seeking Chinese consumers, offering a new way for the brand to enter the fitness market without losing its luxury identity. By re-imagining its classic product line, Hermès can tap into the region’s growing interest in wellbeing while also drawing attention to the quality and versatility of its accessories.

As Chinese consumers continue to embrace new forms of fitness, the campaign showcases how brands outside of the health sector can join the conversation and target these audiences.

Razor brand Hanni makes close shaves sustainable

Hanni, US

US – Beauty brand Hanni’s re-usable razor includes a waterless shaving cream, offering a more sustainable alternative to disposable shaving products.

The brand’s plastic-free, weighted razor is designed to last a lifetime, with a clasp mechanism allowing users to continually replace blades after use. With no use of plastic whatsoever, the razor inserts are made with sugar cane pulp and come in an aluminium storage bin that can be recycled at the end of its life.

Extending this eco-conscious approach to the rest of its product line, Hanni’s shave pillow offers a water-free alternative to shaving creams. It comes in the form of a moisturising gel stick that can be applied on the go to protect and nourish skin pre-shave.

‘If we can get women to understand how much better a shave it is, and also do something good for the planet and end up spending less money, we can start a movement,’ says Leslie Tessler, founder of Hanni.

By opting for waterless and plastic-free product design, along with a refillable element, Hanni is promoting sustainable design thinking from the ground up.

This browser plugin is anti-greenwashing the web

UK – The shADe plugin allows consumers to make more informed shopping decisions by highlighting the environmental claims of brands.

Describing itself as an ‘anti-greenwashing web plugin’, shADe rates fashion products using a traffic light system rating in the form of emojis – with red and orange faces indicating poor sustainability levels, and yellow faces reflecting positive scores. It also blocks digital marketing and advertising from unsustainable fashion brands, in turn empowering shoppers through intelligence that is usually kept within the fashion industry.

In order to analyse sustainability scores, shADe has collaborated with ethica ratings platform Good On You, scoring brands across three categories: living wage and worker safety, planetary impact and animal welfare policies. ‘Fast fashion brands [should] recognise that if we can make consumers very aware of their digital marketing strategy and it actually turns [consumers] away from them, they’re going to have to change what they do,’ says Fatimah El-Rashid, co-founder of shADe.

With consumers increasingly shopping according to their values, such tools will be necessary in a retail future dominated by Moral Commerce.

ShADe by Shadey Club

Stat: Solitude prevails among Japanese seniors

Year & Day, US

In Japan, many citizens aged over 60 are lacking in friendship – a situation more common in the country than in other nations.

According to a multinational survey by the Japanese Cabinet Office, over 31% of Japanese respondents over 60 said they do not have any close friends outside of their family. This percentage is a great deal higher than in other countries surveyed. In the US, for example, 14.2% of respondents said they lack any close friends, while in Germany the figure was 13.5% and in Sweden just 9.9%.

With Japan’s elderly population increasing, there is growing concern for the health and wellbeing of older people living in solitude, and opportunities for brands to step in and offer support. In nearby South Korea, where single-person households are on the rise, we explore the societal health concerns affecting older consumers.