News 21.03.2023

Need to Know

Wist takes family memories to the metaverse, Hublot and Daniel Arsham set up melting ice clock in the Alps, and TikTok limits screen time.

Wist lets you relive your smartphone-shot memories in VR

Wist, US

US – A new app, Wist, promises to turn all videos shot on a smartphone into dystopian memories that anyone with a headset can jump into and relive in the metaverse.

Andrew R McHugh, CEO and co-founder of Wist, is revolutionising the digital picture frame and good old family slideshows with an immersive experience taking people on a meta-trip down memory lane. By collecting data from the initial video, including depth, colour and audio information, the app can transform any video content into 3D – available in augmented or virtual reality. McHugh used the technology to record the moment his pregnant partner was getting an ultrasound scan. He told VIce: ‘I captured the moment [and] was able to bring my mother into the experience [from] halfway across the country.’

In Five Future Home Scenarios For 2050, we previously looked at how an AI grandparent lookalike can pop on the tv and prompt household members to take medicine or check in on their wellbeing. Wist takes this innovation further by making experiential family memories accessible to all generations beyond death.

Strategic opportunity

As families’ archives will soon emerge on the metaverse for generations, consider how all creative industries, from VR fashion to architects, can adapt and augment family memories across generations

Hublot reveals icy mountain clock in the Alps

Light & Time by Daniel Arsham in collaboration with Hublot, Switzerland Light & Time by Daniel Arsham in collaboration with Hublot, Switzerland
Light & Time by Daniel Arsham in collaboration with Hublot, Switzerland Light & Time by Daniel Arsham in collaboration with Hublot, Switzerland

Switzerland – Hublot and Daniel Arsham have created a striking 20-metre wide sundial in the Alps to celebrate the connection between watchmaking, art and time.

Luxury watchmaker Hublot has enlisted the contemporary artist Daniel Arsham as a brand ambassador. To ‘start the clock on the new collaboration’, the artist created the Light & Time installation, an ephemeral mountain clock located in the snowscape of Zermatt in the Swiss Alps. The 20-metre sundial was carved from natural materials available in the surrounding landscape: snow and ice. Besides its spectacular appearance and symbolic meaning, the installation is functional and indicates the time for viewers as they ascend the mountain in the ski lift. But the timepiece is intentionally temporary to reflect time passing by and will gradually disappear as the sun melts the sundial.

Recently, luxury brands such as Burberry have resorted to Activist OOH Advertising to express their commitment to creating products that last without causing a lasting impact on the environment.

What this means

Like Hublot, focus your brand collaborations on the ‘why’. By merging the roots of timekeeping and land art, this awe-inspiring installation shows how brands can make co-creation cut through the noise

Vivrelle opens exclusive designer closet to Four Seasons guests

US – Vivrelle, a membership club offering access to a closet of designer accessories, has announced a new partnership with Four Seasons Hotel Houston and Four Seasons Private Residences Los Angeles.

Guests will receive complimentary access to Vivrelle’s collection of designer products from luxury brands including Prada, Gucci and Dior. The service will include all guests, whether they are Vivrelle members or not. Four Seasons Private Residences home-owners will have exclusive access too.

Clients can also swap styles during their stay or borrow from a more extensive collection by signing up on Vivrelle's website.

As part of the partnership, Vivrelle members will receive exclusive rates at the Four Seasons Hotel Houston.

Vivrelle's collaboration with Four Seasons exemplifies a trend we have previously explored in how Hotels Act as a Next Frontier for Brands.

Vivrelle, US

Strategic opportunity

With travel making a post-pandemic comeback, unique opportunities in hospitality through collaboration with interesting retailers, among others, creates a more memorable trip for consumers

Stat: TikTok will limit teens to 60 minutes of screen time a day

Photography by Polina Tankilevitch Photography by Polina Tankilevitch

Global – TikTok is applying a new daily screen time limit to make its platform healthier for young users. After 60 minutes on TikTok, users aged 13–18 will be asked to enter a passcode to continue watching. They can disable the feature, but if they do so and spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok a day, they’ll be prompted to set a new limit.

