US – Directed by Spike Jonze, Apple’s new campaign for its HomePod speaker illustrates the restorative power of music and how it can be seamlessly delivered by an AI assistant. The four-minute ad shows musician and artist FKA Twigs as she embarks on a draining commute home, before being transported to another world through music simply by asking Siri to play something she’d like.
In light of research by IFTTT that shows 74.8% of consumers use their home assistant to stream music, Apple’s emphasis on the auditory experience, which is curated by Apple Music and assisted by Siri, demonstrates its understanding of current consumer behaviour in relation to these devices. The Voice Assistant Market continues to grow, as people search for an intelligent device to augment their at-home routine.
New York – Revere is a new range of plant-based pre- and post-workout supplements with a focus on long-term health benefits rather than short-term gains. In line with Upstream Eating, the start-up taps into nutritional expertise to help improve physical performance, incorporating familiar superfoods like green tea, beetroot and sweet potato.
The protein supplement market is expected to show significant growth for the foreseeable future, reaching $21.5 billion by 2025 but as co-founder Jasper Nathaniel explains, many of the products currently on the market offer a hit of energy at the cost of ‘intense jitters and terrible crashes’.
‘We’re certainly not wrong for wanting more energy or better results faster,’ Nathaniel told Business Insider. ‘But it would probably be a lot healthier to avoid the supplements that cause jitters and crashes and have an ingredient list full of things we can’t pronounce.’
India – To mark International Women’s Day, streetwear brand Vans is helping to promote female empowerment in India with the release of Girls Skate India – an online series following female skateboarders – and the launch of a hundred global skate clinics teaching women and girls how to board. The clinics will be held in major cities like Brooklyn, Chicago, London, St. Petersburg, Shanghai, Bangalore, São Paulo, and Mexico City, to encourage a global community of female skaters.
‘Vans is skateboarding, and we are committed to ensuring that anyone, anywhere has the opportunity to discover this unique form of creative expression,’ explains April Vitkus, senior director of Vans Global Brand Marketing. ‘We are hopeful that shining a light on skateboarding to girls and women will showcase how empowering it can be.’
See our Emerging Youth: India market for more on why the next generation of consumers are championing feminist-driven activism.
France – Fashion house Hermès is expanding its perfume offering with a new range consisting of eaux de toilette and essences de parfum scents. Part of its Hermessence collection, the oil-based essences de parfum mark a departure for the brand, which has until now only created the lighter eaux de toilette. Intended to be worn either as a base for other fragrances or on their own, the fragrances add an additional layer to the ritual of putting on perfume, an idea explored in our Multisensory Beauty microtrend.
The musk-based scent profiles, Cardamusc and Musc Pallida, draw on cardamom and iris oils, both of which are known for their wellness properties, including use as a decongestant. In line with Psychoactive Scents, as the wellness and beauty sectors become increasingly entwined, brands are exploring new ways to combine the properties of essential oils with high-end scents.
US – With the tagline ‘Know your skin. Period.’, Knours provides product recommendations at different points in a woman’s hormonal cycle. The eight-product clean beauty range is accompanied by an artificially intelligent app, known as U-Kno, which tracks users’ monthly cycle, collating this with medical insight into skin condition and mood fluctuations, to demystify their changing beauty needs throughout the month.
The collection includes a Double Duty Mist, which contains moisturising squalene and jojoba oils. These ingredients naturally rise to the top, while the aloe vera water and botanical extracts sink to the bottom, allowing for the option of shaking them together to target dry, tired skin or using the water-based ingredients on their own when skin is at its most sensitive.
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