London – Dating app Hinge has launched an online store selling merchandise featuring the brand’s mascot Hingie.

An extension of the app’s Designed to be Deleted campaign, the limited-edition Hingie shop features products for Delete Day – the day when couples choose to delete the Hinge app – including a Hingie piñata, a bath bomb and stuffed toys. While the brand’s goggle-eyed icon has been brought to life, it is in fact created as a temporary character in daters’ relationship journey. Alongside products to destroy on Delete Day, daters can also buy items to celebrate this new life milestone, including a solid gold Delete Day necklace, set with diamonds and inscribed with the date they deleted the app.

According to the brand, the Designed to be Deleted campaign has proved successful since its launch in August 2019, with an 18% increase in users ditching Hinge because they’ve met someone. As explored in a recent Viewpoint from Techfestival, brands with an end goal are embracing ways to create happy endings for products, people and services.

Los Angeles – Fridays for Future, the international movement of climate strikers led by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, is launching a campaign to raise awareness of local climate change.

The social campaign, created with FF Los Angeles – a creative agency focused on social activations – re-imagines vintage tourism posters from around the world against a backdrop of present-day climate change realities. Depicting fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and droughts, the campaign hopes to educate and empower people to make changes within their local communities, as well as in their travel behaviour. While drawing attention to the large-scale impact of global warming for both people and biodiversity, the campaign aims to tap into people’s willingness to begin positive actions at a more local level.

As people become more aware of the impact of tourism on the planet, travel operators are increasingly using travel to promote inclusivity and sustainable practices. Find out more in our Conscious Tourism Market.

UK – Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has unveiled Westfield How We Shop: The Next Decade, a trends report of retail predictions for 2025.

Outlining an ‘experience tipping point’ for retail, the report states that UK shoppers are among some of the most frustrated in Europe, and are particularly likely to reject online algorithms for more holistic shopping experiences. According to the report, nearly three quarters of UK shoppers say they will spend more in shops that offer experiences over products

The study of 15,700 people across Europe also predicts key trends likely to shape the retail landscape over the next 10 years, from anti-prescription retail as the antidote to disappointing online curation, to self-sustaining stores born from demand for more eco-conscious retail.

With bricks-and-mortar retail no longer determined by sales per square foot, consumers are looking for spaces where they can engage with brands on a deeper, physical level. Read Inspiration Per Square Foot for sector-leading case studies.