TikTok claims these prompts increased the use of its screen time management tools by 234% during the feature’s first month of testing.

Teens will also be sent an inbox notification each week that recaps their screen time, helping younger users to be aware of how much time they spend on the app and requiring that they make active decisions to extend the recommended screen time. TikTok says it consulted academic researchers and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital when deciding how long the time restriction should be.

In Anti-provocation Platforms we talked about how consumers are looking to social media platforms to become more responsible spaces and are seeking creators to build healthy ideals into the functionality of their platforms.

Strategic opportunity

As social media platforms acknowledge their impact on health, consider setting even more ambitious digital content strategies to retain attention in an oversaturated market where users are encouraged to spend less time scrolling

Previous News Articles
Cashify flips Indian wedding tradition to promote smartphone resale

News

Cashify flips Indian wedding tradition to promote smartphone resale

Smartphone reselling platform Cashify is challenging outdated attitudes to second-hand tech by reimagining a long-standing wedding ritual as a cele...
Technology : Sustainability : Circularity
Stat: New overtourism report maps the global crisis

News

Stat: New overtourism report maps the global crisis

Wellness Retreat Magazine’s 2025 Overtourism Report ranks 40 major cities facing acute tourism saturation – and the data underscores a growing imba...
Statistic : Stat : Overtourism
Foresight Friday: Dede Mivehchi, foresight intern

News

Foresight Friday: Dede Mivehchi, foresight intern

Every Friday, we offer an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, foresight intern&nbs...
Digital Detox : The Great Concert Comeback : Live Music Economy
MAD//Fest 2025: Culture, collaborations and creating a new identity for women’s football

News

MAD//Fest 2025: Culture, collaborations and creating a new identity for women’s football

On day two of MAD//Fest 2025, Ruth Hooper, chief marketing officer at the Women’s Super League (WSL), set out a vision for reshaping the visual ide...
Global Events : Advertising & Marketing : Football
Stat: US Gen Alpha favour consoles over mobiles for game play

News

Stat: US Gen Alpha favour consoles over mobiles for game play

Despite assumptions that mobile gaming dominates among young people, a new US report reveals that Generation Alpha are leading the charge in consol...
Statistic : Gaming : Media
Together Group and The Future Laboratory unveil New Codes of Luxury: Immersive Technologies for Transformation report

News

Together Group and The Future Laboratory unveil New Codes of Luxury: Immersive Technologies for Transformation report

In their latest report, New Codes of Luxury: Immersive Technologies for Transformation, The Future Laboratory and Together Group explore how immers...
Luxury : Technology : Design
MAD//Fest 2025: Delayed adulthood, algorithmic segregation and Gen Z hippies

News

MAD//Fest 2025: Delayed adulthood, algorithmic segregation and Gen Z hippies

MAD//Fest returned to Shoreditch on 1 July 2025, with this year’s theme Be Less Boring challenging brands to rethink how to engage with new audiences.
Global Events : Advertising & Marketing : Gen Z
Habitat and Pinterest unveil immersive campaign putting emotion into home design

News

Habitat and Pinterest unveil immersive campaign putting emotion into home design

Habitat has teamed up with Pinterest for an immersive storytelling campaign that repositions homeware as a tool for emotional re-invention and shop...
Retail : Design : Technology
Stat: Young adults are redefining romantic relationships on their terms

News

Stat: Young adults are redefining romantic relationships on their terms

As romantic norms fragment, 20% of people are now unknowingly practising ‘relationship anarchy’, according to the latest State of Dating repor...
Statistic : Stat : Dating
AI billboard visualises real-time sun damage in UV awareness campaign

News

AI billboard visualises real-time sun damage in UV awareness campaign

A new study by the British Skin Foundation reveals that 38% of Britons have already been sunburnt in 2025 – with Gen Z (35%) and Millennials (30%) ...
Advertising : Health And Wellness : Beauty
You have 1 free News articles remaining. Sign up to LS:N Global to get unlimited access to all articles.
BECOME A MEMBER
SIGN IN