15 : 03 : 19 : Weekly Debrief

need to know
news
food
children
wellness
culture
design
society
new masculinity
finance
youth
type - need to know
Need To Know
category - fintech
sector - fashion
sector - media & technology

This week: The suit gets a Gen Z rebrand, Klarna’s smoooth merchandise, a digital gallery for commuters, music meets AR in Next Eleven Paper and a daily drop for kids’ clothes.

Powered by:

15 March 2019

Author: The Future Laboratory

Image: Oh My Eyes, Sweden

Share

SOLAPA by MitiMiti Studio and designed by Alessia Sistori of B.O.B studio.

1. Solapa is a suit brand for young Puerto Ricans

Puerto Rico – The brand, created by MitiMiti Studio, provides tailor-made suits that cater to the individual style of the Caribbean country’s young men.

Solapa combines traditional quality with contemporary designs and a wide range of sizes to celebrate the individuality of each customer. According to the brand, the suits are aimed at young entrepreneurs of the Caribbean, for whom personal expression through clothing is paramount.

The branding for Solapa, which was designed by Studio B.O.B., features loud graphics and an unusual colour palette of lilac, brown and mint green. The campaign includes images of teenage boys dressed in suits, hinting at the brand’s target youth audience.

Solapa is rethinking the concept of the well-dressed male dandy and creating a new visual code around masculinity that doesn’t shy away from loud colours, femininity or elegance.

Klarna Smoooth merchandise by Nord DDB

2. Klarna parades its USP with Smoooth products

Sweden – Payment provider Klarna is dropping its first-ever range of physical products to celebrate its friction-free services.

Building on its Get Smoooth campaign, which highlights how Klarna’s pay later products make everyday life as frictionless as possible, the brand has worked with ‘famously smooth’ rapper and Klarna investor Snoop Dogg to promote the collection. It includes lavish versions of household goods such as silk bedsheets, cashmere toilet paper, gold peanut butter and a 22-feet high inflatable slide.

Through its colourful, highly visual campaigns, Klarna exemplifies Fluid Capital – the new visual language emerging around financial values, transactions and the appearance of digital money. For more, look out for our upcoming interview with Mervyn ten Dam of Achtung! discussing the future identity of finance.

The Emotional Art Gallery by Clear Channel, artwork by Jesper Lindborg

3. Stockholm uses digital art to combat commuter stress

Stockholm – Outdoor media company Clear Channel has turned the city’s underground transit system into a digital art exhibition.

The Emotional Art Gallery displays artworks that respond to the mood of the city’s commuters. A tailor-made algorithm uses public data such as Google searches, news articles and traffic information to analyse the current mood of the city and decide upon which artwork to display at any given moment.

The artworks were commissioned from six artists who were asked to use Visual ASMR to express a positive feeling, such as peaceful, energized, calm and safe. ‘We thought why not use this type of real-time data as a new kind of creative input, whether this is through art or advertising. It makes the content more relevant and, in this case, better adjusted for spreading joy, energy and love to the commuters,’ says Finn Wikander, chief product officer at Clear Channel.

Rather than using billboards to advertise products and drive revenue, Clear Channel is using urban art to encourage positive emotions.

4. Next Eleven Paper merges music with AR

Mexico – The publication promotes music from the Next Eleven countries, or N-11, to global digital and analogue listeners.

The first issue of Next Eleven Paper focuses on the underground music scene in Mexico, taking inspiration from the country’s rich culture and vibrant colours. Combining digital and physical experiences, the newspaper invites users to scan the pages with the N-11 app, which then plays music. If more than one image is scanned the music mixes together to create new sounds.

Giacomo Bastianelli, the project’s designer, believes that countries such as Mexico, Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan will revolutionise the music scene. ‘Their over-driven economic metabolisms will generate all manner of social tensions and cultural rifts, which could spawn some 21st-century musical form that might take the world by storm just like jazz and rock’n’roll did in their day,’ he tells It’s Nice That.

To prepare for a future in which media is no longer static, but constantly evolving, watch out for our forthcoming macrotrend Programmable Realities.

Next Eleven Paper by Giacomo Bastianelli
Chobani Gimmies Merchandise, US

5. Chobani builds hype with kids clothing

New York – Following the launch of its healthy snacks, the yogurt manufacturer has debuted an accompanying clothing collection.

The collection, which includes onesies, hoodies, denim jackets and jewellery, ties in with the flavours featured in Chobani's Gimmies range of Greek yogurt snacks. To better instil a sense of hype around the launch, each product will launch online as a daily drop at 12pm EST and will be limited in number.

To create the collection, the brand hosted a series of focus group workshops to ascertain children’s priorities when it comes to clothing. ‘[One of the things we learned] was the desire for these kids to express a certain authenticity and uniqueness in how they dress,’ says Leland Maschmeyer, chief creative officer at Chobani. ‘We were very careful about overbranding these things. We really wanted it to feel like pieces of fashion as opposed to brand promotional pieces.’ As explored in our Childrenswear market, Generation Alpha are increasingly turning to fashion as a means of expressing their sense of identity.

To future-proof your world, visit The Future Laboratory's forecasting platform LS:N Global for daily news, opinions, trends, sector specific insights, and strategic toolkits.

 

Want to read more?
Become a member today!

Sign up to one of our subscribtion packages and get unlimited access to a hive of insights - from microtrends and macro trends to market reports, daily news, research across eight industry sectors and much more.


Discover our memberships

Already a member? Click here to login