10 February 2023
Author: The Future Laboratory
Image: Burberry. Photography and film by Tyrone Lebon, UK
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UK – Ahead of Daniel Lee’s debut show at Burberry, the brand shared the first creative expression of this next chapter aimed at taking Burberry back to its British heritage, including a new logo, typeface, campaign and ambassadors.
After wiping its Instagram profile clean, Burberry offered a glimpse of the brand’s new direction under new chief creative officer Daniel Lee. The campaign doesn’t reveal new products, but it does signal a creative overhaul that offers an ode to modern Britain, bringing back the brand’s iconic mounted knight symbol and the motto Prorsum (latin for Forward). Shot by Tyrone Lebon, the campaign features a host of diverse faces such as rapper Shygirl and footballer Raheem Sterling, posed against a backdrop of London landmarks.
The campaign suggests that Daniel Lee’s Burberry will be more about Burberry than it will be about Lee himself, a strategic move as fashion brands increasingly distance themselves from the era of superstar creative directors, who have traditionally reinforced a cycle of re-inventing brand identity. Keeping Lee’s influence and personal style muted will leave room for Burberry’s roots and iconic codes to shine.
Look out for our upcoming insight report in which LS:N Global will explore the changing beat of the musical chairs of creative directors in the fashion sector – and the emerging alternative creative leadership models.
Microsoft has rolled out a new version of its Teams messaging service powered by ChatGPT. Teams Premium includes an intelligent recap feature that uses the OpenAI-owned chatbot as an AI personal assistant.
It can create full transcripts of meetings with each speaker’s contributions highlighted in a neat timeline of topics and chapters, and personalised timeline markers for when employees join and leave. It takes notes, generates meeting templates, and can come up with task and action item suggestions.
Teams Premium also includes advanced safeguards for businesses which want to deter information leaks and keep meeting discussions private, including watermarking, content-labeling, and recording and copying restrictions. Teams Premium is available at an introductory price of £5.80 ($7, €6.50) per user per month until the end of June and then it will cost £8.30 ($10, €9.25).
This update to Microsoft’s business communication platform follows its recent £8.3bn ($10bn, €9.2bn) investment in Open AI, and shows the promise of Industry 4.0 where consumers will be led to collaborate with AI technologies as part of their working lives.
New Zealand – A new campaign created by the DDB Group is shedding light on the little known bias affecting women online and hopes to change that by prompting viewers to join them in correcting the internet.
To the question ‘Who has scored the most goals in international football?’, an internet search would say Cristiano Ronaldo, with a count of 118 international goals. Correct the Internet objects – it is in fact female player Christine Sinclair, with 190 goals. The campaign denounces the many similar inaccuracies, showing steep gender bias by shadowing the success of women athletes and putting the accomplishments of male sportsmen forward online.
‘Because the internet has learnt our bias, many of its search engine results are inconsistent, often favouring men, and change depending on who is searching,’ says Correct the Internet founding partner Rebecca Sowden. This is where Correct the Internet comes in. The ad refers viewers to an online tool they can use to report inconsistencies, encouraging small individual actions that could lead to a collective movement supporting the empowerment of women in sports and their representation in the media.
US – German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has brought its Drive Pilot automated driving system to the US, after it was first launched in Germany in 2022. Nevada is the first US state to confirm approval of the system, which the car brand says is the first and only Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Level 3 system in a standard production vehicle authorised for use on US public freeways. It has applied for approval in California.
The Drive Pilot system allows the driver to hand over control to the vehicle under certain conditions and up to the speed of 40mph. When the driver activates it, the system controls the speed and distance, and effortlessly guides the vehicle within its lane, using evasive manoeuvres within the lane or by braking.
Making use of LiDAR sensor tech, Mercedes-Benz says the tech is primarily driven by safety needs (including door-unlock protocols) – although chief technology officer Markus Schäfer notes that the company is trading in lifestyle values, such as time scarcity. ‘In the modern world, time is one of the most precious commodities, and giving back time to our customers is a core element in our strategy to build the world’s most desirable cars. Our Drive Pilot takes a major step forward in achieving that.’
There may be some way to go before consumers are comfortable with the tech, however. It was reported in June 2022 that there had been 400 crashes of vehicles with partially automated driver-assist systems in 11 months in the US.
Join us on 15 February at 12:30pm ET (5:30pm GMT) for this free webinar event, during which we will give an overview of the key trends to affect the US market in the next year, explore how to apply these trends to your business and hold a live Q&A with our experts.
Hosted by The Future Laboratory’s co-founder Martin Raymond and LS:N Global’s foresight editor Fiona Harkin, this is your chance to discuss the why of work, rather than the where; to party through the cost of living crisis instead of suffering it; to become a live-tainment retailer with bespoke offers on the side; and finally, to learn how neuroscientists, artists, and travel and hospitality brands are rebooting everything from luxury to retail with awe-per-square-foot solutions.
Don’t miss out on our inaugural US market-focused event. RSVP here.
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